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September 29, 2025
 

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LABOR

Yasuhiko Ito speaks of his experience as an internee under the Soviet Union after World War II, in the city of Fukuoka in April, prior to his death in May at the age of 100.
JAPAN / History
Sep 17, 2025
Former Japanese internee in Ukraine pained by Russian invasion
After World War II, Yasuhiko Ito was taken as a disarmed soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army by the former Soviet Union to Ukraine for forced labor.
Cars drive along a road during a snowstorm in the Arctic city of Norilsk, Russia, on March 19.
WORLD / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Sep 16, 2025
Ticket to the Arctic: Inside Russia's system of convict labor
Russia says forced labor, introduced in 2011, is a humane form of punishment. Convicts tell a much different story.
According to the latest survey conducted by the labor ministry, Japanese companies' employment rate of workers with disabilities was 2.4%.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2025
Japan firms facing challenge of employing more workers with disabilities
According to the latest survey conducted by the labor ministry, Japanese companies' employment rate of disabled people was 2.4%.
A building slated for demolition that was once a clinic for sex workers hired to serve U.S. soldiers protecting Seoul from North Korea
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 10, 2025
South Korean women target U.S. military in landmark forced prostitution lawsuit
Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving U.S. troops stationed in the country.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shake hands at joint press announcement after summit talks in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 24, 2025
At meeting rich in symbolism, Ishiba and South Korea's Lee agree to steadily build ties
In the two countries' first joint document in 17 years, the leaders agreed to work together "to advance future-oriented and mutually beneficial common interests."
Trucks heading toward the Jianxiawo lithium mine, in Yichun, Jiangxi province, China. The U.S. government said it will increase scrutiny of lithium, steel and other materials imported from China.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 20, 2025
U.S. targets Chinese steel and lithium for forced-labor scrutiny
The move fits within Trump's trade goals and previous government action against alleged forced labor in China.
A Loro Piana SpA luxury clothing store in Milan on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2025
Italy cracks down on sweatshops supplying Armani and Dior
For a decade, a Chinese tailor toiled in a three-story building on the outskirts of Milan, working 13 hours a day making high-end garments for brands including Italian cashmere label Loro Piana.
The working conditions cited by prosecutors shed light on the differences in wealth between people purchasing luxury goods and many of those making them.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 15, 2025
LVMH’s Loro Piana faces court oversight in Italy labor probe
In some factories, working hours mostly exceeded the 8-hour legal standard, employees slept on shop floors and were paid a fraction of Italy’s legal minimum, prosecutors said.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shakes hands with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung ahead of their meeting on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders' summit in Kananaskis in Alberta, Canada, on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 18, 2025
South Korea's Lee touts ‘inseparable’ Japan ties after Ishiba meeting
Seeking to ride the momentum that has pushed the neighbors closer following years of chilly ties, the pair also reaffirmed their commitment to trilateral cooperation with the U.S.
Shogakukan's office in Tokyo. The Fair Trade Commission issued a warning to Shogakukan and Kobunsha for failing to clearly indicate terms and conditions for freelancers they outsource work to.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2025
Japan's FTC gives first warning over freelance law breaches
Shogakukan and Kobunsha, both based in Tokyo, were urged to take preventive measures under the law, which came into effect in November 2024.
Japan has enforced tougher rules on companies to protect workers from heat after 30 workplace deaths and roughly 1,200 injuries were reported last year that were associated with high temperatures.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2025
Protect workers from heat waves or face fines, Japan tells firms
The revised legislation is a rare global example of a national-level policy on heat safety for employees.
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate for South Korea's Democratic Party, gestures during an election campaign rally in Seoul on Monday. Officials in Tokyo are closely watching Lee’s remarks for hints of how bilateral relations could shift if he is elected.
JAPAN / Politics
May 21, 2025
South Korean presidential front-runner says he's not hostile toward Japan
Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung has in recent months sought to highlight a more centrist agenda ahead of the presidential election.
Wi Sung-lac, a South Korean lawmaker who advises presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on diplomacy, is interviewed in Seoul on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 27, 2025
