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July 12, 2026
 

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UNESCO

Transcarpathia is a western Ukrainian region and one of the country's most ethnically diverse areas, populated by groups including Hutsuls, seen here in Yasynya, as well as Hungarians, Romanians, Slovaks and Ukrainians.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2026
Language, power and the price of entry
The same logic that protects Hungarians in Ukraine leaves Russian in the cold. Language policy, it turns out, has a foreign policy.
The Asuka-Fujiwara archaeological sites in western Japan have been recommended to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2026
Asuka-Fujiwara ancient capitals to join World Heritage list
A UNESCO advisory panel has recommended adding the archaeological sites in western Japan to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list.
Mine-Akiyoshidai, a karst plateau in Yamaguchi Prefecture, has been named Japan’s 11th UNESCO Global Geopark.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2026
Karst plateau in western Japan named UNESCO Global Geopark
Mine-Akiyoshidai, in the city of Mine in Yamaguchi Prefecture, is the 11th UNESCO Global Geopark in Japan.
A craftsman weaves fabric on a traditional hand loom inside a workshop in Tangail, Bangladesh, on March 2.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 12, 2026
Bangladesh sari weaving tradition hangs by a thread
A shift to automated looms, evolving fashion choices, unstable yarn prices and a lack of government support have squeezed weavers of the UNESCO-recognized garments at every turn.
Documented evidence shows schools that implement smartphone-free policies see measurable improvements in academic performance and student well-being, even within a single semester.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 19, 2025
It’s time for Japan to ban smartphones in schools
Excessive screen time creates addiction comparable to substance abuse, but it is more nefarious in that it impacts people in unseen ways, unlike tobacco or alcohol.
The Murakami Festival, held in the city of Murakami, Niigata Prefecture, has been added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list along with five other items from Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2025
Six Japanese items added to UNESCO intangible heritage list
Four of the six new items will be registered under the category of “Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan.”
The open-air bath at Tsurunoyu Hot Springs in Nyuto Onsenkyo, in Semboku, Akita Prefecture
JAPAN / Society
Nov 29, 2025
Kagura and onsen culture to be recommended for UNESCO heritage
A government panel has chosen kagura, a Japanese traditional performing art, and onsen hot spring culture as candidates for UNESCO intangible cultural heritage designation.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, China, on Sept. 1. Xi unveiled a new diplomatic framework, the Global Governance Initiative, which Wang called “a blueprint for humanity’s shared future.”
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Nov 28, 2025
Beijing’s ‘globalist’ agenda under Trump 2.0
China is leveraging the Global Governance Initiative to expand its influence in the U.N. and Global South as U.S. retrenchment under Trump creates a leadership vacuum.
Autographed manuscripts from “Fushikaden,” noh master Zeami’s 15th-century treatise on the traditional Japanese theater performances
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2025
Japan to push noh master Zeami’s ‘Fushikaden’ for UNESCO listing
The Executive Board of the U.N. agency is expected to review the bid in spring 2027.
Beniya Mukayu, a traditional "ryokan" inn located in Ishikawa Prefecture, considers itself at "the heart of onsen towns, local residents, farmers, fishermen, sake brewers and artisans" — all of which need new, sustainable methods of serving visitors to survive into the future.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 16, 2025
In preserving Japanese hospitality, ‘details are everything’
As part of a new UNESCO initiative, the elite Relais & Chateau hospitality group will empower its Japan-based members to preserve the country’s “omotenashi” culture.
A Cambodian guide (left) gives an explanation about the exhibit as tourists look at portrait photos of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 13, 2025
Cambodia marks UNESCO recognition of Khmer Rouge sites as places of ‘peace and reflection’
The Khmer Rouge sites mark Cambodia’s fifth World Heritage listing, and is the country’s first modern-era nomination and among the first globally tied to recent conflict.
A public school teacher leads the class during the first day of in-person classes, at a school flooded due to high tide, in Macabebe, Pampanga province, Philippines, in August 2022.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 10, 2025
Philippines struggling to ready underfunded schools for climate hazards
Teachers want the government to do more than tweak the school calendar, and also invest in infrastructure that will make schools resilient to heat and storms.
Critics of plans to build a condominium on a vacant lot in the Komachi area of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, argue that valuable relics may be buried beneath the site.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2025
Development project at historic Kamakura site raises concerns
Citizens and history researchers are urging authorities to halt construction, expressing concerns that valuable relics may be buried beneath the site.
UNESCO's executive board on Thursday added Buddhist scriptures kept at Tokyo's Zojoji Temple to its Memory of the World register.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2025
Zojoji Buddhist scriptures added to UNESCO Memory of the World
The scriptures were collected by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan’s Edo era, and donated to the temple.
According to the Cultural Affairs Agency, shodō is defined as the act of writing kanji and kana characters using traditional brushstrokes and techniques.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
Japan to again propose calligraphy for UNESCO heritage list
The government is expected to submit the fresh proposal to UNESCO by the end of the month.
Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2025
Himeji Castle entrance fee to go up 2.5-fold for nonresidents
The city plans to use the resulting windfall for maintenance, online ticket sales, bag check services and guided tours for foreign visitors.
The koji room at Fukuwagura brewery in Mie Prefecture, where metals such as stainless steel, which are easy to manage for hygiene, are widely used
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 30, 2025
Japanese food makers step in to preserve sake breweries’ legacy
The initiatives by food companies coincide with a growing recognition of traditional sake-making techniques.
A brewer stirs the mix for making sake at a brewery in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 3, 2025
Brooklyn brewers take on sake, America’s new hip tipple
The ancient Japanese drink, which has been exported to the United States for at least a century, is being increasingly localized.
The ancient city of Hatra, Iraq, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2024
Why cultural heritage must be protected in wartime
Attacks on cultural sites are acts of cultural erasure, born of the same eliminationist motives that also drive genocide.
Employees of Takahashi Shouten working on the trial production of sake in New Delhi on Nov. 14.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 17, 2024
Japanese sake brewery to make foray into Indian market
Takahashi Shouten, based in the city of Yame in Fukuoka Prefecture, launched a subsidiary in India in February.
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.

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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