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A squeeze of fresh "sudachi" citrus is the final element in this earthy, warming dish perfect for cooler temperatures.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 19, 2023

Here’s the tea on traditional dobin teapot-steamed mushrooms

Dobin mushi pairs well with meat, fish, tofu, omelets and other vegetables. You can also serve dobin mushi in lieu of soup at any meal.
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.
Japan’s stock market is breaking records right when the government has launched an expanded tax-free investing account. But due to government regulations, stocks still remain out of reach for many starting investors. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2024

Everyone’s buying Japan shares. I only want to buy one.

An expanded tax-free investment account program that launched to much fanfare at the start of the year has come at a perfect time.
The National Police Agency coined the term "tokuryū" to classify individuals involved in dark part time jobs and quasi-gangsters, using the words "tokumei" (anonymous) and "ryūdo" (fluid) to reflect their characteristics.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
May 6, 2024

Tokuryū, a new crime menace in Japan, emerges from the shadows

Unlike the yakuza, which have a hierarchical structure and strict codes of conduct, they lack a clear organizational structure and thrive on anonymity.
Comedian Daisuke Muramoto has been shunned by the Japanese media for taking his act into political territory. Filmmaker Fumiari Hyuga traces his post-pandemic search for a place in show business in "I Am a Comedian."
CULTURE / Film
Jul 3, 2024

‘I Am a Comedian’: A documentary following Daisuke Muramoto’s rocky comedy journey

Documentarian Fumiari Hyuga captures the story of an uncouth Japanese comedian’s efforts to say what can’t be said.
Former Kobayashi Pharmaceutical President Akihiro Kobayashi (right) and Satoshi Yamane, the new president, bow in apology over health problems caused by its beni kōji products, during a news conference in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 8, 2024

Kobayashi Pharma to withdraw from beni kōji product segment

The firm said it would offer compensation to those who suffered health problems linked to their products and prevent a recurrence of the incident.
Alimentation Couche-Tard’s bid to acquire Japan’s Seven & I Holdings has sparked discussions about Japan’s approach to foreign investment and whether rejecting or accepting the bid reflects an openness to international business.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 4, 2024

7-Eleven deserves more than shareholder supremacy

While Japan should consider investor interests, it should not forsake the broader social and community benefits that its businesses provide.
Alimentation Couche-Tard and Seven & I Holdings directly compete in thousands of locations across the United States, with more than 45% of Circle Ks within two miles of a 7-Eleven or related store.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 18, 2024

Couche-Tard’s 7-Eleven overlaps to face skeptical U.S. FTC review

More than 45% of Circle Ks are within two miles of a 7-Eleven or related store.
A sculpture representing Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, located on the grounds of a park in Budapest
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2024

Who was Bitcoin’s Satoshi? I need to know and so do you.

It’s only natural, and even healthy, to be curious about who could have created more than $1 trillion in market capitalization.
National Police Agency Commissioner General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 6, 2024

Police protected yami baito applicants in 125 cases

Since mid-October, the National Police Agency has been calling on applicants for such jobs to seek police advice and protection.
“The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic” centers on three teenage protagonists who are transported into a fantasy world where they must grapple with a foreign culture.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 11, 2025

Isekai anime offers a key to understanding globalization

The fantastical genre wherein characters are dropped into unlikely worlds — and sometimes bodies — can be read as an allegory for the structure of the contemporary anime industry.
The scene after an explosion at a department store in Taichung, captured in a photo taken and released by Taiwan’s Central News Agency on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 13, 2025

At least five dead after suspected gas blast at mall in Taiwan's Taichung

The force of the blast sprayed large pieces of debris over the street below.
Warabeya Nichiyo Holdings has apologized after a video went viral that showed one of its rice ball products appearing to contain a cockroach at a Seven Eleven convenience store.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023

Cockroach contamination sends rice-ball supplier’s stock reeling

The company said it is recalling all relevant goods from the factory in Omiya where the food was produced.
A Sogo department store in Yokohama. Fortress Investment Group, which has acquired Sogo & Seibu, plans to keep all 10 Sogo and Seibu department stores open for the time being, sources said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 6, 2023

Fortress to maintain all Sogo and Seibu stores for now: sources

The U.S. investment firm now plans to spend a total of ¥60 billion, compared with at least ¥20 billion it initially considered.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2023

Hokkaido tour boat sinking caused by safety gaps, report says

The operator of the Kazu I sightseeing tour boat, which sank off Hokkaido last year, had no safety management system, according to a government report
Fumiyuki Kinsu (left) and Shun Sato are the driving forces behind Censu's wine-loving approach to Japanese cuisine.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 8, 2023

