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July 01, 2026
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July 01, 2026
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Electronic boards display the foreign exchange rate of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar at a foreign exchange brokerage in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Yen’s slide puts market on lookout for Japan’s next red line
By John Cheng
Strategists have increasingly pointed to ¥163 and beyond as the next levels to watch.

More coverage

Why is the yen so weak and what can Japan do about it?
Electronic boards display the foreign exchange rate of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar at a foreign exchange brokerage in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Revisions to the laws meant to tackle the imperial family's dwindling numbers included clauses that throw succession rules into question.
JAPAN
Law revisions regarding imperial family invite controversy about succession
By Kanako Takahara
Revisions to the laws meant to tackle the imperial family’s dwindling numbers included clauses that throw succession rules into question.
Self-Defense Forces personnel stand guard at the entrance of the Defense Ministry in Tokyo in April.
JAPAN / Politics
Japan weighs state ownership of defense plants to boost arms supply
By Kenji Yoshida
A draft of the government’s basic economic and fiscal policy guidelines calls for reviewing existing law to allow greater state involvement.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, seen with other imperial family members, walk down a hill to greet guests during a spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace's imperial garden in Tokyo in April.
JAPAN
Japan adopts bill to revise Imperial House Law
The government aims to enact the bill during the ongoing Diet session, currently scheduled to end on July 17.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders gather during the Group of Seven summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on June 16.
COMMENTARY / Japan
China’s export controls target Japan to split the Group of Seven
Christopher Nye and Charles Sun
Why Japan and why now? Tokyo raised the first question itself: Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara protested that controls singling out Japan depart from international practice.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders gather during the Group of Seven summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on June 16.

JAPAN

Masayo Tanabu, secretary-general of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and a senior Upper House lawmaker, speaks during an interview with The Japan Times in Tokyo on Friday.
Japan’s opposition faces a make-or-break choice over wider integration
By Kenji Yoshida
The Centrist Reform Alliance has yet to fully convince the public of its significance, said senior opposition lawmaker Masayo Tanabu.
During the first day of a lay judge trial at the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday, 44-year-old Kenichi Takano admitted to stabbing a 22-year-old woman to death in the capital's Takadanobaba district in March last year while she was livestreaming.
Man indicted over livestreaming murder in Tokyo admits to charges during trial
Kenichi Takano attacked Airi Sato as she was walking and livestreaming on a street in Tokyo last March, stabbing her face and chest multiple times with a knife.
Chubu Electric continued to misrepresent quake risk at nuclear plant amid probe
Japan adds new mobile phone number prefix amid expected shortage
Japan plans sovereign AI model and 10 million AI robots
Japan’s trilateral fighter jet program locked in following U.K. funding commitment
By Gabriel Dominguez

BUSINESS

The Hakuba Cross-Country Course in the village of Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture, in February. For a third year in a row, roadside land prices in the village have increased at the highest rate across Japan.
Roadside land prices rise in popular Japanese tourist sites
Across the board, the prices of land facing major roads in Japan as of Jan. 1 went up by 2.9%, marking a fifth consecutive year of increases.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Confidence among large manufacturers rose to the highest level since 2018, supporting the BOJ’s stance to keep raising interest rates.
Japan’s manufacturer mood improves to highest level since 2018
By Toru Fujioka
Inflation expectations climbed, supporting the Bank of Japan’s stance to keep raising interest rates.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
By Kazuaki Nagata
Kawasaki Heavy seeks ¥200 billion via new shares and convertible bonds: sources
By Miho Uranaka and Sam Nussey
Panasonic targets further AI growth to build on record valuation
By Reed Stevenson and Mari Kiyohara
Samsung and SK Hynix’s mega South Korea chips gamble tests optimism of AI cycle
By Hyunjoo Jin and Heekyong Yang

WORLD

A group of civilian volunteers searches for survivors in a collapsed building in La Guaira, Venezuela, on Saturday.
Venezuela quake death toll nears 2,000 as aftershocks ease
Opposition leader María Corina Machado, who is stuck in Panama after unsuccessful attempts to reenter the country, has vowed to return as quickly as possible.
Members of the League of United Latin American Citizens gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court after a decision on birthright citizenship in Washington on Tuesday.
U.S. Supreme Court backs birthright citizenship in blow to Trump
By Greg Stohr
In response, the U.S. president said on social media “we could easily make it up in Congress through Legislation.”
Taiwan’s aging seaweed harvesters hope younger women will wade in
By Joy Chiang and Sally JENSEN
U.K. defense plan blows £5 billion hole in Burnham’s budget
By Ellen Milligan
CIA chief compares cutting-edge AI to nuclear weapons
Anti-migrant protests draw thousands across South Africa

