Search - japan

 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi meets Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki at the Okinawa Prefectural Government building on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 28, 2024

Japanese government to proceed with U.S. base relocation within Okinawa

During the meeting with Hayashi, Tamaki demanded that the central government immediately stop the landfill work related to the Futenma relocation project
Masanao Saito harvests his mikan tangerines with his grandson, Akihito Oyama, at his farm in Yamamoto, Miyagi Prefecture, on Dec. 8. Behind them are apple trees full of fruit.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Feb 5, 2024

How fruit farmers in Tohoku are coping with climate change

Last year, extreme heat dubbed the "boiling Earth" phenomenon hit the region’s agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries hard.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a Lower House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Monday
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 29, 2024

Japan's opposition eyes united front on political funds reform

Lawmakers are targeting cross-party cooperation on a variety of issues including the revision of the Political Funds Control Act.
Noboru Ito (left) uses well water for a makeshift shower at his Real Hair Cutting You beauty salon in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 24.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 30, 2024

Businesses in quake-hit Japanese city tap well water to reopen

Their return to operations helps restore a sense of normalcy among residents.
The family law subcommittee of the Legislative Council, at the Justice Ministry on Tuesday
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2024

Government to submit bill allowing joint custody after divorce

The draft outline calls for a new provision obliging both parents to respect each other, and for divorce negotiations to determine parental authority.
Volunteers work at the site of a soy sauce-maker in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Jan 31, 2024

Quake-hit Noto faces a long road to recovery. Here's how you can help.

After initially asking people to refrain from coming as volunteers, municipalities in Ishikawa are now open to outside help.
Takuro Adachi’s documentary “Sono Kodo ni Mimi wo Ateyo” follows doctors working in Aichi Prefecture’s busiest ER over nine months.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 1, 2024

‘Sono Kodo ni Mimi o Ateyo’: An absorbing dive into pressures of the ER

Filmed at the height of the pandemic, Takuro Adachi’s documentary spotlights emergency room doctors who attend to patients from every strata of society.
Shigeyuki Kin
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 1, 2024

Wanted gang member Shigeyuki Kin held by Nagano police

The suspect in a 2020 attempted murder was alone at the time of the arrest and did not resist, admitting to the police that he was indeed the fugitive.
The Kissa Mitikusa cafe in front of JR Kagaonsen Station in Kaga, Ishikawa Prefecture, is facing a plunge in visitors.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2024

Dining sector in quake-hit Ishikawa facing difficulties

The industry had just begun to overcome a slump brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally ahead of the Republican caucus in Las Vegas on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 1, 2024

Trump says he'd block Nippon-U.S. Steel deal, dubbing it 'terrible'

The former U.S. president aims to win over blue-collar union voters who could play a key role in states like Pennsylvania, where U.S. Steel is based.
Judges at the Kyoto District Court hear a case involving Yoshikazu Okubo, a doctor accused of the consensual killing of a woman with a fatal neurological disease, on Jan. 11. The court is scheduled to deliver its ruling on March 5.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 1, 2024

Prosecutors seek 23 years for Japanese doctor in consensual killing case

They claim the accused had an "interest" in killing the elderly and people with disabilities under the false pretense of medical care.
Japan's Mone Chiba celebrates after winning the women's competition at the Four Continents championships in Shanghai on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Feb 3, 2024

Japan's Chiba fights off nerves to triumph in women's Four Continents

Chiba's compatriot Rinka Watanabe came second in the free skate, in which she landed a notoriously difficult triple axel.
Yuma Kagiyama competes in the men's free skate at the Four Continents figure skating championships in Shanghai on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Feb 4, 2024

Japan's Kagiyama smashes competition to take Four Continents title

Kagiyama made an error early in the free skating but his expressive, lightning-quick performance still earned him 200.76 points for a total of 307.58.
Members of the Self-Defense Forces engage in search operations in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 13.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2024

170,000 SDF members sent to Noto quake areas over one month

SDF personnel rescued about 1,000 people, according to the Defense Ministry.
The United States Steel Clairton Coke Works in Clairton, Pennsylvania, in December
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2024

American steel buyers hail Nippon deal that scares Washington

Both Democratic Senators from U.S. Steel’s home state of Pennsylvania want the deal killed, citing fears that union jobs would be impacted.
Akira Ogawa (center) celebrates her win in the Maebashi mayoral election in Gunma Prefecture on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

Opposition-backed candidate wins in Maebashi mayoral election

Akira Ogawa will become the first female mayor in Maebashi after defeating incumbent Ryu Yamamoto.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida waits for the start of the Lower House Budget Committee in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

Parties clash over release of LDP's internal funds scandal probe

The opposition had demanded that the LDP publish a list of all party members responsible for the underreporting of political funds in the last five years.
Commuters head to work in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district where government ministries are located. The government plans to issue a guideline to encourage diverse ways of working, including working remotely, among its employees.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2024

Japan to allow bureaucrats to work remotely in principle

The government will release guidelines on remote work as part of an effort to encourage more diverse ways of working among its employees.
Killer whales are trapped in drift ice on Tuesday off the coast of the town of Rausu in Hokkaido.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 7, 2024

Orcas appear to escape after being trapped in drift ice off Hokkaido coast

Local officials are hopeful that the animals escaped to safety as the density of drift ice decreased Wednesday.
Education minister Masahito Moriyama (right) responds to questions from Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Chinami Nishimura in the Lower House on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Education minister under fire for unreported ties to Unification Church

Masahito Moriyama said he could not remember 2021 meeting with the group or the agreement he signed with it for electoral support.
Nippon Steel is on track to finalize its planned $15 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by the end of September, an executive has said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2024

Nippon Steel says on track to close U.S. Steel deal by September

The deal by the world's No.4 steelmaker to buy U.S. Steel has drawn criticism from some in the United States.
Yoshikazu Higashitani, who goes by the name GaaSyy, leaves the Tokyo Detention House on Sept. 21 after being released on bail.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 9, 2024

Four-year prison term sought for ex-lawmaker GaaSyy

GaaSyy, whose real name is Yoshikazu Higashitani, is accused of making threats against actor Go Ayano and others in online videos.
An Ito Yokado store in the city of Fukushima. As part of its structural reform, Ito-Yokado will focus on urban areas including the Tokyo metropolitan area.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 10, 2024

Struggling unit of 7-Eleven's parent company to exit central and northern Japan

The Seven & I Holdings unit will close five of its 17 stores in the regions and hand over 11 to other supermarket operators.
Maritime Self-Defense Force officers engage in a training of emergency medical treatment in the Kunisaki transport vessel in September 2022.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2024

Japan Defense Ministry to make blood products fit for all types

The use of whole blood products will help save time checking blood type compatibility and provide speedier treatment to injured troops.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida enters his office on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 12, 2024

Japan's LDP concerned about headwinds in Lower House by-elections

The Nagasaki race is designed to fill the vacancy of a former LDP member embroiled in a funds scandal.
A Lower House budget session discusses the political fund scandal in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 13, 2024

LDP survey shows 85 members failed to report political funds

The survey’s results are unlikely to bring an end to the scandal, with its methods criticized by opposition parties as inadequate and lacking objectivity.
The village of Kamoenai in Hokkaido
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 14, 2024

Hokkaido areas named for second-stage survey on nuclear waste disposal

The town of Suttsu and the area off its coast will be surveyed, as well as the area within the village of Kamoenai excluding a zone around a volcano.
Kenichi Hosoya leaves his apartment in Tokyo's Taito Ward on Wednesday after being arrested.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 15, 2024

Tokyo couple accused of poisoning daughter with illegally bought prescription drugs

On Thursday, investigators said that Kenichi Hosoya and his wife, Shiho, purchased olanzapine and antifreeze online prior to their daughter’s death.
The disapproval rate for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet has also exceeded 60% for the first time.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 15, 2024

Support for Kishida Cabinet hits new low of 16.9% in Jiji poll

The approval rate is also the lowest for a Liberal Democratic Party-led administration since the party returned to power in December 2012.
Under a proposed joint custody system, if parents cannot reach an agreement, a family court would make a decision based on the interests of the child and family relations.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2024

Government panel proposes allowing joint child custody

Based on the report from the Legislative Council, the government plans to submit a related bill during the ongoing ordinary session of parliament.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat