October 20, 2020
HANOI — Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga made a smooth diplomatic debut Monday in Vietnam, holding a summit meeting and delivering a policy speech on his first overseas trip since taking office. In his speech, Suga demonstrated his personal style, emphasizing his position as a self-made politician...
Nippon Life Insurance Co. said it will become Japan’s first institutional investor to use the ESG assessment for all asset management, starting from April 2021. The ESG concept is used to help judge the sustainability and growth potential of a company by taking into account environment, social a...
The minister in charge of the Tokyo Games Seiko Hashimoto declined to comment on Tuesday as to whether the cyber-attacks targeting the Olympics and Paralympics caused any damage to data. “I can’t comment because of the nature of the matter,” she said at a press conference after a Cabinet me...
Novel coronavirus infections are rapidly spreading again in Europe. The question now is whether the government will be able to prevent the spread of the infections and the collapse of medical services...
Two municipalities in Hokkaido have expressed their intentions to be candidate sites for a final repository of high-level radioactive waste. The government has to narrow down the most suitable place w...
A male translator allegedly besmirched an automated translation service provider by posting fictitious messages on an Internet bulletin board, police revealed Monday. The Metropolitan Police Departme...
Ueno Park in Taito Ward, Tokyo, is home to many cultural facilities, including the Tokyo National Museum and the National Museum of Western Art, a World Heritage site designed by architect Le Corbusie...
The governments of Japan and China are set to agree this week to allow businesspeople and expatriates to resume traveling between them, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. Japan and China have strong e...
Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) unveiled to the press on Monday a test run of an improved L0 series maglev train on the linear Chuo Shinkansen line in Yamanashi Prefecture. The improved model red...
An entire hill is awash in color at Hitachi Seaside Park in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, as round kochia plants turn red with the coming of the autumn season. About 32,000 kochia are planted on ...
Keep track of the coronavirus epidemic as it unfolds in Japan. Relevant stories and graphics appear below covering events up to and including the current state of emergency and the future outlook. ...
The following charts give a visual representation of the spread of the novel coronavirus in Japan and around the world. The first shows the extensiveness of cases in relation to a nation’s populatio...
Play! Museum, which opened in June this year and is a place that’s all about pictures and words, boasts a near-permanent exhibit featuring the works of American picture book author Eric Carle. Since...
Matsutake mushrooms, while well-established as an autumn delicacy, is also commonly known as “flowers of the peaks.” The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IU...
It has been one month since the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was formed on Sept. 16. This is the fourth installment in a series analyzing Suga’s brand of politics. “Raising income...
HIROSHIMA — Until she traveled to more than 70 countries, Sanae Mizushima never thought she would open a cafe, but she’s done just that with Akai Harinezumi (Red hedgehog) situated near Hiroshima...
More than half of local governments nationwide have enacted ordinances requiring bicyclists to be insured, according to a poll conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun. The poll found that 28 of 47 prefe...
Many department stores have plunged into the annual year-end gift blitz, but due to the spread of the novel coronavirus and the subsequent self-restraint on travel, many stores have also begun produci...
HANOI — Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc agreed Monday that their countries would resume short-term business travel between the two. The agreement was ...
OSAKA — Aiming to address the growing number of children falling victim to sexual harassment and crimes, the government is planning to gradually introduce prevention programs at schools from the nex...
The approval rate for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Cabinet fell 7 percentage points from last month to 67% in a survey conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun from Friday to Sunday. The previous poll wa...
The autumn roses at the Jindai Botanical Gardens in Chofu, Tokyo, have entered their peak blooming season and mask-wearing visitors are enjoying their sweet aroma. Caretakers tend 5,000 rose plant...
The Yomiuri International Economic Society (YIES) and The Yomiuri Shimbun jointly held a forum, titled “Trump, Biden and Japan’s Security Strategy,” on Oct. 16. The event was livecast for free ...
Keep track of the coronavirus epidemic as it unfolds in Japan. Relevant stories and graphics appear below covering events up to and including the current state of emergency and the future outlook. ...
The following charts give a visual representation of the spread of the novel coronavirus in Japan and around the world. The first shows the extensiveness of cases in relation to a nation’s populatio...
Ramen is one of Japan's most iconic, much-loved dishes. The combination of soup, noodles and toppings is diverse and continues to evolve. If you visit Japan, you'll be amazed at the countless ramen sh...
The government has started working to establish the systems that will be needed to vaccinate people against the novel coronavirus. An amendment to the Immunization Law, which stipulates how vaccina...
The government plans to attract 60 million tourists to Japan in 2030, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced in Tokyo on Friday. Suga said the government will compile a plan to boost tourism, whi...
How should the government deal with the challenge of ensuring a stable supply of electricity while curbing greenhouse gas emissions? A realistic path should be explored through sober debate. The Eco...
A Shiba Inu robot, programmed to monitor the health of and converse with the elderly, has been developed by a research team from the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (N...
The Financial Services Agency intends to require banks to strictly verify users’ identification following a series of cases in which money was fraudulently withdrawn from bank accounts through cash...
The Fisheries Agency has compiled draft regulations for domestic fishermen to set quotas on catch volumes of 15 additional species, including popular amberjack and seabream, The Yomiuri Shimbun has le...
There have been a number of cases in which foreign capital has been used to purchase land that is important for Japan’s security. It is important to understand the situation and take appropriate mea...
The Japan News has partnered with media startup inkl, a news service that curates articles from the world’s leading publishers for users to read on mobile devices. A selection of articles from The Japan News and The Yomiuri Shimbun is now available to read on inkl, which hosts titles from about 20 countries. 
Paint containing toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has been used in 334 of the 719 large outdoor structures such as bridges examined across the nation, according to figures compiled by the Enviro...
Southampton may be known for Japanese football player Maya Yoshida, who plays for Southampton FC, or for its famous port where the RMS Titanic departed before sinking. The reason why I am studying he...
Like every social institution, academic disciplines change along with the society they serve. Some changes are gradual; others drastic and even painful. The latter is what the discipline of anthropolo...
Livestock agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gases and a driving force behind deforestation. But meat is delicious. Pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli are often spread via meat. But me...
Tai sea bream sashimi served at Hyotei, an elegant and time-honored restaurant in Kyoto, was a favorite dish of novelist Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965). As noted in this column last month, even the ti...
