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July 06, 2025
 

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KUMAMOTO

People release flowers into the Kawauchi River, a tributary of the Kuma River, which overflowed due to downpours five years ago, on Friday in Kuma, Kumamoto Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2025
Victims of 2020 Kumamoto heavy rains mourned five years on
The July 2020 downpours, which caused floods and mudslides, left 67 people dead, including indirect fatalities, and two others missing.
Bereaved families of the victims of the 2020 Kumamoto rain and flooding disaster lay flowers at a memorial held in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2025
Kumamoto marks five years since deadly flooding
Hitoyoshi Mayor Hayato Matsuoka has pledged to continue supporting all of those affected by the disaster.
University of Tokyo President Teruo Fujii (left) and Y.J. Mii, a TSMC executive vice president, at a news conference Thursday. The school and the company have been working together since 2019.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 12, 2025
TSMC and Tokyo University team up to establish a chip lab
The chip giant and university will work together on chip-related technologies and supporting educational and research and development opportunities.
The Kumamoto Municipal Government building in the city of Kumamoto
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2025
Around 100 dead cats found at woman's home in Japan
City officials and animal rights volunteers inspected the house twice, before launching a full search and rescue mission.
TSMC’s plan to build a second factory in Kumamoto Prefecture is key to Japan’s ambitions to regain leadership in semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025
TSMC flags delays in Japan expansion while U.S. plans advance
The sudden influx of workers from TSMC’s first plant is already bogging down rural infrastructure in Japan.
An illustration of Nipponopterus mifunensis, a new genus and species of pterosaur
JAPAN
May 19, 2025
Pterosaur fossil found in Japan identified as new species
This is the first time that a pterosaur has been named based on a fossil found in Japan.
Environment Minister Keiichiro Asao attends a memorial service for Minamata disease victims in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture on Thursday.
JAPAN
May 1, 2025
Victims mourned 69 years after Minamata disease recognition
There were 2,284 certified patients of Minamata disease in Kumamoto Prefecture and neighboring Kagoshima Prefecture as of the end of March.
Singer Aki Yashiro in Tokyo in 2012
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2025
Nude photos of deceased singer Aki Yashiro spark row in Japan
A record company is facing a backlash after announcing it would release a CD by the enka legend, who died in 2023, that will include nude photographs of her taken privately.
Shinobu Yamato (right), the mother of Hikaru Yamato who died in the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, mourns her son along with Hikaru's brother Shogo in Minamiaso, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2025
Family mourns university student killed in 2016 Kumamoto earthquake
The earthquakes claimed the lives of 278 people, including those who died due to indirect causes, in Kumamoto and the neighboring prefecture of Oita.
Shizuyo Yoshimura, who survived the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, has spent nearly a decade recounting her time at a local evacuation center to pass on lessons to future generations.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2025
Kumamoto earthquakes survivor shares evacuation center lessons nine years on
One survivor has spent nearly a decade recounting her time at a local evacuation center, aiming to pass on her hard-earned knowledge to future generations.
A photo posted on the X account for the transport ministry's Matsuyama branch in Ehime Prefecture shows a wildfire in the city of Imabari on Sunday night.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2025
Firefighters and SDF battle wildfires spreading in Okayama and Ehime
This is the second time the country has seen an unusually large wildfire in recent weeks, following one in Iwate Prefecture last month.
A Yoshino cherry tree in bloom in Kumamoto City's Nishi Ward on Sunday.
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2025
Cherry blossoms bloom in Kumamoto and Kochi
Compared with last year, the blooming date was the same in Kochi and three days earlier in Kumamoto.
To achieve a stable supply chain and propel semiconductor innovation, Japan's government and chipmakers are increasingly building bridges with foreign firms.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 3, 2025
Japan is no island when it comes to semiconductors. Rightly so.
To achieve a stable supply chain and propel semiconductor innovation, Japan's government and chipmakers are increasingly building bridges with foreign firms.
Kumamon, the official mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, poses in front of a sign of Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., at TSMC's then new factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, in February 2024.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 3, 2025
In chip renaissance, Japan is learning from past mistakes
In the 1980s, Japan dominated semiconductor production. Fast-forward to today and the country is trying to recapture its past glory, this time with a more outward-looking strategy.
The city of Kumamoto has seen a surge in the number of students from Taiwan, following the arrival of chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and related businesses in Kumamoto Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 31, 2024
Kumamoto public schools respond to influx of Taiwanese students
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s arrival in Kumamoto has heightened the need to adapt to the needs of Taiwanese families.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s factory (left) in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Feb. 23, the day before it was officially opened
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 22, 2024
Chip cities rise in Japan’s fields of dreams
Injections of cash are transforming once-sleepy areas, lifting stagnant house prices and triggering construction booms.
Rice fields in the town of Ozu, Kumamoto Prefecture. The water-filled paddies glistening under the sun is a symbol of a long-running effort to preserve the prefecture’s groundwater.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Nov 17, 2024
Japan's chipmaking rush pressures Kumamoto's special water supply
TSMC and others hope that support for existing projects and proper wastewater management can avoid undermining water development efforts lauded by the U.N.
Rapidus' new semiconductor plant under construction in Chitose, Hokkaido, in July
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 18, 2024
New high-profile chip plants driving up nearby land prices across Japan
Expectations for growth in demand for semiconductors has boosted demand for commercial and industrial plots, and housing.
Thinly sliced puffer fish sashimi. The dish is often served at high-end restaurants in Japan, where chefs must hold a license proving they can safely slice around organs that contain a lethal poison.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2024
Japanese 10-year-old passes test for preparing deadly fugu
Fifth grader Karin Tabira passed a test this summer that certifies her to slice and gut the fish for consumption.
The Todoroki Falls in Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Saturday. Seven high school students who had played in a river nearby experienced vomiting and diarrhea.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 28, 2024
Over 100 people fall sick in Kumamoto with river eyed as potential source
The city has set up signs near the river due to the suspected norovirus cases, calling on visitors to refrain from playing in the water.
Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Hidden AI prompts in academic papers spark concern about research integrity
Waseda University is one of 14 institutions in eight countries found to have used hidden prompts in research papers.
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
Residents of Tokara Islands begin evacuation as seismic swarm continues
Details about evacuations from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture, is seen written on a whiteboard in the city of Kagoshima on Thursday.
U.S. military apologizes over Okinawa sexual assault case
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.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

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