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Himari Semans
Out of a total of 509,373 foreign technical trainees, 1.9% went missing in 2023, according to Immigration Services Agency data.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 27, 2024
Record number of technical trainees go missing in Japan in 2023
Of the total, 1,765 were Myanmar nationals who had fled conflict in their home country.
Hideko Hakamata (center) and lawyers representing her younger brother, Iwao Hakamata, pose with a banner that reads "Iwao Hakamata verdict not guilty" as they leave the Shizuoka District Court on Thursday after the ruling was delivered.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 26, 2024
In rare retrial, Shizuoka court rules ex-boxer not guilty of 1966 murders
Iwao Hakamata, the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, has maintained his innocence for decades.
Flowers are laid in front of a Japanese school in Shenzhen last Friday. A Japanese boy who was on his way to the school was fatally stabbed last week.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 25, 2024
Expat safety seen as a must for Japanese firms to keep doing business in China
Business leaders have underlined the duty of a host country to foreign firms in the wake of a fatal stabbing of a Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen.
Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba reacts during a news conference ahead of the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election in Tokyo on Sept. 6.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 24, 2024
Why is Shigeru Ishiba so unpopular among his LDP peers?
The former defense minister is highly regarded among the public and local chapters of the ruling party, but it's a different story when it comes to LDP lawmakers.
The Meteorological Agency's Shigeki Aoki speaks a news conference on Tuesday morning about the tsunami advisory.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2024
Advisory lifted after 50 cm tsunami reaches Hachijojima
The advisory had been issued for the Izu and Ogasawara islands following a 5.9 magnitude earthquake.
The Japanese Embassy in Beijing on Thursday. The embassy and other organizations have urged swift and resolute actions to protect Japanese citizens in China.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2024
China works to avoid rift with Japan over killing of schoolchild
Beijing is characterizing the murder as a lone act and downplaying the political implications.
A re-creation of a scene in which an electric wheelchair tire has become stuck in a gutter
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2024
Deaths among elderly people using electric wheelchairs on the rise
Accidents usually occur at railroad crossings, roadside ditches and on slopes, especially when elderly wheelchair-users are alone outdoors.
Takanori Takebe (behind the lectern) speaks after his team of researchers and he were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in physiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 13, 2024
Scientists win Ig Nobel for discovering anal breathing in mammals
The research team of Japanese and American scientists hope the discovery will help treat people with COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.
The total cost of cooking curry rice has topped ¥300 for the 12th straight month and is expected to exceed ¥350 per serving in August, according to a survey.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 12, 2024
Making a bowl of curry rice at home now costs over ¥300, survey says
The cost of the budget-friendly dish hit a record ¥342 in July, up ¥44 from the same period last year, according to a survey.
In a survey conducted by rental housing operator Daito Trust Construction, residents praised the tranquility and safety of Daikanyama, a neighborhood in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, as well as its accessibility to public transportation.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 12, 2024
Daikanyama tops list of Tokyo neighborhoods in livability survey
Residents score the neighborhood highest in terms of how happy they are to live in the area and how much they wanted to continue living there.
About 30 students from Biwako Seikei Sport College who had gone kayaking in Lake Biwa on Monday failed to return to shore on time. It wasn’t until hours after sundown that all the missing students returned to shore on their own.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 10, 2024
Students reported missing while kayaking in Lake Biwa all accounted for
Having failed to return to shore before sundown, the group of university students finally made it back hours later after three of their kayaks capsized.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito, accused of workplace bullying, testifies to an investigative panel in Kobe on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 9, 2024
Nippon Ishin calls on Hyogo governor to resign over bullying claims
Nippon Ishin’s move is expected to be a politically fatal blow for Motohiko Saito, as he had the party’s support when he was elected as an independent.
Shuzo Fukushi, who heads Rice Meister Kojimachi in Tokyo, shows a bag of Calrose mixed with domestic rice at his store on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 6, 2024
Demand for Calrose rice rises amid Japanese rice shortage
The California rice is a medium-grain variety cheaper than the Japanese short-grain cultivar, but with a similar taste.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito attends a session of a panel investigating allegations of workplace harassment against him, in Kobe on Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2024
Hyogo governor disputes legal protections for harassment whistleblower
Motohiko Saito said that he didn’t believe it was a problem to allow an investigation into the creator of a document making allegations against him.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2024
Warm weather expected to delay autumn foliage
Higher temperatures are expected this fall, as heat lingers on from Japan's joint hottest summer on record.
Kamekichi Fujiwara has been making 'New York-style' pizza in Tokyo's Kichijoji neighborhood since 1967.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2024
At Tony’s Pizza, ‘New York style’ is a state of mind
In 1967, Kamekichi Fujiwara made his first pizza layered with Dutch edam, mozzarella from Germany and Danish Maribo — and it’s what Tony’s Pizza still serves today.
Though he enjoyed making films when he was younger, Ryan Filiatrault wound up working a slew of other jobs before returning to his passion in his 30s.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
May 24, 2024
Ryan Filiatrault: 'Failure is an obstacle not a barrier. You can always get back on track.'
The Canadian filmmaker has taken a regimented approach to following his passion — and it has worked.
Masafumi Kurisaka shows off a box of luxury Sakura Momo Ichigo strawberries, which can fetch a hefty price at auction.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Apr 15, 2024
Masafumi Kurisaka: 'The fewer the flowers, the bigger the strawberry'
Masafumi Kurisaka turned his back on a corporate job to go into the family business: luxury strawberries that fetch a hefty price.
Kumamoto-based sakura researcher Toshio Katsuki  says Japan's interpretations of the cherry tree have evolved over the course of history.
COMMUNITY / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 22, 2024
Toshio Katsuki: 'The cherry blossoms have been my vehicle to find new relationships'
A sakura researcher tells us what drew him to the flowering trees, how their significance has changed over time and his tips on the best way to enjoy them.
Ellie Harrell launched her dog seitai practice in late 2023 after seeing first hand how the therapy helped her own injured dog.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 27, 2024
‘My job is to provide dogs with relief from even the smallest amount of pain’
Does your dog need a back adjustment? Ellie Harrell’s salon is waiting to provide treatment.

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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.