Menu
Search
 
December 06, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

JAPAN

Society

Politics
Crime & Legal
Science & Health
Society
Explainer
History
To address the economic burden on expectant and nursing mothers, the health ministry plans to set a nationwide uniform amount for childbirth expenses, then fully cover it with health insurance.
JAPAN / Society
Japan to give full insurance coverage for childbirth costs
Childbirth costs have continued to rise due to factors such as inflation, with the nationwide average in fiscal 2024 hitting ¥519,805.
JAPAN / Society
Victims mourned on 13th anniversary of Sasago Tunnel disaster
During a ceremony Tuesday, Nexco Central President Tadashi Nawata apologized again to bereaved families for the tunnel incident that "took the peaceful lives" of the victims.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Japan works to preserve and pass on wartime memories as witnesses age
In August, for the first time, over half of participants at the Japan's national memorial service for those who died in World War II were born after it ended.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ceremony Monday in Tokyo after her comment referring to her determination to work hard as president of the Liberal Democratic Party was awarded buzzword of the year for 2025.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 1, 2025
Takaichi’s work ethic sound bite wins Japan’s buzzword of the year
By Yukana Inoue
“Work, work, work, work and work” was named 2025’s buzzword of the year.
Rin Yonezu holds his late brother's backpack at an elementary school in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, in August.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Dec 1, 2025
How one man struggled with his image as a relative of disaster victims
Some people have suffered by seeing their experiences of losing their loved ones in disasters reported in ways that went against their wishes.
Elementary students engage in creative activities at Okinawa International School in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Dec 1, 2025
Okinawa school attracts Tokyo families seeking international education
Two-thirds of first graders at Okinawa International School come from families who relocated from outside the prefecture, mostly from the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Ofunato Junior High School in Iwate Prefecture became one of the temporary shelters opened after a tsunami warning was issued following an earthquake near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula in July.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 30, 2025
60% of tsunami evacuation sites have no stockpiles: survey
The Cabinet Office is urging local governments to secure sufficient stockpiles and calling on households to advance their own preparations.
The wreckage of a massive fire in Oita on Thursday
JAPAN / Society
Nov 30, 2025
Firms and people with ties to Oita offer aid after massive fire
The Oita prefectural and city governments began accepting donations on Nov. 20, two days after the fire began.
The open-air bath at Tsurunoyu Hot Springs in Nyuto Onsenkyo, in Semboku, Akita Prefecture
JAPAN / Society
Nov 29, 2025
Kagura and onsen culture to be recommended for UNESCO heritage
A government panel has chosen kagura, a Japanese traditional performing art, and onsen hot spring culture as candidates for UNESCO intangible cultural heritage designation.
A vessel is pictured during a handover ceremony of a skull from a member of an Ainu tribe taken by German researchers at the end of the 19th century in Berlin in July 2017. The Japanese government has said that the remains of five Ainu will be returned from the Natural History Museum in Britain to Japan.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 29, 2025
Five sets of Ainu remains to be returned from Britain
It will be the fourth time that Ainu remains have been returned to Japan from abroad.

Japan to require nationality in property registrations
The government is looking to include nationality in a planned property registration database amid concerns that condominium purchases by foreign citizens have driven up prices.
The key points under discussion on policies affecting foreign nationals
Visitors head to Shirakawago, a popular tourist spot, in Gifu Prefecture in November.
Man accused of shooting Abe apologizes to former PM’s widow and family
The Nara District Court where Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, is on trial for the murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe's wife, Akie, attended the trial on Wednesday for the first time.
China massing military ships across region in show of maritime force, sources say
A Chinese warship participates in joint Navy exercise of Iran, China and Russia in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, on March 12.
Japan’s fitness industry is catering to a new clientele: Health-conscious seniors
Masato Edamitsu, the 60-year-old founder of Shinshin Kenko Club, training and guiding his client
Kashima or Kashiwa: J. League title chase goes down to the wire
Kashima's Yuma Suzuki (center) takes a shot during a game against Kashiwa in March.
2025 was the year Japan’s box office returned
In 2025, “Demon Slayer” and “Kokuho” broke box-office records, while films such as “Renoir,” A Pale View of the Hills” and “Two Strangers, Two Seasons” garnered acclaim on the international film festival circuit. The year’s biggest loss was the death of Tatsuya Nakadai, an highly regarded actor who had worked with nearly all of the top directors of Japanese cinema’s postwar golden age.
The key points under discussion on policies affecting foreign nationals
Visitors head to Shirakawago, a popular tourist spot, in Gifu Prefecture in November.
A French cabbie behind the wheel in small-town Japan
A native of the Jura region of France, Severine Lamielle moved to Tottori Prefecture in 2024 and found a job as a taxi driver.
A new animation festival lands in Nagoya with big plans
Aichi Nagoya International Animation Film Festival director Shinichiro Inoue (left) and artistic director Tadashi Sudo (right) started the new event in Nagoya in part due to local government support and Aichi Prefecture’s ongoing investment in arts and culture.

Podcast

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

Longform

Yumi Matsutoya began her decades-long career under her maiden name, Yumi Arai, but Japanese fans might know her better as “Yuming.”
Yumi Matsutoya’s human touch in an AI age
By Patrick St. Michel

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

Latest News

Netflix to buy Warner Bros. in $72 billion cash and stock deal
4 hours ago
Japanese government plans to launch new intelligence bureau in July
5 hours ago
Putin and Modi agree to expand and widen India-Russia trade
5 hours ago
BOJ set to hike rates and stay open to more moves
6 hours ago
New Trump strategy vows shift from global role to regional
6 hours ago