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October 08, 2025
 

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MHLW

Nominal wages rose 1.5% in August from a year earlier, decelerating from 3.4% in the previous month, according to a report from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 8, 2025
Japan’s wage growth slows, underscoring challenge for Takaichi
Nominal wages increased 1.5% in August from a year earlier, decelerating from 3.4% in the previous month and falling below economist expectations.
Flu season began earlier than usual this year, with Okinawa Prefecture reporting the largest number of cases per hospital in the week up to Sunday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 3, 2025
Japan enters its second-earliest flu season in 20 years
Okinawa had the most cases on average by prefecture, at 8.98 patients per medical institution, followed by 1.96 for Tokyo, 1.68 for Kagoshima, and Fukuoka with 1.55.
Takeshi Niinami speaks at a news conference in early September after police investigated him over the shipment of supplements to his home.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 30, 2025
Niinami resigning as head of Keizai Doyukai
The business lobby's senior vice chairperson, Mutsuo Iwai, will become acting chairperson until a new leader is chosen.
Japanese researchers estimated that as of 2023, there were 316,900 people in Japan with ulcerative colitis and 95,700 with Crohn’s disease.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 29, 2025
Japan sees 40% surge in chronic bowel disease cases over eight years
On a population basis, a study published this month shows prevalence is now 254.8 cases of ulcerative colitis and 77.0 cases of Crohn’s per 100,000 people.
Erectile dysfunction drug Cialis
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 19, 2025
Panel OKs first OTC sales of erectile dysfunction drug in Japan
Cialis is set to become the first erectile dysfunction treatment that can be purchased at drugstores in Japan.
Takeshi Niinami resigns as chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 9, 2025
Niinami’s ouster quick but not unusual as corporations protect reputation
Sometimes it makes sense to act before the investigation is done.
Cannabidiol products in New York in October 2014. Tetrahydrocannabinol, which gives the “high” often associated with marijuana, is illegal in Japan if it exceeds a certain amount.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Sep 5, 2025
Japan has ‘strictest standard in the world’ when it comes to CBD products
The country’s threshold for tetrahydrocannabinol, a compound derived from cannabis that gives the “high,” is just 10 parts per million, compared with 3,000 ppm in the U.S.
Akio Kuroi holds a photograph of his father, Keijiro, as he speaks during an interview in Tokyo in April about how his father had changed after World War II.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 13, 2025
'War trauma' transformed caring father into a complete stranger
A growing number of family members of former Japanese servicemen are sharing their experiences, prompting the government to launch a survey to document such realities.
Nominal wages in Japan rose 2.5% in June from a year earlier, accelerating from a revised 1.4% gain the previous month, according to the labor ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 6, 2025
Japan’s nominal pay rises faster in June, backing case for BOJ rate hike
Nominal wages increased 2.5% in June from a year earlier, accelerating from a revised 1.4% gain the previous month and marking the steepest increase since February.
Amid rising prices for food and other items, a government panel has proposed a record hike in the average minimum wage.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 5, 2025
Amid inflation, Japanese government panel proposes record ¥63 minimum wage hike
The recommendation by the panel, which advises the labor minister, would raise the average minimum wage to ¥1,118 per hour.
The proposed hike in the national average minimum wage to about ¥1,118 ($7.43) per hour would exceed last year's increase of 5% and be the largest since the current system began.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2025
Japan plans another record minimum wage hike, says report
The proposed hike, to about ¥1,118 per hour, would exceed last year's increase of 5%.
Japan's seasonally adjusted effective job-to-applicant ratio dipped to 1.22 in June, down 0.02 point from the previous month, according to the labor ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 1, 2025
Japan's jobs-to-applicant ratio falls to 1.22 in June
It marked a second consecutive month of decreases as more people entered the job market amid soaring prices of food and other goods.
Japan's oldest person, Miyoko Hiroyasu, died Tuesday at the age of 114, according to the health ministry.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 31, 2025
Japan's oldest person dies at 114
Miyoko Hiroyasu, from the city of Nakatsu in Oita Prefecture, was born in January 1911. She died on Tuesday.
