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August 17, 2026
 

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Kiuko Notoya
A mechanical wolf robot used to ward off bears and wild boars at a cabbage farm in the village of Shimo Higashiyama, in Yamagata Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 15, 2026
Can robots save an aging Japan?
Monster Wolf and Pochi are among the robots deployed to scare away bears and transport cherry blossoms in a northern region of Japan where many farmers are in their 70s or older.
Tourists in the Shibuya area of Tokyo are stopped by a group of multilingual officials who hand out fines to people caught littering on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 6, 2026
On patrol with Tokyo¡¯s new litter police
On the streets of Shibuya, patrol teams caught 10 people littering on the first day of the new ordinance, 15 on the second day and nine on the third, according to city officials.
The interior of Ume-no-yu, a public bathhouse in the city of Nagano. Soaring oil prices driven by the war in the Middle East are threatening to deal a final blow to a storied Japanese institution: the sento, or traditional public bathhouse.
JAPAN / Society
May 2, 2026
Not even Japanese bathhouses are immune from shocks of Iran war
Soaring oil prices driven by the war in the Middle East are threatening to deal a final blow to the traditional public bathhouse.
An anonymous donor has gifted Osaka with gold bars worth ?566 million ($3.6 million) to help repair the city¡¯s aging water pipes.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 27, 2026
A Japanese city received 21 gold bars with instructions: Fix your water pipes
Osaka says it will honor the anonymous donor¡¯s wishes by using the money from the gold bars ¡ª worth ?566 million ¡ª on the city¡¯s pipes, which are some of the oldest in Japan.
Hikaru Fujita, a candidate for parliament, in Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture. Fujita is a standout in a country where expectant mothers rarely enter national politics.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2026
She¡¯s upending Japanese politics with two words: ¡®I¡¯m pregnant¡¯
Hikaru Fujita is a standout in a country where expectant mothers rarely enter national politics.
A Swedish snowboard instructor works at the Niseko ski resort area on Hokkaido, in Kutchan, in December 2022
JAPAN / Society
Oct 4, 2025
A Japanese ski resort town is roiled by a debate over immigration
Residents are protesting a planned housing facility for foreign workers, exposing the conflict between labor needs and worries over immigration.
Ngun Nei Par, the general manager at Ginshotei Awashima in Numata, Gunma Prefecture, graduated from a university in Myanmar with a degree in geography.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 6, 2024
Japan needs foreign workers, but it might not want them to stay long
Japanese politicians remain reluctant to create pathways for foreign workers, especially those in low-skill jobs, to stay indefinitely.
Sora Shirai trains at the Olympic skateboarding venue in Paris on Thursday.
OLYMPICS / Skateboarding
Jul 28, 2024
Will these sensational skateboarding tricks win Japan Olympic gold?
Japanese skateboarders like Yuto Horigome and Sora Shirai are creating some of the most difficult tricks in the history of the sport, and landing them in high style.
Japan has finally scrapped every regulation requiring the use of floppy disks for administrative purposes.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2024
Japan finally phases out floppy disks
One of the world¡¯s most technologically advanced nations has held on to some of the most outmoded devices.
A customer buys a ticket for ramen at a vending machine at Goumen Maruko ramen shop in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 8, 2024
Japan runs on vending machines. It¡¯s about to break millions of them.
New yen notes set to be introduced this summer won¡¯t be compatible with many machines that businesses like ramen shops rely on.
Sony employees simulate the physical sensations of pregnancy at the company¡¯s headquarters in Tokyo in February. The simple power of numbers can begin to remake workplace cultures, but many Japanese women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024
It took decades, but Japan¡¯s working women are making progress
Employers have taken steps to change a male-dominated workplace culture. But women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
Slowly but surely, Tokyo is becoming a hot spot for chicken rice
One of Singapore's most iconic dishes, the humble chicken rice is given an upscale treatment at a new Marunouchi cafe.
Takaichi drops ¡®remorse¡¯ in her first war memorial address
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks onstage during a memorial service ceremony marking the 81st anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, at Budokan Hall in Tokyo on Saturday.
U.S. to tell partners they must pick sides in AI race with China?
People march as they protest against Pax Silica, a U.S.-led initiative, in Manila on Thursday.
New shinkansen model delivered to Taiwan
A new Taiwan High Speed Rail train car is unloaded from a cargo ship at a port in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on Saturday.
A day in the life of an Asakusa rickshaw driver
Rickshaws are a fixture of Japan's tourist hot spots, but driving them is far from a leisure activity.
Unrelenting Russian anti-war protesters in Japan fight through inescapable doubt
Anti-war Russians protest Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in February.
How U.S. bombing survey in Japan shed light on civilian sentiments of WWII
Residents are seen walking beside rubble in the city of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, in this undated photo taken soon after the end of World War II.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
Takaichi needs Aso on her side to solidify position in LDP
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a Liberal Democratic Party meeting alongside LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki (left) and LDP Vice President Taro Aso in Tokyo earlier this month
Ikarigata closer to emulating older brother Fujinokawa than many think
The future Fujinokawa (third from left) and Ikarigata (right) compete against each other at ages 5 and 3, respectively.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Japan¡¯s earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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