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December 04, 2024
 

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HEALTH

A screenshot of a health ministry website that allows people to easily calculate the amount of time it takes for their body to break down the alcohol they have consumed
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 18, 2024
Japan ministry launches website to estimate alcohol breakdown time
The “Alcohol Watch” website allows people to enter the type and amount of drinks they consumed to calculate how long it will take for the alcohol to break down.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer known for his anti-science stances, lacks public health experience and has a history of promoting harmful conspiracy theories, such as anti-vaccine activism.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2024
RFK Jr.’s junk science will put every American at risk
His promotion of bizarre conspiracy theories could turn the government into an “accelerant for misinformation.”
While baldness can often be the butt of jokes in Japan, it can also be a powerfully freeing act of self-acceptance for those struggling with hair loss.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 16, 2024
Thinning up top? Hair loss in Japan is not the end.
Among Asian countries, Japan has the highest rate of alopecia at around 26%, as well as 7.8% of women experiencing some form of hair thinning.
Lecanemab was developed by drugmakers Eisai of Japan and Biogen of the United States.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 15, 2024
European agency switches to recommending new Alzheimer's drug
The committee judged that the efficacy of lecanemab outweighs the risk for some patients.
Shannon Turner, who is often in and out of the hospital due to waterfall effects related to the interplay between long COVID, psoriatic arthritis, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome and autoimmune diseases, sits up on a hospital bed in Philadelphia, in May 2023.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 15, 2024
Many long COVID patients adjust to slim recovery odds as world moves on
Recent scientific studies suggest the longer someone is sick, the lower their chances of making a full recovery.
A Type 2 diabetes patient gives himself an insulin shot. In 2022, there were around 828 million people aged 18 years and older with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes worldwide, a new study found.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 15, 2024
More than 800 million adults have diabetes globally, study suggests
The study in The Lancet found the global prevalence of diabetes has doubled since 1990 to 14% from around 7%.
For patients using donanemab, it will cost them about ¥3.08 million per year. But national insurance coverage will have the government shoulder most of the cost.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 13, 2024
Japan OKs insurance coverage of Alzheimer's drug donanemab
Donanemab became the second Alzheimer's drug that targets causative deposited plaque in the brain to win the coverage after lecanemab.
An expert committee convened by the health ministry has proposed introducing a limit on consecutive workdays.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 13, 2024
Japan to ban employees from working for 14 consecutive days
Employers are currently required to provide one day off a week, but loopholes mean some employees can work up to 48 days in a row.
The anterior cruciate ligament can be damaged when people play sports such as soccer and basketball, and does not heal on its own, requiring reconstructive surgery.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 7, 2024
Clinical trial to use cow tendons for ligament reconstruction
The number of patients who undergo anterior cruciate ligament surgery in Japan is about 19,000 annually, including many professional soccer players and sumo wrestlers.
The National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo's Chuo Ward. A study by researchers at the hospital aims to determine whether restoring a healthy intestinal environment can enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy drugs used in cancer treatment.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 6, 2024
Japan explores intestinal flora transplants for cancer treatment
A study aims to determine whether restoring a healthy intestinal environment can make drugs used in the treatment of esophageal and stomach cancers more effective.
Since October, patients have been asked to pay more for brand-name drugs prescribed by medical institutions if the patents have expired.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2024
Japan raises out-of-pocket costs for off-patent drugs
With the increases, the government aims to reduce health care costs by encouraging greater use of generic drugs.
In recent years, anglophone publishers have perked up to the potential of “healing fiction,” driven by a healthy appetite for East Asian literature. Japan figures prominently in this literary landscape, and a fondness for felines in the "iyashikei" (healing type) genre has proven commercially viable abroad.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 2024
Cat companions and the 'healing fiction' boom
Japan's "iyashikei" (healing type) cultural products are gaining audiences, and non-Japanese readers are craving cozy feline literature in translation.