Sports

Mexico players celebrate after beating Ecuador to qualify for the round of 16 stage of the World Cup, in Mexico City on Tuesday.
Mexico sees off Ecuador to break 40-year World Cup curse
Mexico had not won a World Cup knockout game since 1986, when it last hosted the tournament.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
By John Gunning
Clippers dealing Kawhi Leonard back to Raptors
Serena Williams beaten at Wimbledon in first singles match in four years
By Steven Griffiths
Mbappe and Haaland fire France and Norway into World Cup last 16
By Rob Woollard

Opinion

Smoke rises over Gazprom Neft’s Moscow oil refinery on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow on June 18 after a Ukrainian drone attack.
Is the tide turning against Russia in Ukraine?
Sergei Guriev
There is no guarantee that Putin will seek a negotiated freeze in the Ukraine conflict, not least because he might not grasp the situation Russia is in.
Mark Carney has given Canadians something to celebrate
By Stephen R. Nagy
The U.S. Supreme Court just betrayed asylum seekers
By Noah Feldman
Starbucks Korea marketing debacle is far from over
By Juliana Liu
Trump’s march of folly in Iran
By Timothy Snyder

ENVIRONMENT

Yana Hrynko, senior researcher of The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, shows a bird's nest made with fragments of optic fiber, which was found by a Ukrainian service member on the front line and then passed to the museum in Kyiv on June 23.
Bird nests of fiber-optic cables show war’s impact on Ukraine
The nests demonstrate how the more than 4-year-old conflict is reshaping the natural environment, researchers say.
World’s oceans break June heat record: EU monitor
U.K. grid issues another supply warning as heat tests network
By Eamon Akil Farhat
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
By Shoaib Mir and Parthu Venkatesh P
More temperature records shattered in Europe as deadly heat wave moves east

CULTURE

Yo Katami found a permanent home for Loneliness Books in Higashinakano in August 2024, but still travels for book pop-ups at fairs and events in Japan and across Asia.
How a private collection of queer books became a cultural hot spot
By Mike Fu
Since establishing a permanent location in Nakano Ward in 2024, Tokyo’s queer-focused bookstore Loneliness Books has become a hub of events and activities for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies.
Strange bedfellows: Manga and lesbian sex work agencies team up for storytelling
By Marta Fanasca
Singer and actor Kazuya Kamenashi to marry Minami Tanaka
Trooper Salute marches to its own beat on dazzling debut album
By Patrick St. Michel
Buzzcut backlash: AKB48 member’s termination stirs online furor
By Patrick St. Michel

LIFE

“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
By Aarohi Narain
Originally published as a six-volume series in the 1930s, “A Dictionary of Color Combinations” has become a go-to for creatives in Japan and around the world.
Smash tacos with bear-approved veggies
By Simon Daly
Summer in Japan: The language and flavors of staying cool
By Eric Margolis
‘A little funky’: Japanese ‘nattō’ disgusts and delights the world
By Tomohiro Osaki & Sarah Lai
Can a single clay pot really elevate everything you cook?
By Simon Daly

COMMUNITY

James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
By Mai Yoshikawa
Beyond the paperwork and the language barrier, James Benstead says the hardest part about adopting in Japan was the waiting.
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
In Japan, Nepalese students navigate a growing study-to-work pathway
By Mai Yoshikawa
Fear and uncertainty for foreign business owners after Japan revises rules
By Elizabeth Beattie

Editors' Picks

JAPAN
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
By Jessica Speed
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
JAPAN
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
By Elizabeth Beattie
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.
COMMUNITY
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
By Mai Yoshikawa
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
ENVIRONMENT
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
By Elizabeth Beattie
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
LIFE
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
By Robbie Swinnerton
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.

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

JT Directory Service

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SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Digital marketer Netyear zeros in on generative AI
Digital marketer Netyear zeros in on generative AI

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

SOCCER
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
COMMUNITY
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
By Mai Yoshikawa
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
ENVIRONMENT
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
By Shoaib Mir and Parthu Venkatesh P
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
JAPAN
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
By Elizabeth Beattie
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.
BUSINESS
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
By Kazuaki Nagata
Japan's currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.