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November 23, 2025
 

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DIET

Sanae Takaichi’s selection as Japan’s first female prime minister marks a historic breakthrough for women in politics, but her leadership faces significant challenges from political fragility and critics, both at home and abroad.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 26, 2025
Takaichi’s rise to power and the ‘glass cliff’
Her appointment could prove to be a “glass cliff” as she encounters hypercriticism and the inherent challenges of a shaky coalition.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her policy speech at a Lower House plenary session on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 26, 2025
Concern raised over proposed cut in Lower House seats
JIP is calling for a cut of about 50 proportional representation seats in the all-important lower chamber of parliament.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her first policy speech in the Lower House in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 24, 2025
Takaichi focuses on economic and security concerns in first policy speech
Over half of the new prime minister's speech was dedicated to economic policies, and she described the fight against inflation as the top priority for her administration.
Emperor Naruhito officially swears in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2025
Sanae Takaichi stands tall and heads into the breach
Her Cabinet includes several rivals from the presidential campaign. It is an attempt to smooth over ill and a smart move.
Ruling Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi and Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura sign a policy agreement between the two parties at the Diet in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 23, 2025
The newly formed LDP-JIP coalition may not be as solid as it seems
The Japan Innovation Party’s insistence on passing a seat-reducing measure could prove to be a sticking point in the relationship.
Takaichi, surrounded by LDP influencers
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 22, 2025
In pictures: The day Japan’s glass ceiling finally cracked
Scenes from the day Sanae Takaichi made history as Japan’s first female prime minister, winning a tense parliamentary vote and forming a Cabinet of “resolve and progress.”
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi reacts to applauding lawmakers after being elected prime minister at the Lower House on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 21, 2025
Takaichi makes history as Japan’s first female prime minister
Monday’s coalition agreement between the Liberal Democratic Party and Japan Innovation Party made her ascent to the nation's top post all but certain.
Then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a policy speech during an ordinary session at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo in January. Sanae Takaichi’s victory may result in fewer proportional seats in parliament, a shift that could hurt smaller parties. Bloomberg
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
How the LDP-JIP coalition could hurt smaller parties
If the JIP’s proposal goes through unchanged, it would mean a reduction of 46 seats from the proportional representation districts.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi meets with Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura after signing a coalition agreement in Tokyo on Monday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
The winners and losers after Japan’s political shakeup
The country’s ruling coalition has many issues to overcome before proving its long-term viability, but they have time before any national level elections to work through them.
Nikkei 225 stock index breaks record and nears the 50,000 mark on Tuesday just ahead of the vote on the next prime minister.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 21, 2025
Nikkei 225 retreats as Takaichi becomes prime minister
Tokyo stocks hit a record earlier in the day only to give up most of the gains.
Pedestrians walk past an electronic quotation board displaying numbers of the Nikkei 225 stock index outside a brokerage in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 20, 2025
Nikkei 225 breaks 49,000 and hits record as political stability returns
The benchmark index rose more than 3% in strong trade throughout the day.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi (third from right) and LDP executives hold talks with Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Fumitake Fujita (third from left) and Nippon Ishin executives at the Diet building on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 17, 2025
Nippon Ishin edges closer toward forming coalition with LDP
The Osaka-based party has decided to no longer take part in policy talks with its opposition peers on forming an alliance against the ruling party.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura, who leads Nippon Ishin no Kai, says a "definite condition" for forming a coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party is to reduce the number of parliamentary members.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 17, 2025
Coalition with LDP could give Nippon Ishin chance to advocate its pet projects
