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October 09, 2025
 

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MHLW

The health ministry and some municipalities are turning to spot workers to solve the labor shortage in the nursing care industry.
JAPAN / Society
May 5, 2025
More nursing care facilities in Japan embrace 'spot work' amid labor shortage
The demand for care providers is expected to rise to around 2.4 million by fiscal 2026 and about 2.72 million by fiscal 2040.
Visitors look at the preserved Atomic Bomb Dome in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in the city of Hiroshima in October.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2025
80 years on, Japan's government seeks testimonies from all hibakusha
It is the first time in 30 years that the government has sought cooperation from all hibakusha over testimonies.
A ceremony to open the Japan Institute for Health Security is held in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on April 4.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2025
Japan's new health institute gives first acute respiratory infection cases tally
This was the first tally of such cases since ARI was designated as a Category V disease under the infectious diseases control law.
Lawyers for plaintiffs seeking compensation from the government over their deteriorated health due to working in an asbestos factory speak at a news conference in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025
High court overturns asbestos ruling, ordering government to pay ¥6 million
A Japanese court ruled in favor of an asbestos victim’s family, saying the government wrongly narrowed compensation criteria in 2019.
Commuters in Tokyo. ARIs are infectious diseases with respiratory symptoms, such as COVID-19 and influenza.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 8, 2025
Japan begins monitoring acute respiratory infections
The number of patients with ARIs will be published to help the public protect themselves from infections.
A volunteer handles an incoming call at the Tokyo Befrienders call center, a suicide hotline center in Japan's capital.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 28, 2025
School-age suicides in Japan hit all-time high
The number of suicides among elementary, junior high and high school students exceeded 500 for a third consecutive year in 2024 despite a drop in the overall figure.
Emergency medical workers treat victims of the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system at a makeshift shelter before they are transported to hospitals on March 20, 1995.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2025
Japan to preserve medical records from 1995 sarin attack
The health ministry will also interview medical professionals who treated the victims and compile oral records.
A construction site in Tokyo in July 2018. Businesses failing to take measures to prevent severe heatstroke among employees will be subjected to criminal punishment from June.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 13, 2025
Japan to get tough on businesses not taking heatstroke countermeasures
Violators will be punishable with up to six months' imprisonment or a maximum fine of ¥500,000 ($3,380).
Base pay rose by 3.1% in January from a year earlier, the largest advance since October 1992, according to the labor ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 10, 2025
Japan records fastest gains in base pay since 1992, supporting BOJ moves
Data has also highlighted the impact of price growth, with real cash earnings falling 1.8%.
The health ministry issued a business improvement order to a medical clinic in Fukuoka, saying a range of stem cell treatments it offers violate the law on the safety of regenerative medicine.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 5, 2025
Fukuoka clinic issued business improvement order over stem cell treatments
The clinic offers various stem cell treatments without the prior submission of its plans to the authorities, the health ministry said.
The government will raise the out-of-pocket expense cap for expensive medical treatments this August as planned, but will reconsider plans for further increases, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told parliament on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 2, 2025
Japan to reconsider medical expense cap hike plan: Ishiba
The expense ceiling hike is slated to be conducted in three stages from this year to 2027.
The number of newborns in 2024 fell 5% from the previous year to 720,988, extending a nine-year streak of declines, according to preliminary population data released Thursday by the health ministry.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2025
Japan records fewest births on record, deepening demographic crisis
The number of newborns in 2024 fell 5% from the previous year to 720,988, extending a nine-year streak of declines.
Leaders of patients' groups submit signatures opposing the move by the government to raise the medical copayment ceiling on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2025
Japan to rethink medical copayment hike amid patient outcry
Many patients, especially those undergoing costly but effective cancer therapy, say a hike might force them to abandon their treatments.
A Japanese class at a job placement company in Hanoi in 2022. The number of foreign workers in Japan hit a record high in 2024.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2025
Japan’s foreign workforce hits fresh record as labor crisis deepens
Japan had a record 2.3 million foreign workers as of October 2024, marking a 12.4% increase from the previous year.
A volunteer responds an incoming call at a suicide hotline center in Tokyo. While the number of people who killed themselves in Japan marked the second-lowest level since 2019, such deaths among elementary, junior high and high school students were at their highest level since records began in 1980.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 29, 2025
Suicides among school children in Japan at highest level since 1980
The total number of people who killed themselves in the country fell for the second straight year to the second-lowest level since 2019, the health ministry said.
The share of university students who accepted job offers as of Dec. 1 dipped 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier, the first decrease in four years.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2025
Share of university students in Japan who accepted job offers falls
It is the first decrease in four years, as some students who received job offers from several companies apparently hesitated to pick one.
52.0% of people questioned in a survey said they want to use containers to take leftovers home if they are provided free of charge, and 28.8% showed willingness to use takeout containers whether they are free or not.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2025
Survey finds 80% of people want to take leftover restaurant food home
14.5% of those surveyed answered that they have never left food in restaurants.
A clinic in the city of Saitama in May 2020
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 11, 2025
Japan may provide support to boost rollout of smartphone-based health cards
The health ministry may provide support to medical institutions and pharmacies to promote the use of digital My Number personal identification and health insurance cards.
A busy street in Tokyo on Dec. 30. The number of influenza patients per clinic, on average, in the final week of December was the highest since health ministry records began in 1999.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 10, 2025
Japan's health ministry reports record-high flu cases
In the week through Dec. 29, the total number of reported flu cases was nearly three times the number from the same period in 2023.
Authorities are calling for utmost vigilance as Japan heads into the New Year holiday season, when many people plan getaways.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 27, 2024
Flu cases surge above ‘warning’ levels in much of Japan
An estimated 1.67 million people became sick and sought medical care from doctors in the week through last Sunday.
‘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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