Tag - japanese

 
 

JAPANESE

Deceptive contractors prey on elderly homeowners and pressure them into signing contracts by making claims such as, "If you leave it unchanged, your house will tilt."
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
May 8, 2025
Japan struggles to crack down on home renovation scams
A senior police official said the rise in fraudulent renovation work is largely due to a legal loophole over small-scale construction work.
Former Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda speaks during an interview in Tokyo on April 28.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 7, 2025
Ex-BOJ Gov. Kuroda urges calm response to Trump tariffs
"It's better not to be worked up by every little thing, but to sit down and respond," Kuroda said, referring to frequent changes in U.S. tariff policy.
Japan's Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa speaks to the press upon his arrival at Haneda Airport on April 18. He has said that all tariffs need to be reconsidered by the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 7, 2025
U.S. and Japan remain far apart on tariffs
While both sides have said they will aim for a deal as soon as possible, they have also indicated that they aren't in a rush for a swift settlement.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo. Recent market turmoil drove investors to the yen as a haven asset, meaning foreign investors that put money into shares of Japanese importers will reap two benefits at once: yen gains and improved earnings at these businesses.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 7, 2025
Top-performing Orbis fund doubles holdings in Japanese stocks
Japanese stocks made up 24% of the $3 billion Orbis International Equity fund as of end-April, up from just 10% four months earlier.
Sapporo’s Susukino district. Hiroko Tamura, the mother of a 31-year-old woman suspected of killing and beheading a man in the district in 2023, was sentenced on Wednesday to one year and two months in prison, suspended for three years, for aiding in the mutilation and concealment of a corpse.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 7, 2025
Mother of suspect in Sapporo beheading case sentenced for role in cover-up
Hiroko Tamura was sentenced to one year and two months in prison, suspended for three years, for aiding in the mutilation and concealment of a corpse.
Those who entered the job market from around 1993 to 2004, when long-term stagnation started, are likely to struggle even more to make ends meet after retirement.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
May 7, 2025
Japan's 'ice age' employment generation is at risk of poverty during retirement
Due to low wages the generation tends to earn and protracted pension adjustments, many may end up relying on welfare benefits.
A 31-year-old man was taken into custody on Monday on suspicion of drunken driving after he caused a multivehicle crash in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 6, 2025
Driver arrested at scene of Yokosuka crash that injured eight
A breathalyzer test showed the 31-year-old man's blood alcohol level was approximately three times the legal limit.
Staff members from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Community Guidance Division call for cooperation with officers conducting door to door visits, on April 15 in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. Officers make a point of clearly identifying themselves and their assigned police box during each visit.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 6, 2025
Tokyo police promote home-visit program amid growing security challenges
Some residents, wary of scam artists pretending to be police officers, refuse to engage at all when one visits their home.
With the June 1 reform of imprisonment penalties, Japan will shift the main objective of imprisonment from punishment to preventing repeat offenses.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 5, 2025
Japanese prisons prepare for imprisonment penalty reform
Japan will shift the main objective of imprisonment from punishment to preventing repeat offenses.
In France, a state-of-the-art rare earths plant to extract key minerals like dysprosium and terbium is being built with French and Japanese support — the first of its kind outside China. Its significance goes beyond the project itself.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 5, 2025
New rare earth plant shows strength of Japan-France cooperation
In France, a state-of-the-art rare earths plant is being built with French and Japanese support, showing the way for those who see the benefits of working together and not alone.
China's Bayan Obo rare earth mine in Inner Mongolia. As U.S.-China tensions strain critical mineral supply chains, Tokyo’s multipronged approach based on sovereignty, resilience and sustainability is gaining quiet relevance.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 5, 2025
Japan's resource security path may hold answers to trade turmoil
Critical mineral supply chains are made vulnerable by China's dominance and U.S. protectionism. Japan's strategy may provide clues as to how to secure these vital resources.
Ahead of Children’s Day, a survey of kids entering elementary school in Japan found their top dream job was cake shop and bakery worker, followed by police officer and athlete.
JAPAN / Society
May 4, 2025
Cake shop workers and police officers high on dream job list in Japan
Cake shop and bakery worker topped the overall rankings covering both boys and girls, chosen by 11.7% of the respondents.
Osaka police arrested Yuki Yazawa for attempted murder after he allegedly plowed his car into elementary school children in Osaka on Thursday. 

 department is investigating how and why the 28-year-old suspect,
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 4, 2025
Suspect who hit Osaka children with SUV said he disliked people living without hardship
The Osaka Prefectural Police Department is investigating how and why the 28-year-old suspect, Yuki Yazawa, committed the assault.
Hideyuki Shirai (center) at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Saturday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 4, 2025
Police arrest man after body of ex-girlfriend found under his home
The victim, a 20-year-old ex-girlfriend of the suspect, had made multiple reports to the Kanagawa police department last year.
Time Out Market Osaka, located in the basement of Grand Green Osaka's South Building, is the London-based media and hospitality business' first Asian edition of their food market.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 4, 2025
More than a food court: Time Out Market curates Osaka’s best flavors
After whetting appetites in cities like New York and Dubai, Time Out Market, the food event of the eponymous magazine and media group, has opened its first Asian edition in Osaka.
Coming in handy: The "temaki-zushi" (hand-rolled sushi) was first created by Tama Sushi to solve the problem of eating sushi on the go.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 3, 2025
The sushi cone that changed everything
Inspired by ice cream cones, Tokyo’s “temaki-zushi” made sushi handheld, affordable — and a quietly radical moment in Japanese dining.
Chief Justice Yukihiko Imasaki
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 3, 2025
Supreme Court chief vows to handle retrial requests swiftly
"There have not been many requests for retrial, so it is not easy to share and accumulate experiences," Supreme Court Chief Justice Yukihiko Imasaki said.
Tetsuo Sato, a 105-year-old former soldier, talks about the Imphal Operation, in Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture, on March 30.
JAPAN
May 3, 2025
'War must never happen again': Former Japanese soldier recalls battle of Imphal
The Imphal operation during World War II is known as one of the most reckless battles waged by the Imperial Japanese Army.
A seamstress at Kineya Tabi sews together split-toe "tabi" socks, once a major industry for the town of Gyoda, Saitama Prefecture.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 3, 2025
Japan’s ‘tabi’ sock mecca runs on thread and memories
At their peak in the early-20th century, Gyoda’s artisans churned out more than 84 million pairs of socks each year.
In a news conference in Tokyo on Friday, Tokie Tanaka, 64, details her allegations of sexual abuse against a Catholic priest.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 2, 2025
Woman says archbishop of Tokyo ignored her pleas after priest allegedly raped her
The woman's lawyer blamed the archbishop for failing to take appropriate actions after the woman told the congregation about the alleged abuse.

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’