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October 07, 2025
 

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FOREIGN

The government's revised action plan for preventing human rights violations linked to corporate activities is likely to focus on small companies as a "priority area."
JAPAN / Society
Oct 7, 2025
Japan's revised corporate action plan on human rights to prioritize small firms
The government aims to accelerate efforts across entire supply chains by encouraging small businesses, which have been slower to adopt human rights measures, to make improvements.
A Swedish snowboard instructor works at the Niseko ski resort area on Hokkaido, in Kutchan, in December 2022
JAPAN / Society
Oct 4, 2025
A Japanese ski resort town is roiled by a debate over immigration
Residents are protesting a planned housing facility for foreign workers, exposing the conflict between labor needs and worries over immigration.
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya (center) with other parliament members from the party
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2025
What’s driving the far-right voters who shook Japanese politics
Sanseito’s slogan is "Japanese First,” and it campaigned on a mix of tax cutting, vaccine skepticism and restrictions on immigration and foreign investment.
With the average farmer in Japan over 65, the agricultural sector, like others, faces the challenge of demographic decline as an aging workforce strains productivity and growth.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 30, 2025
Graying Japan needs both globalization and immigration
Japan has the highest ratio of elderly to working-age people in the world — over 50% — meaning there are only two workers for every person over 64.
The Justice Ministry's figures show the number of specified skilled worker visa holders hit a record high as of the end of June.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2025
Skilled worker visa holders hit record high ahead of new visa program
The Justice Ministry stated that the goal for a new program set to be rolled out in 2027 is to make Japan a "country of choice" for foreign workers amid a labor shortage.
Sensoji Temple in the Asakusa district of Tokyo on Sept. 16. All five candidates in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race demonstrated a tougher stance on foreign tourists and nationals.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2025
LDP presidential hopefuls take hard-line stance on immigration
Unruly tourists, visa overstayers and increasing land purchases by foreign nationals were some of the issues spotlighted during debates.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya speaks during a news conference at the ministry in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 20, 2025
Japan will not recognize Palestinian statehood for now
The decision is believed to have been made in light of Israel hardening its stance against Palestinian statehood, as well as U.S. opposition to such recognition.
The World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Japan will appoint a permanent representative focusing on the WTO for the first time.
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2025
Japan to appoint first permanent representative focusing on WTO
The decision is designed to strengthen trade cooperation with other countries and counter steep tariffs from the U.S.
Oil pump jacks outside Almetyevsk, Russia, in July.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2025
Japan expands sanctions against Russia
Tokyo will freeze the assets of 14 individuals and 51 organizations, including Russian officials, company executives and pro-Russian figures in Ukraine.
Sheremetyevo international airport in Moscow. Japan has partially eased its travel restrictions to Russia, allowing unavoidable travel.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2025
Japan partially eases travel restrictions to Russia
Tokyo says unavoidable travel — such as those for humanitarian, business, study, research, education, or artistic purposes — are allowed.
False social media stories about Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba planning mass immigration obscure Japan’s real and growing reliance on foreign labor.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 12, 2025
Japan needs an immigration debate, not social media myths
There’s no mass immigration from the Global South into Japan, though you might not know that if you primarily consume your news on social media.
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 29, 2025
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
The government is set to create a task force to review its immigration plans and prevent social division between foreign nationals and citizens.
The former main building of the Justice Ministry. The ministry is requesting ¥877.5 billion in overall funding, of which ¥22.9 billion would be used for measures linked to foreign workers.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 28, 2025
Budget requests from Justice Ministry focus on foreign nationals
Of the ¥877.5 billion requested, ¥22.9 billion would be set aside for measures linked to foreign workers and ¥18.3 billion for measures that respond to a rise in foreign tourists.
