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Among Japan's 47 prefectures, Tokyo reported an increase in Japanese residents for the third year in a row, rising by 12,540, or 0.09%, to 13,293,851, or 11.1% of the total Japanese population.

JAPAN

Jul 29, 2026

Japanese population drops below 120 million

While the number of Japanese residents fell by 0.76%, the data also showed that the number of foreign residents in the country rose by 9.62%.

A general view shows damage to part of the Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Wednesday.

JAPAN

Jul 29, 2026

Destroyed Aeon mall had just reopened for ‘fresh start’ a decade on from deadly quake

The Aeon mall destroyed in a post-quake explosion in southern Japan on Tuesday had just reopened last month.

Debris is strewn at the damaged Aeon Mall shopping center, where an explosion occurred after an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 struck Japan's southern Kumamoto Prefecture, in Kashima Town, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Wednesday.

JAPAN

Jul 29, 2026

Rescuers race to find survivors following massive Kumamoto quake

By Jesse Johnson, Kenji Yoshida, Elizabeth Beattie and Jessica Speed

At least three of the 13 deaths reported came at a major shopping mall, after an explosion ripped through the building, causing a large portion of it to collapse.

Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Itsunori Onodera, who chairs the National Council, speaks in Tokyo on Wednesday.

JAPAN / Politics

Jul 29, 2026

Takaichi finalizing plan to cut consumption tax rate on food products

By Eric Johnston

The prime minister is expected to make a formal decision on the matter as early as Thursday.

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te has offerered condolences and pledges assistance following Tuesday's earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture.

JAPAN

Jul 29, 2026

Taiwan expresses support for quake-hit Kumamoto

By Elizabeth Beattie

Japan and its island neighbor have a long history of providing mutual support during disasters.

Children look at a section of a collapsed road in Hikawa, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Tuesday, after an earthquake struck the region the previous day.

JAPAN / Science & Health

Jul 29, 2026

Fault zone in Kumamoto responsible for a 2016 quake likely triggered latest temblor

By Kanako Takahara

The Hinagu and Futagawa fault zones caused the two major earthquakes 10 years ago, with the former likely to have caused Tuesday’s 7.1 magnitude temblor.

Shinji Kiyomoto, director of earthquake and tsunami countermeasures at the Japan Meteorological Agency, speaks about the Kumamoto earthquake on Tuesday in Tokyo.

JAPAN / FOCUS

Jul 29, 2026

Japan’s major earthquakes over the past 15 years

Situated on the Ring of Fire?arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20% of global earthquakes of magnitude 6 or higher.

Bags of rice displayed for sale at a store in Aichi Prefecture. The amount of domestic rice consumed in the year from July 2025 hit a record low of 6.83 million tons on a preliminary basis in terms of brown rice.

JAPAN

Jul 29, 2026

Japan sees record low consumption of domestic rice following shortages

The decline in domestic rice consumption is largely due to an increase in rice imports that came as domestic prices jumped in the wake of severe shortages in summer 2024 and later.

Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi holds a news conference Tuesday in Tokyo as Immigration Services Agency staffers hold up a poster promoting recruitment for inspectors and security officers.

JAPAN

Jul 28, 2026

Immigration Services Agency to add 226 staff amid rise in foreign residents

By Jessica Speed

The Immigration Services Agency will add 176 immigration inspectors, who review applications for residency status, and 50 immigration control officers.

Liberal Democratic Party executives meet in Tokyo on July 13.

JAPAN / Politics

Jul 28, 2026

LDP eyes new tools to counter foreign spies and disinformation

By Kenji Yoshida

The ruling party’s policy panel proposes new laws against illicit foreign interference, broader intelligence-gathering powers and an independent foreign intelligence agency.

Emergency crews outside an Aeon Mall in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Tuesday after the second floor of the building collapsed in the wake of a major earthquake.

JAPAN

Jul 28, 2026

Mall collapses after powerful quake rocks Kumamoto

By Kanako Takahara, Elizabeth Beattie, Jesse Johnson and Joel Tansey

The quake registered up to shindo 7, the highest level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale.

A view of downtown Sapporo. Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi Suzuki is pushing Sapporo as a candidate for a second capital outside Tokyo.

JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS

Jul 28, 2026

With secondary-capital bill passed, competition between cities heats up

By Eric Johnston

In addition to Osaka, others including Fukuoka, Sapporo and Nagoya have indicated interest in being the fallback if a disaster strikes Tokyo and renders it unable to function.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

For many people, utility poles and power lines have become such a familiar part of Japan’s landscape that they often go unnoticed.

Why Japan’s utility poles won’t be disappearing anytime soon

By Alex K.T. Martin

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