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July 02, 2026
 

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MEDICINE

Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's factory in the city of Osaka. The firm had been embroiled in a scandal involving its supplements.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 5, 2026
Researchers uncover mechanism behind beni kōji health problems
Though it had been known that puberulic acid was behind the high-profile health scare in 2024 involving supplements, it was unclear how the substance damaged kidneys.
Japan’s panel of experts has cleared Daiichi Sankyo’s vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella for ministerial approval. If approved, it will become the country’s only available MMR vaccine, primarily intended for children.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 3, 2026
Japan expert panel OKs Daiichi Sankyo’s MMR vaccine
If approved by the minister, the vaccine, primarily for children, will be the sole MMR vaccine available in Japan.
Koichi Tanigawa, head of the Futaba Medical Center, says "there is clearly a shortage of hospitals" in the Futaba region in Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Mar 2, 2026
Medical care key to evacuees’ return to Fukushima 15 years on
In Fukushima Prefecture, the number of medical institutions has plunged from 132 to 47 since the disaster.
Pins showing the new inverted food pyramid and reading "I'm a MAHA Mom" displayed during an "Eat Real Food" rally at Brazos Hall in Austin, Texas, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 28, 2026
Trump’s pesticide and vaccine moves spur MAHA backlash ahead of midterms
An aggressive White House push on health policies risks stalling out as key parts of the “Make America Healthy Again” coalition grow frustrated.
A Japanese research team has developed miniaturized testicular tissues called testicular organoids from mouse embryonic stem cells, in a world first.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 27, 2026
Japanese researchers create mouse testicular organoids in vitro
Two of the researchers were also the first to create ovarian organoids from mouse embryonic stem cells, in 2021.
An iPS cell-derived heart muscle sheet developed by Cuorips
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Feb 20, 2026
iPS cell-based products win conditional approval from health ministry panel
The endorsement was based on small-scale clinical studies that confirmed only their safety and “presumed” their efficacy.
Takayuki Matsuda, a member of Doctors Without Borders, speaks during an interview in Cairo on Sunday. Matsuda was engaged in the procurement of goods and equipment maintenance in the Gaza Strip between December and Feb. 12.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2026
Japanese member of Doctors Without Borders deplores Gaza medical crisis
The group has had to stop humanitarian aid in the enclave due to Israel’s banning of international nongovernmental organizations from operating there.
Myocardial sheets made from iPS cells
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2026
Japan panel OKs medical products using iPS cells
The products, if approved by the health minister, are expected to be the world’s first of their kind.
St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo's Chuo Ward
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 18, 2026
Two women in Japan give birth after frozen ovarian transplants
It is rare that post-transplant pregnancies and childbirths by those who entered menopause due to cancer treatment have been closely monitored.
A bartender prepares traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis-based cocktails in Shanghai on Feb. 3.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 17, 2026
‘Punk wellness’: China’s stressed youth mix traditional medicine and cocktails
Bars focused on traditional Chinese medicine have popped up in several cities across the country.
An Afghan man buys medicine at a pharmacy in Kabul on Feb. 9.
WORLD
Feb 17, 2026
Bitter pill: Taliban government shakes up Afghan medicine market
A decision to overhaul its medicine market was meant to improve quality and boost domestic production, but industry specialists say the changes have led to a litany of problems.
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.
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.
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.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
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

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