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August 31, 2025
 

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TOURISM

Visitors at Shibuya Station, one of the busiest railway stations in the world. Tokyo ranks second only to London and above Paris, which landed third on online travel booking site Kayak’s list of most popular destinations this summer.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 27, 2025
U.S. trips to Japan surpass Paris for hot summer vacation destinations
A multiday stay in Japan has become much more affordable for those in the U.S. thanks to lower airfares and a favorable foreign exchange market.
Rescue workers attempt to reach Juliana Marins, a Brazilian national who fell into a ravine on Mount Rinjani, Lombok Island, Indonesia, after going missing on June 21.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 26, 2025
Indonesian rescuers recover body of Brazilian woman who fell from volcano
Several tourists, including foreigners, have died in accidents while hiking Mount Rinjani over the past few years.
An undated photo supplied by a resident of an apartment complex in Tokyo's Itabashi Ward shows people who appear to be staff members offering illegal private lodging services. Their faces are blurred for privacy reasons.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2025
Around 250 takedown requests made in fiscal 2024 over illegal private lodgings
Operators of private lodgings must notify prefectural governments of their businesses, ensure sanitary conditions and handle complaints.
A group of tourists drive go-karts in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on April 18, 2024. The ward will introduce new regulations on go-kart rental operators starting July 1.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2025
Shibuya to regulate popular street kart rentals amid tourist boom
Go-kart-style vehicles have become a staple part of Tokyo’s inbound tourism scene, but they have also drawn complaints from locals.
A large banner against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on the ground in St. Mark's Square, ahead of the expected wedding of Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, in Venice, Italy, on Monday
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2025
Jeff Bezos's gala wedding in Venice draws criticism from locals and activists
Some Venetians see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city long overrun with tourism and depopulating.
A worker checks sunscreen products during the final manufacturing process at a factory for the Japanese chemical and cosmetics company Kao in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 23, 2025
Why Japanese sunscreen is going viral — and selling out
Japanese skincare is getting its moment in the sun thanks to the help of beauty influencers on YouTube and other social media platforms.
People take a selfie in front of the presidential residence of the Blue House in Seoul on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 19, 2025
Visitors rush to see South Korea's Blue House before presidential return
Public access to some buildings at the Blue House will be restricted from mid-July as the new president moves in.
The first five months of 2025 saw 18,140,100 visitors enter Japan, up from 14,641,780 in the same period last year.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2025
Foreign visitors to Japan at record high for May
The increase in visitors during May was driven by travelers from China, Taiwan and the United States, who visited for holidays and on cruise ship port calls.
The Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino, near Rome, in 2024
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2025
Airfares from Western Europe to United States drop amid pullback in U.S. travel
In March, travel to the United States from Western Europe fell 17% year-over-year, according to U.S. data
Demonstrators shoot water pistols during a protest against mass tourism in Barcelona on Sunday.
WORLD / Society
Jun 16, 2025
Protesters against overtourism take to the streets of southern Europe
Groups across Spain, Italy and Portugal argue that uncontrolled tourism sends housing prices soaring and forces people out of their neighborhoods.
Momentum appears to be building toward what Osaka Expo organizers hope will be a boom period for the event as they try to recoup ballooning costs via ticket sales. But long lines are making some guests weary.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2025
Two months in, Osaka Expo organizer struggles to improve experience as crowds grow
Even before the expo reaches its peak attendance, some visitors are already growing weary of the long lines.
A Japanese actress known for voicing Hello Kitty sparked national debate with an anti-immigration blog post, highlighting rising tensions over Japan’s growing foreign population and the government's slow response to related concerns.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 12, 2025
Cultural anxiety and Japan's immigration pains
Japan must address legitimate public worries without inflaming xenophobia — or risk populist backlash.
Emergency specialists working at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, in December last year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2025
Expanding missile threats and airspace closures are straining airlines
The aviation industry, which prides itself on its safety performance, is investing more in data and security planning.
Visitors at the Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka on Friday
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2025
Osaka Expo sees strong ticket sales
If the current pace continues, total cumulative sales may reach 18.4 million, the level that makes the operation of the six-month Osaka Expo profitable.
Chinese tour groups visit a waterfront promenade in Hong Kong on May 5.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 9, 2025
Can big stars bring higher-spending tourists back to Hong Kong?
Hong Kong, which once billed itself as Asia’s World City, is now seeking to brand itself as the region’s events capital.
Junglia Okinawa, a theme park, is scheduled to open July 25 near Nakijin, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2025
Junglia Okinawa theme park shown to press
Covering about 60 hectares, the park sits between the city of Nago and the village of Nakijin and was designed around the concept of blending nature with luxury.
Descendents of the original "Gonin Byakushō" families are the only vendors allowed inside the gates of Kotohira Shrine, where they sell "kamiyoame," a golden-hued, yuzu-flavored candy meant for good fortune.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 7, 2025
At a mountainside shrine, yuzu candy made by imperial decree
Located in the mountains of western Kagawa Prefecture, Kotohira has yet to suffer — or benefit — from Japan’s overtourism rush.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during ministerial meeting meeting on foreign residents in Japan on Friday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2025
Foreign tourists with unpaid medical bills in Japan to be denied entry
There have been growing calls for legislative reform to address unpaid medical fees and health care premiums — deficits filled by taxpayers' money.
Keita Ueno (right), the owner of Kiki Driving School and an instructor who supports both foreign nationals and Japanese citizens returning from abroad in getting their foreign driver’s licenses converted, is worried about the current lax system for the process.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 6, 2025
Accidents raise concern over how Japan vets foreign drivers
A driving school owner points out that traffic signs could carry different meanings in other countries, and driving standards might vary significantly.
A sign announcing maintenance works stands at the Osaka Expo venue in the city of Osaka on Thursday after chironomid midges were found swarming there in huge numbers.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2025
Swarms of midges plague Osaka Expo site
While the chironomid midges, which closely resemble mosquitoes, are not directly harmful to humans, they are annoying visitors.
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.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
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.
Top Japan trade negotiator canceled U.S. trip over rice, report says
Ryosei Akazawa
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.
Most Trump tariffs are not legal, U.S. appeals court rules
Workers hang a large poster of U.S. President Donald Trump on the facade of the Department of Labor headquarters building in Washington on Wednesday.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
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.
YouTube Music Weekend is where Japan’s internet-born performers go global
Headlining the second day of YouTube Music Weekend is Vocaloid artist Kikuo, who, with 1.46 million YouTube subscribers, is one of the most popular artists in the genre.
Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.
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.
Jesse Kirkwood: ‘Languages are entire cultural universes with all sorts of baggage’
Jesse Kirkwood is part of a vibrant field of translators who have nurtured what might be called a “post-Murakami era of Japanese literature and translation,” one book at a time.

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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