The Japan Times - News On Japan, Business News, Opinion, Sports, Entertainment And More

Tokyo Weather

Subscribe
Digital Print

World Cup

China

Falling yen

Latest News

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

A missile is fired from a Chinese Navy nuclear-powered submarine on Monday.

ASIA PACIFIC

Prior to launch, Japan ‘strongly urged’ China to reconsider missile test in Pacific

By Jesse Johnson

The Chinese Navy successfully conducted the test launch of a “strategic missile” by a nuclear submarine into the Pacific Ocean on Monday.

A missile is fired from a Chinese Navy nuclear-powered submarine on Monday.

Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

BUSINESS / Companies

Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth

By Yukana Inoue

Hard-working Japanese businesses and creators are banding together to drive what is now one of Japan’s most valuable assets.

Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama has issued verbal warnings recently using the same language and the same tone, saying authorities “will take appropriate action at any time, as necessary.”

BUSINESS / Markets

Japan might be giving the currency market the silent treatment

By Kazuaki Nagata

Officials are saying less than they did before to defend the yen, and when they do speak, they opt for vague and relatively weak statements.

A record high of 804 people were arrested for possession of cocaine in 2025, up from around 160 in 2021, according to the National Police Agency.

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Number of people who have tried cocaine reaches new high in Japan, study shows

By Yukana Inoue

Those found in possession of the drug also hit a record high of 804 arrests in 2025, according to the National Police Agency.

Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.

By Megha Wadhwa

From classrooms in India’s northeast to nursing homes in Japan, an emerging labor corridor hopes to improve lives in both countries.

Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a 15-year-old boy for allegedly creating a malicious program and canceling subscription accounts on the Bandai Channel.

Japanese teen arrested for booting users off streaming service

The teen identified a vulnerability in the Bandai Channel system and used an artificial intelligence chatbot to create a malicious program to cancel the accounts.

Rina Takahashi of Kitani Suisan fillets a tuna at the Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, on June 25.

Women increasingly active in Japan’s fish markets

The development is part of the country’s shift toward a more gender-neutral society.

Japan-linked ships escaping Hormuz in convoy through Iran route

By Alex Longley, Yusuke Maekawa and Stephen Stapczynski

Kenporen seeks medical insurance reform talks

Japan’s NATO envoy highlights importance of European stability

Victims mourned 8 years after western Japan rain disaster

Sumadori Meets, a bar specializing in nonalcoholic beverages, in Tokyo's busy Omotesando district

Japanese brewers expand zero-proof and low-alcohol lineups

The companies believe that many young consumers still want to enjoy the lively atmosphere of drinking parties while avoiding or limiting alcohol consumption.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. arrive at the White House in Washington on May 3.

Trump Jr.’s ‘Amazon of guns’ could make millions under new proposed firearm rule

By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff

The proposal would allow licensed dealers to ship firearms directly to in-state residents who undergo an online identity verification and background check.

World absorbs historic Iran war oil supply loss, but depleted stocks bring risks

Japanese firms face need to improve jobs for disabled workers

The supertanker tycoon making millions on Hormuz ‘shuttle runs’

Millennial Samsung union leader’s $26 billion bonus victory turns to bitterness

By Yoolim Lee

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte is trying to have the case thrown out by the Supreme Court.

Sara Duterte faces impeachment trial with Philippine presidential dream at stake

By Cliff Venzon and Neil Jerome Morales

The trial could deepen political turmoil in the Philippines, where growth has stuttered after revelations of graft led to a slump in consumer and investor confidence.

Film projectionist and collector Wang Chin-ting (left) watches as staff members from the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute transfer old film reels at his archive in Changhua County on May 29.

Taiwanese film hunters rescue aging reels from bygone era

By Joy Chiang

Ranging from popular operas to romance dramas, the films resonated with many Taiwanese who had been educated during Japan’s colonial rule and had limited Mandarin skills.

At the foot of Mount Olympus, a return to ancient Greek heritage

Experimental Ebola trial begins in Congo as death toll tops 500

By Jason Gale

Australia signs defense alliance with Pacific nation Fiji

Farage’s retreat from spotlight fuels fresh doubts about Reform

By Lucy White

England's Jude Bellingham celebrates after scoring against Mexico during the round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Mexico City on Sunday.

10-man England outlasts Mexico to advance to World Cup quarterfinals

The result set up a last-eight clash with Norway, which shocked Brazil 2-1 earlier on Sunday.

Summer McIntosh breaks last women’s ‘supersuit’ world record

Norway coach praises team and fans for rowing together after win over Brazil

English-language takeover of Tour de France forces even French riders to adapt

FIFA reverses course on suspension for U.S. star Folarin Balogun after call from Donald Trump

An electronic board displays the exchange rate of the yen against the U.S. dollar and other currencies on a street in Tokyo on June 22.

Fighting yen psychology is a losing battle

Daniel Moss

Turning the currency around, never easy at the best times, has just become harder given the renewed embrace of the greenback.

King Charles just got a lot more treasure

By Rosa Prince

Beyond Brexit — and back to Europe

By Mark Leonard

NATO needs to create its own defense market

By Fiona E. Murray — Robert Murray

Japan positioned to link U.S. and Europe in a fragmented world

By Hitoshi Suzuki

A wildfire burns in the Pyrenees-Orientales department, southern France on Sunday.

Infernos devastate forests as Europe’s temperatures rise again

Firefighters across southern Europe are battling blazes that have devastated an area over twice the size of Manhattan.

Japan deploys bear cameras in mountains as attacks surge

Net-zero champion Europe snared by climate change on its doorstep

NATO project tests perennial grass to clean Ukraine’s war-hit soil

Industrial firms warn EU carbon overhaul could benefit polluters

By Kate Abnett

Kazama's woodcut print “Dyslympics 2680” satirizes and compares the 1964 and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Sachiko Kazama’s art bites back at a cruel society

By Jennifer Pastore

Sachiko Kazama has made a name for herself as a sharp satirist. Her art from spanning a nearly four-decade long career is now on display in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture.

Japanese dancers win ballet prizes in Moscow

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are married, as pair hosts New York celebration

Tujiko Noriko’s new album is a feline tour de force

By James Hadfield

Murakami says his novels are ‘different’ from AI literature

Stephen Lancaster says Sezanne's loss of its Michelin stars is an opportunity to move one of Tokyo's newest fine dining institutions in a new direction.

Stripped of Michelin stars, Sezanne embraces a changing of the guard

By Phoebe Amoroso

Once awarded three stars, the restaurant now holds none. But new executive chef Steven Lancaster sees the sudden change as a golden opportunity.

La & Le brings a slice of Paris cafe culture to Tokyo

By Weiwen Lin

Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession

By Gabrielle Doman

Japan’s first standalone ramen shop reopens in Asakusa

By Weiwen Lin

Fender opens a second, more unplugged Shimokitazawa cafe

By Aden Max Juarez

Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.

Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan

By Elizabeth Beattie

Takashi Nishihara’s latest work, “Now and Then,” bridges a historical atrocity with the present-day treatment of asylum-seekers.

Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way

By Mai Yoshikawa

Two furry siblings seek their forever home

How a U.S. author found — and helped build — community in a Japanese hot spring town

By Michele Laudig

In Japan, Nepalese students navigate a growing study-to-work pathway

By Mai Yoshikawa

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.

What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival

By Alex K.T. Martin

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports

By Synergy Media Specialists

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency

New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency