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September 02, 2025
 

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WAR DEAD

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Aug 15, 2025
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers
An decades-long effort to recover the remains of those who died during World War II, most of them abroad, may be entering its final phase.
Lawmakers from both chambers of Japan's parliament who are members of a league of parliamentarians promoting Yasukuni Shrine visits walk inside the shrine in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2025
Cabinet ministers Koizumi and Kato visit Yasukuni Shrine
The visits marked the sixth consecutive year a Cabinet minister has visited the war-related shrine on the anniversary.
Participants pray during a World War II memorial ceremony held off the coast of the Philippines in June. The program facilitating the services will end due to the aging of participants.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2025
Overseas WWII memorial services for Japanese families set to end
The program has seen dwindling participation as many bereaved families grow older.
Shinto priests holding traditional umbrellas walk to the main shrine for a ritual to cleanse themselves during the annual Spring Festival at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo in April 2016.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 13, 2025
Dispelling the myth of Yasukuni Shrine
The shrine has been a lightning rod — especially as it has been used by some of Japan's neighbors as a convenient means to shift attention away from their domestic issues.
A carrier-based Type 52 Zero fighter marks the entrance foyer of Yasukuni Shrine's Yushukan, a museum that tells a more nuanced story of Japan's experience in World War II than the controversies around the shrine might suggest.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 8, 2025
Tokyo’s WWII museums hold diverse views on war and peace
From detainees in Soviet labor camps to last-ditch efforts to develop miracle weapons, the capital’s war museums tell a multitude of stories of a country in crisis.
According to the welfare ministry, the number of hibakusha survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki almost 80 years ago has fallen below 100,000 for the first time.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2025
Number of hibakusha atomic bomb survivors falls below 100,000
According to the welfare ministry, the number of hibakusha with victim certificates stood at 99,130 as of the end of March, down by 7,695 from a year before.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons hopes the online memorial will "spur action for the total abolition of nuclear weapons."
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2025
Anti-nuclear group creates online memorial for children who died in atomic bombings
The online memorial features more than 400 profiles with details of the children's lives.
People pray during a visit to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, the 79th anniversary of Japan's surrender during World War II.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 20, 2025
Why only Japan is criticized for honoring its war dead
Other countries honor the ultimate sacrifice regardless of whether the war was just, later judged a mistake or involved actions that could be seen as war crimes.
Representatives of bereaved families lay flowers at a memorial service held at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN
May 27, 2025
Remains of 368 Japanese war dead laid to rest in National Cemetery
The number of people laid to rest at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery now totals 371,008, including some who died after the war as detainees in Siberia.
Protesters march in Tokyo's upscale Ginza district Saturday, demanding relief for those who suffered during World War II.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 20, 2025
Protesters march for WWII relief for civilians and others who were overlooked
Participants accuse the government of discriminating against civilian victims and people from the former Japanese colonies when it comes to state compensation for war damage.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako lay flowers at the Iwoto Islander Peace Cemetery Park on Iwo Jima on Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2025
Emperor and empress visit Iwo Jima battlefield to pay respects to war dead
Monday's trip to the island is the first by an emperor and an empress since the current Emperor Emeritus Akihito's and Empress Emerita Michiko's visit in 1994.
Yoshiharu Kanai speaks during an interview in Fuchu, Hiroshima Prefecture, on March 6.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2025
Son of soldier killed on Iwo Jima continues collecting remains
Yoshiharu Kanai, 80, has been working to collect remains for over 20 years, wishing to return them to mainland Japan swiftly.
Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko attend a memorial service in Tokyo's Sumida Ward on Monday to mourn the estimated 100,000 victims of the U.S. military's air raid on Tokyo 80 years ago.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2025
Crown Prince Akishino joins in mourning victims of the 1945 Tokyo air raid
An estimated 100,000 people died on March 10, 1945, after about 300 U.S. B-29 bombers dropped bombs on Tokyo.
A monument erected near Ulaanbaatar to remember Japanese nationals who died in Mongolia after being detained by the former Soviet Union during World War II
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2025
Japan's emperor and empress will likely visit Mongolia in July
This would be the couple's third overseas goodwill trip since the emperor's accession to the throne in 2019.
Explosions rock the shore of Iwo Jima during a pre-landing bombardment on Feb. 19, 1945, as seen from a USS Sanborn (APA-193) landing craft.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2025
Imperial couple considering visit to Iwo Jima
The Imperial Household Agency is considering a visit by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako to the island of Iwo Jima in April to pay respects to soldiers killed in World War II.
The entrance to Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo on Dec. 1
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024
Chinese man sentenced for vandalizing Yasukuni Shrine
According to the ruling, Jiang Zhuojun, 29, conspired with two other Chinese men to write "toilet" in red spray paint on a pillar at the shrine.
Shinto priests attend a ritual during the autumn festival at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2024
No Cabinet ministers visit Yasukuni Shrine during fall festival
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba only made a ritual tree offering to the controversial Shinto shrine.
Masakaki tree offerings made by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and health minister Takamaro Fukuoka are seen at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2024
Ishiba sends offering to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine
The prime minister is unlikely to visit the Shinto shrine during its fall festival, however.
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (center) visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday, the 79th anniversary of the country's surrender in World War II.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2024
Three Cabinet ministers visit war-linked Yasukuni Shrine
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, economic revitalization minister Yoshitaka Shindo and economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visited the shrine.
The city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture relocated privately-managed war memorials erected in various places in the city to a plot of land owned by the city.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 14, 2024
Maintaining privately built war memorials an urgent task in Japan
Of 16,235 memorials for the war dead built by members of the public, 780 were damaged, according to a welfare ministry survey.
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
Woman dies after possible knife attack in Setagaya
Police investigate the scene where a woman was found bleeding on a street in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on Monday.
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.
More sweltering days forecast for September after hottest summer on record
By the end of August, 8,341 people had been transported by ambulance for heatstroke in Tokyo alone.
How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
‘Cool’ Patagonia wants to take used items into the mainstream
"It's not just about sales. It's about system change," said Marty Pomphrey, general manager of Patagonia Japan, on Aug. 6.
How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
Japan is warming up to tattoos — just not permanent ones
Tattoos have a complex history in Japan, but new types of temporary ink are letting locals curious about body art experiment without the commitment.
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.

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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