Tag - japanese

 
 

JAPANESE

Billboard advertisements for host clubs in the Kabukicho area of Tokyo.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2025
Tokyo police step up crackdown on sex worker scout group
The group is believed to have earned about ¥7 billion over five years by dispatching women to the sexual service businesses that offered the best pay.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato. Subject to the Moritomo document disclosure are paper documents of 17 pages or more, as well as electronic data, Kato told a parliamentary meeting.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 5, 2025
Government to release controversial Moritomo documents
The government will start disclosing documents related to a controversial state land sale to school operator Moritomo Gakuen in a month's time at the earliest.
According to the Cultural Affairs Agency, shodō is defined as the act of writing kanji and kana characters using traditional brushstrokes and techniques.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
Japan to again propose calligraphy for UNESCO heritage list
The government is expected to submit the fresh proposal to UNESCO by the end of the month.
Takeover bids in Japan are expected to reach a record this year amid growing pressure on companies to boost shareholder returns.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 4, 2025
Japan small-cap fund tops rivals with stocks few analysts cover
The NicheJungle Japanese Orphan Companies SDG Fund has exited positions in 20 companies at a profit, with half of these firms taken over since the fund's 2022 launch.
To achieve a stable supply chain and propel semiconductor innovation, Japan's government and chipmakers are increasingly building bridges with foreign firms.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 3, 2025
Japan is no island when it comes to semiconductors. Rightly so.
To achieve a stable supply chain and propel semiconductor innovation, Japan's government and chipmakers are increasingly building bridges with foreign firms.
Koichiro Ito, a producer of the hit Japanese anime film "Your Name," has been convicted of "violating laws on child prostitution and pornography" as well as non-consensual sex and the filming of indecent images, a Wakayama District Court spokesperson said on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 3, 2025
'Your Name.' anime producer jailed over obscene acts against minors
Koichiro Ito was reportedly accused of paying a 15-year-old girl money in return for sex, and demanding that another teenager take and send him explicit photos of herself.
Kumamon, the official mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, poses in front of a sign of Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., at TSMC's then new factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, in February 2024.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 3, 2025
In chip renaissance, Japan is learning from past mistakes
In the 1980s, Japan dominated semiconductor production. Fast-forward to today and the country is trying to recapture its past glory, this time with a more outward-looking strategy.
Osaka Prefectural Police headquarters. A man was arrested on Saturday after the body of a child was found in an apartment unit in Yao, Osaka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 3, 2025
Osaka police arrest man after child's body found encased in concrete
An unemployed man who lives in Hirano Ward in the city of Osaka allegedly abandoned the child's body in the city of Yao, Osaka Prefecture.
An electronic sign displays the benchmark Nikkei stock average on a street in Tokyo. The stock average has been range-bound between about 38,000 and 40,000 since hitting a new all-time high in July last year.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Mar 3, 2025
Japanese stocks stalled at 1989 levels as investors weigh tariffs and rates
The 225-issue Nikkei stock average has been range-bound between about 38,000 and 40,000 since hitting a new all-time high in July 2024.
The "Ishinomaki Kokeshi" created by craftsman Takatoshi Hayashi to promote his hometown are not confined to the traditional designs of the simple Japanese wooden dolls.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 3, 2025
Ishinomaki craftsman promotes hometown with unique wooden dolls after 3/11
Starting out as a complete amateur, Takatoshi Hayashi now receives orders from abroad for his “Ishinomaki Kokeshi” as his renown spreads online.
The higher cost of food is forcing Japanese consumers to scrimp and bargain hunt as their purchasing power drops.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 3, 2025
Japan’s consumers hunt for bargains as food inflation bites
The prices of staples such as rice, eggs and cabbage have all surged in the past 12 months.
Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Mar 3, 2025
As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows
Women and young people are leading a migratory wave that the government is struggling to halt.
Staff members wearing costumes from the Japanese superhero series "Choudenshi Bioman" perform during a fan meeting at a concert hall in Seoul to mark the 35th anniversary of its release in South Korea, on Feb. 15.
CULTURE
Mar 2, 2025
South Korean fans soak up nostalgia with vintage Japanese superheroes
It has been decades since "Choudenshi Bioman" was last on TV, but its stories of good versus evil still resonate deeply with some.
Chef Kentaro Mura’s favorite way of serving snow crab is as shabu-shabu: The legs are lightly blanched in dashi, then the meat is removed and served with a generous scoop of crab tomalley.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Mar 2, 2025
Toyama’s finest seafood underpins Ebitei Bekkan’s return to greatness
This "kaiseki" restaurant has been making up for lost time with a culinary flair that presents Toyama’s seafood tradition in a contemporary guise.
Monta Mino, who hosted many television shows in Japan, died in the early hours of Saturday. He was 80.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2025
Famed Japanese TV host Monta Mino dies at 80
Mino, whose real name was Norio Minorikawa, joined Nippon Cultural Broadcasting in 1967.
While Japan's luxury goods market remains strong, its seconhand resale market is proving just as much a draw for tourists searching for great bargains — as long as they can manage to get their hands on the real deal.
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 1, 2025
Not even Japan is safe from counterfeit luxury goods
Despite a reliable reputation, Japan’s secondhand luxury market is still vulnerable to fakes and counterfeits.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks to the press in October in Tokyo. Ueda told parliament on Feb. 12 that the central bank is aware that food price increases are negatively affecting households.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 28, 2025
Odds of early rate rise increase as inflation becomes the fight in Japan
Hawkish signals sent by Bank of Japan officials over the past month or so point to such a possibility.
Prices of more than 2,300 food items, such as frozen food products, are expected to be raised in March.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2025
Prices of over 2,300 food items to be raised in Japan in March
The monthly figure is on course to top 2,000 for the first time since October 2024, and the cumulative number in 2025 will exceed 10,000.
An electronic board in Tokyo shows the 225-issue Nikkei average dropping over 1,000 points on Friday morning.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 28, 2025
Asian chip shares tumble on Nvidia earnings and tariff fears
A Bloomberg gauge of 25 Japanese chip-related stocks sank as much as 4.5%, the biggest intraday fall since September.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, at a news conference on Friday, said the Cabinet has approved a bill to revise relevant laws to digitalize criminal procedures in the country.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 28, 2025
Japan's Cabinet approves bill to digitalize criminal procedures
Once passed, existing laws will be amended to allow greater use of technologies by law enforcers and the judiciary.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan