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November 17, 2025
 

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RAIL

Workers from Heisei Chikuho Railway replace an old railroad tie with a new one, securing it with heavy-duty nails.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Nov 17, 2025
Railway in rural Fukuoka stands at crossroads as passenger numbers dwindle
If Heisei Chikuho Railway maintains its current train line operations, it is projected to incur an annual deficit of around ?1 billion over the next 30 years for maintenance.
JR East is retiring the beloved Suica penguin as part of a rebrand to transform the contactless payment platform, used for both transit and retail, into a mobile fintech powerhouse.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 16, 2025
A beloved Tokyo penguin¡¯s end presages Suica¡¯s shift to payments giant
Since Suica¡¯s introduction in 2001, the penguin has featured on transit cards and apps that are used daily by the tens of millions who traverse the world¡¯s largest metropolis.
Mobile Suica is being improved so that it is more useful in an increasingly cashless society.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 12, 2025
Penguin-less Suica to take on PayPay in payments with QR codes and higher limits
Balance limits will go from ?20,000 on the current e-money system to ?300,000.
Six firms are suspected of rigging bids for construction work ordered by Tokyo¡¯s transportation bureau to maintain railroad tracks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 11, 2025
Tokyo transportation bureau and six firms inspected over alleged bid-rigging
The firms are suspected of rigging bids for construction work ordered by the bureau to maintain railroad tracks.
Shoji Kurasaka, president of West Japan Railway, speaks at a news conference in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2025
Facility to preserve crashed JR West train to be completed in December
The 2005 accident in Hyogo Prefecture left 106 passengers and the train driver dead and some 560 others injured.
Achal Khare, former managing director at India¡¯s National High Speed Rail Corporation, gives a presentation during the IHRA Forum 2025 in Tokyo on Oct. 23.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 6, 2025
High-speed rail is expensive and difficult, but seen as a key to growth
Train fanatic and former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba praised shinkansen technology at a forum hosted by the International High-speed Rail Association.
A front page report from November 1950 indicated that the government was in talks with French and British companies about launching television for the first time ever in Japan.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Nov 1, 2025
Japan Times 1950: Negotiations under way to bring TV to Japan
In November 1950, British and French officials were offering their broadcasting technology to help Japan launch its first television channel, pending a permit from the government.
JR Central President Shunsuke Niwa explains the increase in total construction costs for its planned superfast magnetically levitated shinkansen train line, in the city of Nagoya on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 30, 2025
Maglev shinkansen costs seen ballooning further to ?11 trillion
It is the second time that the project cost estimate has been revised up for the line.
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 ¡ª?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.
Emergency vehicles arrive at the JR Otsuka Station in Tokyo Monday following a report that a woman had allegedly injured passengers with pepper spray inside a train on the Yamanote Line.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 21, 2025
Woman arrested for pepper spray assault on Yamanote Line
The alleged assault injured two men and resulted in train delays of up to 15 minutes.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to extend the Oedo Line northwest with three new stations in Nerima Ward to improve rail access in underserved areas.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2025
Tokyo's Oedo Line to expand northwest improving access for Nerima Ward
Three new stations in the predominantly residential ward will improve rail access in areas of the capital currently underserved by public transportation.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate two landmark transit projects Wednesday, marking a milestone in his administration¡¯s effort to modernize infrastructure in India.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 8, 2025
Modi to open airport and metro-line projects worth $4 billion in Mumbai
The landmark transit projects mark a milestone in the administration¡¯s effort to modernize infrastructure in the world¡¯s most populous country.
JR East's Shinkansen inspection train East-i
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 8, 2025
JR East to introduce new inspection shinkansen in fiscal 2029
The next-generation model's design will be finalized around next summer after ideas are sought from employees across JR East group companies.
A not-in-service train is seen derailed early Monday morning after colliding with a passenger train late Sunday at Kajigaya Station on Tokyu Railways' Den-en-toshi Line in Kawasaki.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2025
Tokyu says train collision caused by signal setting error
Due to the setting error, the automatic train control system gave a green light to a train entering Kajigaya Station, resulting in the train crashing into a parked train.
A not-in-service train is seen derailed early Monday morning after colliding with a passenger train late Sunday at Kajigaya Station on Tokyu Railways' Den-en-toshi Line in Kawasaki.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2025
Den-en-toshi Line trains collide, halting service
No one was injured in the collision, which saw one train derail and disrupted train services on two lines Monday.
Trains decorated to resemble the 103 (left) and 205 series of trains that formerly ran on the Yamanote Line, in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2025
Retro-wrapped trains mark 100th anniversary of Tokyo's Yamanote Line
The two commemorative trains, featuring designs from the 103 and 205 series trains, are scheduled to run until Nov. 3.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission plans to order JR Central and five other firms to stop bid-rigging on overpass inspection work, sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 3, 2025
Japan Fair Trade Commission to warn JR Central and others over bid-rigging
The move, relating to overpass inspection work, comes after the JFTC conducted on-site inspections of JR Central and others in October last year.
Hideki Shirakawa, a professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba, became the second Japanese person to receive the Nobel Prize in chemistry in October 2000.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Oct 1, 2025
Japan Times 2000: Japanese professor wins Nobel Prize in chemistry
Hideki Shirakawa received the Nobel Prize in October 2000 along with two American scientists for their revolutionary work on conductive polymers.
"Laughter is important when you're in a difficult situation," said Katsunori Takemoto, president of Choshi Electric Railway, on Aug. 5 in Choshi, Chiba Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 16, 2025
Struggling train firm in Chiba Prefecture turns to self-deprecating humor
Along with a nickname referencing its financial woes, Choshi Electric Railway is selling "Mazui-bo," a snack named after the company's mazui, or "bad" fiscal situation.
Heavy rain hit Tokyo and surrounding areas Thursday afternoon, causing thousands to lose power, prompting flood warnings, grounding flights and causing transportation issues.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2025
Thousands without power in Tokyo as heavy rain batters Kanto region
The Japan Meteorological Agency urged vigilance against river flooding, inundation of low-lying areas and landslides, while also warning of lightning, sudden gusts and hail.
At Ginza¡¯s newest hotel, luxury is a private treasure
At Fufu Tokyo, each guest room comes with its own private "onsen" (hot spring) ¡ª a luxury nearly unheard of in the heart of Tokyo's capital.
China warns citizens not to visit Japan as row over Taiwan heats up
Chinese tourists wear kimonos as they visit Sensoji temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district on Saturday.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France ¡ª where he had lived since he was a young child ¡ª stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Kyoto gets its own teamLab installation, the largest in Japan
Visitors wearing kimonos look at digital artwork at the newly opened teamLab Biovortex in Kyoto.
Ashfall warning issued in southern Japan as volcano erupts
View of Sakurajima from the mainland of Kagoshima Prefecture
Good fortune, wrapped in fried tofu
Golden "age-fukuburo," a culinary take on Japan's new year "lucky bags," can be served on their own.
Foreign Correspondents¡¯ Club of Japan celebrates 80 years at the forefront of press freedom
Located near the Imperial Palace, the Foreign Correspondents¡¯ Club of Japan prides itself on the accessibility of its events and the support it offers to budding and established journalists. The club is currently headed by Dan Sloan, a former reporter for Reuters.
The challenges awaiting Japan¡¯s new finance minister
Finance minister Satsuki Katayama answers questions from reporters in a group interview on Oct. 24.
At Ginza¡¯s newest hotel, luxury is a private treasure
At Fufu Tokyo, each guest room comes with its own private "onsen" (hot spring) ¡ª a luxury nearly unheard of in the heart of Tokyo's capital.
Japan fully enters sports streaming era as fans face new dilemmas
Sports fan Tadashi Yokoyama streams basketball and fencing on three screens.

Podcast

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

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo
By Kathryn Wortley

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