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April 22, 2025
 

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An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Longform
Apr 7, 2025

Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it

Outdated government policy, changing diets and even an earthquake scare have had an impact on the national food staple.
Visitors to Dateka Vegefuru, a farmers market in Koori, Fukushima Prefecture, line up to purchase Akatsuki peaches on Aug. 3.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Aug 28, 2023

Climate change upends Fukushima peach harvest season

One farmer said around 30% of his peaches couldn’t be shipped as the intense heat made the fruit too ripe.
Characters from the Super Mario Bros. franchise adorn the front of Super Potato, a well-known retro game shop in Akihabara.
LIFE / Digital
Sep 20, 2023

Let the gaming begin: A guide to Tokyo's video game landmarks

Whether it's arcades, retro finds or chip-tune nightclubs, Japan's capital won't disappoint gamers wanting to geek out.
From left: Yusuke Nagai, Taiyo Someya and Kaori Sakakibara formed their band Lamp in 2000, developing a cult following over the years with their own blend of 1960s pop harmonies, ’70s folk craft and ’80s bossa nova brightness.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 3, 2023

The slow and steady rise of Lamp, a cult favorite

With new album 'Dusk to Dawn,' the folk rockers bring light to the new Japanese music canon.
Rie Qudan speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday after being awarded the Akutagawa Prize.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 19, 2024

Akutagawa Prize draws controversy after win for work that used ChatGPT

Rie Qudan won Japan’s most important prize for early career writers for “Tokyo-to Dojo-to,” a novel that “exposes the prophecy of the AI generation.”
A potato field in summer in Hokkaido. The prefecture is a significant source of food and produced 81% of Japan's potatoes in 2022.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jun 24, 2024

Hokkaido's farmers look for a silver lining to climate change disruption

As the prefecture becomes warmer, it could produce more apples and sweet potatoes, agricultural cooperative officials say.
A child gets a break from the heat thanks to a cooling mist machine at Sensoji temple in Tokyo.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 24, 2024

Whether it's the pool or the park, teach your kids how to be safe this summer vacation

Your children are likely to sneak out of the house for some fun while school is out. Make sure they know the importance of "squid sushi."
A supermarket worker puts up a sign asking purchasers to buy only one bag per person, in Tokyo on July 25.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2024

Why it's hard to find rice at Japan's supermarkets right now

In recent weeks, store shelves have often been barren, with many shops displaying signs asking purchasers to stick to one bag per person.
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.
The rice harvest ramped up this month and will ease a supply squeeze, but farmers and Japan’s main grain distributor have agreed to higher contract prices.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2024

Rice inflation to persist despite harvest, as prices rise over 20% on year

Tokyo shoppers were paying 23% more than a year ago for 5 kilogram bags of rice last month, while wholesale prices have risen 28% — the biggest hike since 1975.
Actor Sadao Abe accepts the 2024 U-Can New Word and Popular Phrase Award for ふてほど (futehodo), the abbreviated title for his series, “Futekisetsu nimo Hodo ga Aru!” (“Extremely Inappropriate!”).
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 12, 2024

How often do Japan's buzzwords make it into the vernacular?

We crown a new one every year, but trendy terms tend to disappear from public consciousness if they're related to pop culture.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson drops back to pass during a game against the Giants on Dec. 15.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 11, 2025

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson leads NFL All-Pro team selections

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen trailed Jackson with 18 first-place votes, with Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow nabbing two.
Bags of the government's rice stockpile are shipped out of a warehouse in Saitama Prefecture on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2025

Portion of government rice stockpile to hit shelves as early as next week

In a bid to stop the surging price of rice, the government auctioned off a portion of its emergency stockpile.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2023

Safety in focus as summer events see return of crowds and foreign tourists

Nearly 11 million people visited Japan in the first half of the year, about 64% of the pre-pandemic level in 2019, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
Lighting fireworks on Myeongpa Beach, where families can camp near the DMZ border, in Goseong-gun, South Korea, on July 30, 2022. ​In recent years, northern counties of South Korea have become unlikely tourist destinations, attracting people drawn to the history of the DMZ.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 27, 2023

Life along the Korean DMZ, 70 years after the fighting ended

After nearly eight decades of living separated across the tightly sealed border​, many South Koreans see reunification as a distant dream.
Like other martial arts, aikido takes the concept of 気 (ki, spirit/mind) and incorporates it into the philosophy of the sport.  
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 28, 2023

Physically, spiritually and linguistically speaking, 'ki' is all around us

Often used to mean energy or spirit, the Japanese word "ki" can be seen in many different types of idioms and phrases.
Police officers examine a scene where several people were stabbed and others hurt by a car driven by the suspected attacker in Seongnam, South Korea, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 4, 2023

South Koreans shocked after back-to-back stabbing rampages

A man rammed his car into passers-by, then got out and stabbed multiple people in Seongnam on Thursday, leaving 14 people wounded, police said.
Creativeman President Naoki Shimizu says Summer Sonic has been featuring an increasing number of Asian acts in recent years, a change that reflects the growing number of Asian visitors attending the music festival. This year’s standouts include K-pop group NewJeans, whose Summer Sonic performance will be its first Japan show ever.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 18, 2023

