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July 23, 2025
 

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DIGITALIZATION

A preview of the "Yokai Immersive Experience Exhibition" on Friday in the city of Nagoya
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2025
Get your summer chills in at yōkai exhibition in Nagoya
The main attraction of the exhibition is a room themed on a wild dance of such supernatural creatures, with moving images of them filling the room's walls, ceiling and floor.
48.0% of respondents living in the earthquake-hit Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture said there was a gap between those who could access information after the January 2024 quake and those who could not, a survey has shown.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2025
Nearly half in quake-hit Noto area felt digital divide
A survey found that some people described a gap between those who could access information and those who could not after the January 2024 disaster.
Wakako Yata, former special adviser to the prime minister, leads a consortium to help promote women as digital experts, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 8, 2025
Japan launches group to help more women become digital experts
The public-private consortium will work to help women acquire digital skills to raise their wages, among other actions.
In addition to prepaid transportation integrated circuit (IC) cards, such as Suica and Pasmo, a growing number of railway operators are introducing contactless credit card payments.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2025
Railway firms diversify ticket gate access methods
A growing number of railway operators are introducing contactless credit card payments.
Digital transformation minister Masaaki Taira obtains a certification document using a My Number personal identification card installed on an iPhone in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2025
Functions of Japan's My Number card now available on iPhones
The Digital Agency plans to gradually expand the smartphone-compatible functions of the card, including the ability to serve as a health insurance card.
With people growing increasingly wary of unknown callers and not answering their doors, more and more agencies and pollsters tasked with collecting data are using online surveys, though that comes with its own set of challenges.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jun 17, 2025
Faced with dwindling response rates, pollsters turn to online surveys for data
Problems with the new wave of online surveys include fresh biases in the data, confusion over questions that a computer cannot address and gaining trust.
IPhone users will soon be able to access the Mynaportal website for My Number-related administrative tasks and get copies of their public certificates at convenience stores.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2025
My Number Card functions to be available on iPhones
IPhone users will soon be able to access the Mynaportal website for My Number-related administrative tasks and get copies of their public certificates at convenience stores.
Under the "digital address" system launched by Japan Post, users can input seven-digit combinations of numbers and letters on online shopping and other websites, and their addresses will automatically appear on the sites.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 27, 2025
Japan Post launches 'digital address' system
Under the system, users can input seven-digit codes on online shopping websites, and their addresses will automatically appear on the sites.
Although Japan's rate of cashless transactions remains relatively low compared with those of other countries, the share of such payments in personal consumption has surpassed 40% for the first time.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
May 21, 2025
Cashless payments top 40% of consumer spending in Japan
The country's cashless payment penetration remains low globally, with the risk of fraud and service interruptions due to natural disasters presenting hurdles to growth.
Singaporean Ambassador to Japan Ong Eng Chuan says his country hopes to “collaborate closely” with Japan in the area of quantum computing technology.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 20, 2025
Singapore envoy eyes stronger cyber and digital links with Japan
Quantum computing is one particular area of interest as Japan develops its technical capability via a collaboration with Intel.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and other ministers ahead of a Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2025
Japan enacts bills to make criminal procedures digital
The revised laws will make trial records digital to allow lawyers to view them online.
An expected collaboration between Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and SoftBank will see the PayPay smartphone payment service being made available via the Olive general financial app provided by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2025
Sumitomo Mitsui and SoftBank to tie up on digital payment services
The PayPay smartphone payment service operated by a SoftBank affiliate will be made available in Sumitomo Mitsui Banking's Olive app under the partnership.
Visitors walk atop the Grand Ring at Expo 2025 in Osaka on April 13.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 20, 2025
Digitalized Osaka Expo troubling elderly visitors
Under the Expo's digital and paperless policies, visitors are asked to use devices such as smartphones to make reservations and navigate the massive venue.
Textbooks carrying QR codes that link to websites with video and audio learning aid materials
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2025
Most Japanese high school textbooks to include QR codes
In response to the rapid progress of digitalization, many of the textbooks include descriptions on information ethics and generative AI.
Takuya Mori, a curator of Yokkaichi Municipal Museum in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, works on converting magnetic recordings kept at the museum into digital files.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Mar 3, 2025
Magnetic tapes at risk without digitization, archive groups warn
UNESCO has called for the digitization of audio and video recordings kept in academic and cultural institutions.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, at a news conference on Friday, said the Cabinet has approved a bill to revise relevant laws to digitalize criminal procedures in the country.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 28, 2025
Japan's Cabinet approves bill to digitalize criminal procedures
Once passed, existing laws will be amended to allow greater use of technologies by law enforcers and the judiciary.
NEC's safety confirmation system for local governments to use in the event of a disaster
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2025
Japan eyeing IT to help those in need of assistance during disasters
By digitalizing operations previously done on paper, the country hopes to streamline efforts to help vulnerable people during disasters.
A sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on Feb. 5
JAPAN / Society
Feb 21, 2025
Japan to promote digital transformation for water systems
This move follows a road collapse incident in Saitama Prefecture, last month, believed to have been caused by a broken sewage pipe.
Tokyo Koon stands at the forefront of tackling the so-called 2025 issue, also known as the “Magnetic Tape Alert.”
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Feb 17, 2025
The race to save 20th-century history
Analog recordings are at risk of disappearing as old tech breaks down and spare parts run out.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters Tuesday about the idea of revising the companies law to fully allow businesses to hold online-only shareholders' meetings.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2025
Japan to allow firms to hold online-only shareholder meetings
Online-only shareholders' meetings are currently permitted only in exceptional cases under the industrial competitiveness enhancement law.
Japan ruling bloc loses majority in Upper House after election drubbing
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, leaves at the party's headquarters following announcement of Upper House election result projections in Tokyo early Monday.
‘Japanese First’ Sanseito emerges as powerful force after Upper House poll
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya in Tokyo on Sunday night
Foreign residents closely follow Japan's election and party pledges
A police officer walks past posters of Liberal Democratic Party candidates, as well as one showing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, outside the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday. As Japan’s foreign population continues to rise, one of the talking points during Sunday’s election was how the country should deal with the increase of international residents.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Hitomi Obara, 2012 Olympic champion in wrestling, dies at 44
Hitomi Obara competes at the London Olympics in August 2012.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Pentagon looks to unleash ‘military drone dominance’
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts a drone demonstration at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on July 10.
‘Noto Democracy’ and the slow work of civic change
Yukio Iokibe’s “Noto Democracy" centers on Motoyuki Takii, a former junior high school teacher who publishes a handwritten newspaper every month to encourage the residents of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, to engage in local politics.
In microbes we trust: Embracing the nature of fermented food
You don't need an oven to make Kenji Morimoto's easy and delicious Miso Sticky Toffee Crepe Cake.
Touring the Silk Road — without leaving Tokyo
One of the entrances to Pao Compound, a nine-story Silk Road-inspired complex in Tokyo's Higashinakano neighborhood

Podcast

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

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
By Alex K.T. Martin

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