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June 05, 2025
 

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito speaks to the press following the opening of the prefectural assembly's June regular session on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 3, 2025
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito to take 50% pay cut over info leak
The leak concerned the personal information of a former prefectural government employee who distributed a document alleging harassment by the governor.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (third from left) speaks at a Council for Gender Equality meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 3, 2025
Japan to promote women's startups as part of push to stop rural outflow
Seeing fewer job prospects for women in the countryside as a problem, the government will improve consulting systems for business startups in rural areas.
A resident in Uchinada, Ishikawa Prefecture, points to a boundary of his property with his neighbor which shifted due to liquefaction following the massive earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula in January 2024.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2025
Noto quake liquefaction hampers land boundary redrawing
Liquefaction during the Noto quake caused a lateral flow of up to 3 meters along a prefectural road running north to south through Uchinada and Kahoku.
Former Deputy Wakayama Gov. Izumi Miyazaki, who won Sunday's Wakayama gubernatorial election, speaks in Wakayama the same day.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 2, 2025
Miyazaki elected Wakayama governor for first time
Voter turnout stood at 39.86%, the same as in the previous Wakayama gubernatorial election in 2022.
The third-party committee, chaired by Ryoji Kudo, announced the results of the investigative report at the Hyogo Prefectural Office on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 27, 2025
Hyogo governor likely behind whistleblower info leak, says panel
Saito told the third-party panel that he thinks he was informed of the whistleblower's personal information but did not issue any instructions on how to handle it.
Japanese license plate samples — the top two are examples of nationwide license plates, while the bottom two are examples of "gotochi" license plates.
JAPAN
May 25, 2025
Japan to scrap monochrome special license plates
The ministry will soon allow only multicolor versions in an effort to ease the burden on license plate makers amid an expected increase in demand.
A former nonregular government employee, who cooked lunch for a public school in the Tohoku region, says she was dismissed after she was made to take an open recruitment exam.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
May 19, 2025
Civil service contract workers fear lack of job security
Contracted civil servants are paid about half the salaries of regular staff or even less, and a fear of being dismissed hangs over their heads.
The Osaka city board of education organized classes in which elementary school students disassembled devices slated for disposal and learned about the recycling of the rare metals contained in them last November.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 6, 2025
Disposal questions arise as student learning devices need replacing in Japan
The Osaka city board of education organized classes in which elementary school students disassembled devices slated for disposal.
The "customer harassment" rate for officials of prefectural and municipal governments shown by the internal affairs ministry's first-ever survey on the matter far exceeded the 10.8% for private-sector employees found by the labor ministry in its survey in fiscal 2023.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2025
'Customer harassment' faced by 35% of local government officials
A survey found that 17.5% of cases were prompted by officials' work at customer service counters, such as mistakes.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura says he hopes the prefecture's new rule prohibiting older people from using ATMs while talking on phones becomes widely known and eventually accepted as common sense.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Apr 24, 2025
Osaka to ban older people from using ATMs while on the phone to help stop scams
While the ban does not include penalties, the Osaka prefectural government hopes to build public consensus to help prevent scams.
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 21, 2025
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Among the world’s largest democracies, Japan has some of the highest minimum age requirements for politicians.
With more wild bears entering human areas across Japan in recent years, the revised law is aimed at making it possible to deal with them promptly and prevent casualties.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025
Japan enacts bill allowing urban bears to be shot
The law designates animals with a high risk of harming people as "dangerous wildlife animals" that can be shot.
Unsold bonds are also being covertly peddled at discounted prices, according to several market participants, including investors.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 18, 2025
Japanese municipal bond deals fail to sell as rate swings surge
This month’s heightened market volatility have also led to delays and cancellations of several Japanese corporate bond offerings.
Shuhei Kishimoto, in April 2023 in Wakayama Prefectural Government
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 15, 2025
Wakayama Gov. Kishimoto dies at 68
The governor died on Tuesday morning of septic shock at a hospital where he was receiving treatment after being found collapsed at home a day earlier.
Shuhei Kishimoto
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2025
Wakayama governor taken to hospital after collapse
Kishimoto is unconscious and in critical condition, and is being treated in an intensive care unit, sources said.
This 1-meter "wajima-nuri" lacquerware globe from Ishikawa Prefecture will be one of the specialty products to be displayed by Japan's local governments at the Osaka Expo.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2025
Local governments to showcase products at Osaka Expo
Eye-catching items include a 1-meter lacquerware globe from Ishikawa Prefecture that escaped damage after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and others at a ceremony to encourage regional revitalization support officers on Wednesday at the prime minister's official residence
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 10, 2025
Ishiba names 180 regional revitalization officers
The officers will work in groups of three to help 60 municipalities.
On April 23, 1925, The Japan Times ran a story about the principal clauses of the new Peace Preservation Law that was enacted to suppress ideologies deemed dangerous by the state.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Apr 5, 2025
Japan Times 1925: Peace law has several teeth
The Peace Preservation Law was a means of ideological suppression that grew tighter over time until it was repealed by Allied authorities following World War II.
Pedestrians in Omiya, Saitama Prefecture
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2025
More Japanese prefectures to introduce remote work allowance
Twelve of the 47 prefectures will introduce the allowance next month.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito bows during a news conference at the Hyogo prefectural government building in Kobe on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 26, 2025
Hyogo governor apologizes over harassment but denies breaking whistleblower law
Motohiko Saito denied the illegality of the actions to identify the whistleblower, saying that they were appropriate.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
Toyota Industries receives $33 billion buyout offer from group companies
Toyota group companies could establish a new holding company to privatize Toyota Industries.
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
South Korea’s Lee pledges to heal deep wounds as ‘president for everyone’
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung waves with his his wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, following his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
South Korea’s Lee pledges to heal deep wounds as ‘president for everyone’
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung waves with his his wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, following his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
Japanese baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima dies at 89
Shigeo Nagashima (left), then the manager of the Tokyo Giants, waves to fans with players and coaches during a victory parade in central Tokyo in 2000. Nagashima died at the age of 89 on Tuesday.
‘A garden is a grand teacher’: The Kamakura Gardener nurtures via YouTube
American Robert Jefferson runs a YouTube channel called The Kamakura Gardener that invites viewers to enjoy the pleasures of gardening, cooking and slow living.

Podcast

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

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

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