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November 13, 2025
 

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VIDEO GAMES

Japan has been a tough market for the PlayStation platform over the past few generations, as Nintendo continues to dominate there.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 12, 2025
Sony emulates Nintendo with new, cheaper console only for Japan
A region-locked PlayStation 5 Digital Edition will cost ¥55,000, Sony announced via a live stream, significantly lower than the previous price of ¥72,980.
Among the long list of Japanese video game innovators, Tetsuya Mizuguchi stands alone for his unique approach to music, rhythm and puzzle-solving gameplay.
LIFE / Digital
Nov 11, 2025
Hearing colors and seeing sounds with Tetsuya Mizuguchi
The creator of Japan’s answer to Tetris has long been obsessed with the concept of synesthesia in games.
Sony reported operating profit of ¥429 billion in the quarter through September, beating analyst estimates as sales surged thanks to blockbuster movies like "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle."
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 11, 2025
Sony lifts profit view on anime strength and tariff revision
The Tokyo-based conglomerate now expects ¥1.43 trillion in operating profit for the year through March, up 7.5% from its previous guidance.
Nintendo raised its Switch 2 sales forecast, boosting confidence in the console's strong momentum.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 4, 2025
Nintendo now expects to sell 19 million Switch 2 consoles by March
The company reported an operating profit of ¥88.25 billion and revenue of ¥527.2 billion in the September quarter, both beating a consensus of analyst estimates.
Game designer Yuji Horii, known for the Dragon Quest series
JAPAN / Society
Nov 3, 2025
Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii recognized in Japan autumn honors
The government released a list of 3,963 people recognized for this year’s autumn honors on Monday.
A player uses eye movement to play a game during the Tokyo Game Show held in the city of Chiba in September.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 27, 2025
Japan's gaming industry moves to improve accessibility
Many in the industry are developing equipment and systems that allow people with disabilities affecting their hands to still play such as by using their feet and eyes.
Ryu Hayabusa, the iconic ninja at the center of the Ninja Gaiden franchise, shares the spotlight with a newcomer in the latest entry to the series.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 21, 2025
Ninja Gaiden 4 revives series with kinetic carnage, clumsy platforming
Known for high-speed and occasionally punishingly difficult combat, the Ninja Gaiden series gets an update in mechanics thanks to a new developer.
Nintendo is asking its manufacturing partners to ramp up output of its Switch 2 console, counting on demand to persist over the coming holidays and into the new year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 17, 2025
Nintendo aims to make 25 million Switch 2 units by end of March
Nintendo’s future hinges on the $450 Switch 2 being a success, and the company more than doubled marketing spending around its June launch to ensure it gets off to a fast start.
Series composer Akira Yamaoka and writer Ryukishi07 were integral figures in helping one of Japan's greatest horror gaming franchises land a Japanese setting.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 17, 2025
How Japan’s greatest psychological horror game came home
Since 1999, the Silent Hill franchise of psychological horror games has always leaned into American settings. But with the new Silent Hill f, the series comes to Japan.
Gamers play the Pokemon Legends: Z-A video game at the Ninentdo booth during the Gamescom video games trade fair in Cologne, Germany, in August.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 17, 2025
Pokemon brushes up decades-old formula with Legends: Z-A
Pokemon’s latest title, Legends: Z-A, trades turn-based fights for real-time clashes in a Paris-inspired cityscape.
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 11, 2025
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Set in Ezo (modern-day Hokkaido), the highly anticipated samurai action-adventure game contains familiar thrills but subpar substance.
A trade fair for video games in Paris in 2023. The games industry in general has struggled in recent years, with players spending more time on existing titles and not taking as many chances on new ones.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 5, 2025
Xbox’s hike on Game Pass shows cost of lost Call of Duty sales
The price hike and other changes are a sign that Xbox’s big streaming push is still not generating the revenue it would like eight years after launch.
Racehorse Oguri Cap, a superstar stallion of the late 1980s, is reimagined in anime form as a teenage schoolgirl who must perform upbeat idol-pop songs after every victory in “Umamusume: Cinderella Grey.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Oct 4, 2025