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura, who leads Nippon Ishin, said a "definite condition" for forming a coalition with the LDP was reducing the number of parliamentary members.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a plenum session of the Knesset in June.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2025
Has Japan’s Diet finally begun its ‘Knessetization’?
My focus is entirely on whether Japan's parliament will finally begin to “Knessetize” (referring to Israel's parliament, and by extension, unstable coalition politics.)
Japan's political center is in turmoil, with the ruling party losing its long-held dominance and a series of complex negotiations ahead. The country’s leadership future is now uncertain.
COMMENTARY
Oct 15, 2025
A negotiator’s nightmare in Nagatacho
The LDP has since pushed back the date to vote for the next prime minister to Oct. 21.
The 'Takaichi trade' is in doubt and Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi faces challenges from opposition parties.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 14, 2025
China-U.S. trade war and political turmoil in Japan weigh on Tokyo stocks
The Nikkei 225 fell as much as 1,500 points, and closed the day down 2.58%, at 46,847.32.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday after leaving the ruling coalition earlier in the day.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 12, 2025
After ruling bloc collapses, LDP and opposition scramble to find needed votes for PM
New LDP President Sanae Takaichi faces a higher hurdle in finding the votes needed to become Japan’s next leader as opposition forces discuss a unified candidate.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi enters party headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2025
Why Japan's coalition collapsed — and what's next
In an upcoming vote in parliament, all parties are expected to put forward their leaders in a first round of voting, with LDP chief Sanae Takaichi likely bound for a runoff.
Ichiro Ozawa (left), leader of the Liberal Party, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi (center) and Takenori Kanzaki, leader of Komeito, hold hands ahead of a three-party summit toward forming a coalition government, at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo in October 1999.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2025
LDP-Komeito coalition marked by twists and turns over 26 years
The two parties have been in a mutually dependent relationship centered on electoral cooperation.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda speaks to reporters at the Diet in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 11, 2025
After ruling bloc breakup, CDP and Komeito eye unified PM candidate
The move comes as the Democratic Party for the People appears no longer willing to hold coalition talks with the LDP, putting new ruling party chief Sanae Takaichi in a tough spot.
Japanese court orders Cloudflare to pay ¥500 million over manga piracy
Cloudflare has been ordered to pay ¥500 million after four major publishing firms accused the firm of copyright infringement for its role in hosting sites that distribute pirated copies of manga titles.
Japan plans higher visa fees for foreign residents
Along with planned higher fees for foreign residents to stay, Japan is looking to raise the ¥3,000 single-entry visa fee for inbound tourists to Western standards in the next fiscal year.
Two men suspected of smuggling 1 ton of gold into Japan from South Korea
U.K. gold bullion bars and coins are displayed at Baird & Co. in Hatton Garden in London.
Takaichi rejects China's demand to retract Taiwan remarks
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has rejected China's demands for her to retract her comments on Taiwan, saying Tokyo's stance on a major regional security crisis remains unchanged.
Japan set to lean on U.S., allies for support if China escalates
U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo, on Oct. 28.
Japan plans higher visa fees for foreign residents
Along with planned higher fees for foreign residents to stay, Japan is looking to raise the ¥3,000 single-entry visa fee for inbound tourists to Western standards in the next fiscal year.
First foreign president of Hosei University looks abroad for change
Hosei University President Diana Khor, who herself was an international student, aims to encourage students to look outward and cultivate a global mindset.
Japanese companies advised to change mindset about investment in Africa
Bernard Laurendeau, chief of Enkopa Lab Japan, in Tokyo last month
Munetaka Murakami headlines quartet looking to move to MLB via posting system
The Swallows' Munetaka Murakami has 246 career home runs in eight NPB seasons.
The reality of human trafficking in Japan
A view of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at night. Last year in Japan, 66 people were put in protective custody as victims of human trafficking. Among them, 58 — including all 41 minors — were Japanese nationals. International pressure to act on human trafficking led Japan to make efforts to crack down on the crime, such as a tightening of conditions in 2005 for entertainer visas.

Podcast

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

Longform

Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” was released Nov. 23, 1985, and though it wasn’t a hit at the time, it has gained a cult following in the years since.
Eat, slurp, love: 'Tampopo' turns 40
By Weiwen Lin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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