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September 19, 2025
 

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SERVICES

Proxy-shopping services — companies that ship Japanese products ranging from cosmetics and snacks to limited-edition stationery on behalf of customers abroad — are already feeling the impact of the U.S. suspending de minimis exemptions.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Sep 17, 2025
End of U.S. de minimis exemption causes headaches for some businesses in Japan
Companies that ship to the U.S. are hoping customers will tolerate higher costs or that the de minimis treatment will be restored, but many believe it's gone for good.
Japan Post has been under investigation by the transport ministry since it was revealed that improper alcohol and health checks were widespread across the company.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2025
Japan Post ordered to suspend delivery vans at 100 post offices
Light commercial vans are the company’s primary means of transportation for deliveries, but Japan Post says it will continue operations as usual.
A sleepy Tokyo-listed operator of nail salons is aiming to reinvent itself as one of the world’s largest corporate holders of Bitcoin.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 30, 2025
Japanese nails salon attempts reinvention as major bitcoin holder
The shift is the latest in a wave of radical financial reinventions pulling the likes of biotech firms and regional banks into crypto’s orbit.
A cargo ship full of containers is seen at the Port of Oakland, California.
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2025
U.S. low-value package tariff exemption ends, raising costs for shippers and consumers
The move broadens the Trump administration's cancellation of the de minimis exemption for packages from China and Hong Kong in May.
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 / Society
Aug 29, 2025
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
The government is set to create a task force to review its immigration plans and prevent social division between foreign nationals and citizens.
Japan Post's UGX will still be available for many rejected packages.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 26, 2025
Japan Post to stop accepting some parcels for shipment to the U.S.
Packages containing commercial items or valued above $100 will be rejected.
The number of foreign residents with business management residency status had reached a record 41,615 as of the end of 2024.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2025
Japan aims to tighten rules for business manager visas from October
The move comes amid concerns that foreign nationals are using the visa as an easy loophole to settle in the country.
A Shein distribution center in Whitestown, Indiana, on April 8. Shein and other e-commerce sites originating from China are believed to have taken advantage of duty exemption systems of other countries to export goods of modest value in small lots.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 21, 2025
Duty exemptions for low-value imports face review amid exploitation
An expert panel at the government's Tax Commission has noted that overseas sellers of inexpensive goods effectively exploit tax exemption systems for small-ticket item imports.
A barber gives a model a haircut during the World Barber Classic at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2025
Japan's World Barber Classic tries to bring back business
The event is part of a bid by Japan's struggling barber industry to attract young male clients lost in recent years to hair salons.
The U.K. post office scandal led to indictments of more than 700 people.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2025
Panel urges Fujitsu to help victims of U.K. post office scandal
The panel set up by the British government recommended financial redress measures should be taken promptly for some 10,000 eligible claimants.
Alan Bates, a former branch manager who led the fight for justice, has said the compensation process has "turned into quasi-kangaroo courts."
WORLD
Jul 9, 2025
U.K. post office scandal may have caused 13 suicides: inquiry
The Post Office wrongfully prosecuted around 1,000 subpostmasters — self-employed branch managers — between 1999 and 2015.
Rie Usui has been working to help people with disabilities get jobs, and now runs a talent agency for disabled people.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 29, 2025
Tokyo woman working to help people with disabilities secure jobs
Rie Usui's talent agency represents about 40 models and television personalities who feature in advertisements and TV drama series.
Trucks parked at Japan Post's post office in Tokyo's Koto Ward earlier this month
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2025
Japan Post stripped of truck transport business license
The company will not be allowed to operate its approximately 2,500 trucks and other vehicles for five years.
Upper House lawmaker Hirofumi Yanagase in his office on June 9. Last month in parliament, he urged the criteria for naturalization to be revised.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 20, 2025
Calls to make naturalization more difficult emerge in parliament talks
Naturalization requires applicants to have lived in Japan for at least five consecutive years, or half of the duration required for permanent residency.
The Tokyo District Court has issued an order to the government to pay ¥1.2 million ($8,300) in damages to two overstayers who got sick while they were held at a detention center.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 18, 2025
Government ordered to compensate overstayers who got sick in detention
The Tokyo District Court held the government responsible over the deterioration of health of the two men — one Iranian, the other Turkish — at an immigration detention facility.
Japan Post President Tetsuya Senda speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2025
Japan Post to accept loss of truck transport business permit
The transport ministry is expected to revoke the permit by the end of this month at the earliest.
If Japan Post loses its general cargo vehicle license, it would be barred from reapplying for a new one for five years.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 5, 2025
Japan Post may lose cargo license over widespread driver check failures
A transport ministry audit in April revealed enough instances of missed checks in the Kanto region to surpass the threshold for license revocation.
Under the "digital address" system launched by Japan Post, users can input seven-digit combinations of numbers and letters on online shopping and other websites, and their addresses will automatically appear on the sites.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 27, 2025
Japan Post launches 'digital address' system
Under the system, users can input seven-digit codes on online shopping websites, and their addresses will automatically appear on the sites.
Institutional Shareholder Services backed the reappointment of Chairman Akio Toyoda to Toyota’s board, reversing its position from a year ago.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025
ISS reverses stance and backs Toyota chief's reappointment
"There are no particular concerns about the nominee,” Institutional Shareholder Services said of Akio Toyoda in a report Thursday.
Tokyo police have arrested a postal worker on suspicion of making a threatening call to a woman using personal information found on her mail.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2025
Postal worker accused of making threatening call to woman using delivery info
Suspect Yoichi Nose allegedly called the woman using a phone number found on her mail and threatened her by referencing voyeuristic videos he claimed to have had of her.
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
Japan dispatches five language education 'partners' to India
Five members of the Japan Foundation's Nihongo Partners program (front) gather at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Monday.
End of U.S. de minimis exemption causes headaches for some businesses in Japan
Proxy-shopping services — companies that ship Japanese products ranging from cosmetics and snacks to limited-edition stationery on behalf of customers abroad — are already feeling the impact of the U.S. suspending de minimis exemptions.
Over 90% of low-income families in Japan struggling to feed children
Save the Children Japan domestic program chief Sonoko Kawakami speaks at a news conference in Tokyo in July. A survey conducted by the group in June has found that over 90% of low-income households with children face food insecurity.
Struggling train firm in Chiba Prefecture turns to self-deprecating humor
"Laughter is important when you're in a difficult situation," said Katsunori Takemoto, president of Choshi Electric Railway, on Aug. 5 in Choshi, Chiba Prefecture.
Japan’s front-line researchers see bright path ahead for dementia treatment
A scientist looks at scans of grains at the Memory Centre at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital (HUG) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 6, 2023.
Still plenty to fight for, says Japan’s team leader at worlds
Race walker Hayato Katsuki earned bronze for Japan on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships on Saturday.
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
Japanese athletes inspired by raucous home fans at World Athletics Championships
Fans cheer on the home favorites during the women's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday.
Japan's major art events converge this fall
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.

Podcast

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

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’
By Alex K.T. Martin

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