February 14, 2021
The second round of entrance examinations for national and public universities is scheduled to start on Feb. 25, during a pandemic-impacted exam season that has forced institutions to implement coronavirus countermeasures. When the Common Test for University Admissions was held in January, a record...
A visitor basks in the lush nature of Hokkaido’s Tokachi region, replete with the chirping of birds and the scent of pine wafting through the air. Except this isn’t Tokachi, but an art gallery in Tokyo’s Ginza district, and the verdant forest is actually a projection on the gallery’s walls a...
Seiko Hashimoto, minister for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, appeared to be a promising candidate for the new president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The previous president, Yoshiro Mori, announced his resignation to take responsibility for comme...
KUTCHAN, Hokkaido — Damian Keyte is a furniture maker from Australia who believes in the spirit of wabi sabi — a Japanese aesthetic concept about accepting transience and imperfection — in Kutch...
KUSHIMOTO, Wakayama — Fishing ports in southern Wakayama Prefecture are catching an unusually high number of bonitos for the time of year. The Kushimoto fishing port in Kushimoto hauled in a total...
Saburo Kawabuchi, who recently appeared set to take the helm of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, denied on Friday that he had turned the position down, only to turn it down after all at a committ...
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi expressed understanding of U.S. President Joe Biden’s announcement of sanctions on Myanmar's military following the coup in the Southeast Asian country. “The l...
Major supermarket chain operator Aeon Co. has plans to rent out spaces in a number of its 290 commercial facilities nationwide to local governments for use as coronavirus vaccination sites. An agreeme...
FUKUSHIMA — In a difficult-to-return area of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, where the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located, there are school buildings that have been left untouched since the...
Yoshiro Mori bears a heavy responsibility for damaging Japan’s image by making inappropriate remarks. It must be said that his decision to resign came too late. The president of the Tokyo Organizi...
The start of COVID-19 vaccinations will be a major step toward the containment of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The government should closely work with local governments to prevent confusion. An e...
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...
Marine adventurer Kojiro Shiraishi, 53, on Thursday successfully completed the Vendee Globe round-the-world yacht race, becoming the first Asian skipper to do so. Known as the world’s toughest sa...
TAKASAGO, Hyogo — At the Oshiko Shrine in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture, there is a megalith of mysterious origin with an estimated weight of 465 tons that appears to be floating on water. Though not a...
A Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) symposium was held in Sendai on Thursday to discuss avenues for women’s employment and the ongoing recovery effort in the disaster-stricken Tohoku region. The...
The president of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, 83, announced Friday that he would resign from the post to take responsibility for an inappropriate remark that could be interprete...
KUMAMOTO — The towers of Kumamoto Castle have been restored to their majestic pre-disaster appearance and can be viewed for the first time in about five years following extensive damage caused by th...
MINAMI-ASO, Kumamoto — A bridge to replace the Aso Ohashi bridge, which collapsed during the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, is scheduled to open to traffic at 3 p.m. on March 7, the Land, Infrastructure,...
One of the government’s criteria for lifting the state of emergency in Tokyo is a threshold of no more than 500 new daily coronavirus cases, but experts have argued that unless the figure is lower,...
A new law has come into effect to urge tech giants that provide e-commerce and other services to make their businesses more transparent. It is hoped that the new regulation framework will be effective...
The number of novel coronavirus clusters is surging at facilities for the elderly. The central and local governments should provide nursing homes with thorough support, rather than leaving the handlin...
Novelist and Nobel Prize laureate Kenzaburo Oe, 86, has entrusted more than 10,000 pages of his manuscripts with the Faculty of Letters at the University of Tokyo, his alma mater, the university said...
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. ...
AKB48 brings you Team 8, a group of idols where each member represents one of the 47 prefectures in Japan. As the group members travel across the nation for meet and greet fan activities, they learn a...
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...
A coronavirus vaccine, which the government considers essential for ending the pandemic, will be available in Japan as early as next week. What kind of vaccine is it and how can we get it? There are m...
Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, has told those around him that he has decided to resign and is expected to announce...
The current state of emergency will remain in place for Tokyo and all nine other applicable prefectures, at least for the time being, the government has informed senior officials of the ruling parties...
The president of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, 83, announced Friday that he would resign from the post to take responsibility for an inappropriate remark that could be interprete...
A major flaw that went unnoticed in the government’s novel coronavirus contact-tracing app for about four months and corner-cutting tests of the app have exposed clear shortcomings in the health mi...
Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi held an online meeting with U.S. Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy on Wednesday, and confirmed that Japan and the United States will work together to ensure the succe...
One of the government’s criteria for lifting the state of emergency in Tokyo is a threshold of no more than 500 new daily coronavirus cases, but experts have argued that unless the figure is lower,...
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. 
Surely everyone knows what it’s like to feel shame — that acute warm flush that tingles under the skin of the face, the cringing feeling, the replay of the flinch-inducing scene later in our imagi...
Bunkogawa leatherware is instantly recognizable: colorful patterns painted on white embossed cowhide, with its distinct texture as if weathered from years of use. When holding a top-notch wallet or sm...
An exhibition space re-creating part of the residence of novelist Osamu Dazai (1909-1948) has opened at a gallery in front of JR Mitaka Station in Mitaka, Tokyo. The space at the Mitaka City Gallery...