‘Cinderella Grey’ gallops past the other sports documentaries
Mixing real horse-racing history with idol-pop fantasy, “Cinderella Grey” proves anime can outpace today’s flat sports shows.
The Esports World Cup 2025 at Boulevard City Arena in Riyadh on Aug. 2. Saudi Arabia is focusing on gaming as part of a national strategy to create tens of thousands of new jobs and diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil.
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2025
Saudi plans for video game hub grow with $55 billion EA deal
The kingdom’s Public Investment Fund is part of a group of investors acquiring the video game giant to take it private.
Professional models cosplay characters from Persona 5: The Phantom X, one of many titles on display at Tokyo Game Show, Japan's largest gaming industry event.
LIFE / Digital
Sep 26, 2025
Tokyo Game Show 2025 leans into renewal and rebirth
Japan’s largest games industry show returns with its largest spread of exhibitors yet.
The Tokyo Game Show opened Thursday in the city of Chiba with 521 Japanese exhibitors and 615 exhibitors from overseas — the largest share yet.
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2025
Tokyo Game Show kicks off with largest lineup yet
The four-day event is hosting a record 4,157 booths and 1,136 exhibitors, more than half of which are from overseas.
American saxophonist Patrick Bartley is the leader of J-Music Ensemble, a jazz-fusion band specializing in instrumental covers of Japanese music.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 25, 2025
Finding jazz in J-pop: Patrick Bartley’s musical second language
The J-Music Ensemble leader translates Japanese culture into a classic American musical tradition.
Super Mario soft toys in various sizes at collector Kikai's residence in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Aug. 19
LIFE / Digital
Sep 12, 2025
'He's a regular man, not unlike us': Marking 40 years of Mario games
Super Mario Bros., released for Nintendo's home consoles in Japan on Sept. 13, 1985, was a landmark of early video gaming.
Melos Han-Tani is a game designer of eclectic interests whose upcoming releases, Angeline Era and Danchi Days, are set in alternate-history Ireland and a public housing complex in Japan, respectively.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 12, 2025
Melos Han-Tani: ‘Figuring out what you value is valuable for any artist’
A designer, programmer and composer, Han-Tani draws inspiration from a wide range of sources and channels his creativity through games, music and writing.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby is the latest overnight success to come from the world of Japanese video games — never mind it was originally released in 2021.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Sep 6, 2025
Racehorses, anime girls and gambling: Umamusume’s recipe for success
The latest overnight hit from Japan’s gaming world relies on a quirky mix of elements from the worlds of pop culture and sports.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Tokyo ranked world’s richest city by GDP, with Osaka-Kobe also rated highly
Tokyo has a gross domestic product of $2.55 trillion, just ahead of New York’s $2.49 trillion and Greater Los Angeles’ $1.62 trillion, according to CEOWorld’s global wealth index.
Tokyo looks to keep ‘monster parents’ at bay with new protocols
New guidelines are addressing struggles by teachers to deal with the burden of parents who make irrational complaints that go beyond what is considered socially acceptable, often referred to as "monster parents," which is overwhelming their workload.
China delivers warning to U.S. and Japan with third aircraft carrier
The Fujian, China's third aircraft carrier, carries out sea trials at an unknown location in May last year.
Japan lawmakers eye firm response to Chinese envoy's threat to behead PM
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Friday.
As Japan’s female leader rises, can she cross sumo’s sacred line?
Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (front center) delivers a speech on the first day of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Sunday. Centuries of belief and tradition still underpin the all-male association's stance of excluding women.
Takaichi doesn’t mince words on Taiwan, but dramatic policy shift unlikely
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions during a House of Representatives Budget Committee session in parliament on Tuesday.
Florist Nicolai Bergmann flourishes outside the box
Florist Nicolai Bergmann shops for fresh flowers at the Ota flower market in Tokyo on Friday.
China delivers warning to U.S. and Japan with third aircraft carrier
The Fujian, China's third aircraft carrier, carries out sea trials at an unknown location in May last year.
Jenson Button brings end to an illustrious racing career intertwined with Japan
Jenson Button races for Honda during the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2008.

Podcast

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

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years
By Yukana Inoue

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