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August 23, 2025
 

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MLIT

Disaster response vehicles parked at a roadside rest station at Noto Airport in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 17.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2024
Japan to pick more roadside stations for disaster relief
The ministry plans to increase the number of such roadside stations to about 100 from the current 39 so that each of the country's 47 prefectures will have one or two.
Inspectors at the Kanto District Transport Bureau in Yokohama make calls to companies to check on the working conditions in the logistics industry earlier this month.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jul 25, 2024
Japan's 'truck G-Men' issued guidance over 700 times in first year
The government inspectors check on working conditions in the logistics sector and monitor cases involving violations until the causes are resolved.
A truck driven by a drunk man collided with a group of schoolchildren and killed two pupils in Yachimata, Chiba Prefecture, in June 2021.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 15, 2024
Japan to toughen penalties over drunken truck drivers
The annual number of traffic accidents caused by drunken truck drivers has remained between 30 and 50 a year since 2012.
If implemented, the autonomous freight lanes would reduce congestion by up to 35,000 vehicles per day.
BUSINESS
Jul 9, 2024
Transport ministry eyes autonomous lanes to ease freight crisis
The lanes would allow the transportation of small parcels between cities using unmanned carts, and help ease a driver shortage in the logistics sector.
The government will cover up to 50% of construction expenses for four takeoff and landing sites for flying cars, subject to a cap of ¥50 million ($313,500) per site.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 25, 2024
Japan to subsidize construction of first vertiports for flying cars
Post-construction, the transport ministry will use operational and utilization data from the facilities to develop guidelines for the construction of future vertiports.
A new post has been proposed for coordinating takeoffs and landings at major airports' traffic controls.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2024
Japanese ministry proposes new air traffic coordinator post
The new post was drawn up in response to a collision between a Japan Airlines passenger jet and a Japan Coast Guard aircraft at Haneda Airport on Jan. 2.
Between November and May, five major incidents involving Japan Airlines aircraft were reported, prompting the transport ministry to issue the airline a stern warning and conduct an on-site inspection at its facilities late last month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 11, 2024
JAL vows to raise crew safety awareness following emergency probe
The airline promised to implement measures to prevent a recurrence of recent months' safety lapses in order to regain the trust of passengers.
Officials from the transport ministry arrive for an inspection at Toyota headquarters in the city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 5, 2024
Toyota car certification probe prompts calls for rules review
Despite revisions since the standards were enacted in 1951, regulations haven’t kept up with the times, an analyst wrote in a report.
Transport ministry officials head to Toyota's headquarters in Aichi Prefecture on Tuesday for on-site inspections.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2024
Auto certification in spotlight as Toyota raided over data tampering
Questions have emerged over whether Japan's regulatory standards and their subjective interpretation might be hindering automakers.
Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda apologizes during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 3, 2024
Japan's auto-testing scandal deepens, resulting in some shipment halts
Toyota and four other Japanese automakers have admitted to falsifying testing data and performing tests under inappropriate conditions, among other infractions.
Transport minister Tetsuo Saito speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday after meeting Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
JAPAN
May 31, 2024
Government defers decision on ride-hailing services
Some officials from the transport ministry and Komeito are strongly opposed to fully lifting the current ban.
Many condo complexes are facing challenges in securing sufficient reserve funds for extensive repair projects.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 30, 2024
Land ministry sets standards for condo repair reserve funds
Large-scale condo repairs typically occur roughly every 15 years.
A transport ministry probe into Japan Airlines on Friday targeted daily operations pertaining to flight operations and safety management at company facilities near Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, including JAL's safety promotion headquarters.
JAPAN
May 24, 2024
Emergency probe of Japan Airlines carried out following incidents
The on-site investigation comes after the wings of two JAL planes collided while the aircraft were on Haneda Airport’s parking apron.
The transport ministry will begin talks this summer with expressway operators on details of a system aimed at controlling traffic volumes by flexibly setting highway tolls nationwide, depending on sections and the time of day.
JAPAN
May 11, 2024
Japan to introduce variable expressway tolls nationwide
The government is considering including the plan in its basic economic and fiscal management guidelines to be compiled in June, sources said.
Noto Airport in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2024
Japan to revise guidelines for airport operators in times of disaster
The BCP revisions come on the heels of the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1.
Residents remove snow from rooftops together with workers from a snow removal company in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, in January 2021. In fiscal 2022, 49 people in Japan died during activities related to the clearing of snow. Of these, 39 people — or roughly 80% — were age 65 or older.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 15, 2024
Land ministry goes digital to prevent snow-clearing accidents
The system is aimed at assessing the risks associated with snow removal at individual houses to avert mishaps, particularly ones involving the elderly.
Daihatsu President Soichiro Okudaira submits a report to transport minister Tetsuo Saito on measures the automaker will take to prevent a recurrence of safety testing fraud, on Friday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 10, 2024
Daihatsu reports measures to prevent recurrence of testing fraud
"We want to implement recurrence prevention measures firmly and make the company capable of doing its job properly," the firm's president said.
A Japan Airlines jet is on fire at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Jan. 2.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2024
Japan air traffic controllers call for 'significant' staff increase
Last year, the number of air traffic control staff in Japan dropped to its lowest level in at least 19 years, according to transport ministry data.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 17, 2024
Daihatsu may lose production rights for three models in safety scandal
An inspection by the transport ministry found that air bags had been set to inflate automatically in tests rather than when a crash was detected.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 21, 2023
Daihatsu offices raided after scandal halts all car shipments
The raid followed revelations that the carmaker and supplier had manipulated the results of various collision safety tests dating as far back as 1989.
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
Women-only communities flourish in China
Chen Yani (right), nicknamed "Keke," eats lunch with friends and guests in a female co-living space she founded called "Keke's Imaginative Space" in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on July 14.
Demystifying the manufacturing success of China
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.

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

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Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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