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August 28, 2025
 

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EXPATS

Polina Oba enjoys the food in Fukuoka, but still finds herself traveling to Tokyo often as that’s where most of the decision-makers are based. 
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 12, 2024
Polina Oba: ‘Try quick, fail quick, learn quick and you need to always pivot’
Networking is at the core of Polina Oba's GourmetPro startup. Not only is it great meeting new people but you'll never know where those connections may lead.
Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
COMMUNITY / Issues / Longform
Aug 9, 2024
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
You've likely heard of the American dream. In Japan, where no such concept exists, immigrants forge their own ideals.
Children attend a class at a Brazilian school in Seto, Aichi Prefecture, in April 2020.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 9, 2024
Over 8,500 foreign children in Japan may not be in school, ministry says
The number of such children grew by 418 from a year before, according to a ministry survey of education boards of 1,741 municipalities.
What is known as real money trading in online games is rife with issues, including account hijacking and fraud.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 8, 2024
Man arrested over alleged fraud involving Sega's in-game money
The suspect allegedly collected money by offering to sell the in-game currency at one-twentieth of the listed price on "real money trading" websites.
Ngun Nei Par, the general manager at Ginshotei Awashima in Numata, Gunma Prefecture, graduated from a university in Myanmar with a degree in geography.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 6, 2024
Japan needs foreign workers, but it might not want them to stay long
Japanese politicians remain reluctant to create pathways for foreign workers, especially those in low-skill jobs, to stay indefinitely.
Holly Graham's bartending journey has literally taken her around the world, and her latest stop is Azabu-Juban's Tokyo Confidential.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Jul 28, 2024
The star-studded bar ‘so incoherent that it’s coherent’
Tokyo Confidential is a buzzy new watering hole launched by ascendent bartender Holly Graham in the capital’s upscale Azabu-Juban neighborhood.
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 25, 2024
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of foreign residents in Japan rose by 329,535 from last year to 3,323,374.
Hedwig Schreck is a third-generation Tokyoite whose grandfather first arrived in Japan from Germany in 1920 as a submarine engineer.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 24, 2024
Hedwig Schreck: ‘Art has always been part of my life’
A third-generation Tokyoite, the former TV producer has pivoted to teaching others about Japanese culture in her retirement.
Saga Indonesia Dreams players speak with Yuji Fukuhara, who set up the unique Kyushu-based club, during a training session last month in Takeo, Saga Prefecture.
BASEBALL
Jul 18, 2024
Kyushu team nurturing 'baseball evangelists' to spread game in Asia
Kyushu club hopes its players, mostly hailing from parts of Asia where baseball is not popular, will help promote the sport in other parts of the continent.
A stone pillar at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, on which the word "toilet" was found spray-painted in May
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2024
Chinese man arrested over vandalism at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine
Police have also obtained arrest warrants for two other Chinese nationals, after an incident involving graffiti and urination was recorded as a video and posted online.
Many second-generation Indian migrants decide to leave Japan for higher education — with Indians making up less than 1% of the country’s student population — but there is evidence that this cohort’s interest in attending Japanese universities is growing.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 10, 2024
Do university-bound Indian migrants actually stay in Japan?
Can Japan retain second-generation Indian migrants who are seeking a college education? The evidence is mixed, showing an uptick that still has a long way to grow.
The government aims to increase the number of foreign students in Japan to 400,000 by 2033, despite a recent Justice Ministry ordinance that puts in place tougher rules on accepting overseas applicants.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 8, 2024
Can Japan boost its foreign student count to 400,000?
The government recently tightened rules for accepting overseas applicants, though it hasn't lost sight of its lofty goal of increasing foreign student numbers.
American Gregorio Narvasa has gone from baking cookies in his spare to time to working with major Tokyo companies from his new Koenji shop.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 7, 2024
Koenji gets a new cookie shop. Its owner gets a community.
After several years of sharing his creations at pop-up events scattered across Tokyo, Gregorio Narvasa opened a physical bake shop in Koenji on April 20 of this year.
Starting from September, foreign employees on a work visa must abide by a new points-based system to keep working in Singapore.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2024
Singapore is making life tougher for global talent
The city-state could lose its position as a global business hub if it keeps tightening the rules for overseas employees in a political bid to appease local residents.
The labor ministry plans to compile a report on foreign workers by the end of fiscal 2024 and use it to improve measures to secure and retain foreign human resources.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2024
Japan to survey job changes by foreign care workers
The labor ministry aims to improve measures to secure and retain foreign human resources.
A Vietnamese worker harvests tomatoes at a farm in Asahi, Chiba Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2024
Japan faces shortage of almost a million foreign workers in 2040
At the current pace, 5.91 million foreign people will be working in Japan in 2040
While Japan may not have a large market for English-language publications, there's still hope to grow your career overseas while living here.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Jul 1, 2024
How to make it as an English-language author in Japan
Some writers find career stability in teaching, while others find that the culture and vibrance of this country inspires their imaginations.
Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, in December
JAPAN / Society
Jun 28, 2024
Deportations over immigration violations in Japan up 65% in 2023
Foreign nationals subject to deportation procedures nearly doubled to 18,198.
An Aeon store in Yokohama in 2022. Aeon currently employs about 1,500 specified skilled workers group-wide.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 26, 2024
Aeon to ramp up hiring of foreign workers under specified skills visa framework
The retail giant is planning to employ 4,000 foreign workers with specified skilled worker visas by 2030 amid a labor shortage.
Perhaps being seen in the company of your own children in the right places — playgrounds, schools, etc. — can make you seem more approachable and allow children to say exactly what’s on their mind.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jun 24, 2024
‘You’re a spy, then?’ The odd interactions of a non-Japanese father in Japan
Remember to keep your ears open whenever you’re near children and you’re guaranteed to hear something that’ll make you think.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Japan Post to stop accepting some parcels for shipment to the U.S.
Japan Post's UGX will still be available for many rejected packages.
Japan aims to tighten rules for business manager visas from October
The number of foreign residents with business management residency status had reached a record 41,615 as of the end of 2024.
Tokyo releases AI-generated video of Mount Fuji erupting
A screenshot from an AI-generated video showing what could happen to Tokyo if Mount Fuji erupted
Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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