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October 05, 2025
 

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Flu season began earlier than usual this year, with Okinawa Prefecture reporting the largest number of cases per hospital in the week up to Sunday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Japan enters its second-earliest flu season in 20 years
Okinawa had the most cases on average by prefecture, at 8.98 patients per medical institution, followed by 1.96 for Tokyo, 1.68 for Kagoshima, and Fukuoka with 1.55.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Japan saw record number treated for heatstroke in hottest-ever summer
Patients with suspected heatstroke over the period rose almost 3% to 100,143 from a year earlier as Japan saw its temperature record broken twice in a matter of days.
JAPAN / Science & Health
83% of public hospitals in Japan in red in fiscal 2024
Both the deficit and the proportion of loss-making hospitals, 703 out of 844, marked record highs.
Japanese researchers estimated that as of 2023, there were 316,900 people in Japan with ulcerative colitis and 95,700 with Crohn’s disease.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 29, 2025
Japan sees 40% surge in chronic bowel disease cases over eight years
By Jessica Speed
On a population basis, a study published this month shows prevalence is now 254.8 cases of ulcerative colitis and 77.0 cases of Crohn’s per 100,000 people.
Study by Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine and House Foods Group has found that the sweet-salty combination dulls the sense of avoiding high salt concentrations and can lead to greater salt intake.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 21, 2025
Sweetness dulls salt aversion and may lead to excessive intake, study shows
The tendency is more pronounced among people with chronic kidney disease, underscoring the need for salt reduction that takes the effect of sweetness into account.
Erectile dysfunction drug Cialis
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 19, 2025
Panel OKs first OTC sales of erectile dysfunction drug in Japan
Cialis is set to become the first erectile dysfunction treatment that can be purchased at drugstores in Japan.
A scientist looks at scans of grains at the Memory Centre at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital (HUG) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 6, 2023.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Sep 17, 2025
Japan’s front-line researchers see bright path ahead for dementia treatment
By Tomoko Otake
Four scientists at the forefront of dementia research speak about what kind of future they envision for people with the condition.
A huge piece of plastic waste is pulled up from the waters near Tatara Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, on July 10.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 15, 2025
Japan backs development of new materials to cut marine plastic waste
A five-year plan starting this fiscal year calls for the development of a new material that can be used for several years in water before it slowly decomposes over time.
Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Sep 15, 2025
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’
By Alex K.T. Martin
Young Japanese are saying no to booze — and yes to mocktails, gaming and sober nights out. Breweries are pivoting to meet them.
Asteroid Ryugu (left) and samples brought back by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 11, 2025
Asteroid ice discovery may change ideas about origin of water on Earth
By Jessica Speed
The parent body of near-Earth asteroid Ryugu appears to have harbored water in the form of ice for over a billion years, Japanese researchers have found.

Takaichi poised to become Japan's first female PM after winning LDP poll
Sanae Takaichi, the newly elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, holds a news conference after the LDP presidential election in Tokyo on Saturday.
A Japanese ski resort town is roiled by a debate over immigration
A Swedish snowboard instructor works at the Niseko ski resort area on Hokkaido, in Kutchan, in December 2022
Tokyo's newest stationery store sells 'a slower, more human rhythm'
Plotter's signature customizable leather binder is just one of many products contributing to the ongoing boom in the popularity of Japanese stationery.
One dead, one missing in Japan after bear attack
A bear warning sign. More and more wild bears have been spotted in Japan in recent years, even in residential areas, due to factors including a declining human population and climate change.
Japan’s jobless rate edges up to highest in over a year
August’s unemployment figures showed a slight tempering of Japan's job market, but the data still points to overall firmness amid an ongoing labor shortage.
The summer kabuki came roaring back
Kabuki has been trying for years to attract a new generation of fans. One way to do this has been to adapt manga and anime franchises, such as “Naruto,” for the stage. 
Tea ceremony experts see matcha boom as a big opportunity
Atsuko Mori, founder and director of Kyoto-based tea salon Camellia Tea Ceremony, prepares matcha during a tea ceremony in Kyoto.
Japan's far-right party courts Trump allies and vows not to get 'wacky'
Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Sept. 25.
How Ohtani has boosted Japan's soft power and made LA even more baseball-obsessed
Fans at Dodger Stadium pose in front of a mural highlighting the Dodgers' Japanese stars from past and present during a game earlier this year.
Japan faces fresh energy challenge as it seeks to expand power-hungry data centers
Data storage tapes at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center facility in Berkeley, California. Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and water, and that will only rise as generative artificial intelligence takes off in earnest.

Podcast

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

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

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