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November 21, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY

Japan

World
Japan
Japan’s treasured traditional arts, such as lacquerware, the tea ceremony and noh theater, face a widening gap between veteran masters and too few successors.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Japan’s cultural heritage and its aging guardians
Living national treasures are revered. But without reform, the risk of cultural attrition grows.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Beware China’s ‘gray-zone’ activities on Japanese soil
China’s wolf-warrior diplomacy and belligerent social media posts are not the only unsettling activity carried out by Chinese diplomats in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Fixing immigration without sparking xenophobia
Don’t lump long-term, law-abiding foreign residents in with new arrivals.
China holds a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, in Beijing on Sept. 3. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 18, 2025
Beware of China’s strategic distortion of reality
By Stephen R. Nagy
The ancient strategy resurfaced after Prime Minister Takaichi said Japan might need to respond militarily if China forced Taiwan’s unification.
Japan must act quickly to protect anime creators through stronger labor rights, transparency and fair compensation as AI threatens to exploit the industry’s creative work.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 18, 2025
Will artificial intelligence turn Japan’s ‘irreplaceable treasures’ into slop?
By Catherine Thorbecke
AI’s threat gives Japan a second chance to do right by the workers propping up the $21 billion industry.
South African cricket legend Jacques Kallis plays a shot during the final day of a cricket test match against India in Johannesburg in December 2013.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 17, 2025
Who is cricket’s Shohei Ohtani?
By Salil Tripathi
A better question might be: Does cricket need its own Shohei?
Ramen is a versatile global dish, ranging from traditional tonkotsu broth to innovative mazemen and whole-grain noodles, enjoyed for its endless variations and worldwide appeal.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 17, 2025
How Japanese does that bowl of ramen need to be?
By Howard Chua-Eoan
Ramen purist argue about what’s orthodox and what’s allowable, while cooks who love to experiment and improvise push those boundaries.
JR East is retiring the beloved Suica penguin as part of a rebrand to transform the contactless payment platform, used for both transit and retail, into a mobile fintech powerhouse.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 16, 2025
A beloved Tokyo penguin’s end presages Suica’s shift to payments giant
By Gearoid Reidy
Since Suica’s introduction in 2001, the penguin has featured on transit cards and apps that are used daily by the tens of millions who traverse the world’s largest metropolis.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi talks with Japan’s then-leader, Shinzo Abe, her mentor, at the Lower House of Parliament in December 2014. Takaichi, under so-called Abenomics 2.0, must convert the nation’s asset boom into broad-based economic prosperity benefiting all. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 14, 2025
How Takaichi can make 'Abenomics 2.0' succeed
By Jesper Koll
For now, there is absolutely no evidence that the rise in Japanese asset prices — both stocks and real estate — is feeding a positive wealth effect.
China's "wolf warrior" diplomacy is like a relentless chess match, putting democracies like Japan on the defensive, forcing them to counter Beijing's aggressive moves and deceptive feints while executing a strong, coordinated defense.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 13, 2025
How Takaichi should navigate Beijing’s diplomatic threats
By Stephen R. Nagy
These incidents reveal a consistent pattern in Beijing’s diplomatic arsenal, the weaponization of progressive language, the inversion of victim and aggressor narratives.

Japanese court orders Cloudflare to pay ¥500 million over manga piracy
Cloudflare has been ordered to pay ¥500 million after four major publishing firms accused the firm of copyright infringement for its role in hosting sites that distribute pirated copies of manga titles.
The reality of human trafficking in Japan
A view of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at night. Last year in Japan, 66 people were put in protective custody as victims of human trafficking. Among them, 58 — including all 41 minors — were Japanese nationals. International pressure to act on human trafficking led Japan to make efforts to crack down on the crime, such as a tightening of conditions in 2005 for entertainer visas.
Beware of China’s strategic distortion of reality
China holds a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, in Beijing on Sept. 3. 
Yen rout brings talk of ¥160 to the dollar and possible intervention
The yen has been weak against the U.S. dollar in recent weeks, with some analysts expecting the retreat to continue.
China to reimpose ban on Japanese seafood imports amid row over Taiwan, reports say
A sign reading, "Suspend the sales of all fish products imported from Japan" is displayed in an area home to Japanese restaurants in Beijing in August 2023. China will reimpose a ban on imports of Japanese seafood, media reports in Tokyo said Wednesday, as a diplomatic spat between the two countries deepens.
First foreign president of Hosei University looks abroad for change
Hosei University President Diana Khor, who herself was an international student, aims to encourage students to look outward and cultivate a global mindset.
Japanese companies advised to change mindset about investment in Africa
Bernard Laurendeau, chief of Enkopa Lab Japan, in Tokyo last month
Munetaka Murakami headlines quartet looking to move to MLB via posting system
The Swallows' Munetaka Murakami has 246 career home runs in eight NPB seasons.
The reality of human trafficking in Japan
A view of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at night. Last year in Japan, 66 people were put in protective custody as victims of human trafficking. Among them, 58 — including all 41 minors — were Japanese nationals. International pressure to act on human trafficking led Japan to make efforts to crack down on the crime, such as a tightening of conditions in 2005 for entertainer visas.
Why we can’t get enough of the sham of the rental family
“Rental Family,” directed and co-written by the single-named Hikari, follows out-of-work actor Phillip (Brendan Fraser), who is hired as the “token white guy” at a Tokyo agency called Rental Family.

Podcast

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

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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