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March 26, 2025
 

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MEDICINE

Keio University in Tokyo
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 22, 2025
Keio University team says stem cell treatment helped improve spine injuries
Keio University said that the motor function score for two patients improved after an operation to implant more than 2 million iPS-derived cells into a spinal cord.
Elsie, a 45 year-old aid worker, who uses a pseudonym to protect her anonymity, used to spend her days wandering the narrow streets of Msogwaba township, near the South African city of Mbombela, to visit hundreds of children living with HIV.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 20, 2025
U.S. aid cuts threaten South Africa's young HIV patients
Around 13% of South Africa's population live with HIV, and about 640,000 children were orphaned by the virus in 2023.
Elon Musk and President Donald Trump's assertion that U.S. aid cuts to programs including PEPFAR and USAID in Africa aren't causing harm is not true. Children and others are already dying as a result.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2025
Musk says aid cuts haven’t killed anyone. That's not true.
In South Sudan, one of the world’s poorest countries, the efforts by Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump are already leading children to die.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba instructs his government to develop a system to operate what are known as hospital ships by January 2026 at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 18, 2025
Japan to begin hospital ship operations by next January
The program calls for using existing private-sector ships to transport patients from disaster-affected areas and provide medical care.
A recent study shows promise for a personalized mRNA vaccine to prevent pancreatic cancer recurrence, offering hope for patients and highlighting the potential of tailored cancer treatments.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2025
Pancreatic cancer vaccine shows hope. Make the investment.
When researchers offer data suggesting a personalized vaccine might be able to keep the cancer at bay for years, it’s worth paying attention to.
Upper House Budget Committee chief Yosuke Tsuruho (right) and his Lower House counterpart, Jun Azumi, meet in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 12, 2025
Medical cap fumble paves way for unprecedented second revision of fiscal budget
While there have been cases of bills returning to the Lower House after amendments in the Upper House, it has never happened with the budget.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday about his decision to cancel plans to raise the ceiling on out-of-pocket expenses for high-cost medical care.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 8, 2025
Ishiba cancels planned August medical expense cap hike
It is the third time the Ishiba administration has changed its policy on the high-cost medical care system.
Obstetrician and gynecologist Song Mihyon
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 7, 2025
Doctor urges awareness of a birth control pill covered by health insurance
“I think doctors need to tell their patients that a birth control pill covered by health insurance exists,” Song Mihyon said.
Foster City, California’s Gilead is laser-focused on HIV and is seeking an actual cure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2025
Gilead's Japan head says nation can be among first to end HIV epidemic
The pharmaceutical powerhouse has drugs that disrupt the transmission of the virus, one of which has been approved for prevention in Japan.
Kesa Hatamoto, a 102-year-old Japanese woman who is recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest pharmacist, speaks during an interview on Jan. 28 in Tokyo's Meguro Ward.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2025
At 102, world's oldest pharmacist celebrates her calling
"There's nothing happier than having a job for a lifetime. I want to continue my career forever," says Kesa Hatamoto.
The health ministry issued a business improvement order to a medical clinic in Fukuoka, saying a range of stem cell treatments it offers violate the law on the safety of regenerative medicine.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 5, 2025
Fukuoka clinic issued business improvement order over stem cell treatments
The clinic offers various stem cell treatments without the prior submission of its plans to the authorities, the health ministry said.
Blackstone said it agreed to purchase 60% of Tokyo-based CMIC, a contract research organization, in a deal that values the company in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 3, 2025
Blackstone buys Japan drug trial firm, adding to private equity health deals
Blackstone has been increasingly active in Japan’s life science sector amid a wider buyout boom in the country.
The government will raise the out-of-pocket expense cap for expensive medical treatments this August as planned, but will reconsider plans for further increases, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told parliament on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 2, 2025
Japan to reconsider medical expense cap hike plan: Ishiba
The expense ceiling hike is slated to be conducted in three stages from this year to 2027.
Some 230 million people globally thought to be affected by long COVID. The effects range from mild to disabling, and there are no proven diagnostic tests or treatments.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 1, 2025
'Going mad': Lack of data plagues Asia's long COVID patients
Some 230 million people are thought to be affected by long COVID — defined as symptoms persisting for three months or more after the initial infection.
Keio University in Tokyo's Minato Ward. The university's ethics committee has approved clinical research that would lead to the first uterine transplant procedure in Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 28, 2025
Keio University ethics panel OKs uterus transplant clinical trial
The university will consider whether to carry out the research, which would be the first uterine transplant procedure in Japan.
A sign directs people to a measles testing center in Gaines County, Texas, on Tuesday. A measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico is sparking fears of worsening public health crisis in the United States. 
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2025
Texas measles outbreak was entirely avoidable
"It’s more contagious than COVID, more contagious than the flu, more contagious than Ebola,” says Paul Offit, of Philadelphia's Vaccine Education Center.
Researchers from Osaka University (center) have developed a new method to test for pancreatic cancer.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 26, 2025
Osaka University develops new method for pancreatic cancer testing
If put into practical use, the method would make it easier to detect pancreatic cancer early, which is often very difficult.
Two people have been arrested on suspicion of covering up a patient's murder at Michinoku Kinen Hospital in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 16, 2025
Former Aomori hospital head and doctor arrested over alleged murder coverup
The two brothers are accused of issuing a false death certificate saying the patient died of pneumonia when he was actually killed by another patient.
Leaders of patients' groups submit signatures opposing the move by the government to raise the medical copayment ceiling on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2025
Japan to rethink medical copayment hike amid patient outcry
Many patients, especially those undergoing costly but effective cancer therapy, say a hike might force them to abandon their treatments.
Volunteer Nhoun Niyok shows villagers how to use a mosquito net to prevent malaria in Cambodia's northeastern Mondulkiri province on Jan. 16.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Feb 14, 2025
Cambodia nears Khmer Rouge survivor's dream of eradicating malaria
The hope is for zero cases this year — a remarkable turnaround for a country that was formerly an epicenter of multi-drug resistant strains.
Ozeki Onosato on doorstep of yokozuna promotion after latest title
Onosato celebrates after winning the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka on Sunday.
Japan's first foreign swordsmith opens workshop in Hiroshima Prefecture
Johan Leutwiler checks a sword he made at his workshop studio in the Kui district of Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture.
Tokyo court strips Unification Church of religious corporation status
Nobuya Fukumoto (far left), a lawyer for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, is surrounded by the media at the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday after it ordered the group to be stripped of its religious corporation status.
Japan launches new Joint Operations Command to unify SDF branches
The head of the Self-Defense Forces' new Joint Operations Command, Gen. Kenichiro Nagumo, inspects an honor guard Monday morning at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo.
Applications for forgery-proof passports start in Japan
New Japanese passports will be printed using laser technology based on banknote printing techniques, making forgery more difficult.
New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
Cherry blossom season kicks off in Tokyo after warm weekend
Blooms are seen on the Meteorological Agency's sample cherry tree at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Monday.
Japanese wages likely to rise more than 5% again this year
Wages are set for another big increase this year as annual negotiations secure generous agreements.
Stay at home if Mount Fuji erupts, government panel says
Mount Fuji in November. For the first time, the government has released specific guidelines on how residents should act in the event that Mount Fuji erupts.
In pictures: Tokyo's weeklong celebration of baseball's best
Shohei Ohtani belts a home run in the fifth inning of the second game of the Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs.

Podcast

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

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The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Eighty years after the Battle of Manila, old foes forge new ties
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