Tag - health

 
 

HEALTH

Microchips are a major source of "forever chemicals” that are linked to cancer and other health problems.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 14, 2025
As chips race spews ‘forever chemicals,’ startups emerge to destroy them
A wave of companies are offering potential solutions that won’t cut the chemicals out of the supply chain but destroy them.
A recent study shows promise for a personalized mRNA vaccine to prevent pancreatic cancer recurrence, offering hope for patients and highlighting the potential of tailored cancer treatments.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2025
Pancreatic cancer vaccine shows hope. Make the investment.
When researchers offer data suggesting a personalized vaccine might be able to keep the cancer at bay for years, it’s worth paying attention to.
A layer of smog hangs over Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 13, 2025
Mongolia's children choke in toxic pollution
The toxic smog that settles over the Mongolian capital every winter has been a suffocating problem for more than a decade.
The Susukino district in Sapporo in 2020. The father of a woman suspected of killing and beheading a man in the entertainment district in 2023 was sentenced on Wednesday to one year and 4 months in prison, suspended for four years, for helping her move the body to their home.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 12, 2025
Father of woman accused of 2023 Sapporo murder given suspended sentence
The key issue of the trial was whether he was aware of his daughter's plan to murder the victim in advance.
Upper House Budget Committee chief Yosuke Tsuruho (right) and his Lower House counterpart, Jun Azumi, meet in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 12, 2025
Medical cap fumble paves way for unprecedented second revision of fiscal budget
While there have been cases of bills returning to the Lower House after amendments in the Upper House, it has never happened with the budget.
Junko Yagi, a professor at Iwate Medical University, speaks during an interview on Jan. 10 in the town of Yahaba, Iwate Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2025
Experts urge ongoing mental health care for families in 3/11 disaster areas
"Parents and children alike are carrying heavy emotional burdens," one expert said.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday about his decision to cancel plans to raise the ceiling on out-of-pocket expenses for high-cost medical care.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 8, 2025
Ishiba cancels planned August medical expense cap hike
It is the third time the Ishiba administration has changed its policy on the high-cost medical care system.
Obstetrician and gynecologist Song Mihyon
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 7, 2025
Doctor urges awareness of a birth control pill covered by health insurance
“I think doctors need to tell their patients that a birth control pill covered by health insurance exists,” Song Mihyon said.
Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Mar 7, 2025
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly
Despite longstanding taboos, evolving attitudes toward women's health highlight shifting cultural norms.
Foster City, California’s Gilead is laser-focused on HIV and is seeking an actual cure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2025
Gilead's Japan head says nation can be among first to end HIV epidemic
The pharmaceutical powerhouse has drugs that disrupt the transmission of the virus, one of which has been approved for prevention in Japan.
A stick-sized container containing an egg and a tank used to freeze eggs
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Mar 5, 2025
More women in Japan turn to egg freezing amid increase in financial support
Although the practice is emerging as a new option for women, experts are urging individuals to carefully weigh its benefits and drawbacks.
The health ministry issued a business improvement order to a medical clinic in Fukuoka, saying a range of stem cell treatments it offers violate the law on the safety of regenerative medicine.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 5, 2025
Fukuoka clinic issued business improvement order over stem cell treatments
The clinic offers various stem cell treatments without the prior submission of its plans to the authorities, the health ministry said.
Keiko Honda (center) poses with her teammates before an NFL game in London in October 2023.
SPORTS
Mar 4, 2025
In battling cancer, Keiko Honda channeled her cheerleading strength
The former NFL cheerleader is now making a return to professional cheerleading after overcoming breast cancer.
An event marking World Obesity Day in Brussels on March 6, 2024. Without a serious change, researchers estimate that 3.8 billion adults will be overweight or obese in 15 years — or around 60% of the global adult population in 2050.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 4, 2025
60% of adults will be overweight or obese by 2050, study says
Data from 204 countries paints a grim picture of a major health challenge facing the world.
A new study analyzing organs from deceased individuals found plastic particles accumulating primarily in the brain, with the highest concentrations in recent autopsies, raising concerns about long-term exposure despite unclear health effects.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2025
You might have plastic in your brain. Don’t panic — yet.
It’s unsettling, but the amount of plastic in your brain is probably less than the plastic spoon’s worth grabbing the headlines.
The Canadian unit of Japan Tobacco plans to record nearly ¥400 billion in loss allowances as sales expenses for the settlement.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 3, 2025
Canadian units of Japan Tobacco and others agree to settle litigation
For the settlement, the Canadian unit of Japan Tobacco plans to record nearly ¥400 billion in loss allowances as sales expenses.
Blackstone said it agreed to purchase 60% of Tokyo-based CMIC, a contract research organization, in a deal that values the company in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 3, 2025
Blackstone buys Japan drug trial firm, adding to private equity health deals
Blackstone has been increasingly active in Japan’s life science sector amid a wider buyout boom in the country.
Shinsuke Kimura, head of the Recovery Support Center, talks about the group's activities during an interview in Tokyo last week.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2025
Nonprofit supporting victims of 1995 Tokyo sarin attack to disband
The Recovery Support Center was created as many victims complained of problems with their eyes even years after medical examinations began to be offered.
The government will raise the out-of-pocket expense cap for expensive medical treatments this August as planned, but will reconsider plans for further increases, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told parliament on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 2, 2025
Japan to reconsider medical expense cap hike plan: Ishiba
The expense ceiling hike is slated to be conducted in three stages from this year to 2027.
AIREC, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven humanoid robot, demonstrates a maneuver for changing diapers or preventing bedsores in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 1, 2025
AI robots may hold key to nursing Japan's aging population
Japan is the world's most advanced aging society with a falling birth rate, dwindling working-age population and restrictive immigration policies.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.