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July 02, 2026
 

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DIET

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during the National Defense Academy's graduation ceremony in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in March. The Japanese leader currently has the political and procedural leverage to pursue sweeping reforms, including the creation of an intelligence agency modeled on the CIA.
EDITORIALS
May 29, 2026
Long overdue, Japan updates its intelligence infrastructure
The government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is taking steps to improve that capability with passage of the National Intelligence Council Law.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during an Upper House Cabinet Committee meeting on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 27, 2026
How the intel bill showed Japan’s new political reality
The debate surrounding the National Intelligence Council Law revealed less about Japan’s intelligence system than the current contours of the country’s new political reality.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions about the criminal procedure law in parliament on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 26, 2026
Takaichi stresses ‘great significance’ of retrial system reform
The government bill prohibits in principle public prosecutors from filing appeals against court decisions to start retrials.
The House of Representatives passes a bill to revise the personal information protection law with support from the ruling bloc and the Democratic Party for the People on Tuesday at parliament.
JAPAN / Politics
May 26, 2026
Lower House approves bill to revise personal information protection law
The bill includes a provision requiring businesses that repeatedly commit violations to pay fines equivalent to the earned profit to state coffers.
Katsunobu Kato, chairman of the National Power Research Group, addresses the group's inaugural meeting held at the parliamentary building in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 22, 2026
What will the LDP’s new National Power Research Group become?
The group’s scale and participation by party heavy hitters would’ve been unusual even for former factions, let alone for policy research.
A new disaster management agency, to be placed directly under the Cabinet, will draw up basic disaster management policy and coordinate responses to large-scale calamities.
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2026
Japan Lower House passes bill to create disaster management agency
The bill is expected to be enacted during the current parliamentary session, with the government aiming to set up the agency this autumn.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, speaks to reporters last week.
JAPAN / Politics
May 17, 2026
Japan opposition to grill PM on extra budget in leaders’ debate
Opposition parties are set to grill Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a party leaders' debate on Wednesday over her delay in preparing an extra budget to combat rising oil prices and inflation.
A Cabinet meeting on Friday that approved a revised bill on the retrial system
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2026
Cabinet approves revision of controversial retrial system
Critics of Japan’s retrial system have said prosecutors’ right to appeal is prolonging the court procedures needed for those seeking a retrial, with it sometimes taking decades.
Keisuke Suzuki, who heads a Liberal Democratic Party panel on the judicial system, speaks during a party meeting on retrial revisions on Wednesday at the party's headquarters in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
May 14, 2026
LDP approves government proposal to revise retrial system
The approval paves the way for the revision — a top priority for the government — to be submitted to the current parliamentary session.
Keiji Furuya (center rear), chair of the House of Representatives’ Commission on the Constitution, attends a meeting of senior committee members at parliament on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 13, 2026
Draft of emergency clause for Constitution includes extending lawmakers’ terms
The draft did not show an upper limit for how long lawmakers’ terms can be extended, while stating there are opinions calling for setting it to “one year” or “six months.”
Hirofumi Ryu, chief of the Centrist Reform Alliance's panel on imperial succession, speaks to reporters in the parliamentary building on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 13, 2026
CRA accepts proposals on imperial family membership revision
The proposals include allowing female imperial family members to retain their status after marriage and adopting male members of former imperial branches back into the family.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi answers questions during a House of Councilors plenary session at the parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
May 11, 2026
Takaichi to debate with six opposition party heads May 20
Opposition parties with 10 or more seats in either the House of Representatives or the House of Councilors are eligible to participate.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi waves as she departs a Royal Australian Air Force base in Canberra on May 5, after a three-day official visit.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 10, 2026
Was Japan’s recent Golden Week diplomatic offensive effective, let alone ‘strategic’?
Prime Ministger Takaichi risks continuing a pattern of compressed, opportunistic diplomacy — busy, but not always effective.
At a meeting of the Centrist Reform Alliance’s group studying stable imperial succession, Hirofumi Ryu (second from right), head of the group, delivers remarks on Thursday at the Diet building.
JAPAN
May 8, 2026
CRA to back adoption proposal for imperial family
The proposal calls for male members on the paternal line of former imperial family branches to be adopted back into the family.
Digital minister Hisashi Matsumoto answers questions at a Lower House plenary session in April.
JAPAN
May 6, 2026
Government to launch AI pilot program to boost efficiency and encourage tech’s adoption
Gennai, a generative artificial intelligence platform developed for internal use by civil servants, will be rolled out across 39 government agencies.
Hideko Hakamata (right), the elder sister of Iwao Hakamata who was acquitted of a 1966 murder, attends a rally in Tokyo on April 18 to oppose the Justice Ministry's bill to revise the retrial system, which would continue to allow public prosecutors to appeal decisions to start a retrial.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 5, 2026
Growing number of critical views expressed online over proposed retrial reforms
Many social media users took interest in the topic after the draft bill to revise the code drew severe objections — even angry outbursts — from some lawmakers.
Some are calling for the food tax rate to be set at 1% instead of fully shelving the tax, so that changes needed for cash register systems becomes easier and require less time.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 29, 2026
Food tax rate of 1% pitched as industries push back on PM’s campaign promise
Although the government aims to implement the two-year tax cut to 0% within fiscal 2026, it would take a year to make cash register systems compatible with such a rate.
A bill to strengthen the government's intelligence capabilities was passed a Lower House plenary session on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2026
Japan Lower House OKs bill to boost intel capabilities
The bill calls for setting up a national intelligence council to be headed by the prime minister and a national intelligence bureau.
Lower House Constitution Commission Chair Keiji Furuya (center) in a session on Thursday
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2026
Panel on change to Constitution eyes ‘emergency’ clause to deliver breakthrough
Those favoring revision discuss streamlining policy shifts and extensions of lawmakers’ terms, while others question if changes are necessary.
Former co-leader of the Centrist Reform Alliance Yoshihiko Noda speaks during an interview at the Diet building in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2026
Some in LDP were positive about formation of CRA, says Noda
The former CRA co-leader says several moderate conservative members of the LDP were approached for cooperation to realize a broad political realignment.
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.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
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.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
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.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

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