Tag - wwii

 
Menu
Search
 
November 07, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

WWII

Hisako Aihara looks at a photo of central Sendai taken by the U.S. military before the July 1945 air raid on the city, at Sendai's War Reconstruction Memorial Hall.
JAPAN / History / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Nov 3, 2025
How a family in Sendai narrowly escaped a U.S. air raid in 1945
While the city was reduced to ashes, Hisako Aihara and her family managed to evacuate in time thanks to a tipoff from a worker at a military facility.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung shakes hands with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi after taking a group photo during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 1, 2025
South Korea's Lee says 'worries vanished' after meeting Takaichi
At a news conference, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said that he believed the bilateral relationship would continue to improve.
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2025
Russia says peace talks with Japan only possible if Tokyo abandons ‘anti-Russian course’
Soviet troops took control of four islands off Hokkaido at the end of World War II.
Former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba calls for the swift restoration of a deleted section of a 1940 parliamentary record containing an anti-military speech criticizing Japan's war with China, on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 28, 2025
Ishiba wants 1940 anti-military speech record restored
Lawmaker Takao Saito denounced Japan's military campaign in China, and was subsequently expelled from the lower chamber of the Diet.
Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Oct 27, 2025
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell
A sealed 1930s subway platform beneath Shimbashi Station still holds traces of what the capital looked like before the war.
Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and Princess Aiko meet with a family member of a victim of the Tokyo air raids on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2025
Japan’s imperial family mourns 1945 Tokyo air raid victims
Tokyo’s Sumida Ward memorial preserves the remains of some 105,000 people, including those who died in the massive air raid.
Then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issues a statement on the 50th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II on Aug. 15, 1995. Murayama died on Friday at the age of 101.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 20, 2025
China's Xi mourns death of ex-PM Murayama
The Chinese president offered his condolences in a message sent to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Sunday.
A visitor makes his way to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on the first day of its annual autumn festival on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 20, 2025
Takaichi skips Yasukuni visit during autumn festival
With a vote on the next prime minister set for Tuesday, the new LDP president apparently took into account the possibility that any visit could adversely impact foreign affairs.
Past visits by top Japanese leaders to Yasukuni Shrine, which also honors convicted war criminals, have infuriated China and South Korea, and no prime minister has visited since 2013.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 17, 2025
Takaichi sends offering to Yasukuni Shrine but will not visit
Top Japanese leaders visiting the shrine also honoring convicted war criminals have infuriated China and South Korea in the past, and no prime minister has visited since 2013.
Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama speaks during an interview in Tokyo in March 2007.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 17, 2025
Former PM Tomiichi Murayama dies at age 101
Murayama, who delivered a key statement apologizing for Japan’s World War II aggression, died on Friday in his native Oita.
At an Oct. 15 performance in Hiroshima, Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich (left) plays a piano that survived the atomic bombing of the city. She is accompanied by Japanese pianist Hayato Sumino. In the right foreground is a digital piano developed to reproduce the notes of the famous piano.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2025
Digitized sounds unveiled of piano that survived atomic bombing of Hiroshima
Concerns about the aging piano's fragility prompted the creation of a project to make a digital recording of its 88 keys recorded at six volume levels.
Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, before she was elected the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party earlier this month.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2025
Over 40% back Takaichi visiting Yasukuni Shrine, poll shows
Sanae Takaichi, leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has repeatedly visited the shrine, which enshrines Class-A war criminals from World War II among the war dead.
Paul Post, a retired Dutch systems specialist, looks at the war-time diaries of his father, who described working in the Netherlands' diamond bureau during the Nazi occupation, in Driehuis, Netherlands, on Oct. 6.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 13, 2025
How a quiet Dutch retiree helped uncover Nazi-stolen art in Argentina
The unlikely role of the man, who found his father's Nazi-era diaries, in the discovery of a stolen painting in Argentina showcases the complexities of finding Nazi-looted art.
Nihon Hidankyo co-chair Terumi Tanaka speaks to reporters during an event held in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 12, 2025
Hidankyo and others hold event 80 years after atomic bombings
Outside the venue, attendees spoke with those who experienced the massive U.S. bombing of Tokyo in March 1945.
Natsuki Kai, a high school student who attended last year's Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony as a student peace messenger, is interviewed in Hiroshima in September.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2025
One year after Hidankyo's Nobel Prize, student remains true to the cause
Natsuki Kai's great-grandparents were among those exposed to the U.S. atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba holds a news conference in Tokyo on Friday to deliver his statement on World War II
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 10, 2025
Ishiba statement explores Japan's failure to avoid World War II
Ishiba’s message was released in a personal capacity, without the formal approval of his entire Cabinet.
Legal scholar Shigeto Hozumi conducted some 250 lecture sessions for Empress Nagako, posthumously known as Empress Kojun, between 1924 and 1950.
JAPAN / History
Oct 9, 2025
Late Empress Kojun received lectures on World War II from experts, records show
In a lecture in February 1942, after Japan went to war with the United States, one scholar explained to Empress Kojun speeches delivered to parliament by the then prime minister.
Empress Nagako, posthumously known as Empress Kojun, fixes the hair of Emperor Hirohito, known posthumously as Emperor Showa, at the Nasu Imperial Villa in Tochigi Prefecture in August 1947.
JAPAN / History
Oct 9, 2025
Official records of late Empress Kojun's life include her experiences in World War II
The empress spent Aug. 15, 1945, when Emperor Showa declared Japan's surrender in World War II, inside a bunker facility that had served as her home, the records state.
Sanae Takaichi speaks to reporters on Aug. 15, the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, following her visit to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 8, 2025
Takaichi may skip Yasukuni visit during Autumn Festival
The new LDP chief is apparently taking into account the impact a visit might have ahead of busy diplomatic schedule and how it could hurt relations with coalition partner Komeito.
Participants from various countries take part in a discussion at a global forum to discuss eliminating nuclear damage on Monday in the city of Hiroshima.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2025
Nuclear victims hold global forum in Hiroshima
The event was held for the first time in 10 years.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo
Takaichi leads first ministerial meeting on policies regarding foreign residents
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ministerial meeting on policies regarding foreign nationals and immigration on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office.
ChatGPT nickname and Trump tariffs nominated for Japan’s buzzword of 2025
Women hold toys depicting Myaku-Myaku, the official character for the 2025 Osaka Expo, during a media day ahead of the event's public opening day in Osaka in April.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slumps 4%, led by losses in tech sector
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average index briefly tumbled more than 2,000 points on Wednesday morning following a downbeat session on Wall Street fueled by fears of a bubble in the artificial intelligence sector.
Across borders and screens, Tokyo film festival finds humanity in migration
“Mother Bhumi” takes place in a multiethnic rice-farming community where Chinese, Thai and Malay lineages intertwine.
Takaichi’s balancing act: Supporting Taiwan and stabilizing China ties
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi shakes hands with Lin Hsin-i, Taiwan’s presidential adviser, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Saturday in this image posted to Takaichi's official X account.
From 1973 to 2025: A Japanese American skater’s long ride to recognition
Judi Oyama at Winchester Skatepark in San Jose, California, in January 1979. The Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee and Guinness World Record holder still skates and hopes to inspire older women.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo
Young Indonesians in Japan find their political voice
Indonesian students at Hiroshima University hold posters of the 17+8 Demands, demanding transparency and action from their homeland’s government.

Podcast

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

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER