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November 21, 2024
 

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RURAL LIFE

Asako Osaki attends the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York in March.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Nov 3, 2024
How global lessons can improve prospects for women in rural Japan
Through motherhood, education and work, Asako Osaki worked to bring global standards to the front lines of gender issues.
A woman walks past campaign posters for the Lower House election in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 19, 2024
Ruling and opposition parties vow redoubled regional revitalization efforts
Both sides are offering ideas for stopping population outflow from regional communities in their campaigning for the Oct. 27 general election.
A tea field in Makinohara, the birthplace of Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda, in August. The city in Shizuoka Prefecture, which once thrived on a now-declining tea industry, exemplifies disparities between Japan's struggling rural areas and its bustling megacities.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 4, 2024
In Bank of Japan chief's birthplace, Ueda's policy puzzle is laid bare
Makinohara's mayor says the Shizuoka Prefecture surf town is not keeping pace with Japan's broader recovery.
Ryobi Holdings has hired Kyosuke Suzuki, a former currency trader at Societe Generale, to set up an artificial intelligence-powered hedge fund specializing in forex.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 3, 2024
Bus group Ryobi sets up forex fund to survive population fall
The move follows its previous investments in real estate, supermarkets and other areas as it tries to secure funds to maintain its bus fleet and grow.
An abandoned house in Urayama, Saitama Prefecture. Buying an <i>akiya</i>, which means empty house in Japanese, can be a rewarding experience that yields a unique space and a livable home, competitively priced. Or it could turn out to be a money pit.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024
First lesson of Japan’s akiya gold rush: No such thing as a free house.
Renovations are usually the most expensive part of the journey and the laundry list of what needs to be done is long and tends to get longer after the process starts.
Jonah Ndeuludila (right) is studying at Tochigi Prefecture's Asian Rural Institute in order to bring skills back to his job at Namibia's Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 2, 2024
Over half a century, seeds of change grow at a Tochigi farm
Founded by Toshihiro Takami in 1973, ARI promotes organic, subsistence farming methods and the practice of servant leadership.
Bureaucrats had envisioned payments of up to ¥600,000 for women who got married and settled outside of Tokyo, according to media reports.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 30, 2024
Japan scraps idea to woo women out of city with cash
Bureaucrats had envisioned payments of up to ¥600,000 for women who got married and settled outside of Tokyo.
Participants take part in a mystery-themed matchmaking event organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government at Jindai Botanical Gardens in Tokyo in March.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 28, 2024
Japan to support women moving from Tokyo to countryside for marriage
The plan is aimed at helping those interested in relocating at a time when the population of young women in the countryside is shrinking.
An empty street in Fukiya, Okayama Prefecture. Japan may be both experiencing overtourism in some places and witnessing the opposite in others.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2024
Japan doesn't have too many tourists, statistics suggest. It just feels that way.
The country received 0.2 tourists per capita in 2023, compared with France's 1.5, Greece's 3.4, Portugal's 2.5 and Spain's 1.8.
A sign warning about the frequent appearance of bears in Tono, Iwate Prefecture, in April 2021
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2024
Japan moves to permit use of rifles to hunt bears in residential areas
Under a proposed legal revision, hunters would be allowed to fire rifles if there is a risk of human injury or a bear has entered a building.
Foreign visitors learn how to make sushi in a cooking class at Sushi Making Tokyo in the Asakusa district of Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2024
Japan government paper seeks to promote rural areas to foreign visitors
Foreign tourists primarily spend their time and money in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, according to the paper.
A government report says the excess concentration of population in Tokyo has not changed over the past decade.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2024
Overconcentration in Tokyo unchanged over decade, government says
The government reported that the excess concentration of population in Tokyo has not changed over the past decade.
A self-driving vehicle travels along a public road in Eiheiji, Fukui Prefecture, on May 25.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2024
Self-driving gets off to bumpy start in Fukui town
In the year since the service began in Eiheiji, financial and technical problems have emerged.
Farm minister Tetsushi Sakamoto stands as an amendment on Japan's farm policies clears parliament on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 30, 2024
Japan enacts revised 'constitution' for farm policies
The revised law newly underscores the necessity of ensuring food security at a time when supply chains are being destabilized.
A government panel in charge of promoting women's active engagement in professional life has said gender wage gaps may be behind the outflows of young women from rural areas in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
May 28, 2024
Gender wage gaps seen behind outflows of women from rural areas
Experts have said that local governments need to make wage gap rectification part of regional revitalization efforts in order to stem outflows of women.
Toshio Itoya, a community leader in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, says that people will come of their own accord if there is money to be made.
JAPAN / Society
May 21, 2024
Noto Peninsula faces youth exodus amid slow earthquake recovery
The inability to earn a living in quake-hit cities is making them seek greener pastures elsewhere, a community leader says.
A couple looks out onto the Fukuoka nightscape. Due to its distance from Tokyo and its close proximity to South Korea and China, professor Tomoya Mori believes that Fukuoka is one of the few metropolitan regions of Japan that will see some form of growth in the decades to come.
JAPAN / Society / Perspectives
May 20, 2024
Why half of Japan's cities are at risk of disappearing in 100 years
Professor Tomoya Mori believes depopulation will alter the urban landscape of Japan in an unexpected way.
In 2023, Bryan Eastlake (left) began a three-year contract with the local Takahama tourism association to write, post photos and otherwise promote the small town in northern Kyoto Prefecture to a wider audience.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
May 20, 2024
The new vanguard of rural revitalization efforts in Japan
Currently, the Regional Revitalization Corps has around 200 foreign residents working in different industries around the country.
Fukushima Prefectural Police are looking into any possible connections between Tuesday's robbery in rural Minamiaizu and a spate of similar cases in nearby prefectures that started late last month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2024
Police probe Fukushima robbery's links to spate of rural home invasions
Several robberies targeting houses in mountainous areas have taken place in Tochigi, Nagano, and Gunma prefectures since late April.
Despite bustling cities like Tokyo and Osaka, Japan faces a rising number of abandoned properties, particularly in rural areas, which pose risks to communities and economies.
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2024
Abandoned homes will be a big part of Japan’s future
Statistics reveal a significant increase in vacant and abandoned homes, with projections indicating a further rise unless addressed soon.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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