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October 18, 2025
 

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COVID 19

A measles alert sign is posted outside the entrance to the Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York in March.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2025
‘Alternative facts’ aren't a reason to skip vaccines
Donald Trump’s health officials have been endorsing alternative facts in science to impose policies that contradict modern medical knowledge.
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2025
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
Experts believe a recent surge in infections is due to relaxed hygiene measures, drug-resistant bacteria and lowered immunity levels amid extreme heat.
A Qantas Airways Boeing 737 aircraft takes off from Sydney International Airport on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2025
Qantas fined $59 million for firing 1,820 during pandemic
Justice Michael Lee questioned the airline’s degree of contrition and its commitment to change, noting Qantas’ "unrelenting and aggressive litigation strategy.”
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles an important public health tool and could weaken America’s ability to respond to future pandemics.
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2025
RFK Jr.’s mRNA decision may be his worst yet
U.S. Health Secretary RFK Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles a public health tool and could weaken the ability to respond to future pandemics.
A woman adds a message to the a COVID-19 memorial wall in London in March 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Aug 4, 2025
'Long COVID' hits the U.K. economy harder than most other countries
Five years since the start of the pandemic, Britain is still dealing with a spike in public debt, 1.2 million extra people on sickness benefits and a record postwar tax burden.
The U.S. and the world will become unhealthier and vast numbers of children may die now that Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has pulled funding from the global vaccine program GAVI. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2025
RFK Jr. is playing with babies’ lives
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s cut to U.S. funding for GAVI risks lives globally and damages America’s international standing.
Cases of cancer patients and doctors having conversations about where the patient wanted to spend his or her last days came to 52.9% in 2021, up from 35.7% in the previous survey.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 3, 2025
About half of people who died from cancer discussed last days with doctors
About 60% of cancer patients were able to spend their last days at places where they wished to be, a report has shown.
Security personnel keep watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology during the visit by the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of COVID-19, in Wuhan, China, in February 2021.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 28, 2025
WHO says all COVID-19 origin theories still open, after inconclusive study
The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the WHO, while shredding economies and crippling health systems.
A Disaster Medical Assistance Team commander (Shun Oguri, right) and a health ministry official (Tori Matsuzaka) work together to respond to Japan’s first brush with COVID-19 in “Frontline — Yokohama Bay.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 19, 2025
‘Frontline — Yokohama Bay’ revisits nation’s first pandemic struggles
Part docudrama, part recognition of unsung crisis responders, “Frontline — Yokohama Bay” looks back at the ship that warned a nation: COVID-19 is here.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before a Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services budget in Washington on May 20.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 12, 2025
Kennedy replaces fired U.S. CDC vaccine panel members
His appointments include several who have advocated against vaccines.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testifies before a Senate Committee in Washington, on May 14.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 11, 2025
Kennedy's firing of CDC panel undermines vaccine confidence, experts say
The firing of the vaccine committee comes weeks before a public meeting in which advisers were to vote on the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine boosters.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his report to delegates at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 19.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2025
Trump’s WHO withdrawal could cost the U.S. dearly
Despite progress since COVID-19, the U.S. remains vulnerable to pandemics like H5N1, and withdrawing from the WHO would weaken its ability to respond to global health threats.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (center) arrives at Argentina’s Ministry of Health to meet with Argentinian Health Minister Mario Lugones in Buenos Aires on Monday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 28, 2025
RFK Jr. says COVID-19 shot isn’t recommended for healthy kids
The decision reverses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s earlier stance that everyone six months of age and older get vaccinated.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new plan to restrict updated COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk groups has sparked confusion and criticism, with experts warning it could limit public access and bypass established advisory channels.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2025
The FDA’s new COVID-19 vaccine policy is clear as mud
The U.S. health agency's promises of transparency and choice for COVID-19 vaccines fall short in its first big test. 
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is seen on a screen delivering his report before delegates during the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2025
WHO adopts landmark pandemic agreement
The accord aims to prevent the disjointed response and international disarray that surrounded the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new U.S. FDA policy requiring full placebo-controlled trials for updated vaccines, pushed by Commissioner Marty Makary (right) and U.S. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (center), is seen as a backdoor effort to sideline COVID-19 boosters and undermine broader vaccine development.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 2, 2025
RFK Jr.’s new vaccine scrutiny is alarming
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the FDA, intends to set new regulatory standards vaccine manufacturers couldn’t possibly meet.
A screenshot image from the Whitehouse.gov website that promotes the "lab leak" theory of COVID-19’s origins. The Trump administration has replaced the government’s main portal for information about COVID-19 with a website arguing that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab, throwing its weight behind a theory of the virus’ origins that is so far not backed by direct evidence.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 19, 2025
New White House website blames China for COVID-19 'lab leak'
The website, previously focused on promoting vaccine and testing information, now includes a large image of President Donald Trump and criticizes the Biden-era pandemic policies.
A sign of the World Health Organization displayed at their headquarters in Geneva on March 13
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2025
Pandemic treaty talks inch toward accord
Experts say an accord has become even more crucial with new health threats, ranging from H5N1 bird flu to measles, mpox and Ebola.
The member states of the World Health Organization reached "an agreement in principle" on Saturday on a text designed to better protect the world from future pandemics, after more than three years of discussions, the co-chair of the negotiating body said.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 13, 2025
Accord reached 'in principle' over tackling future pandemics
Delegates will meet on Tuesday to put the finishing touches to a landmark text on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Commuters in Tokyo. ARIs are infectious diseases with respiratory symptoms, such as COVID-19 and influenza.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 8, 2025
Japan begins monitoring acute respiratory infections
The number of patients with ARIs will be published to help the public protect themselves from infections.
Why I chose Japanese citizenship over permanent residency
Jon Heese (second left) takes part in a 2024 New Year's nihonshu barrel opening ceremony.
Doctrine forms the core of Sanseito’s strategy, with some caveats
Crowds attend a Sanseito rally in the city of Saitama during the Upper House election.
Former PM Tomiichi Murayama dies at age 101
Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama speaks during an interview in Tokyo in March 2007.
LDP and Nippon Ishin fine-tuning deal to form coalition
Liberal Democratic Party head Sanae Takaichi (second from right) and Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Fumitake Fujita (second from left) meet in Tokyo on Thursday.
What you need to see at this year's Tokyo film festival
Chloe Zhao’s "Hamnet"
What you need to see at this year's Tokyo film festival
Chloe Zhao’s "Hamnet"
As they wrestle for power, Japan’s political parties must remember their base
Rengo's head Tomoko Yoshino speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Oct. 8.
Sumo is about to hit London and the West with a force previously unseen
Preparations advance on Monday for the Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Pace eyes great strides for Japan’s art market
Pace Japan Vice President Kyoko Hattori, the de facto head of the nation’s business, believes a larger, more lucrative art market will allow Japan to be more attractive for collectors.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

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