The health ministry’s report shows that the number of elementary, junior high and high school students who took their own lives in 2023 stood at 513, one fewer than last year's record of 514.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 29, 2024
Japan’s struggle with youth suicide sparks government initiatives
The health ministry’s report shows that the number of elementary, junior high and high school students who took their own lives remained alarmingly high.
A McDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburger. The fast-food chain has pulled the Quarter Pounder from about one-fifth of its U.S. restaurants.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 25, 2024
Fast-food chains hold the onions after McDonald's E. coli outbreak
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said late on Wednesday that fresh onions were the likely source of the E. coli outbreak.
Displaced Palestinians ordered by the Israeli military to evacuate their neighborhoods in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
WORLD / Society
Oct 22, 2024
War has knocked Gaza back to the 1950s, UNDP says
The war has devastated the Palestinian economy and left nearly all of Gaza's population in poverty, with health and education knocked back 70 years.
A standard Chocozap location is small and unmanned, which has made it easy for Rizap to add locations amid a chronic labor shortage.
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2024
Gyms in Japan offer laundry, karaoke and hair-removal machines
Chocozap's oddball gyms were created as an experiment during the coronavirus pandemic.
Asahi Breweries' Sumadori Bar Shibuya specializes in low-alcohol drinks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 17, 2024
Japanese beverage makers see business opportunity in low-alcohol drinks
Amid increasing concern about the health impact of high alcohol consumption, beverage makers are developing low-alcohol products.
Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi Suzuki speaks about measures against the spread of bird flu on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 17, 2024
Hokkaido reports Japan's first bird flu case of the season
The report is the country's earliest confirmed bird flu case at a domestic poultry farm in over two decades. 
Political parties are highlighting measures to reform the health care system for the elderly and the public pension system as the population ages.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2024
Parties highlight measures for working generation
The country's health care and public pension systems are being discussed ahead of the upcoming general election.
Adapting to new information when faced with public health crises like COVID-19 is crucial, as oversimplified public health messaging can erode trust in science. 
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2024
The best answer science may have right now is ‘I don't know’
Acknowledging uncertainty and adapting to new information is crucial, as oversimplified public health messaging can erode trust in science.
Japan’s 2024 buzzword of the year urges a reevaluation of past norms
Sadao Abe, who played the role of a time-traveling Showa Era teacher transported to present day in a popular TV drama, receives the 2024 buzzword of the year award for the word "futehodo," the nickname of the series.
Princess Aiko, only child of emperor, turns 23
Princess Aiko on Nov. 22 ahead of her 23rd birthday on Sunday at the Imperial Palace
Ishiba questioned on political reform, social issues and the economy
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks in the Lower House in Tokyo on Monday.
Nearly 90% in Japan and China have negative views of other
Chinese people's sentiment toward Japan is believed to be impacted by their use of social media platforms such as Weibo and Douyin, as well as whether they have visited Japan.
Bear that attacked Akita supermarket employee captured
A brown bear in Hokkaido. In the city of Akita, a bear that attacked a supermarket employee over the weekend was captured in a box trap on Monday morning.
Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?
The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
Europe eyes 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine as possible peace deal option
A serviceman with the Ukrainian Army's 24th mechanized brigade fires a machine gun during an exercise, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the country's Donetsk region on Friday.
Seven strangers and an algorithm: Can this new dinner app help you make friends?
Timeleft uses an algorithm to match its users with five or six strangers in an effort to prompt “human connection” over dinner at a restaurant. It determines the attendees with the help of a simple personality quiz available when you sign up for the service. 
Don’t worry, you can still use your Japan health insurance card — for now
A My Number card reader at a pediatric clinic in Tokyo. While the government will stop issuing new health insurance cards on Monday, most people will remain unaffected by the move in the short term as existing health insurance cards can still be used for another year.
The Geisha bean is the leading lady of Tokyo's coffee scene
Discovered in the 1930s, the Geisha coffee plant came to worldwide fame in the early 2000s and now represents some of the best coffee on the planet — Tokyo's top cafes included.

Podcast

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

Longform

The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?
By Tomoko Otake

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