The Foreign Ministrys budget request for fiscal 2026 will call for building information infrastructure and developing digital human resources.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2025
Foreign Ministry to seek ¥874.3 billion budget for fiscal 2026
The budget request will call for building information infrastructure and developing digital human resources.
The number of foreign residents with business management residency status had reached a record 41,615 as of the end of 2024.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2025
Japan aims to tighten rules for business manager visas from October
The move comes amid concerns that foreign nationals are using the visa as an easy loophole to settle in the country.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda (second from left) walks with Fed Chair Jerome Powell (left), European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde (second from right) and Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey outside the Fed’s Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 24, 2025
BOJ's Ueda expects tight labor market to keep upward pressure on wages
The remarks are likely to support growing speculation of another interest rate hike this year, although the BOJ governor didn’t directly discuss monetary policy in a presentation.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung meet ahead of a summit in Kananaskis, Canada, in June. The two leaders will meet again on Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2025
Japan and South Korea to expand working holiday program
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung are expected to agree on the matter when they meet in Tokyo on Saturday.
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 19, 2025
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Japan’s capital topped the rankings for its “exceptional broadband speeds, transport infrastructure, safety, culture, and new digital nomad visa.”
Jose Takei, an 82-year-old man of Japanese descent in the Philippines, speaks during an interview on Aug. 8 at the Foreign Ministry.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2025
Stateless man of Japanese descent in Philippines eager for Japan citizenship
The son of a Japanese man and Filipino woman, Jose Takei never met his father, who left before he was born to join the Japanese military during World War II.
The streets of Tokyo's Ginza district in April. The number of foreign residents in Japan hit a record high at 3.76 million as of the end of last year, comprising just over 3% of the population.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2025
Welcoming foreign residents benefits Japan, three quarters of economists say
Some highlighted the need to avoid conflating foreign nationals who may be in Japan temporarily with long-term foreign residents.
How Takaichi won the LDP’s leadership race
Sanae Takaichi, the newly elected leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, poses in the party leader's office after the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on Saturday.
Asahi ships beer using paper and fax after ransomware attack
Drinks produced by Asahi at a liquor store in Tokyo. Retailers in Japan are warning customers of possible Asahi Super Dry beer shortages after a cyberattack paralyzed production and distribution at the major brewer.
Retro-wrapped trains mark 100th anniversary of Tokyo's Yamanote Line
Trains decorated to resemble the 103 (left) and 205 series of trains that formerly ran on the Yamanote Line, in Tokyo on Saturday.
Americans and Canadians unite in battling 'eating machine' carp
A Fisheries and Oceans Canada team patrols the Grand River in Dunnville, Ontario, in search of invasive grass carp specimens on Sept. 25.
Suzuki eyed for LDP secretary-general, reflecting Aso’s growing influence
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi (center) speaks to reporters on Sunday after meeting Taro Aso, the party's supreme advisor, at the party's headquarters.
Takaichi, the LDP’s first female president, is far from an ‘overnight success’
Newly-elected Liberal Democratic Party chief Sanae Takaichi greets her fellow LDP members on Saturday at party headquarters.
‘We have drawn lessons,’ Indian Army chief says of brief clash with Pakistan
Indian Army chief Upendra Dwivedi waves as he arrives to attend the ceremonial reception of Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in New Delhi in May.
How a family-run landscaper turned the Osaka Expo green
The team at Ryokukou Garden consists primarily of a single family, including Toshiki Tanisaki (second from right), who led the company's efforts at the Osaka Expo, Chikako Tanisaki (fifth from right), who performs daily maintanence at the expo, and Takeshi Tanisaki (fourth from right), who added a nursery to the family farm more than 50 years ago.
Eat your balloons: The culinary theater of Grant Achatz comes to Tokyo
Avant-garde chef Grant Achatz and his team from Alinea are in Tokyo for a three-week residency.
Japan’s first foreign wine investor plants its roots in Hokkaido
Intrigued by Japanese wines, Burgundy winemaker Etienne de Montille decided to explore Hokkaido's wine scene, eventually setting up his outpost in Hakodate in 2017.

Podcast

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

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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