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While Hayao Miyazaki’s return to filmmaking, “The Boy and the Heron,” did not attain the ¥10 billion milestone that the beloved animator’s movies had once routinely surpassed, it debuted at the top of the North American box office and became the first original anime film to lead the box office in the United States and Canada.
CULTURE / Film / 2023 in Review
Dec 15, 2023
Japan’s auteurs and anime triumphed in 2023
From Hayao Miyazaki's “The Boy and the Heron” to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Monster,” the box-office hits kept coming.
A still from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
PODCAST / deep dive
Dec 14, 2023
Big in Japan 2023: Anime, Murakami and The Legend of Zelda
Our guests tell us why anime dominated in 2023, which books stood out among a lackluster crowd and why the Zelda franchise is experiencing a renaissance.
Set allocations to tea houses and other businesses, combined with various presale lotteries — some exclusive to paid fan club members — account for the bulk of sumo’s premium seat purchases.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Dec 13, 2023
Sumo's big ticketing problem
Securing tickets for sumo's biggest matches can be a headache, particularly for sumo's many foreign fans, partially due to outdated information online.
Seihan Mori, chief priest of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, writes "zei" (taxes), which was chosen on Tuesday as the kanji of the year.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2023
Talk of taxes spurs choice for Japan’s kanji of the year
The choice came as tax hikes and cuts were heavily covered in the news and discussed among policymakers.
Beet carpaccio served with fresh cream and caviar, the signature dish of three-Michelin-star chef Mauro Colagreco, features at Cycle, his much-anticipated new restaurant in Otemachi.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 9, 2023
Tokyo dining finally kicked the pandemic blues in 2023
The further we got into 2023, the more it really started to feel like COVID-19 had finally dissipated like a malodorous mist.
After becoming a TikTok trend in Japan in 2022, artist imase’s song “Night Dancer” found popularity abroad in 2023, particularly in South Korea, where it became the first Japanese song to ever enter the nation’s Melon Top 100 Song Chart.
CULTURE / Music / 2023 in Review
Dec 8, 2023
J-pop's global ambitions came closer to reality in 2023
Duo Yoasobi's "Idol" was a true international breakout, while a viral trend turned imase into a pop ambassador between Japan and South Korea.
NHK headquarters in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward
JAPAN / Media
Dec 6, 2023
NHK found to have breached ethics with COVID vaccine news segment
A report in "News Watch 9" suggested three people lost family members to COVID-19 infection when they actually died after being vaccinated.
LeBron James and the Lakers are still in the running to win the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament.
BASKETBALL
Dec 4, 2023
NBA's in-season tourney heads to quarterfinals with Vegas on horizon
The title game is on Dec. 9 in Las Vegas — where the finalists will be competing for the first NBA Cup and for the $500,000 in prize money per player.
The Bulls' court is painted red for their NBA In-Season Tournament game against the Nets at the United Center in Chicago on Nov. 3.
BASKETBALL
Dec 4, 2023
New in-season tournament delivering early returns for NBA
The NBA In-season Tournament was established to add spice to the early part of the season.
The floor is painted red for the NBA In-Season Tournament game between the Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets on Nov. 3.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Dec 3, 2023
The NBA’s new in-season cup is bringing in viewers
Modeled after cup competitions in European football, the tourney is meant to add some spice to a sometimes bland stretch of the NBA calendar.
The talent agency formerly known as Johnny & Associates announced it would change its name after acknowledging the long history of abuse company founder Johnny Kitagawa inflicted on young men. The news was followed by the removal of company signage bearing Kitagawa’s name.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Dec 2, 2023
The entertainment story of the year is long overdue
As entertainment heavyweights Johnny & Associates and Takarazuka Revue are hit by scandals, hope for reform emerges with changing attitudes toward abuse.
Hayao Miyazaki came out of retirement this year with “The Boy and the Heron,” which opened to critical acclaim and has so far earned ¥8.56 billion — a good showing but not enough to take the top spot at the box office for the year.
CULTURE / Film / 2023 in Review
Nov 30, 2023
The year that defined the post-Miyazaki era
The success of “Oshi no Ko,” “Detective Conan” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” proved that anime is the mainstream now.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida receives a COVID-19 booster shot in Tokyo on Nov. 11.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 28, 2023
Japan approves first domestically developed COVID-19 XBB vaccine
The XBB-adapted coronavirus vaccine will be available as a booster under the nation’s free COVID-19 vaccination program beginning next week.
The number of syphilis cases in Japan totaled 13,251 this year as of Sunday, hitting a record high for the third consecutive year, national data showed Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2023
Syphilis cases hit record high for third straight year in Japan
The total exceeded the previous annual record of 13,228 cases reported in the entire year of 2022.
Tossing your car in the forest when you leave Japan doesn't help anyone. If you want to throw away your things properly, you'll need to pay attention to your paperwork.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 24, 2023
Wheeling and dealing: A cautionary tale for expats headed home
Ditching big items, like your car, can be tough in Japan if you don't time things just right.
A survey found that the number of children newly hospitalized for anorexia nervosa in Japan came to 183 in fiscal 2022, up around 60% from fiscal 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 24, 2023
Anorexia in children remained an issue three years into pandemic
Cases in fiscal 2022 were 40% higher than the level in fiscal 2019, before the pandemic.
Tourists in Tokyo's Asakusa district earlier this month
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2023
Visitors to Japan in October exceed pre-COVID level for first time
Visitor numbers improved to 100.8% of levels seen in 2019 before the outbreak of COVID-19 led to travel curbs around the world.
Seiko Noda (right), head of a suprapartisan group of lawmakers discussing assisted reproductive technology, addresses the group's general meeting held in the Diet building on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2023
Bill on sperm and egg donors seeks disclosure of some information
The draft seeks to allow information that is not personally identifiable, such as height, blood type and age, to be disclosed without donor's consent
Japan Finance Corp.'s branch in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. Government-affiliated financial institutions provided a total of ¥21.87 trillion in special loans between January 2020 and March this year.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 8, 2023
COVID loans worth ¥69.7 billion can't be repaid, report shows
The report by the Board of Audit of Japan also showed that the government wasted ¥58.02 billion of taxpayer money on 344 projects in fiscal 2022.
Satoko Nagamura, a representative of Kodomap (right), hands a letter of request to Koji Takahashi, a senior official at the Children and Families Agency, in Tokyo Tuesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 7, 2023
Japan hospital denies LGBTQ woman support for IVF pregnancy
Japanese hospitals are wary of accepting pregnant women unconditionally due to a lack of legislation related to conception via donated sperm.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals