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July 12, 2026
 

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MEDICINE

The biennial comprehensive fee review is a major policy tool for the government, showing the direction of the nation’s health care as the population ages and medical needs surge and diversify.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 13, 2026
Japan health panel adopts medical fee changes to raise wages and cope with inflation
By tweaking fees here and there, the government seeks to keep health care costs relatively low while meeting new medical needs.
An ophthalmologist examines a cataract patient as her relative looks on inside a hospital in Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia in 2007. Cataracts are a major cause of blindness around the world.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 11, 2026
94 million need cataract surgery, but access lacking: WHO
Cataracts — the clouding of the eye’s lens that causes blurred vision and can lead to blindness — are on the rise as populations get older, with age being the main risk factor.
The launch event for Ant Group's AI health care app AQ in Shanghai in June 2025
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2026
Jack Ma-backed Ant bets on AI health care in $69 billion sector race
In November, Ant elevated its health unit to the same level as operations including Alipay and its lending businesses, showing how central it has become to the company’s strategy.
An oral drug for chronic kidney disease and heart failure has also been found effective in treating premature ovarian insufficiency, according to a study by a team including researchers from Juntendo University in Japan and the University of Hong Kong.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 10, 2026
Kidney drug found to be effective for infertility treatment
The team expects the discovery to lead to a new infertility therapy.
Doctors look at an analysis of cellular data as part of their research into using artificial intelligence to repurpose existing drugs to fight rare diseases, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in February 2025. There is concern some apps that claim to offer medical guidance may not have an adequate data set to accurately asses information their users submit.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 10, 2026
Doctors have questions as more AI-powered apps claim to offer medical guidance
A growing number of mobile apps that are not supposed to offer diagnoses are posing special challenges in medicine as patients turn to them for advice.
A recent fast-moving measles outbreak in South Carolina highlights how declining vaccination rates, permissive state laws and weakened federal vaccine oversight under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are creating larger, harder-to-control outbreaks across the U.S.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2026
South Carolina’s measles milestone is everyone’s problem
It’s the latest public health record to be broken as vaccine hesitancy and increasingly permissive state laws create more and larger pockets of disease vulnerability in the U.S.
The Tokyo office of the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan
JAPAN / Society
Feb 3, 2026
Problems with mail-order drug subscriptions rising in Japan
The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan (NCAC) is calling on people to carefully check contract details before completing orders to purchase nonprescription drugs online.
From Monday, NorLevo, an emergency contraceptive pill marketed by Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare, can be purchased over the counter at approximately 5,400 pharmacies and drugstores nationwide.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 2, 2026
Morning-after pill becomes available over the counter, in a first for Japan
Under the new rules, only the person who will take the medication may buy it, and it must be taken in the presence of a pharmacist after receiving an explanation.
Kunihiro Nitta, a pharmacist at the Sukoyaka pharmacy in Naha, gives medication instructions to a resident on Minamidaito Island in Okinawa Prefecture via a video call in September.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Feb 2, 2026
Pharmacy in Okinawa goes online to reach residents on remote islands
Sukoyaka pharmacy stepped up after two local pharmacies on Minamidaito Island and Yonaguni Island hundreds of kilometers away were shuttered.
An infant waits to receive a dose of a malaria vaccine in Kasoa, Ghana, on Nov. 19, 2025.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 2, 2026
New malaria vaccines helped Ghana slash child deaths. Then Trump and others cut aid.
The shots have the potential to drive back a disease that kills nearly half a million young children every year in Africa.
University of Tokyo head Teruo Fujii (left) bows to reporters on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 29, 2026
University of Tokyo head admits institutional governance failures led to recent scandals
It is unclear whether the school’s eligibility for the government’s ¥10 trillion university fund will be affected by the latest case.
In June last year, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cut $300 million in annual funding for Gavi, which helps the world's poorest and lower-income countries buy vaccines to prevent diseases such as measles and diphtheria.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 29, 2026
U.S. to fund vaccine group if they drop mercury-based preservative from shots
The request is the latest effort by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to influence health policy globally.
University of Tokyo Auditorium
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2026
University of Tokyo Hospital head resigns over recent scandals involving staff
Sakae Tanaka’s resignation on Tuesday follows the arrest of a second member of the hospital’s staff within three months on bribery allegations.
Shinichi Sato (back), a 62-year-old professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Medicine, is transported from the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo on Monday. Sato and a former associate professor at the university have been referred to prosecutors.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 26, 2026
Alleged bribes see former associate professor referred to prosecutors
A former specially appointed associate professor at the University of Tokyo is suspecting of receiving entertainment worth about ¥1.9 million.
A viral check-in app that alerts contacts if users fail to confirm they are alive has exposed rising loneliness, demographic anxiety and unmet eldercare needs, showing the next breakout tech hit may come from confronting social isolation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2026
Forget DeepSeek, dying alone is China’s latest tech obsession
The interface is almost aggressively plain. Users, largely people living alone, tap to confirm they are still alive.
Two new drug ingredients found in cough and allergy medicines will be added to a list of over-the-counter drug ingredients that may be abused.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 25, 2026
Japan to designate eight ingredients for list of drugs with abuse risk
These ingredients will be subject to sales restrictions under the revised pharmaceutical and medical device law, which takes effect in May.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (center) attends the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 25, 2026
WHO chief says reasons U.S. gave for withdrawing ‘untrue’
U.S. officials said the WHO had ‘trashed and tarnished’ the United States, and had compromised its independence.
According to a press release from the U.S. Health and State Departments, the U.S. will only work ‍with the ⁠WHO in a limited fashion in order to effectuate the withdrawal.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 23, 2026
U.S. withdraws from the World Health Organization
President Donald Trump gave notice that the U.S. would quit the organization on the first day of ​his presidency in 2025, via an executive order.
Kyoto University Hospital said a combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy and radiation therapy has proved to be effective to treat patients with esophageal cancer.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 23, 2026
Immunotherapy effective against esophageal cancer, study shows
Very few patients developed serious side effects, the hospital said, underlining the safety of such treatment.
The U.S. is due to officially exit the World Health Organization, despite concerns over the impact to public health and the legality of the move under American law.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 22, 2026
U.S. set to officially quit World Health Organization
Washington has yet to pay the U.N. health agency $260 million in ​fees that it owes for 2024 and 2025, despite a U.S. legal requirement to do so.
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’

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The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
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