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June 06, 2025
 

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MEDICINE

Bangladesh hoped to celebrate progress towards eradicating tuberculosis this year. Instead, it is reeling from a $48 million snap aid cut by U.S. President Donald Trump's government, which health workers say could rapidly unravel years of hard work and cause huge numbers of preventable deaths.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 4, 2025
From Nigeria to Pakistan, TB testing 'in a coma' after U.S. aid cuts
Moves by U.S. President Donald Trump have stalled vital research in South Africa and left TB survivors lacking support in India.
A Japanese team has started a final-stage clinical trial to administer to patients with familial Alzheimer's disease a drug discovered using iPS cells.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 4, 2025
Japanese team starts final-stage trial for iPS drug to treat Alzheimer's
Through the trial, which began in May, the team aims to confirm the safety and efficacy of the treatment, with hopes of obtaining regulatory approval.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his report to delegates at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 19.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2025
Trump’s WHO withdrawal could cost the U.S. dearly
Despite progress since COVID-19, the U.S. remains vulnerable to pandemics like H5N1, and withdrawing from the WHO would weaken its ability to respond to global health threats.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition and Nippon Ishin no Kai have agreed to remove up to 110,000 redundant hospital beds across the country.
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2025
LDP, Komeito and Nippon Ishin agree to phase out redundant hospital beds
The removal of 110,000 unnecessary hospital beds is estimated to save around ¥1 trillion in medical costs.
A lab at Kyoto University Hospital. A team comprising members from Kyoto University and elsewhere has discovered a way to predict whether someone will develop esophageal cancer.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 29, 2025
Team develops esophageal cancer prediction method using the inside of the cheek
The team managed to make cancer probability predictions with an accuracy of over 70%.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (center) arrives at Argentina’s Ministry of Health to meet with Argentinian Health Minister Mario Lugones in Buenos Aires on Monday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 28, 2025
RFK Jr. says COVID-19 shot isn’t recommended for healthy kids
The decision reverses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s earlier stance that everyone six months of age and older get vaccinated.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new plan to restrict updated COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk groups has sparked confusion and criticism, with experts warning it could limit public access and bypass established advisory channels.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2025
The FDA’s new COVID-19 vaccine policy is clear as mud
The U.S. health agency's promises of transparency and choice for COVID-19 vaccines fall short in its first big test. 
The lack of quick and easy tests has until now slowed the rollout of new Alzheimer’s drugs.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 20, 2025
First blood test for Alzheimer’s to be available in U.S. in June
The test will initially be available at about 50 American research institutes and hospitals that specialize in Alzheimer’s disease.
Cantourage employees inspect and process cannabis flowers at the company's production site at an undisclosed location in Bavaria, southern Germany, on April 29.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 19, 2025
High times for German cannabis firm amid medical boom
Cantourage's revenue totaled €51.4 million ($57.5 million) last year, a 118% increase on 2023.
The first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, which is made by Fujirebio Diagnostics, a unit of Japan’s H.U. Group Holdings, was cleared for people 55 years and older who exhibit signs and symptoms of the disease, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a statement.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 17, 2025
FDA clears first blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease
The test made by Fujirebio Diagnostics, a unit of Japan’s H.U. Group Holdings, was cleared for people 55 years and older who exhibit signs and symptoms of the disease.
People shop inside a tax-free drug store at the Ameyoko shopping district in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 16, 2025
Emergency contraceptive pill may be approved for over-the-counter sales
In most cases, women in Japan must undergo a medical examination and obtain a prescription to access such pills.
This undated image shows cardiologist Kiran Musunuru and pediatrician Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas with patient KJ Muldoon.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 16, 2025
U.S. baby with rare illness treated with tailor-made gene edit
The baby, who had a gene mutation that affected his liver, was treated using what amounts to a pair of molecular scissors, delivered via an infusion.
From around spring 2027, people will be able to pick up over-the-counter drugs from convenience stores without pharmacists in Japan.
JAPAN
May 15, 2025
Over-the-counter drugs to be made available at convenience stores
The move will require consumers to listen to explanations from pharmacists online before purchases.
Capsules of Takeda Pharmaceutical's Prevacid heartburn drug. The company's share price dropped by over 5% on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan to order a cut in U.S. prescription drug costs.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 12, 2025
Asian pharma stocks tumble on Trump signal to cut U.S. drug prices
The U.S. president's social media post put pressure on drug-related stocks on worries their profits will take a hit if they have to reduce prices in the U.S.
Many patients of acute myeloid leukemia die of cancer recurrence even after receiving bone marrow transplants and other treatments. The new therapy could save such patients once it is put into practical application, a group of researchers at Osaka University said.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2025
Osaka University team develops immune cell therapy for acute myeloid leukemia
The new therapy could save AML patients once it is put into practical application, the team said.
A makeshift tent camp near a railway track, following a strong earthquake in Amarapura township, Myanmar, on April 4
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 8, 2025
Health care crisis follows Myanmar quake as junta drives medics underground
After medics took a prominent role in the anti-junta movement that emerged after the coup, the military administration has sought to root out opponents to its rule.
Takaji Wakita, deputy head of the Japan Institute for Health Security, speaks during an interview on April 21 in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2025
Japan bolsters pandemic readiness with new health crisis institute
The Japan Institute for Health Security represents the centerpiece of a strengthened framework designed to apply lessons from the early missteps of the COVID-19 crisis.
A group of researchers including from Kyoto University confirmed that the TIM-3 protein, which exists in a type of immune cell in the brain, increases as the brain ages.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2025
Loss of immune-regulating protein seen easing Alzheimer's disease
The findings are expected to help develop a new treatment for the disease.
Pope Francis waves to the crowd from his popemobile as he arrives at the Manger Square before presiding over an open-air mass on May 25, 2014 outside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank Biblical town of Bethlehem.
WORLD / Society
May 6, 2025
Francis' popemobile converted into clinic for Gazan children
The iconic open-sided vehicle will head to the Gaza Strip if and when Israel opens a humanitarian corridor.
A new U.S. FDA policy requiring full placebo-controlled trials for updated vaccines, pushed by Commissioner Marty Makary (right) and U.S. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (center), is seen as a backdoor effort to sideline COVID-19 boosters and undermine broader vaccine development.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 2, 2025
RFK Jr.’s new vaccine scrutiny is alarming
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the FDA, intends to set new regulatory standards vaccine manufacturers couldn’t possibly meet.
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.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
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.
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.
Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
Six months into 2025, J-pop is having a full-on identity crisis (and a great time)
The year so far is only proving that Mrs. Green Apple is the biggest band in Japan. Their success also seems to be hinting at a change in the musical landscape more broadly.
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.

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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