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July 12, 2026
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Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Aeroflot CEO Sergei Aleksandrovsky at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 6.
JAPAN / Politics
How Putin turned Japan into a den of spies
By Jane Bradley, Michael Schwirtz and Adam Goldman
Japan has long been known as a spy paradise, in part because of post-World War II constraints that keep the country’s intelligence services weak.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Aeroflot CEO Sergei Aleksandrovsky at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 6.
Ships identified by the Philippine Coast Guard as Chinese research vessels are seen at Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on June 15.
JAPAN / History
Japan and others mark 10 years since South China sea arbitration
The countries stressed that the 2016 decision in The Hague “is final, legally binding and definitive between China and the Philippines” regarding their territorial row.
Evening commuters in front of Tokyo station.
BUSINESS / Markets
Japan’s top pension fund likely to brush off political pressure
By Hideyuki Sano and Nao Sano
The Government Pension Investment Fund, one of the world’s largest, will likely ignore the finance minister’s call to boost domestic investment, at least in the short run.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at the Viaduct Events Center in Auckland, New Zealand, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Modi courts Indo-Pacific partners as China, U.S. reshape region
By Shruti Srivastava
Modi has stepped up engagement across the Indo-Pacific, signing a flurry of agreements and underscoring New Delhi’s ambition to play a bigger role in the region.
A rise in tourists on the hunt for on-the-ground deals as well as foreign-facing resellers seeking to turn a profit has Japan's secondhand fashion industry facing a crunch.
LIFE / Style & Design
Global demand is reshaping secondhand fashion in Japan
By Gabrielle Doman
Shop owners in Japan are seeing a deluge of overseas customers, and buyers outside Japan say the costs to stock their stores have doubled or even tripled.
A rise in tourists on the hunt for on-the-ground deals as well as foreign-facing resellers seeking to turn a profit has Japan's secondhand fashion industry facing a crunch.

JAPAN

Gentaro Yui, a 51-year-old executive of Moriumius's operator, in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, in December
Farm experiences in disaster-hit Japanese area attracting children
Since opening 11 years ago, the Moriumius facility has received a total of some 15,000 elementary and junior high school students, with many becoming repeat visitors.
Japan's internal affairs industry may introduce artificial intelligence agents at local governments facing labor shortages.
Japan weighing AI agents for understaffed local governments
A study group will compile an interim report by the end of fiscal 2026 and aim to release its final report around summer 2027.
Japan successfully launches and lands reusable rocket
Japanese government to work with industry and academia on dual-use tech
Ukraine eyes Japan’s Mitsubishi for help with Patriot missiles
By Jesse Johnson
Japan’s southwestern islands on high alert as Typhoon Bavi approaches
By Joseph Campbell and Kim Kyung Hoon

BUSINESS

Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group (center), and Kwak Noh-jung, president and CEO of SK Hynix (center left), and Koh Seung-beom, chairman of SK Hynix Inc. (center right), ring the opening bell during the company's initial public offering at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York on Friday.
SK Hynix debut is a bet that AI breaks boom-and-bust chip cycle
By Maggie Eastland, Ed Ludlow, Yoolim Lee and Dina Bass
South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix just pulled off the largest public listing by a foreign company in U.S. market history.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Microsoft Build conference at the Seattle Convention Center Summit Building in Seattle in May 2024.
Apple sues OpenAI for trade secret theft in pivotal case
The iPhone maker said in a suit Friday that OpenAI encouraged Apple employees to share information, components, drawings and other materials related to upcoming products.
SoftBank said to consider buying stake in retailer Seven & i
Yen gains after finance minister urges pension funds to invest more at home
By Erica Yokoyama
Japan’s producer prices rise at fastest pace since early 2023
By Molly Smith
Mizuho targets South Korea and India hires to join top dealmaking ranks
By Sheryl Tian Tong Lee and Chanyaporn Chanjaroen

