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April 14, 2025
 

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Himari Semans
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Shinjiro Koizumi (center) meets with his counterparts from Komeito and the Democratic Party for the People in Tokyo on March 28.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 4, 2025
LDP reels in DPP to win political donation war against CDP
Partnering with the DPP gave the LDP much-needed momentum against the CDP this week, not to mention the votes to pass legislation.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a meeting of the Upper House Budget Committee on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2025
Ishiba’s remarks on inflation relief measures draw ire as budget deadline looms
Confusing messages about an economic package to counter rising prices came as negotiations were heating up on when to hold a vote on the budget.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Wednesday that the government will continue to provide assistance in addressing humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2025
Japan takes in Palestinian woman injured in Gaza war for treatment
Tokyo plans to accept another injured Palestinian woman in the coming days, marking its first acceptance of patients from Gaza since the conflict broke out in October 2023.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waits for a session of the House of Councillors Budget Committee to begin at the Diet in Tokyo on March 14.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2025
Parties still at odds over corporate donations as deadline for agreement looms
The prospect of reaching a decision on whether to ban, restrict or continue to accept donations by the end of the month appears slim.
Shizue Takahashi offers flowers and pays tribute to the victims of the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult during a memorial service at Kasumigaseki Station on Thursday. Her husband, Kazumasa, who was working as an assistant stationmaster at Kasumigaseki Station, was killed in the attack.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2025
Tokyo subway sarin gas attack remembered 30 years on
Many survivors of the attack by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult still suffer from physical aftereffects and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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 answers questions at a session of the Upper House Budget Committee in Tokyo. Approval ratings for Ishiba's government have dropped sharply, polls showed Monday, as the leader faces a backlash for distributing gift vouchers to rookie lawmakers in his ruling party.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 17, 2025
Approval rates for Ishiba's Cabinet plunge amid gift voucher snafu
Polls conducted by several newspapers over the weekend show public support tumbling to record lows.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends an Upper House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 13, 2025
How Upper House pressure led to Ishiba's stunning reversal on medical cost caps
An unprecedented second amendment to Japan's budget shows opposition in the Lower House is not the only external pressure to which the government is exposed.
People observe a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m. on Tuesday in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, when the Great East Japan Earthquake hit 14 years ago. Behind them is a pine tree dubbed "the miracle tree" that survived the tsunami.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 11, 2025
Japan marks 14 years since 3/11 earthquake, with over 27,000 still displaced
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he will pass down the lessons of the disaster to future generations.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at an Upper House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Monday. The opposition's slamming of the Liberal Democratic Party over its position on corporate and group donations, as well as their own divisions over whether to restrict or ban such contributions, cast uncertainty over Ishiba’s hopes of reaching a consensus within the month.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 10, 2025
Opposition parties split on whether to restrict or ban corporate donations
Their division casts uncertainty over Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s hopes of reaching a consensus on the matter within the month ahead of a summer election.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani arrives at the Naval Station Ernesto Ogbinar, previously known as Wallace Air Station, in San Fernando City, La Union province, Philippines, on Feb. 23. Japan and the Philippines have entered into a reciprocal access agreement that is pending approval by the Lower House.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 5, 2025
LDP panels approve implementation bill for defense pacts
The bill will streamline laws associated with such agreements, for instance, when a member of a foreign military deployed to Japan commits a crime.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan head Yoshihiko Noda speaks at the party's convention in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 26, 2025
Is time running out for CDP in budget talks with the ruling coalition?
Concerns have emerged that the main opposition party might have lost its bargaining chip after Nippon Ishin no Kai clinched a deal with the minority government.
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 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.
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.
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 Lower House Budget Committee vote to summon Jun Matsumoto, a former LDP faction's accountant, in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 30, 2025
Budget Committee votes to summon former LDP faction accountant
The move ends a stalemate between the LDP and opposition parties, the latter of which had conditioned the start of budget deliberations on the inquiry.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his policy speech at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2025
Ishiba stresses regional revitalization in policy speech
The relocation of industrial, state and academic institutions to regions outside of Tokyo will begin with government agencies.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. Tokyo prosecutors on Friday indicted an accountant of the Liberal Democratic Party’s bloc in the assembly for underreporting over ¥60 million ($386,000) of the group’s income and expenditure.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 17, 2025
Accountant for LDP bloc in Tokyo assembly accused of underreporting funds
Hidekatsu Yajima, 72, is alleged to have underreported over ¥60 million ($386,000) of LDP assembly members’ income and expenditure.
Roxana Oshiro and her husband gather their belongings in front of their house in Furukawacho, in Kobe's Suma Ward, after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 17, 2025
The efforts to bridge the disaster information gap, 30 years on
Disaster information didn't reach many non-Japanese speakers after the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck. Thirty years later, has the situation improved?
Osaka Expo throws open its doors as mega-event kicks off
People visit the Osaka Expo on the first day it opened to the public, in the city of Osaka on Sunday.
How to spend the perfect day in Hiroo, Tokyo’s expat enclave
Customers line up patiently for some early-afternoon baked goods outside Truffle, which is located close to Hiroo Station on the Hibiya Line.
Japan and U.S. to hold joint patrol after Okinawa sexual assaults
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki may participate in a joint patrol in the prefecture by Japanese and U.S. officials, an official in the area said.
Ishiba warns of divided world at futuristic Osaka Expo opening ceremony
The opening ceremony for the Osaka Expo on Saturday.
Osaka Expo throws open its doors as mega-event kicks off
People visit the Osaka Expo on the first day it opened to the public, in the city of Osaka on Sunday.
Heaven from hells: The sulfuric pleasure of Unzen Onsen
While Unzen Onsen's "hells" can be visually striking, locals describe them and their effects as "a source of emotional healing."
How to spend the perfect day in Hiroo, Tokyo’s expat enclave
Customers line up patiently for some early-afternoon baked goods outside Truffle, which is located close to Hiroo Station on the Hibiya Line.
A trip to remember: Japan answers the demand for curated luxury travel
Shirakawa-go in Gifu Prefecture in 2017. Travel agencies catering to luxury tourists often include areas outside well-known cities such as Tokyo and Kyoto in their itineraries offered.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

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