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August 30, 2025
 

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SPACE

A SpaceX Starship spacecraft sits atop a super heavy booster at its launch pad before a scheduled 10th test flight was postponed at the company's complex in Starbase, Texas, on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 25, 2025
SpaceX postpones Starship test flight over ground system issue
Similar postponements in the past have been resolved in a matter of days.
A computer-generated image of the new HTV-X space station supply vehicle immediately after rocket separation
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 23, 2025
Japan to launch new ISS resupply vehicle in October
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has said that it will launch the first HTV-X new resupply vehicle to the International Space Station on Oct. 21.
Tomifumi Godai, an engineer who played a central role in the development of Japan's first domestically produced rockets, has died. He was 92.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025
Famed Japanese rocket engineer Tomifumi Godai dies at 92
Godai was known as the creator of the country's domestically produced H-2 and H-2A rockets.
The Firefly Aerospace mission operations center in Leander, Texas
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2025
Firefly Aerospace eyes Japan rocket launches for Asia market
The plan could make Japan the first launch site in Asia for Firefly, the Texas-based rival to Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi is helped out of the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft on board the SpaceX recovery ship Shannon after he and other crew members landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 10, 2025
Four astronauts home from space station after splashdown
The spacecraft carrying U.S. astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan's Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov splashed down off California's coast at 8:44 a.m.
Former astronaut Jim Lovell talks about his historic space flights in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in April 2010
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 9, 2025
Jim Lovell, commander of NASA's Apollo 13 moon mission, dies at 97
The mission nearly ended in disaster but became an inspirational saga of survival and endurance and led to the hit Hollywood movie starring Tom Hanks.
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force takes part in a multinational tabletop space defense exercise in Townsville, Australia, in July.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2025
Japan joins multinational space defense drill
Participants worked on procedures for dealing with and detecting satellite jamming signals and on how to avoid collisions with space debris.
Astronaut Kimiya Yui (front, second from right) and Takuya Onishi (front, left) at the International Space Station on Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2025
Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui arrives at International Space Station
Yui, who is expected to stay on board for six months, will conduct various experiments in the Japanese module Kibo.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani speaks to reporters during a visit to the Air Self-Defense Force's Space Situation Awareness radar in Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 29, 2025
‘Killer satellites’ beware: Japan unveils first space defense guidelines
The guidelines outline plans to protect Japanese satellites, while promoting cooperation between the public and private sectors on cutting-edge tech.
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2025
Taiwanese rocket fails to achieve Japan's first foreign launch
The rocket lifted off at 11:40 a.m., but within a minute its trajectory turned wobbly and it went into free fall.
Japan’s flagship H2A rocket lifts off for the final time early Sunday from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 29, 2025
Japan’s H2A rocket retired after successful final launch
The rocket’s 50th and final mission carried the GOSAT-GW, a government-developed hybrid environmental observation satellite.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Axiom-4 crew of four astronauts lifts off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on a mission to the International Space Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Wednesday.
WORLD
Jun 26, 2025
India, Poland and Hungary astronauts launch for first space station mission
The four-member crew was carried aloft on a towering SpaceX launch vehicle consisting of a Crew Dragon capsule perched atop a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket.
Models of the lunar lander Resilience (left) and the lunar rover Tenacious (right) operated by Japanese private company Ispace are displayed at the moon landing event venue in Tokyo on June 6. Japan's hopes of achieving its first soft touchdown on the moon by a private company were dashed on June 6, when the mission was aborted after an assumed crash-landing, the startup said.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 24, 2025
Ispace reveals cause of second lunar lander crash
Ispace concluded that the laser range finder failed to provide accurate data in the final phase of landing, leaving the lander unable to slow down in time.
Flames rise as a SpaceX rocket explodes in Brownsville, Texas, on Wednesday, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 20, 2025
SpaceX Starship rocket explodes in setback to Musk's Mars mission
The company attributed the explosion to a "major anomaly" and said all personnel were safe.
Honda's experimental reusable rocket during a launching and landing test
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 18, 2025
Honda hails successful test of reusable rocket
Japan's second-biggest carmaker has successfully tested an experimental reusable rocket as it seeks to expand into the space sector.
A public clash between Donald Trump and Elon Musk exposed the national security risks of the U.S. government's heavy reliance on SpaceX, a private company controlled by a single individual.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2025
Washington divorcing SpaceX just isn’t possible right now
The U.S. government depends on SpaceX for low-cost space launches while competitors lag behind.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of Starlink satellites lifts off from the U.S. Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 14, 2025
White House reviews SpaceX contracts as Trump-Musk feud simmers
The administration ordered the agencies to scrutinize Musk’s contracts to ready possible retaliation against the businessman and his companies, sources said.
From left: CTO for Ispace Ryo Ujiie, founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada, CFO and director Jumpei Nozaki speak at a news conference in Tokyo. The company said it had aborted a mission to the moon after losing contact with its lander Resilience during a daunting final descent.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 6, 2025
Japanese space startup Ispace fails in second moon-landing mission
The firm had been aiming to become the first private company outside the United States to achieve a soft landing on the moon.
Astroscale Holdings executives attend the company’s listing ceremony at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in June 2024.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2025
Space-debris firm that saw shares surge 62% on IPO loses half its value
Excitement over Astroscale Holdings was riding high, but it's now the worst performer among Tokyo’s 10 biggest listings in the past year.
Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of Ispace. The Resilience lunar lander could become the company's first to touch down on the moon on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 2, 2025
Japanese startup Ispace prepares for lunar lander to touch down on the moon
The goal is to achieve a soft landing near the Mare Frigoris, or Sea of Cold, in the moon’s northern hemisphere.
Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Virtual singer Kaf's music becomes magic in 'Kamitsubaki City Under Construction'
Virtual singer Kaf got her start in 2018 by posting songs and covers to YouTube. Now, after having performed live shows at major venues including Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan, she is turning to voice acting and starring in the new anime series “Kamitsubaki City Under Construction.”
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
In pictures: Koenji Awa Odori 2025
Japan Times
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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