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July 12, 2026
 

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OSAKA

The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 10, 2026
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion.
Neyagawa Mayor Keisuke Hirose speaks to reporters in the city in Osaka Prefecture on Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2026
City in Osaka Prefecture to tax vacant houses from fiscal 2029
Annual revenue from the tax is estimated to reach ¥139 million, which will be used for measures against crimes and natural disasters.
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.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2026
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin, an Osaka-based credit card payment processor, filed for bankruptcy on Monday.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and the Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura meet in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 8, 2026
LDP and JIP agree to delay bill to reduce Lower House seats
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and JIP chief Hirofumi Yoshimura decided to postpone debate on the bill to a later session of parliament.
Zentoshin had liabilities of about ¥125,929 million, making its bankruptcy Japan's biggest of the year, Teikoku Databank said Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 7, 2026
Credit card payment processor Zentoshin gets nod to begin bankruptcy proceedings
The company provided a service that paid sales proceeds to credit card merchants before they received payments from credit card companies.
Osaka’s infrastructure earned higher marks than Tokyo’s in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Global Liveability Index.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 7, 2026
Osaka trumps Tokyo as both ranked among world’s top 10 most livable cities
Osaka ranked seventh, while Tokyo, which improved its culture and environment score, moved up three places to reach 10th.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and Osaka Prefectural Police have issued arrest warrants for three people, including a suspected fraud network leader, over alleged immigration and residency violations.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 5, 2026
Suspected Asian fraud ring exec served fresh warrant in Japan
The man, Hu Shi, and two others were initially arrested last month by Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of submitting a false move-in notification.
Japan Innovation Party head Hirofumi Yoshimura speaks to the party's local members in the city of Osaka on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 24, 2026
Backup capital progress shows Takaichi is listening to JIP despite LDP concerns
A deal on the matter gave Takaichi the needed votes to become prime minister and form a ruling coalition.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 23, 2026
Takaichi and JIP agree to pass bill on backup capital this parliamentary session
The Japan Innovation Party has long sought a backup capital plan, agreeing to join the ruling coalition last year in exchange for passing legislation on it.
A West Japan Railway Company bullet train approaches Shin-Osaka station in Osaka last December.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2026
New cost estimates revealed for Hokuriku Shinkansen line extension
Construction costs for the eight routes being considered now range from ¥1.7 trillion to ¥7.9 trillion, the transport ministry said.
A new global ranking puts Osaka Itami Airport as not only best in Japan but Asia's top travel hub in terms of punctuality, passenger experience and facilities.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 19, 2026
Osaka Itami Airport named Asia’s best in new travel rankings
Fukuoka Airport and Nagoya’s Chubu Centrair International Airport rounded out Japan’s top three airports graded on punctuality, passenger experience and facilities.
Cyanide is an acutely toxic substance that has been used in murders and terrorist attacks.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 16, 2026
Japanese researchers find new ways to detect cyanide poisoning
The study, conducted by researchers from institutions including Kindai University and the Aichi Prefectural Police Department, was published in a toxicology journal in May.
Hirofumi Yoshimura (left), head of the Japan Innovation Party, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who is also Liberal Democratic Party president, during a meeting at the Diet in Tokyo on March 17
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 15, 2026
Bills on JIP’s signature policy goals in limbo as parliamentary session nears end
The party, also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai, continues to push for the creation of a secondary capital and a reduction of seats in the Lower House.
Smartphones and PCs seized by Osaka Prefectural Police in connection to a social media scam that led to the arrest of 41 people
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 11, 2026
Osaka police arrest 41 over side-job scam affecting 2,300 people
In the scam posted on social media, victims were told they could earn large sums through a side job if they first paid for training courses.
Mizue Fukagawa's works explore of the fragility of memory and the regenerative beauty of nature.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 8, 2026
Emerging Kansai artists to watch
Among the artists featured at Art Osaka, several offered particularly engaging takes on the ubiquity of digital technology and relationships between people and nature.
Pupils of Ikeda Elementary School in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, lay flowers at a monument at the school on Monday, the 25th anniversary of a mass stabbing that killed eight children.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 8, 2026
Work to improve safety continues 25 years after mass stabbing at Osaka school
On June 8, 2001, a man armed with knives broke into the school and stabbed eight children to death, and injured scores of others.
A former prosecutor using the pseudonym Hikari, who accused her boss of rape, demands an independent panel to be launched during a protest in Tokyo on May 29.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 7, 2026
Prosecutors across Japan to be surveyed for harassment
The supreme office issued related instructions to local prosecutor offices across the country last month and plans to compile a report by the end of fiscal 2026.
Mounjaro, a diabetes medication also known as a weight-loss drug, on display in Osaka on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 2, 2026
Osaka police refer three to prosecutors over ‘weight-loss’ drug Mounjaro
All three suspects have admitted to selling the drug in violation of the pharmaceutical and medical devices law, investigative sources said.
A photo on the front page of The Japan Times on Sunday, June 27, 1976, shows a moment from the fight between Antonio Aoki and Muhammad Ali.
JAPAN / History
Jun 2, 2026
Japan Times 1976: Inoki sits on his fortune as Ali dances to the bank
The Ali-Inoki super fight drew global attention, then baffled fans with 15 rounds of tactical stalemate.
A prison officer in charge of education speaks to inmates at Osaka Prison in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on Feb. 26. A portion of the image is blurred for privacy reasons.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 1, 2026
Osaka Prison helps rehabilitate inmates with developmental disabilities
Prisoners with development disorders at Osaka Prison receive education and guidance focusing on facilitating self-understanding and improving cooperative behavior.
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.
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
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.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
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.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
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.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

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