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July 04, 2026
 

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3/11

Yoshihiko Matsui’s “There Was Such a Thing Before” follows two high-school friends (Oshiro Maeda, left, and Airu Kubozuka) growing up in the aftermath of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant meltdown.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 18, 2025
‘There Was Such a Thing Before’: Fukushima grief and fury in monochrome
Eighteen years since his last feature, Yoshihiko Matsui is back with a somber Fukushima tale that demands attention, even as its drama feels stilted.
Taiwan has launched a 60-day public comment period on easing import restrictions on Japanese food, originally imposed after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2025
Taiwan expected to lift restrictions on imported Japanese food
Random radiation checks will be conducted on imports.
Agriculture and fisheries minister Shinjiro Koizumi (left) meets with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun in Seoul on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 12, 2025
Koizumi presses Seoul to lift fishery curbs and meets South Korea and China counterparts
South Korea suspended imports of fishery products from eight prefectures following the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Storage tanks containing treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture in March 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 30, 2025
Tepco ordered to pay ¥100 million in damages over 2011 disaster
Presiding Judge Masahiko Abe ordered the payment mainly as compensation for damage to property and consolation money.
The officials of Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation speak during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2025
Debris removal at Fukushima nuclear plant pushed back to 2037 or later
This delay may push the completion of the plant’s decommissioning process beyond the target year of 2051 set by the government and Tepco.
Soil from the Fukushima No. 1 plant is delivered to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's office in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2025
Fukushima soil delivered to Ishiba’s office for reuse
With few willing to take the contaminated earth, the government took it upon itself to reuse some of the soil to show it is not dangerous.
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 2, 2025
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
The Japan Meteorological Agency has taken to social media to caution that “any such predictions should be considered unreliable.”
Trishit Banerjee moved to Japan in 2015, embarking on an academic and personal journey that taught him lessons about the collective and the individual.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jun 23, 2025
A singular ensemble: Indian food, science and Fukushima
After moving to Sendai for college, an Indian student began thinking about the dynamic between the individual and the ensemble — in food, science and society.
Under a new basic policy for reconstruction, the government will tackle such issues as the final disposal of soil removed during radiation decontamination after the nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2025
¥1.9 trillion over five years eyed for 2011 tsunami reconstruction
The amount tops ¥1.6 trillion for the five years through fiscal 2025, which ends in March.
The Tsuruga nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture. Under an amended law, nuclear plants' operating period may be extended beyond 60 years to compensate for stoppages caused by "unforeseeable circumstances."
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2025
Japan law comes into force to extend nuclear plant lifespans
Under the amended law, nuclear plants’ operating period may be extended beyond 60 years to compensate for stoppages caused by “unforeseeable circumstances.”
After the appellate court ruling in the shareholders' lawsuit over the Tepco Fukushima No.1 nuclear accident, plaintiffs hold up signs reading "Unjust Ruling" on Friday in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 6, 2025
High court overturns ruling against ex-Tepco executives
The count found the executives were unable to predict the tsunami that triggered the triple reactor meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Workers add clean topsoil to a rice field, part of a government pilot project to add fresh earth to recycled and removed soil taken from areas affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster, in the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, in April.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 1, 2025
Recycling contaminated soil from Fukushima: Japan’s dilemma
Massive amounts of the soil — around 14 million cubic meters of it — remain in storage near the damaged plant.
A seafood market in Beijing. China has agreed to lift a ban on Japanese seafood imports that has lasted for 21 months.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2025
China agrees to lift ban on Japanese seafood imports
The prohibition was imposed in response to the release of treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean.
The Tomari nuclear power plant in Tomari, Hokkaido, in March 2024
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2025
Japan approves restart of nuclear reactor for first time in four years
The Nuclear Regulation Authority approved a preliminary report saying Hokkaido Electric Power’s Tomari No. 3 reactor meets post-Fukushima safety rules.
A pipeline to transport seawater, part of the facility for releasing treated radioactive water to sea from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2025
Tepco finishes first round of fiscal 2025 treated water release
In fiscal 2025, Tepco plans to release a total of about 54,600 metric tons of treated water in seven rounds.
A combination of images released on April 15 illustrate the end jig passing through the isolation valve during the second fuel debris trial retrieval at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2025
Second debris removal trial at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is completed
High radiation levels mean removing melted fuel and other debris from the plant is seen as the most daunting challenge in the decommissioning project.
Yumi Watanabe (right), head of the residents' association of the Tsubamesawa public housing complex in Sendai, delivers a meal to a resident.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Apr 21, 2025
Disaster public housing complexes in Sendai work to boost interactions
Residents are working with volunteers to organize a children’s cafeteria and other events.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' headquarters in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward in March. Tepco began a second experimental operation to remove nuclear fuel debris from a damaged reactor at its Fukushima No. 1 power plant on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2025
Tepco begins second nuclear debris removal operation
Tepco aims to remove 3 grams of debris at maximum from the meltdown-stricken No. 2 reactor within about two weeks.
This 1-meter "wajima-nuri" lacquerware globe from Ishikawa Prefecture will be one of the specialty products to be displayed by Japan's local governments at the Osaka Expo.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2025
Local governments to showcase products at Osaka Expo
Eye-catching items include a 1-meter lacquerware globe from Ishikawa Prefecture that escaped damage after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck.
Teruki Hara (left) and Kazuyasu Takahashi in the city of Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Jan. 27
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2025
14 years on: Teen from Tokyo begins fishing career in Fukushima
Teruki Hara remains initially discovered his love for fishing in the prefecture as a child.
‘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 triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
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.
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. 
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.
Thailand gets serious about chasing high-spending tourists
Chinese tourists at Wat Arun Ratchawararam Rathawaramahawihan in Bangkok
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.

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
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