Censu: An izakaya where wine outshines beer and sake

Censu’s eclectic cuisine is rooted in Japanese culinary vernacular but takes in the breadth of chef Shun Sato’s diverse experiences abroad.
Bajaku Yoshiwara, a former pupil of "rakugo" storyteller Sanyutei Enka IV, speaks to reporters on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2024

Rakugo storyteller ordered to pay damages over power harassment

Bajaku Yoshiwara, who was studying the art of traditional Japanese storytelling under Sanyutei Enka IV at the time, sought ¥3 million in compensation.
While Japan is home to many jazz cafes, its summer festivals will let you listen to the music in the open air.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 9, 2024

Japan's summer offerings include jazz and classical music festivals

Not up for the rock and rap that's front and center of Japan's many summer concerts? Try a few jazz festivals instead.
If Joe Biden doesn’t let another, better suited candidate run against Donald Trump, he will undo decades of public service.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2024

Will Joe Biden go and spoil it all?

Like former presidential candidate Ralph Nader before him, Biden shouldn't stand in the way of the Democrats winning the election and should let another candidate run.
There are numerous iterations of 'rāyu' (chili oil), and they all have in common a complexion fiery enough to easily ruin your favorite T-shirt.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Jul 7, 2024

I can’t believe it’s not restaurant ‘rāyu’

With just a few common kitchen items, it couldn’t be simpler to create a unique chili oil right in your own Goldilocks zone.
Ama female free divers, who fish in the ocean, lead volunteers as they swim with torches during Shirahama Ama festival in Minamiboso, Chiba Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2024

Short of ama female free divers, Chiba festival turns to volunteers

Age and disinterest have reduced the number of women willing to make a livelihood out of this type of diving.
For centuries, Japanese people have been scaring themselves with horror stories as a way of cooling down during the stifling summer months.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 16, 2024

New tales in translation to give you chills and thrills this summer

Recent fright-filled releases with supernatural creatures, shrewd sleuths and creepy killers provide welcome relief from the sweltering heat.
Japan Coast Guard officials search for missing people after the fatal sinking of the Kazu I tour boat off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2024

Japan to require passenger ships sailing in cold waters to carry life rafts

The move follows the deadly sinking of the Kazu I tour boat off Hokkaido in April 2022.
Global investment firms plan to beef up hiring in Japan, as deals surge on the domestic market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 12, 2024

Global investment firms hunt for talent in Japan as deals boom

The hiring spree underscores the intensity of dealmaking in Japan, which has been a rare bright spot amid a slowdown in M&A deals globally over the last couple of years.
Keiko Muto, a suspect arrested on burglary resulting in injury charges after allegedly acting as the financial coordinator, is being transferred in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 4, 2024

Saitama police arrest suspected yami baito financial coordinator

A 26-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly acting as the financial coordinator in a violent burglary that occurred in October.
Japanese creatives, athletes and activists saw their efforts recognized on the world stage in various ways this year. At the Oscars (left) Takashi Yamazaki and his team took a prize for “Godzilla Minus One,” while later in the year Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada (center) took Emmys for their work in “Shogun.” Shohei Ohtani (right) was arguably the biggest Japanese star of the year.
CULTURE / 2024 in Review
Dec 4, 2024

Japan's soft power soared to new heights in 2024

From Oscars and Emmys to a Nobel Peace Prize, it was a year of awards and triumphs in key cultural fields.
An advertisement in Tokyo's Kabukicho, Japan's largest red-light district. The country is home to a thriving adult entertainment industry and has recently seen a boom in sex tourism fueled by the weak yen and availability of red-light services.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 30, 2024

From geisha to oshikatsu, toxic tropes fuel sex industry

It isn't only the foreign gaze that produces stereotypes of Japanese women as submissive and promiscuous. Local laws and cultural norms play just as important a role.
Firms in Japan are becoming more proactive to fend off global rivals and activist investors showing renewed interest in the country after decades of stagnant growth.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2025

Japan’s ¥36.4 trillion M&A boom expected to grow as activist investors circle

Firms are becoming more proactive to fend off global rivals and activist investors showing renewed interest in the country after decades of stagnant growth.
A surge in management buyouts has come amid increasing pressure from activist investors to improve corporate value, and the burden of maintaining a listing.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 5, 2025

Japan weighs tougher management buyout rules to protect minority shareholders

A surge in buyouts has come amid increasing pressure from activist investors to improve corporate value.
Japanese cellist Eru Matsumoto, South African flutist Wouter Kellerman and Indian American vocalist Chandrika Tandon won a Grammy on Sunday for their album “Triveni.”
CULTURE / Music
Feb 5, 2025

Japanese cellist Eru Matsumoto awarded Grammy for best new age album

Alongside South African flutist Wouter Kellerman and Indian American vocalist Chandrika Tandon, Matsumoto took home the accolade for the trio’s album “Triveni.”

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it