Tag - japanese

 
 

JAPANESE

Two specimens of the Japanese beetle have been detected for the first time in France.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Jul 9, 2025
France worries about Japanese beetles after finding two
The insects threaten plum trees, apple trees, vines, corn, soy, green beans and asparagus, among other cultivated plants.
U.S. President Donald Trump (left) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at Morristown Airport, New Jersey, on Sunday. Trump on Monday sent letters to 12 countries notifying them of new "reciprocal" tariff rates effective Aug. 1.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 8, 2025
Japan stands its ground after Trump letter delivers 25% U.S. tariff shock
Tokyo holds the line on its negotiating position, especially when it comes to auto exports.
Mourners pay their respects to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday in the city of Nara where he was shot to death while giving a stump speech three years ago.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Jul 8, 2025
Three years after Abe's shooting, where do things stand?
The criminal trial against the alleged shooter is proceeding at a snail's pace due to the sensitivity, complexity and social impact of the case.
Japan posted a current account surplus of ¥3,436.4 billion in May, the highest level for the month, according to the Finance Ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 8, 2025
Japan's current account surplus sets record for May as trade deficit shrinks
The current account balance, the broadest indicator of a country's international trade and investment flows, was in the black for the fourth consecutive month.
Many stab wounds have been found on the upper bodies, including backs, of two women who were killed at a girls bar in Shizuoka Prefecture on Sunday, investigative sources have said.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 8, 2025
Many wounds found on women killed in Hamamatsu girls bar, police say
In the incident, the 27-year-old manager of the bar and a 26-year-old employee died after being stabbed repeatedly at around 1 a.m. Sunday.
Despite months of negotiations and Japan’s key role as a U.S. ally and investor, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba faces frustration as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats persist — damaging trust and complicating relations.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 8, 2025
Donald Trump’s ‘copy-and-paste’ tariffs will no doubt rile ‘Mr. Japan’
Trump's copy-and-paste wording sent to world leaders was virtually identical, including telling Tokyo to open its "heretofore closed trading markets” — whatever that means.
A video by the National Police Agency warns about fake scams.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 8, 2025
Scams involving police impersonation surge
Victims lost over ¥30 billion to such fraud cases in the first five months of 2025.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a trade letter sent by the White House to Japan during a news conference at the White House in Washington on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 8, 2025
Trump announces new tariff rate on Japan — and extension of deadline to Aug. 1
The United States will raise its “reciprocal tariff” on Japan to 25% effective Aug. 1, President Donald Trump said in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday.
Japanese households are struggling to keep up with price increases as salary growth lags.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 7, 2025
Real wages fall for fifth straight month in May
The 2.9% decline was the biggest fall in inflation-adjusted pay in Japan in almost two years.
Police officers stand near the site where two women working at a girls bar were fatally stabbed in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Sunday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 7, 2025
Customer allegedly stabs girls bar manager and employee to death in Shizuoka
The customer had visited the bar several times before the incident, according to police.
The Kadena U.S. Air Force Base in Kadena, Okinawa Prefecture, in August 2023. An airman from the base was arrested last weekend for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 7, 2025
Two U.S. servicemen arrested in Okinawa over assaults
A 25-year-old airman is accused of punching his girlfriend while, separately, a 21-year-old marine allegedly put his hands around the neck of an unacquainted man.
Once a way to transport lumber from the mountains to the coast, log rafting is now Kitayama's biggest attraction.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 7, 2025
A tiny mountain hamlet keeps traditional log rafting afloat
Log rafting was once a means of transporting timber, but now it’s the tourist draw of a tiny Wakayama village.
Residential buildings under construction in Shanghai in July 2022. The Chinese government risks long-term decline by repeating Japan’s policy mistakes in handling its real estate and demographic crises.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2025
China’s housing crisis is worse than it seems
Chinese policymakers — who are facing an even more severe housing and demographic crisis than Japan —are at risk of making the same mistakes.
Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, speaks to the press upon his arrival at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in April.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 6, 2025
Japan's top trade negotiator holds two phone meetings with U.S. commerce chief
Ryosei Akazawa held "in-depth exchanges" over the phone with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday and Saturday.
A voter casts a ballot for the Upper House election at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 4, 2025
Overseas voting for Upper House election begins
This marks the first time that Japanese living in Taiwan could vote at polling stations on the self-governed island.
Inflation is surprisingly strong, increasing the possibility that the Bank of Japan will raise its interest rate by the end of the year, according to Tsutomu Watanabe, an emeritus economics professor at the University of Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 4, 2025
Japan's inflation is outpacing BOJ's view, expert says
The remarks of Tsutomu Watanabe, a former central bank official, are likely to feed market expectations for another interest rate hike this year.
Despite trade pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has held firm, constrained by upcoming elections, mistrust of U.S. intentions and growing public opposition to concessions.
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2025
As trade deadline approaches, Japan must draw lines
Most worrisome now is a growing sense among the Japanese public that the U.S. is no longer a reliable partner.
Outlays by households in Japan, adjusted for inflation, gained 4.7% from a year ago in May, according to the internal affairs ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 4, 2025
Japan’s households boost spending by most since summer of 2022
Consumption makes up more than half of Japan’s economic output and could determine whether the economy will enter or avoid a technical recession.
Ubu (Saki Miyashita) is a bounty hunter who takes down cyborg criminals in "Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl."
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2025
‘Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl’: Beautiful, brutal and bringing back ’90s anime energy
The first chapter of Yasuomi Umetsu's new "Virgin Punk" project delivers old-school action and animation in a cyberpunk future.
Col. Neil Owens (right), chief of staff for the 3rd Marine Division, bows in apology at the Okinawa Prefectural Government office in Naha on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 4, 2025
U.S. military apologizes over Okinawa sexual assault case
This is the first direct apology from the U.S. military to the Okinawa Prefectural Government for a series of sexual crimes committed by U.S. servicemen in the prefecture.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’