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March 24, 2025
 

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Gabriele Ninivaggi
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waits for a session of the House of Councillors Budget Committee to begin in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Mar 19, 2025
What's the fuss over Ishiba's gift vouchers?
The prime minister's standing has worsened following reports that he handed out gift vouchers worth ¥100,000 ($668) each to rookie lawmakers from his party.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's reversal over medical co-payments late last week and the revelation he gave gift vouchers to lawmakers have weakened his political standing.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 14, 2025
Ishiba on shaky ground over budget and gift vouchers
Recent fumbles have given Ishiba's opponents within the LDP a golden opportunity to attack him.
Upper House Budget Committee chief Yosuke Tsuruho (right) and his Lower House counterpart, Jun Azumi, meet in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 12, 2025
Medical cap fumble paves way for unprecedented second revision of fiscal budget
While there have been cases of bills returning to the Lower House after amendments in the Upper House, it has never happened with the budget.
Members of a Liberal Democratic Party panel discuss proposals about allowing spouses to retain their respective surnames, in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 10, 2025
Eternal debate over surname law comes to fore again
Since last October’s general election, momentum has picked up for a legislative change to allow married couples to retain different surnames.
The Lower House Budget Committee votes for the fiscal 2025 budget in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
Budget clears Lower House in key win for Ishiba
The budget’s approval in the Lower House has long been seen as an indispensable requirement for the survival of the Ishiba administration.
Lower House Budget Committee Chairman Jun Azumi (third from left) and other members of the panel wait for Junichiro Matsumoto to turn up for his testimony in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 27, 2025
LDP accountant's testimony on slush funds scandal leaves much in the dark
Junichiro Matsumoto, the ex-accountant of a faction previously led by Shinzo Abe, did not name the person who reinstated the kickback scheme.
Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Seiji Maehara speaks at the party's executive meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 25, 2025
Ruling coalition clinches budget deal with Nippon Ishin
The agreement is expected to lead to an increase in government spending on public and private education from April.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in parliament on Friday
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 21, 2025
LDP and opposition lock horns over Japan budget
Mindful of how much the ruling coalition needs their support, Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Democratic Party for the People are digging their heels in.
Prime Minister Shiger Ishiba waits for the Lower House Budget Committee session to begin in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2025
Dispute over funds scandal questioning delays budget talks as CDP seeks leverage
Veering off schedule, even for a day, is detrimental to securing passage of the fiscal 2025 budget in the Lower House by March 2 — a priority for the government.
DPP tax chair Motohisa Furukawa speaks during a meeting of the party's tax committee in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2025
Debate over income tax threshold reform hits roadblock with new LDP proposal
Neither Komeito, the ruling coalition's junior partner, nor the opposition Democratic Party for the People supported the LDP's new income tax plan.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba replies to Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Seiji Maehara at a Lower House budget committee session in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 18, 2025
Government makes slow progress on budget concessions
Opposition parties are making known their policy demands, and even seeking legal guarantees, in return for their support in passing the budget for fiscal 2025.
Former digital minister Taro Kono has long counted reform of social security and pensions among his pet policies.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 17, 2025
It’s time to get serious on the pension system, ex-digital minister says
The pension study group offers Taro Kono an opportunity to tentatively step back into the limelight after an unusually quiet period.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a session of parliament on Thursday afternoon.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 14, 2025
Budget talks intensify between ruling coalition and opposition parties
The minority government is looking to pass its budget by March 2 to give Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba some breathing room.
Ishiba eats a mikan tangerine at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Jan. 22.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 7, 2025
A 'joyful' Japan? Ishiba's choice of slogan sparks the opposite feelings
Even members of Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party were not happy with the slogan.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (center) attends a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2025
Japan's Cabinet approves legislation on 'active' cybersecurity
The new measures aim to enable the government to infiltrate the sources of cyberattacks in order to neutralize them.
The ruling coalition has put forward a plan to make public school tuition free, with costs of up to ¥118,800 yearly subsidized for all families regardless of income.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2025
Recent talks on education funding for all might be missing the point
As the government works to pass its budget without a majority, the issue of free education for all has become key to negotiations for support in parliament.
Japan remains mum on a position taken by U.S. President Donald Trump to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America."
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2025
Japan noncommittal on Trump's renaming of Gulf of Mexico
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi says the government will continue to monitor related developments, but avoided confirming which name it will actually follow.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions during a Lower House budget committee meeting on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2025
LDP gets a taste of life with an opposition-led budget committee
A move to summon a former LDP faction accountant risks upsetting the party's parliamentary timetable and exposing it to criticism.
A woman lays a bouquet of flowers outside Shenzhen Japanese School following the murder of a 10-year-old Japanese child who was on his way to the school, in Shenzhen in September.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2025
Chinese court gives death penalty to man who killed Japanese boy
Friday’s sentence was pronounced on the same day the trial opened in an unusually quick decision.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a policy speech at the Lower House of the parliament in Tokyo last November.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 23, 2025
As parliament opens, ruling coalition enters uncharted territory
For the Liberal Democratic Party, the days of pushing through bills on the back of an overwhelming majority in both chambers of parliament are over.
Trump plans his tariff ‘Liberation Day’ with more targeted push
U.S. President Donald Trump walks toward Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, on Saturday.
OpenAI study finds links between ChatGPT use and loneliness
San Francisco-based OpenAI sees the new studies as a way to get a better sense of how people interact with, and are affected by, its popular chatbot.
Stay at home if Mount Fuji erupts, government panel says
Mount Fuji in November. For the first time, the government has released specific guidelines on how residents should act in the event that Mount Fuji erupts.
China's restaurants race to the bottom in deflation-hit economy
A kitchenware recycling team collects equipment at a closed hotpot restaurant in Beijing last month.
Japan, China and South Korea agree to promote peace and cooperation
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left), Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya (center) and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul pose for the cameras during a trilateral meeting in Tokyo on Saturday.
Japanese wages likely to rise more than 5% again this year
Wages are set for another big increase this year as annual negotiations secure generous agreements.
Stay at home if Mount Fuji erupts, government panel says
Mount Fuji in November. For the first time, the government has released specific guidelines on how residents should act in the event that Mount Fuji erupts.
In pictures: Tokyo's weeklong celebration of baseball's best
Shohei Ohtani belts a home run in the fifth inning of the second game of the Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs.
What's the fuss over Ishiba's gift vouchers?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waits for a session of the House of Councillors Budget Committee to begin in Tokyo on Friday.
At Tokyo Dome, a stage so big that even Shohei Ohtani felt nervous
Shohei Ohtani tips his batting helmet during the opening game of the MLB season between the Dodgers and Cubs on Tuesday at Tokyo Dome

Podcast

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

Longform

The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Eighty years after the Battle of Manila, old foes forge new ties
By Anton L. Delgado

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