Eighty percent of high school students in Japan expressed interest in wage rules, followed by working hour rules, at 79.5%, according to the results of a questionnaire survey released by the labor ministry on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2025
80% of high schoolers in Japan show interest in wages and labor systems
Civics classes were cited as good opportunities for high school students to learn about social security systems.
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.
The average life expectancy of Japanese citizens in 2024 is 81.09 years for men and 87.13 years for women, according to the health ministry.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 25, 2025
Japan's average life expectancy in 2024 almost unchanged from 2023, data shows
The life expectancy of Japanese men was sixth globally in 2024, while that of Japanese women remained in the top spot.
The leading cause of workers experiencing work-related mental health issues was power harassment, or an abuse of authority from superiors, which accounted for 224 cases.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 26, 2025
Work-related mental health cases hit record high in Japan
The leading cause of such cases was power harassment, or an abuse of authority from superiors.
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
Jun 4, 2025
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The new low underscores the immense challenge facing the government as it attempts to reverse the trend in one of the world’s most aged societies.
The government should "design a specific system by around fiscal 2026 to make standard childbirth expenses free of charge,” an expert panel said, as the aging nation seeks to reverse its declining population and shrinking pool of tax-paying workers.
JAPAN
May 15, 2025
Expert panel suggests Japan’s government make childbirth free
The proposal follows a child care policy package adopted in 2023 to reverse Japan’s declining birthrate by supporting families with young children.
Nominal cash earnings rose 2.1% from a year earlier, decelerating from a revised 2.7% pace in February and below a median economist forecast of 2.5%, according to the labor ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 9, 2025
Japan’s nominal wage growth slows, backing case for BOJ caution
Nominal cash earnings rose 2.1% from a year earlier, decelerating from a revised 2.7% pace in February and below a median economist forecast of 2.5%.
‘We have drawn lessons,’ Indian Army chief says of brief clash with Pakistan
Indian Army chief Upendra Dwivedi waves as he arrives to attend the ceremonial reception of Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in New Delhi in May.
Japanese immunologist among three Nobel medicine prize winners
Shimon Sakaguchi, an immunologist and distinguished professor at Osaka University, attends a news conference after winning the 2025 Nobel Prize in medicine, in Osaka Prefecture on Monday.
Spanish tourist injured in latest bear attack
Shirakawago, a U.N. World Heritage site in Gifu Prefecture
Americans and Canadians unite in battling 'eating machine' carp
A Fisheries and Oceans Canada team patrols the Grand River in Dunnville, Ontario, in search of invasive grass carp specimens on Sept. 25.
Trump hails 'wisdom and strength' of Japan's incoming prime minister
Sanae Takaichi, the newly elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, gives a news conference after the LDP presidential election in Tokyo on Saturday.
OpenAI’s Sora 2 is drowning in Japanese 'AI slop'
OpenAI has rolled out a social app powered by Sora 2, its artificial intelligence video generator, which was quickly flooded with videos featuring iconic Japanese intellectual property.
Trump has his eyes on the prize — but a Nobel win looks unlikely
A protester holds a sign with an image depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and the words "Nobel" written on it, as supporters and family members of hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, demonstrate to demand the immediate end of the war and the release of all hostages, outside the U.S. Consulate in Tel Aviv, on Sept. 2.
‘Takaichi trade’ stalls as political reality calls for wait-and-see approach
Tokyo stocks staged a powerful rally on Monday. On Tuesday, they rallied again, then retreated.
‘We have drawn lessons,’ Indian Army chief says of brief clash with Pakistan
Indian Army chief Upendra Dwivedi waves as he arrives to attend the ceremonial reception of Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in New Delhi in May.
How a family-run landscaper turned the Osaka Expo green
The team at Ryokukou Garden consists primarily of a single family, including Toshiki Tanisaki (second from right), who led the company's efforts at the Osaka Expo, Chikako Tanisaki (fifth from right), who performs daily maintanence at the expo, and Takeshi Tanisaki (fourth from right), who added a nursery to the family farm more than 50 years ago.

Podcast

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

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

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