Tag - tokyo

 
 

TOKYO

The ruling coalition has put forward a plan to make public school tuition free, with costs of up to ¥118,800 yearly subsidized for all families regardless of income.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2025
Recent talks on education funding for all might be missing the point
As the government works to pass its budget without a majority, the issue of free education for all has become key to negotiations for support in parliament.
English-language signs and other materials seized from men’s aesthetic salon Sparaku by the Metropolitan Police Department on Tuesday in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 4, 2025
Tokyo police arrest brothel operator catering to foreign tourists
About 60% of the brothel's customers were non-Japanese, drawn in by promotions on its English website, introduction videos and street touts.
Ramen with simmered tuna cheek meat and soup made from bluefin tuna bones in Tokyo's Koto Ward
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 4, 2025
Novel seafood noodles become flavor of the moment in Tokyo
Noodles served with tuna, yellowtail, whale meat or other ingredients are gaining in popularity.
Kinuko Iwamoto (center), former chancellor of Tokyo Women's Medical University, inside a police car in Tokyo on Jan. 13
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 3, 2025
Ex-Tokyo medical school chancellor served new warrant over payments
Iwamoto, 78, is suspected of committing a breach of trust, allegedly making the university fraudulently pay a total of around ¥170 million in consulting fees on multiple occasions.
The Hyatt Regency hotel in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 3, 2025
KKR and Gaw look to sell Tokyo Hyatt Regency for over ¥100 billion
The two investment firms bought the hotel in the Shinjuku area for an estimated ¥60 billion less than two years ago.
Snow falls as cars and pedestrians cross an intersection in Tokyo. The meteorological agency is warning of possible traffic disruptions caused by snow and icy roads.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2025
Snow may disrupt traffic in Tokyo area from Sunday
Delays and cancellations may occur on some train lines in the Tokyo metropolitan area, according to JR East.
In addition to the commercial benefits from Ginza Sony Park's music-centered exhibition — such as promoting Sony's artists and products — there is a real effort to put music in focus.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 1, 2025
At the new Ginza Sony Park, listening is an art form
“Sony Park Exhibition 2025” features installations created in collaboration with six music artists: Vaundy, Yoasobi, Hitsujibungaku, Creepy Nuts, Babymonster and Kensuke Ushio.
Hoshoryu (center), sumo's newest yokozuna, performs the ring-entrance ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Friday.
SUMO
Jan 31, 2025
Tokyo crowd welcomes sumo's newest grand champion in ancient ceremony
Mongolian-born Hoshoryu became the 74th yokozuna in sumo history this week after winning the second tournament of his career.
Tokyo saw a net population inflow of 79,285 in 2024, up 11,000 from the previous year and returning to prepandemic levels.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2025
Tokyo area's net population inflow accelerates in 2024
The government aims to reverse the trend in fiscal 2027 to address the issue of overconcentration in the Tokyo area.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in Tokyo climbed 2.5% in January from a year earlier, the fastest pace since last February.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 31, 2025
Tokyo inflation hits fastest pace in a year, supporting BOJ view
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in the capital climbed 2.5% in January from a year earlier.
The Dentsu Group's headquarters building (center) in Tokyo. Tokyo District Court ordered Dentsu Group to pay ¥300 million in fines on Thursday as sought by prosecutors over bid-rigging related to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 30, 2025
Dentsu Group ordered to pay ¥300 million over Tokyo Games bid-rigging
The Tokyo District Court also sentenced the former assistant head of the sports department of core subsidiary Dentsu to two years in prison suspended for four years.
Tokyo is expected to lead the season with its first cherry blossoms on March 21, followed by Fukuoka, Kochi and Hiroshima prefectures as well as the city of Yokohama on March 22.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2025
Cherry blossom season predicted to begin in Tokyo on March 21
This year’s cherry blossom season is expected to align with or slightly precede historical averages in western and eastern Japan.
Daisuke Komatsu (center), who heads the Liberal Democratic Party group in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, bows at a news conference in Tokyo on Jan. 17 after the group's accountant was slapped with summary indictment.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 29, 2025
Tokyo Assembly LDP accountant fined ¥1 million over slush funds
LDP accountant Hidekatsu Yajima had been summarily indicted by Tokyo prosecutors for violating the political funds control law.
Police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department conduct a search at the premises of Natural, one of Japan's biggest sex worker scout groups, on Monday in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2025
Tokyo police arrest members of major sex worker scout group
The group had up to about 1,500 scouts nationwide, and its annual revenue is believed to have reached about ¥5 billion.
An Asian black bear preys on a live deer caught in a trap in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, in May, in this image from video footage shot by researchers.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2025
Black bear caught on camera attacking trapped deer in rare footage
The discovery suggests that if bears learn to associate traps with easy prey, the risk of encounters with humans could rise.
Tomin First no Kai adviser Hirotada Ototake speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 26, 2025
Tomin First adviser Hirotada Ototake keen to use social media
"Through social media outreach, we want to become an option for unaffiliated voters who have not decided for whom to vote" in the June 22 race, said Ototake.
Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Jan 26, 2025
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick
Discover the hometown of the Yoshiwara publisher who helped shape Japan’s artistic legacy and inspired NHK’s latest period drama.
The beach on Izu-Oshima island where Shizuka Takase's remains were found in October of last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 25, 2025
Suspect says woman found dead on remote Tokyo island killed herself
The suspect, tatami store manager Sotatsu Yanase, 45, was arrested Friday on suspicion of abandoning and damaging the body of Shizuka Takase.
New Yorker Kenny Colvin opened Sanita, an Italian American-style cocktail bar, in Tokyo’s Hatagaya neighborhood in 2020.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 24, 2025
Kenny Colvin: ‘Work hard, drink hard, eat hard … relax hard’
The owner of Sanita, a cozy cocktail bar in Hatagaya, shares his journey and inspirations.
Sotatsu Yanase leaves the Oshima Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2025
Boyfriend of missing woman arrested after bones found on beach
The victim was identified as Shizuka Takase, a 37-year-old restaurant worker from Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.