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July 05, 2026
 

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AID

The Japanese government's 2025 white paper on cooperation and development said the country will use its official development assistance to encourage private investment in developing countries.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2026
Japan to spur private investment in developing countries via ODA
The Japanese government spent some $16.5 billion on official development assistance in 2024, according to the latest white paper on cooperation and development.
International development is not just a form of “soft power.” It is hard power — and the world's most effective preemptive strike against future threats.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2026
Development provides security as effectively as hard power
International development is not just a form of “soft power.” It is hard power — and our most effective preemptive strike against future threats.
Education minister Yohei Matsumoto speaks during a news conference at the parliamentary building on Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2026
Ministry approves Institute of Science Tokyo’s plans to boost research
The institution was selected last month to receive aid from the government’s ¥10 trillion fund designed to foster universities with world-class research capabilities.
Takayuki Matsuda, a member of Doctors Without Borders, speaks during an interview in Cairo on Sunday. Matsuda was engaged in the procurement of goods and equipment maintenance in the Gaza Strip between December and Feb. 12.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2026
Japanese member of Doctors Without Borders deplores Gaza medical crisis
The group has had to stop humanitarian aid in the enclave due to Israel’s banning of international nongovernmental organizations from operating there.
The planned site for a fish market in the Natuna Islands to be developed with support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, in November
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2026
Japan to boost support for remote Indonesian islands
Tokyo, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency, plans to provide aid for the development of a fish market in the Natuna Islands.
U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, Elizabeth Salmon, speaks during a news conference wrapping up her visit to South Korea in Seoul on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 7, 2026
U.N. to give sanction exemptions on North Korea aid projects
Analysts say the move would allow those groups to provide humanitarian aid, such as nutritional supplements, medical equipment and water purification systems, to North Korea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to meet with then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Kyiv in March 2023. Four years into the war, Japan stands out as a leading supporter of Ukraine through economic and humanitarian aid.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 6, 2026
Four years of war and Ukraine still needs the world
Four years into the war, Japan stands out as a leading supporter of Ukraine through economic and humanitarian aid, testing its ability to sustain international economic diplomacy.
An infant waits to receive a dose of a malaria vaccine in Kasoa, Ghana, on Nov. 19, 2025.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 2, 2026
New malaria vaccines helped Ghana slash child deaths. Then Trump and others cut aid.
The shots have the potential to drive back a disease that kills nearly half a million young children every year in Africa.
Members of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces arrive at the Kurdish-held city of Ain al-Arab, also known as Kobane, on Friday after they withdrew from the Al-Aqtan prison in the Raqa province of Syria.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 26, 2026
Life-saving aid reaches Kurdish-majority town in Syria: U.N.
The aid came as the Syrian authorities and Kurdish forces extended a ceasefire agreement after the latter relinquished swaths of territory.
People enter an emergency service tent set up for those whose homes are without electricity or heating following Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, in a residential neighborhood of Kyiv on Thursday.
WORLD
Jan 23, 2026
Freezing Kyiv residents seek warmth in trains and tents
Russia has targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure throughout the nearly four-year war, but Kyiv says this winter has been the toughest yet.
Remnants of signage for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on the facade of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center building in Washington.
WORLD
Jan 20, 2026
The impact of Trump’s foreign aid cuts, one year on
Some researchers estimate the USAID cuts have so far caused more than 750,000 deaths — over 500,000 of them children.
A Palestinian man walks past a clinic of Doctors Without Borders — also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) — in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on Dec. 31.
WORLD
Jan 11, 2026
In Gaza hospital, patients cling to MSF as Israel orders it out
Israel says it will bar 37 aid organizations from Gaza starting March 1 for failing to provide detailed information on their Palestinian staff.
A 3-year-old receives treatment at Nasir Medical Center in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Aug. 4. A recent Focaldata survey found the majority polled favors cooperation on global challenges, even if it means compromising on some strictly national interests.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2025
Multilateralism is not dead yet
Electorates are far more aware than ever of the connection between what is happening in their local communities and what is happening globally.
Rescue boats provided by Japan to Malaysia under the official security assistance program
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2025
Japan to expand military aid as OSA budget more than doubles
The Cabinet agreed on a 125% — or ¥10 billion — year-on-year increase in military aid funding, raising the budget to ¥18.1 billion ($116 million) for fiscal 2026.
The world has made astonishing progress, yet far too often governments and their expert advisers bestow aid in a paternalistic spirit of “we know best,” that, while preferable to violent subjugation, still denies beneficiaries independence and equal standing.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2025
A brief history of enlightened oppression
Enlightened oppression, even stripped of violence and cruelty, is still oppression.
U.S. and Israeli soldiers convene at the Civil Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel, in November
WORLD
Dec 19, 2025
Much talk and little action at Gaza truce coordination center
The U.S. initiative is meant to set the stage for the next steps of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Palestinian territory after more than two years of war.
Hellen Etiman, 30, stands as her malnourished son, Peter Lokoyen, 4, eats wild fruits outside their thatch hut in Lomolem village, in Turkana County in Kenya, on Oct. 29.
WORLD / Society
Dec 12, 2025
Cuts to U.S. aid under Trump disrupt life-saving treatment for starving children
Before the cuts, the U.S. Agency for International Development funded purchase and distribution of half global food paste supplies for the most undernourished children.
Nobumitsu Hayashi, head of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), is interviewed in Tokyo last week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 1, 2025
Japan’s JBIC shifts financing focus to economic security projects
JBIC’s role has expanded in response to China’s growing influence and rising geopolitical risks, evolving into a tool of economic statecraft.
Beneficiaries wait in line to receive support following the exit of USAID, at a World Food Program distribution center in Dikwa, Borno State, Nigeria, in August.
WORLD
Nov 21, 2025
World’s richest nations are pulling back from global development efforts, study shows
The ranking comes as South Africa is gearing up to host leaders of the Group of 20 major economies this weekend.
Akihiko Tanaka, president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, speaks at a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers program, held in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Nov 18, 2025
Japan’s overseas volunteer effort faces personnel shortage as it marks 60th year
Grassroots human exchanges have fostered multilayered relations with other countries, but private sector alternatives and public perceptions are creating recruitment headwinds.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito, said in a 2022 news conference upon coming of age that she hopes to “spend a long time together” with her parents.
Japanese police arrest nine over Sierra Leone-based special fraud
Japanese police have arrested nine individuals for their alleged involvement in a special fraud case using Sierra Leone as a base.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
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. 
Iran war exposed, but hasn’t changed, Japan’s reliance on imported oil
Wind turbines generate energy from strong easterly winds on the Shonai Plain in Yamagata Prefecture. Despite the oil crisis caused by conflict near the Strait of Hormuz, and concerns instability in the region could continue to impact supply and the price of imports, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does not seem to be drawing on the war as a pretext to hasten progress toward Japan's renewable goals.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
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.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
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.

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