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July 03, 2026
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July 03, 2026
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Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before their meeting at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Thursday
JAPAN / Politics
Takaichi looks to India in the face of supply chain and energy concerns
By Kenji Yoshida
Takaichi and her Indian counterpart met in New Delhi to advance cooperation in artificial intelligence, economic security, clean energy and defense.

More coverage

Indian defense research institute head hails Japan’s lifting of arms export ban
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before their meeting at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Thursday
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi might take a more pragmatic approach in pushing up the lowest wages in Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Government signals flexibility on ¥1,500 minimum wage target
By Kazuaki Nagata
Its annual policy guidelines indicate the much-discussed goal could be reached early next decade rather than by the end of this decade.
Traders see little long-term relief from the Japanese government’s repeated warnings that it will take bold action to stem the yen's decline.
BUSINESS / Markets
Traders plot worst-case scenario for yen if currency crisis hits
By Ruth Carson and John Cheng
The yen sliding to a once-unthinkable ¥200 to the dollar level is now a risk — albeit an extreme one — for some investors.
From January 2028, PlayStation games will release only as digital downloads, calling into question protections about ownership over software and the long-term playability of older titles released on discs.
LIFE / Digital
Sony to end video game disc production in January 2028
By Owen Ziegler
The gaming giant says the move toward digital-only games aligns the company with consumer trends toward online marketplaces.
As these manga show, sexuality is only part of the story for many women who turn to lesbian sex services. Many seek healing, comfort and emotional relief, too.
CULTURE / Books
Strange bedfellows: Manga and lesbian sex work agencies team up for storytelling
By Marta Fanasca
Agencies and sex workers seek to present more nuanced depictions of their work and to challenge mainstream narratives that often emphasize scandal, eroticism or exploitation.
As these manga show, sexuality is only part of the story for many women who turn to lesbian sex services. Many seek healing, comfort and emotional relief, too.

JAPAN

LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki before a meeting with the Centrist Reform Alliance on Thursday.
LDP to halt debate on JIP priorities to focus on imperial family bill
The LDP is ready to halt debate on controversial bills while discussions on proposed Imperial House Law revisions are underway, LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki has said.
A sign showing bear deterrent measures is displayed next to a wolf-shaped robotic device outside a convenience store in a rural area of Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture.
Bear spray goes off in Japan post office, leaving five hospitalized
At least five people have been killed by bears in Japan since April 1 after a record 13 deaths last fiscal year.
Finance Minister Katayama says G7 will discuss AI defense standards
Opposition parties CRA, CDP and Komeito discuss merger
Four arrested over attempted theft before Haneda Airport cash ambush
Interrogation footage to be shown at trial over prosecutor questioning

BUSINESS

Until recently, economists generally saw the Bank of Japan hiking rates about every six months, but now markets are pricing in a solid chance that another increase could come by October.
Sinking yen and robust economy support BOJ case for earlier rate hike
By Toru Fujioka
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has indicated her preference for monetary easing, helping push the yen to its weakest level against the dollar since 1986.
Junichi Miyakawa, the head of SoftBank's telecom unit. The company's new AI-tailored-cloud venture, 49% of which will be owned by its parent group, has the potential to generate profit "on a different order of magnitude,” Miyakawa said in a recent interview.
SoftBank plans to offer AI-tailored cloud services in U.S. from next fiscal year
By Min Jeong Lee
The mobile carrier operator and group company will set up the new venture this month, aiming to supply data center capacity at a scale of 10 gigawatts by around 2030.
Summer bonuses at major Japan firms top ¥1 million for first time
An English furniture maker faces AI era of bots buying sofas
By Katie Linsell and Maddie Parker
Nissan CEO insists alliance with Renault has never been better
By Siddharth Philip and Chester Dawson
Toyota and Hyundai sales rise on hybrid demand while GM sits out
By Gabrielle Coppola and David Welch

WORLD

The Society of Saint Pius X consecrates four new bishops in Econe, western Switzerland, on Wednesday in defiance of Pope Leo XIV, who pleaded with the ultra-traditionalist breakaway group to turn back from what he called a "schismatic act" with Rome.
Members of rebel Catholic group in schism and excommunicated, Vatican says
The Vatican said on Thursday that priests and lay Catholics who are part of a breakaway right-wing Catholic group that ordained bishops without Pope Leo's approval are in schism with the wider church and now excommunicated.
Marine Le Pen speaks during a political rally of the French far-right National Rally political party on May 1. The National Rally has repeatedly voted against measures meant to slow climate change, but is pushing air conditioning with an eye toward next April’s presidential election.
France’s far right pledges 40 million air conditioners as heat turns political
By Ania Nussbaum
Across Europe air conditioning is a new battleground as officials grapple with how to adapt aging infrastructure to debilitating heat as the climate changes.
Russian strikes kill 17 in largest ever attack on Kyiv, mayor says
Kilometers apart but a world away: the Starbucks with a view of North Korea
By Kang Jin-kyu
Eight Thai monks killed after boy drives truck into procession, police say
Erdogan shows Europe why NATO needs Turkey’s clout on defense

