June 2, 2020
TOTTORI — A handmade pudding shop called Totto PURIN opened Saturday near the Tottori Sand Dunes in Tottori City. The owner is Ryoji Kawamura, 26, who moved to the city after becoming attracted to the sand dunes. “I want [the pudding] to become known as a specialty of the sand dunes,” he sai...
The nation began moving toward normalization of social and economic activities on Monday, as municipal governments of major urban areas across the country ease business-suspension requests made to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus infections. The Tokyo metropolitan government has moved to th...
The Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea theme parks will remain closed for the time being, operator Oriental Land Co. said Monday. The company said it will decide when to resume operations of the parks in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, taking into account such factors as the gradual relaxation of re...
GUNMA — A 150-square-meter structure painted in green sits in the schoolyard of the former Matsuida Nishi Junior High School in Annaka, Gunma Prefecture. Artist Shuji Nagao, 69, built the structure ...
As one whose workouts include swimming with parachutes attached to her body to increase the load, Mayumi Narita is no stranger to rigorous training. But unable to train in the pool for extended period...
The Saikyo Line’s new platform at JR Shibuya Station opened to users Monday after it was moved next to the Yamanote Line’s. The move allows users to change trains between the lines in about half t...
Tourist spots across the nation reopened for business Monday following the recent wave of prefectural governments easing stay-at-home and business suspension requests. However, it may be a while yet b...
Schools in Tokyo, Hokkaido and the prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama have reopened following the nationwide lifting of the state of emergency over the new coronavirus. Nearly three months h...
A smartphone-size plate was placed in a positive pressure chamber, where atmospheric pressure is raised to keep out dust, at the Nagoya City Public Health Research Institute (NCPHRI) on the outskirts ...
Major banks are accelerating efforts to expand the use of online banking via the internet and smartphones apps. Japanese banks have lagged behind Western banks in the rollout of net banking services....
Robots serving customers and salespeople touting their wares online could become the norm as businesses roll out initiatives that eliminate the need for face-to-face contact in an effort to prevent t...
Roughly 90% of the people who received positive results with simple coronavirus antibody test kits tested negative when a more detailed test utilizing large equipment was administered, says a team led...
The government’s ban on job interviews and other hiring activities involving university students scheduled to graduate next spring was lifted Monday. Many companies are conducing interviews onlin...
Takuo Aoyagi, the inventor of the pulse oximeter, died of old age on April 18. He was 84 years old. The pulse oximeter is a device that measures blood oxygen levels noninvasively, for example, by c...
Antibody tests administered by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to confirm infection history of the new coronavirus began Monday. Specimens will be collected from roughly 10,000 people in Tokyo,...
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (TEPCO) said in late April that its Chairman Takashi Kawamura would resign after the shareholders’ meeting set for June. It creates an extraordinary situ...
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...
OITA — A weekly event to support Oita Prefecture’s brewers, distillers and liquor shops amid declining sales kicked off on Saturday in the prefectural capital at Yutayoi, the Oita sake-shochu exhi...
Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters Sunday he was not thinking of making another state of emergency declaration regarding the coronavirus pandemic, at least for the ti...
There is growing momentum to review Japan’s practice of depending on hanko seals and paper documents. Both the public and private sectors are urged to study ways to improve business efficiency. Th...
Students who work in the laboratory of Atsushi Maruyama, a 45-year-old associate professor at Ryukoku University’s Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, have a daily...
Three Neputa-e paintings related to the traditional Kuroishi Neputa Festival hang in front of a community center in Kuroishi, Aomori Prefecture, to pray for an end of the coronavirus outbreak. They w...
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...
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. ...
Japan is considering easing the entry ban on Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand in the first relaxation of travel restrictions that were imposed due to the spread of the new coronavirus, gov...
A 52-year-old man in Fuchu, Tokyo, on May 20 received his first public assistance payment and paid off bills, including his rent, that had fallen into arrears. “Now, I can make ends meet,” he sa...
In late January at his office, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Katsunobu Kato, who was appointed for the second time as health minister in the Cabinet reshuffle last autumn, concluded after runnin...
There were 2,812 international cargo flights into and out of Narita Airport in April, the highest since it opened in May 1978, surpassing the number of takeoffs and landings of international passeng...
Famous Japanese Mitsukoshi department stores reopened Saturday, the first day following the lifting of the coronavirus related state of emergency in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Long lines of visitors...
A government panel of experts examining countermeasures against the new coronavirus compiled a proposal on Friday urging the national and local governments to prepare for an expected second wave of in...
Seventy-four people tested positive with the novel coronavirus across Japan on Friday, with 26 of those cases reported in Kitakyushu, where the virus has spread rapidly. The 74 cases were confirmed...
MOSCOW — The Aum Supreme Truth cult continues to be active in Russia, it has been revealed in the trial of a Russian executive of Aum being held in southern Russia. According to leading Russian new...
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. 
Casual, candid chats with the performers after watching a fascinating play is always a big reason for going to small theaters. If you’re looking forward to doing that again in the post-pandemic days...
What should museums in Japan do to assure their survival and significance after emerging from the extended period of closures forced upon them by the restrictive measures to contain the impact of the...
The final issue of the popular manga series “Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer)” created by Koyoharu Gotoge and featured in Shueisha Inc.’s serial manga magazine Shonen Jump (Weekly Jump) went on ...