WORLD

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaking to the media after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Friday.
U.S. senator Lindsey Graham dies at 71 after sudden illness
The cause of death was “a brief and sudden illness,” according to Graham’s office. He was in Kyiv as recently as Friday.
A ship sails off the coast of Ajman, UAE, on July Frida. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply since July 8, especially through the U.N.-backed Omani route, analysts said, after vessels were attacked earlier this week and as the United States and Iran traded renewed strikes.
U.S. launches more strikes on Iran after commercial ship struck in Strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump declared the end of a ceasefire on February 28, though Washington has left the door open to continued negotiations.
Typhoon Bavi lashes Japan’s southern islands as China evacuates 600,000
Iran hits back at Trump after he insists truce over
New Zealand and India form ‘strategic partnership’
A decade after historic ruling, Philippine fishermen say little changed at key shoal
By Adrian Portugal and Karen Lema

Sports

Japan head coach Eddie Jones looks on during the team's captain's run training session in Newcastle on Friday.
Eddie Jones says ‘pretty obvious’ Japan on right track
Japan face a major challenge next weekend on home turf against Six Nations champions France, who demolished Australia 42-26 in Brisbane.
Japan falls against Ireland in Nations Championship clash
Linda Noskova puts toughness on display to avoid heartbreak and claim Wimbledon crown
Argentina strike late in extra time to sink 10-man Swiss and reach World Cup semis
By Lori Ewing
Bellingham double fires England past Norway into World Cup semis
By Nick Mulvenney

Opinion

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a news conference at the NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday. The U.S. leader's approach to alliances means American security guarantees can no longer be taken for granted.
Trump just made Japan’s security dilemma more urgent
Imran Khalid
Japan should respond to growing uncertainty over U.S. security commitments by taking greater responsibility for protecting its own maritime and strategic interests.
The weak yen is not Japan’s new strength. It is a warning.
By Kumiharu Shigehara
Takaichi wants to make Japan Inc. great again
By Gearoid Reidy
China’s missile test exposes Beijing’s misdirection
The Bezos-backed $25,000 EV that should worry Detroit and probably Musk
By Liam Denning

ENVIRONMENT

A view of the dried up Loire River in France on Thursday amid a heat wave affecting a large part of the country.
Climate models become more precise even as political attacks sharpen
By Akshat Rathi
Climate researchers have operated under political duress for decades, but improved resources and understanding in recent years have made findings more useful to policymakers.
Strengthening El Nino likely to ‘rank among largest’ on record, U.S. agency says
Cambodia wants to bring back tigers, but should it?
Europe’s third major heat wave raises grid and water risks
By Joe Wertz
Faster, fiercer wildfires are testing evacuation plans
By Todd Woody

CULTURE

Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
By Jennifer Pastore
An international exhibition for a book about Japanese women in the photographic arts has its homecoming in Tokyo.
‘Why Wait, Just Die’: A dead-eyed investigator takes on an unsolved murder
By James Hadfield
‘AnyMart’: A surreal parable about the dark side of convenience stores
By Mark Schilling
Japanese dancers win ballet prizes in Moscow
Sachiko Kazama’s art bites back at a cruel society
By Jennifer Pastore

LIFE

For a refreshing kick on a hot summer day, wrap your tempura chicken in "shiso" (perilla leaf).
In Japan, ‘tastes like medicine’ can be a compliment
By Makiko Itoh
The culinary term “yakumi” includes more ingredients than a Western chef might ever group together, but it’s a foundational element of Japanese cuisine.
Is ramen soup? An inquiry.
By Thu-Huong Ha
Japan’s top high school ‘karuta’ players head to their own Koshien
By Yuko Tamura
Stripped of Michelin stars, Sezanne embraces a changing of the guard
By Phoebe Amoroso
La & Le brings a slice of Paris cafe culture to Tokyo
By Weiwen Lin

COMMUNITY

Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
By Megha Wadhwa
From classrooms in India’s northeast to nursing homes in Japan, an emerging labor corridor hopes to improve lives in both countries.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
By Elizabeth Beattie
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
By Mai Yoshikawa
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

Editors' Picks

CULTURE
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
By Jennifer Pastore
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
JAPAN
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
By Yukana Inoue
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
CULTURE
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
By Alicia Haddick
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
CULTURE
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
By Gabriella Geisinger
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
BUSINESS
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
By Yukana Inoue
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

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

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Sompo looks beyond insurance to focus on well-being

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

BUSINESS
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
JAPAN
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
By Jessica Speed
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
BUSINESS
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
By Taro Fuse and Taiga Uranaka
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
JAPAN
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
By Yukana Inoue
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
BUSINESS
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
By Taiga Uranaka and Hideki Suzuki
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.