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July 21, 2025
 

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RURAL LIFE

BUSINESS / Economy
May 29, 2023
Fukui launches Japan's first transport service using 'level 4' autonomous driving
Self-driving cars are expected to serve as a means of transportation for elderly people in areas where public transportation services have decreased due to drive shortages and depopulation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 8, 2023
'In Nojiri, I have never felt like a foreigner'
Secluded and serene, the summer spot for many expat families faces challenges that aren't unique to other rural townships in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 30, 2023
Japan's ume heartland sows new prospects
If you’ve ever eaten ume, chances are it came from Minabe or Tanabe in Wakayama Prefecture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 23, 2023
Will tourists thirst for trips to a Japanese green tea mecca?
Tourists in Japan can find quality tea anywhere. These rural farmers, however, are hoping some travelers are willing to go far afield for excellent sips.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 17, 2023
Traditional Japanese homes are the focus of weekend-long Minka Summit
Amid a movement toward sustainable living, old Japanese farmhouses are getting a second look from the non-Japanese population.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2023
School closures continue as Japan’s population declines
As Japan's birthrate drops quicker than expected, more schools in rural areas are closing their doors.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 8, 2023
A long and winding visit to 'secret' Ubayu Onsen
Secluded and remote hot springs are yet another example of Japan's deep bathing culture.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Mar 27, 2023
Support for new Fukushima Prefecture residents key to tackling depopulation
The number of people moving to the area is on the rise, but with some new arrivals then moving away again, the prefecture is faced with a growing issue.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 19, 2023
Laborious and luxurious, saffron takes root again in southwestern Japan
The world's most expensive spice flows through a small village in Kyushu.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Mar 12, 2023
Dewaya: Sansai cuisine worthy of a pilgrimage
Chef Haruki Sato prizes the freshest ingredients, even if that means digging them up in the dead of winter.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Longform
Mar 11, 2023
Abandoned after 3/11, Fukushima starts attracting new residents
People are moving to areas near the crippled nuclear power plant in the prefecture lured by the promise of subsidies, discount housing and work opportunities. But will these migrants stay?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2023
Japan lacking dairy farmers as cost of feed rises
The number of dairy farmers has been falling at an annual pace of 4%, agriculture ministry officials said.
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 12, 2023
Fukui’s dwindling washi makers hold on to paper-thin margins
As a product, washi's beauty is unassailable. As an industry, it's future is in doubt.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 21, 2023
Half-farming, half-anything: Japan’s rural lifestyle revolution
Leaving Japan's suffocating metropolises behind is as simple as a passion, a modest profit and plot of land.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 9, 2023
Don’t pay people to leave Tokyo. Make more Tokyos.
Trying to arrest rural depopulation, Japan wants people to quit Tokyo, its greatest metropolis. How about creating new ones instead?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2023
Japan’s business owners can’t find successors. This man gave his away.
Nearly 60% of the country's businesses report that they have no plan for their future ownership.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2022
The little trains that could: Japan's rural railways keep chugging on
With savvy marketing, Choshi Electric Railway somehow gets back on track.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Smart Countryside
Dec 1, 2022
Is it a bus or a taxi? For some small Japanese towns, the answer is both
Hybrid mobility services are helping cater to Japan's older citizens, many of whom live in areas where traditional forms of public transport are lacking.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2022
Pressure grows for talks on future of Japan's struggling regional railways
With people living near loss-making train lines concerned about their possible scrapping, operators will need to consider their perspective in presenting plans, pundits say.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 27, 2022
Toyama puts itself on Japan’s map of sustainable tourism
From traditional architecture and local folk crafts to impressive temples and a luxury hotel, Toyama's rural Tonami Plain is rich with culture.
Japan ruling bloc loses majority in Upper House after election drubbing
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, leaves at the party's headquarters following announcement of Upper House election result projections in Tokyo early Monday.
Polls open for key Upper House election that could shake Japanese politics
People vote during Japan's Upper House election at a polling station in Tokyo on Sunday.
Sunken WWII Japanese warship Teruzuki found off Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands. A team from the U.S. nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust has discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki on the deep seabed off the Solomon Islands as the 80th anniversary of the war's end approaches.
‘Japanese First’ Sanseito emerges as powerful force after Upper House poll
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya in Tokyo on Sunday night
Japan team finds ancient ocean full of squids
The ancient ocean was full of squids, whose population exceeded that of fish or ammonites, a Japanese research team mainly from Hokkaido University has found through a new method using technology.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Pentagon looks to unleash ‘military drone dominance’
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts a drone demonstration at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on July 10.
‘Noto Democracy’ and the slow work of civic change
Yukio Iokibe’s “Noto Democracy" centers on Motoyuki Takii, a former junior high school teacher who publishes a handwritten newspaper every month to encourage the residents of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, to engage in local politics.
In microbes we trust: Embracing the nature of fermented food
You don't need an oven to make Kenji Morimoto's easy and delicious Miso Sticky Toffee Crepe Cake.
Touring the Silk Road — without leaving Tokyo
One of the entrances to Pao Compound, a nine-story Silk Road-inspired complex in Tokyo's Higashinakano neighborhood

Podcast

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

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
By Alex K.T. Martin

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