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August 31, 2025
 

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MEDICINE

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a news conference at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas, on Thursday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 29, 2025
RFK Jr. says CDC must more closely align with Trump’s agenda
The comments come a day after the White House fired the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's director following an intense clash over vaccines.
The health ministry is considering allowing nationwide pharmacy sales of emergency contraceptive pills without requiring age restrictions or parental approval.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 28, 2025
Japan weighs OTC sales of emergency contraceptive pills without age limit
To ensure proper use, the plan would require that the morning-after pill be taken in the presence of a pharmacist.
A measles alert sign is posted outside the entrance to the Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York in March.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2025
‘Alternative facts’ aren't a reason to skip vaccines
Donald Trump’s health officials have been endorsing alternative facts in science to impose policies that contradict modern medical knowledge.
The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump temporarily cut off medical research grants that government officials say don’t align with his policies.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 22, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court lets Trump administration cut millions worth of medical grants
The court left open the possibility that grant recipients could sue in a different federal court to recoup wrongfully withheld funds.
The World Health Organization's funding squeeze was sparked by the U.S. decision to leave the agency, announced on day one of Donald Trump’s presidency in January this year.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 22, 2025
WHO plans to relocate units and cease some work in wake of U.S. withdrawal
The organization cut its 2026-27 budget by 21% in May, has already halved its management team, and has seen over 400 staff depart since January.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025
Japan to donate $550 million to Gavi vaccine alliance over five years
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will announce the pledge at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, set to begin in Yokohama on Wednesday.
A research team from Kyoto University has announced that it is the first in the world to create 3D jawbone-like organoids from human induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 19, 2025
Kyoto University group successfully creates jawbone from iPS cells
The team expects that its method will be applied to regenerative medicine and drug discovery.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaks during a news conference at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington on July 29.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 16, 2025
Draft of Trump’s health blueprint avoids industry crackdown
The draft was dated Aug. 11, but could still see changes before it’s finalized, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Among the middle school students who admitted to abusing over-the-counter medication, the majority — around 64% — said they got them from pharmacies while a third said they had access to them in their own households.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 13, 2025
1 in 55 Japanese middle schoolers abuse over-the-counter drugs, survey shows
Most of them got the drugs from pharmacies and their own households.
Chugai Pharmaceutical shares sank as much as 20% in Tokyo on Friday after a study revealed that an obesity drug it licensed to Eli Lilly & Co. resulted in lower weight loss and higher rates of nausea and vomiting than anticipated.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2025
Chugai stock drops the most since 1977 on disappointing obesity drug data
A study showed the drug, which it has licensed to Eli Lilly & Co., resulted in lower weight loss and higher rates of nausea and vomiting than anticipated.
Operations of a medical helicopter in Tokyo will be suspended for seven days this month due to a staff shortage.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2025
Tokyo temporarily halts medical helicopter operations due to staff shortage
The suspension began on Thursday and will continue through Sunday. The helicopter will also be out of service between Aug. 24 and Aug. 26.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles an important public health tool and could weaken America’s ability to respond to future pandemics.
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2025
RFK Jr.’s mRNA decision may be his worst yet
U.S. Health Secretary RFK Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles a public health tool and could weaken the ability to respond to future pandemics.
The price of Alzheimer's drug Lecanemab, codeveloped by Japanese drugmaker Eisai and U.S. industry peer Biogen, will be lowered to ¥97,277 for a 500-milligram bottle.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 7, 2025
Japan approves price cut for Alzheimer's drug Lecanemab
The drug's price will be lowered to ¥97,277 for a 500-milligram bottle starting on Nov. 1.
Sumitomo Pharma applied to Japanese regulators for manufacturing and marketing authorization aimed at treating patients with advanced Parkinson's disease.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 5, 2025
Drugmaker in Japan seeks approval for stem cell treatment for Parkinson's
A trial led by Kyoto University researchers indicated treatment using induced Pluripotent Stem cells was safe and successful in improving symptoms of the disease.
The newly developed drug, Adriana, is a groundbreaking painkiller, which works on a completely different mechanism to morphine and other existing synthetic opioids.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2025
Kyoto University team develops pain reliever comparable to morphine
Morphine, often administered to cancer patients, can cause serious adverse effects such as breathing issues and addiction.
The team of researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo has found that cells often labeled "villains" for their roles in atopic dermatitis and asthma can alleviate lung inflammation.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 1, 2025
Immune cells that worsen asthma can ease lung inflammation, Japan study shows
The surprise findings, published in the European Respiratory Journal, may pave the way for new treatments.
A regenerative medicine startup, Kyoto-based iHeart Japan, said Monday that it has conducted a clinical trial to transplant a treatment sheet containing cardiac muscle cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells into a patient with a heart muscle disease.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 29, 2025
Japan startup transplants iPS cells for heart treatment in clinical trial
The layered sheet containing three types of cells and gelatin particles were placed on the surface of the heart, and are expected to improve the heart's contractions.
A screenshot of a health ministry website shows an application form to submit documents for approval of a regenerative medicine program.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 28, 2025
Health bureaus' inconsistencies on regenerative medicine plans spark outcry
In one case, a regional health and welfare bureau immediately approved a regenerative medicine program but a different bureau rejected the same treatment plan.
By 2040, demand for cancer surgeries in Japan is projected to decrease by 5% by 2040, while that for radiotherapy is projected to increase by 24%.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 25, 2025
Health ministry panel calls for consolidating cancer care provision
A health ministry panel has called for consolidating surgeries and radiotherapies for cancer treatment, citing such reasons as the dwindling number of surgeons in Japan.
Pancreatic cancer, the third-leading cause of cancer death in Japan, has the lowest five-year survival rate of any cancer at just 8.5%.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 25, 2025
Kyoto University researchers find mechanism behind malignant pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer death in Japan.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
Top Japan trade negotiator canceled U.S. trip over rice, report says
Ryosei Akazawa
Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
Most Trump tariffs are not legal, U.S. appeals court rules
Workers hang a large poster of U.S. President Donald Trump on the facade of the Department of Labor headquarters building in Washington on Wednesday.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
YouTube Music Weekend is where Japan’s internet-born performers go global
Headlining the second day of YouTube Music Weekend is Vocaloid artist Kikuo, who, with 1.46 million YouTube subscribers, is one of the most popular artists in the genre.
Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Jesse Kirkwood: ‘Languages are entire cultural universes with all sorts of baggage’
Jesse Kirkwood is part of a vibrant field of translators who have nurtured what might be called a “post-Murakami era of Japanese literature and translation,” one book at a time.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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