Tag - medicine

 
Menu
Search
 
September 01, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

MEDICINE

New health minister Keizo Takemi is the son of Taro Takemi, a prominent physician who was dubbed “Emperor Takemi” due to the enormous and often dictatorial power he wielded over health care policy as president of the Japan Medical Association.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 15, 2023
Critics worry about new health minister's ties with lobby group
Keizo Takemi is the son of a former president of the Japan Medical Association, a political lobby mostly made up of doctors in private practice.
An image of a fetus on the screen of a portable ultrasound system.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 15, 2023
The world’s first artificial womb is on the way
The artificial placentas are intended to help struggling prematurely born infants develop much like they would in the prenatal environment.
Epitheses of various body parts at Ikeyama Medical Japan in Nagoya
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional voices: Chubu
Sep 11, 2023
Epithesis — offering appearance care to cancer patients
The use of epithesis — artificial reconstructions of body parts — is beginning to attract attention.
A man receives a COVID-19 vaccination at Aoyama University in Tokyo in August 2021.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 9, 2023
Japan to end free COVID-19 vaccinations in March
From fiscal 2024, the country will provide a COVID-19 shot once a year between to people aged 65 or over who are at high risk of severe symptoms.
Preliminary data suggests that updated COVID-19 boosters, which are matched to a previous variant known as XBB, could still offer protection against the new edition.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2023
New Pirola COVID-19 variant shows value of booster shots
Data suggests the updated COVID-19 boosters, which are matched to the XBB variant, could still offer decent protection against the new edition.
A woman shops for medicine at a drugstore in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 5, 2023
More young women overdosing on over-the-counter drugs
In a country where illicit drugs are hard to obtain, many have begun to abuse cough and cold medications, which are legal and easily accessible.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 29, 2023
Panel OKs first RSV vaccine in Japan
People age 60 or older will be eligible to receive the vaccine.
A survey by a health ministry research team has found that a significant proportion of doctors in Japan are at risk of death from overwork.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 29, 2023
Around 20% of doctors in Japan at risk of death from overwork
A survey showed that 20.4% of full-time doctors worked over 60 hours per week, exceeding the weekly legal working hours of 40 hours.
One big challenge public health officials now face is how to restore trust so that people listen to future guidance on everything from flu shots to childhood vaccines.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2023
Not all COVID-19 ‘misinformation’ is equal — nor misinformation
Public health scientists have to figure out how to get back to the kind of nuanced, thoughtful discussions that were the pre-pandemic norm.
A Japanese doctor helps a non-Japanese patient check in at the front desk of a hospital.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 25, 2023
Let’s get clinical: Navigating a trip to a Japanese hospital
You don't need to be stressed out about your linguistic ability when you check into a Japanese hospital, so brush up on some terms beforehand.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2023
Japanese ministry panel gives OK to Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab
The panel’s endorsement will be followed by official approval by the health minister in coming days.
Novo Nordisk' anti-obesity drug Wegovy
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2023
Insurers can’t avoid covering weight-loss drugs forever
Evidence is mounting that drugs like Wegovy not only help patients lose weight but also help prevent heart attacks and strokes.
An ayurvedic doctor performs a traditional therapy at SGVP Holistic hospital in Ahmedabad, India, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 17, 2023
WHO holds first traditional medicine summit
The global health body has come under fire from online critics who accused it of providing scientific validation to pseudoscience.
Surgeons work to transplant a pig kidney at a hospital in New York in July.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 17, 2023
Surgeons say pig kidney functional in human for over a month
The latest experimental procedure is part of a growing field of research aimed at advancing cross-species transplants.
Elizabeth Kutschke at the park with her son Ben, who was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2023
When a $2 million gene therapy is not enough
Ben is one of a growing number of patients with spinal muscular atrophy whose doctors are turning to additional drugs in addition to gene therapy.
Whether it is a hot summer or a cold winter, humans spend 90% of their time inside and there is little evidence that seasonal changes affect COVID-19 transmission significantly. 
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2023
COVID-19’s summer resurgence resists easy answers
Be wary of anyone with a pat explanation for why COVID-19 waves rise and fall.
Hiroshi Mikitani, co-chief executive officer of Rakuten Medical, speaks at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's meeting in Yokohama on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023
Rakuten’s Mikitani spends a fifth of his time on biotech startup
Rakuten Medical, based in San Diego, employs about 200 people and specializes in a therapy that uses light and immunotherapy drugs to fight cancer.
An intensive care unit of the city children's hospital, damaged by a Russian military strike, in Kherson, Ukraine, on Jan. 1
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2023
Ukrainians take home medical skills acquired in Japan
In response to Russia's prolonged invasion of Ukraine, Juntendo University in Tokyo set up a system to continue providing support in line with the requests of Ukrainians in Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 1, 2023
Japan panel endorses first domestically developed COVID vaccine
The shot is based on the original strain of the coronavirus, making it unlikely that it will be used in Japan or elsewhere.
In the international market, a larger number of airlines went bankrupt compared to domestic fliers due to the pandemic, with low-cost, long-haul carriers getting hit particularly hard.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2023
Post-pandemic travel boom is running out of steam
Fare promotions and other signs of weakening domestic demand show business is leveling out for airlines after post-COVID-19 boom.
Top Japan trade negotiator canceled U.S. trip over rice, report says
Ryosei Akazawa
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
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.
How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
Japan is warming up to tattoos — just not permanent ones
Tattoos have a complex history in Japan, but new types of temporary ink are letting locals curious about body art experiment without the commitment.
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.
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.

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

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER