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October 18, 2025
 

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TOURISM

Visitors walk toward the Sensoji temple in the Asakusa district of Tokyo in June. Over 3 million foreign nationals are estimated to have visited Japan in September alone.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2025
Foreign visitors to Japan this year top 30 million at fastest pace yet
With the autumn foliage season and winter holidays still to come, the yearly figure could end up exceeding 40 million for the first time.
A sightseeing cart drawn by a water buffalo in Yubu Island in Okinawa Prefecture
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2025
Contactless payments to become option for Okinawa water buffalo cart rides
With the contactless payment option, the water buffalo cart operator's ticket counter work is expected to become less burdensome and more efficient.
Work to dismantle and remove exhibits begins at several pavilions of the Osaka Expo on Tuesday, a day after the event ended.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2025
Osaka Expo drew 25.57 million visitors over 184 days
A total of 207,889 people visited the site on Monday, the last day of the event.
Tottori Gov. Shinji Hirai (right) exchanges bottles containing sand with Shifa Zghoul Haddad, the Acting Commissioner General and government Representative for the Jordan Pavilion at the Osaka Expo, in Osaka on April 23.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2025
Local governments bank on Osaka Expo's success to draw in tourists
During the 184-day expo, prefectural governments engaged in promotional activities to attract tourists and publicize local culture through pavilions and events.
Fukushima Prefecture's Tsuruga Castle in the city of Aizuwakamatsu. The castle's stone walls, with plants growing out of the cracks, face the risk of collapse if left unattended.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Oct 13, 2025
Fukushima hopes to preserve historic Tsuruga Castle and boost tourism
Battling limited resources, the public and private sectors are banding together to pass down the iconic symbol of the prefecture's culture and history.
At Cofunia, an inn themed after Japan's "kofun," the often keyhole-shaped burial mounds form the inspiration for design of much of the property.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 11, 2025
Nara inn offers room, board and an ancient burial mound
More than 160,000 "kofun" burial mounds dot the Japanese archipelago, but Cofunia allows guests to lay their heads directly adjacent to one.
Japan’s government set a target of 60 million annual foreign visitors by 2030, but many businesses involved with tourism are already struggling with skilled worker shortages.
BUSINESS
Oct 10, 2025
Japan set to be most impacted by tourism labor shortages globally, report shows
The country will see a 29% shortfall in necessary labor in 2035, according to the Future of the Travel & Tourism Workforce report.
Tokyo was ranked the world's best large city for the second year in a row in the Conde Nast Traveler's 2025 Readers' Choice Awards.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2025
Tokyo named world’s best big city for second straight year
Recognition from readers of luxury travel and lifestyle magazine Conde Nast Traveler comes after Japan welcomed a record 36.8 million foreign visitors in 2024.
A man operates an automated EES kiosk during a demonstration of the European Union's Entry/Exit System (EES) at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone, U.K., on Sept. 23.
WORLD
Oct 8, 2025
What the EU's new biometric border checks mean for non-EU citizens
The Entry/Exit System (EES) will require all non-EU citizens to register their personal details, including fingerprints and facial images, when they first enter the Schengen area.
Shirakawago, a U.N. World Heritage site in Gifu Prefecture
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2025
Spanish tourist injured in latest bear attack
The 44-year-old tourist was pounced on from behind as he was walking to a bus stop on Sunday.
A Swedish snowboard instructor works at the Niseko ski resort area on Hokkaido, in Kutchan, in December 2022
JAPAN / Society
Oct 4, 2025
A Japanese ski resort town is roiled by a debate over immigration
Residents are protesting a planned housing facility for foreign workers, exposing the conflict between labor needs and worries over immigration.
Costumed revelers stand next to police officers controlling crowds at the scramble crossing in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Oct. 31, 2022.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 3, 2025
Tokyo's Shibuya calls on foreign visitors not to have a ‘disruptive Halloween’
The ward, a hot spot for Halloween revelers, is taking a step back from its “don’t come” messaging of the recent past.
Atsuko Mori, founder and director of Kyoto-based tea salon Camellia Tea Ceremony, prepares matcha during a tea ceremony in Kyoto.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 2, 2025
Tea ceremony experts see matcha boom as a big opportunity
Matcha’s sudden spike in popularity overseas has prompted debate in Japan about whether the global craze risks diluting tea’s cultural meaning.
Climbers on Mount Fuji's Yoshida Trail in July 2024
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2025
Yamanashi Prefecture doubles Mount Fuji revenue to ¥590 million
This year the prefecture doubled the entrance fee for the mountain’s most popular route — the Yoshida Trail — from ¥2,000 to ¥4,000.
The Osaka Expo in Osaka on Sept. 13. The daily number of visitors to the expo has topped 200,000 since mid-September as its Oct. 13 closing approaches.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2025
Osaka Expo visitors exceed breakeven point
Approximately 28.2 million people are expected to visit the Osaka Expo before it ends next month.
Hokkaido is reconsidering the possibility of hosting a casino resort, several years after Gov. Naomichi Suzuki halted plans for one.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Sep 29, 2025
Hokkaido cities consider fresh bet on casino resort
Citing concerns over gambling addiction and possible environmental impacts, Hokkaido's governor said it will be challenging to gain public acceptance for a casino bid.
An empty street is seen in the abandoned town of Okuma, in Fukushima Prefecture, during a temporary return visit by evacuees in February 2012.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 27, 2025
Ukrainian YouTuber arrested in Japan over Fukushima livestream
The arrest is the latest in a string of incidents involving fame-seeking foreign nationals behaving badly in the country.
Originally from Brisbane, Australia, Linda Joyce moved to rural Tochigi Prefecture in 2024 for a career shift from teaching to hospitality and sustainable tourism.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 25, 2025
Linda Joyce: ‘We hope people recognize the benefits of exploring rural areas’
Former teacher Linda Joyce shifted careers to the tourism industry in 2024 and now works at a historic property in rural Tochigi Prefecture.
A business class suite of an Airbus SE A350-1000 aircraft operated by Japan Airlines is seen during a media preview at the company's hangar at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in January last year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2025
Boom in business class travel from Japan fuels airlines profits
As tariffs change trade patterns and roil global supply chains, corporate Japan is dealing with it by getting executives in the air.
Visitors at the Osaka Expo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2025
Osaka Expo visitors top 20 million as crowds surge
Ahead of the Oct. 13 closing of the event, the Osaka Expo is attracting visitors at a rapid pace, with the daily turnout exceeding 200,000.
Why I chose Japanese citizenship over permanent residency
Jon Heese (second left) takes part in a 2024 New Year's nihonshu barrel opening ceremony.
Doctrine forms the core of Sanseito’s strategy, with some caveats
Crowds attend a Sanseito rally in the city of Saitama during the Upper House election.
Former PM Tomiichi Murayama dies at age 101
Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama speaks during an interview in Tokyo in March 2007.
LDP and Nippon Ishin fine-tuning deal to form coalition
Liberal Democratic Party head Sanae Takaichi (second from right) and Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Fumitake Fujita (second from left) meet in Tokyo on Thursday.
What you need to see at this year's Tokyo film festival
Chloe Zhao’s "Hamnet"
What you need to see at this year's Tokyo film festival
Chloe Zhao’s "Hamnet"
As they wrestle for power, Japan’s political parties must remember their base
Rengo's head Tomoko Yoshino speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Oct. 8.
Sumo is about to hit London and the West with a force previously unseen
Preparations advance on Monday for the Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Pace eyes great strides for Japan’s art market
Pace Japan Vice President Kyoko Hattori, the de facto head of the nation’s business, believes a larger, more lucrative art market will allow Japan to be more attractive for collectors.

Podcast

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

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

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