Aide to South Korean candidate suggests review of wartime labor solution
Wi did not provide specifics but said that a Lee administration might discuss historical issues more than the Yoon administration.
The logo of Jetstar Airways on an aircraft parked outside a maintenance hangar in Melbourne, Australia, on Feb. 27.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025
Jetstar Japan fined for failing to provide adequate cabin crew breaks
This is the first time a ruling has been handed down in Japan regarding flight attendants' rest time, according to the plaintiffs.
Anti-Yoon protesters hold up placards reading "Let's build a democratic government!" during a rally in Seoul on Friday after South Korea's Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 5, 2025
Yoon's ouster prompts Japanese concerns about ties with South Korea
Japan is worried that Yoon's removal from power will undo the improvements in bilateral relations made under his administration.
A construction site in Tokyo in July 2018. Businesses failing to take measures to prevent severe heatstroke among employees will be subjected to criminal punishment from June.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 13, 2025
Japan to get tough on businesses not taking heatstroke countermeasures
Violators will be punishable with up to six months' imprisonment or a maximum fine of ¥500,000 ($3,380).
South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun speaks during an interview on Feb. 27 in Seoul.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 11, 2025
South Korean lawmakers to visit Osaka Expo
Lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun said he will encourage South Koreans to visit Japan for the expo.
Without the well-developed road infrastructure of many parts of Honshu, it has never been easy to be a truck driver in Hokkaido, Japan’s second-largest island but largest prefecture in terms of landmass-
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Mar 3, 2025
Hokkaido trucking industry faces challenges from overtime cap
Without the well-developed road infrastructure of many parts of Honshu, it has never been easy to be a truck driver in Hokkaido.
A suspected victim of modern slavery who was initially denied state support after Britain introduced a tougher immigration policy, in London on Sept. 19
WORLD / Politics
Feb 11, 2025
U.K.'s tougher immigration policy risks trapping victims in modern slavery
The protections created under Britain's Modern Slavery Act have been eroded by rules introduced in 2023 to curb illegal migration.
Bereaved family members join hands at a memorial service for the Chousei coal mine accident in Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture on Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2025
Victims of 1942 Yamaguchi underwater mine disaster remembered
The memorial event was held near the former site of the Chosei coal mine and was attended by about 450 people.
Japan revises 30-year probability rate of Nankai Trough megaquake
A newspaper headline in Japanese about a possible Nankai Trough earthquake. In a report issued Friday, the government's Earthquake Research Committee widened the probability range for a magnitude 8 to 9 earthquake occurring off the country's Pacific coast within the next 30 years from "around 80%" to 60% to 94.5% or higher.
Japanese team detect gradual seafloor caving near Nankai Trough
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at the Prime Minister's Office on Sept. 1 during an anti-disaster drill simulating an earthquake in the Nankai Trough.
Ukrainian YouTuber arrested in Japan over Fukushima livestream
An empty street is seen in the abandoned town of Okuma, in Fukushima Prefecture, during a temporary return visit by evacuees in February 2012.
Japan private-sector pay hits record in 2024
The average salary for men was ¥5.87 million, up 3.2%, and that of women was ¥3.33 million, up 5.5%, both marking record highs.
Tokyo retains Michelin crown with 160 starred restaurants for 2026
Tokyo's current crop of three-Michelin-starred establishments includes six Japanese restaurants, five specializing in French cuisine and one that does Chinese cuisine.
Taiwan showcases chipmaking prowess as a private exhibitor at Osaka Expo
Visitors wait in line to enter the Tech World pavilion at the Osaka Expo on Thursday.
Tokyo retains Michelin crown with 160 starred restaurants for 2026
Tokyo's current crop of three-Michelin-starred establishments includes six Japanese restaurants, five specializing in French cuisine and one that does Chinese cuisine.
LDP presidential hopefuls take hard-line stance on immigration
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.
Japanese corporate boards have changed dramatically in recent years
Most Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Section companies have independent directors now.
As Japan keeps buying gas, Aboriginal Australians pay the price
Paulina “Jedda” Puruntatameri with Antonia Burke and Tiwi fisher Clinton offshore of Melville Island, one of the Tiwi Islands, in Australia's Northern Territory. Together with other Tiwi, Jedda has been campaigning for years to stop Australian company Santos and its backers, including Japanese investors, from drilling for natural gas at the Barossa gas field.

Podcast

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

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan
By Christoph Sponsel

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