Sports

Naomi Osaka arrives for her second-round match at Wimbledon in London on Wednesday.
Stylish Naomi Osaka cruises into third round at Wimbledon
Osaka, who has ⁠not progressed beyond the third round at the All England Club, takes on Australian Daria Kasatkina in the next round.
WTA Finals moves to Indian Wells after early end of deal with Saudi Arabia
U.S. shifts focus to Belgium after short-handed win over Bosnia and Herzegovina
England coach says team overcame past demons with comeback win over Congo
Jalen Brown saga ends as Celtics reach deal to trade star to Sixers

Opinion

The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
Midori Inagaki
Once volunteer-based, the system is shifting toward shared responsibility between local governments and trained professionals.
Modi is rigging Indian democracy
By Jayati Ghosh
When the other side is framed as the antichrist
By Nina L. Khrushcheva
Soccer’s Asian century is still just a distant dream
By Gearoid Reidy
Greenspan deflated one bubble — his own authority
By John Authers

ENVIRONMENT

A woman with an umbrella walks at Plaza Puerta del Sol during a spring heat wave in Madrid on May 27.
Net-zero champion Europe snared by climate change on its doorstep
June’s record-breaking heat wave in Europe has focused minds on the urgency of adapting to global warming in a continent once complacent about its relatively gentle climate.
Japan deploys bear cameras in mountains as attacks surge
NATO project tests perennial grass to clean Ukraine’s war-hit soil
Industrial firms warn EU carbon overhaul could benefit polluters
By Kate Abnett
World’s oceans break June heat record: EU monitor

CULTURE

After premiering in July 1966, the original “Ultraman” series gained a peak viewership of nearly half of all TV-owning households in Japan.
The heroism and humanity of ‘Ultraman’: Documentary looks back on 60 years
By Sebastien Raineri
The iconic sci-fi franchise is the focus of a documentary, co-helmed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, that examines its cultural impact on generations of Japanese and international viewers.
Japan’s first great AI music trend is gloriously wrong
By Patrick St. Michel
Singer and actor Kazuya Kamenashi to marry Minami Tanaka
How a private collection of queer books became a cultural hot spot
By Mike Fu
Trooper Salute marches to its own beat on dazzling debut album
By Patrick St. Michel

LIFE

From January 2028, PlayStation games will release only as digital downloads, calling into question protections about ownership over software and the long-term playability of older titles released on discs.
Sony to end video game disc production in January 2028
By Owen Ziegler
The gaming giant says the move toward digital-only games aligns the company with consumer trends toward online marketplaces.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
By Robbie Swinnerton
Smash tacos with bear-approved veggies
By Simon Daly
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
By Aarohi Narain
Summer in Japan: The language and flavors of staying cool
By Eric Margolis

COMMUNITY

James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
By Mai Yoshikawa
Beyond the paperwork and the language barrier, James Benstead says the hardest part about adopting in Japan was the waiting.
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
Fear and uncertainty for foreign business owners after Japan revises rules
By Elizabeth Beattie

Editors' Picks

SUMO
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
By John Gunning
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
BUSINESS
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
By Kazuaki Nagata
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
JAPAN
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
By Jessica Speed
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
JAPAN
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
By Elizabeth Beattie
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
COMMUNITY
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
By Mai Yoshikawa
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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

JT Directory Service

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SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Digital marketer Netyear zeros in on generative AI
Digital marketer Netyear zeros in on generative AI

COMFACTS

Space Seed Holdings and Three Partners File Core Patents for “SpaceAgent”
Space Seed Holdings and Three Partners File Core Patents for “SpaceAgent”
SPACE SEED HOLDINGS CO., LTD.

WHAT’S TRENDING

JAPAN
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
By Yukana Inoue
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
JAPAN
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
By Kyoko Hasegawa
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
JAPAN
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men&#039;s restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
COMMUNITY
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
By Mai Yoshikawa
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
BUSINESS
Why is the yen so weak and what can Japan do about it?
By Simon STURDEE
Japan spent ¥11.7 trillion ($73 billion) between late April and late May to prop up the weak yen.