NewJeans, Blur and Kendrick Lamar head to Summer Sonic

While Summer Sonic’s reputation as an international showcase holds strong, the event has become an important launchpad for homegrown performers.
Workers unload sacks of onions from a truck at a wholesale market in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, on April 5.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 4, 2023

How these grocery staples became emblems of inflation in Asia

From war to disease to the effects of climate change, global food prices have been shaken by various factors in recent years.
Urawa's notoriously fervent supporters are known for packing stands, as well as for repeated off-the-pitch incidents that have impacted the club's reputation.
SOCCER / J. League / From the Spot
Sep 20, 2023

Urawa pays price for hooliganism after years of looking the other way

The J. League club has been banned from playing in Japan's top club tournament after more than a hundred supporters took part in an August pitch invasion.
Does a person have a duty to alert others when they see wrongdoing in a company? Or is it better to leave the gods untouched lest you be cursed?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 21, 2023

A culture of silence vs. a culture of speaking up

The scandal at talent agency Johnny & Associates was made worse by a culture of “keeping the lid on a stinky thing.”
The new invoice system, which goes into effect Oct. 1, is forcing many freelancers in Japan to choose between raising their prices or suffer a 10% loss in revenue.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Sep 25, 2023

Freelancers aren’t happy with Japan’s new invoice system

For many freelancers and small businesses, the result will amount to a 10% increase in taxes.
Over four days in September, Japan Soca Weekend brought together the Tokyo area's Caribbean community for dance parties, outdoor blowouts and a crowning Carnival festival on a racetrack in Chiba.
COMMUNITY / Issues
Oct 10, 2023

‘Peak happiness’ at the first Japan Caribbean Carnival

For Japan’s Caribbean community, Carnival provides a deep sense of community and offers a cure for homesickness.
Soldiers stand near military vehicles as people protest against the military coup in Yangon in 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 10, 2023

Women and children among 29 killed at Myanmar refugee camp

An artillery strike hit a refugee camp near Myanmar's border with China, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since the return of military rule.
Chinese President Xi Jinping during the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Wednesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 20, 2023

Europe’s snub turns Xi’s Belt and Road into Global South party

The Chinese leader appears to have reformed the initiative as a club for emerging economies known as the Global South.
Blair Masters and Talisker Scott Hunter pose for a photo with their kei truck, nicknamed “KT,” outside Ebisu Circuit in Fukushima Prefecture.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Nov 6, 2023

The little truck that could: A fresh way to tour Japan's north

Travelers have documented almost every corner of Japan. Perhaps a new kind of adventure would be doing those same journeys by different means.
The curtain is closing on the Lee dynasty's leadership of Singapore. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced his resignation, which could come next year, and the handing of power to deputy Lawrence Wong.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2023

Singapore contemplates the end of the Lee political era

Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has announced his resignation, marking the end of his dynasty's leadership and a new chapter in Singapore's politics.
Toru Yamano, chairman of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, tastes Koshihikari brand rice from Niigata Prefecture that contains immature grains, during a news conference in Tokyo on Nov. 9.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2023

Torrid summer heat hits crop production in Japan

The extreme weather over the summer is now leading to lower shipments and sharp price increases.
A man walks past a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing a space rocket, at the main railway station in Seoul in August.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 21, 2023

North Korea says it could launch satellite as early as Wednesday

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s office said it had "strongly demanded" that North Korea halt preparations for the launch.
Bengals quarterback Jake Browning passes against the Ravens in the third quarter of their game at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium on Nov. 16.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Nov 23, 2023

Bengals and Steelers in transition heading into division showdown

Two teams undergoing significant midseason changes and turmoil will collide when when the Cincinnati Bengals host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Pope Francis, radical leader who broke the papal mold, dies at 88
Pope Francis blesses the faithful during the weekly general audience at the Vatican in August 2023.
Japan mulls reviewing car safety rules to strike deal with Trump
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's Economic Revitalization Minister and top tariff negotiator with the U.S., speaks to the press upon his arrival at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Friday.
Japan tariff negotiator rules out quick U.S. deal despite push by Trump
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's top tariff negotiator with the U.S., speaks to reporters upon his arrival at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Friday, a day after talks in Washington.
Shohei Ohtani announces birth of daughter
Shohei Ohtani and his wife Mamiko Tanaka attend a Lakers game in Los Angeles on Dec. 8, 2024.
The floor is art: Takuro Tamayama transforms mundanity
Takuro Tamayama’s sculpture “Models (Pair, 6 sets, 12 rings)” comes with a mathematical formation that scales it for different spaces.
Nothing sells like Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s marketing megastar
People walk past an advertisement featuring Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani outside Tokyo Dome on March 18.
Calling all Potterheads: ‘The Goblet of Fire’ comes to Tokyo
The Tokyo version of the globe-trotting exhibition features a Ministry of Magic set, which includes an imposing replica of the Magic Is Might monument representing magical fascism.
Tokyo stock picker advises Trump-proofing portfolios with Godzilla creator Toho
The head of Godzilla, a Japanese monster movie character, is seen on a building of Toho Cinema in Tokyo. Toho is one tariff-defensive stock being recommended by brokers.
LDP and CDP lawmaker groups propose 0% consumption tax on food
A vegetable stand displays prices at a supermarket in Tokyo in 2023. Some lawmakers are proposing lowering the consumption tax on food to 0%, which is expected to result in a loss of up to ¥5 trillion in tax revenue annually.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

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