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July 05, 2026
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A satellite image shows an oil terminal at Kharg Island, Iran, in February.
BUSINESS / Economy
Iran exploring oil sales to Japan, with buyers seeking longer sanctions waiver
By Jonathan Saul and Parisa Hafezi
Three Japanese buyers were looking at possible crude oil purchases from Iran, ​their first since 2019, said two Iranian sources.

More coverage

European nations now believe some Hormuz fees are inevitable
Iran war exposed, but hasn’t changed, Japan’s reliance on imported oil
A satellite image shows an oil terminal at Kharg Island, Iran, in February.
Record growth in tax revenues reflects higher wages and corporate earnings, as well as a rise in the value of consumption amid inflation.
JAPAN
Japan tax revenues hit record ¥84 trillion in fiscal 2025
The growth reflected higher wages and corporate earnings, as well as a rise in the value of consumption amid inflation.
A concept model of the Global Combat Air next-generation fighter jet is displayed at the BAE Systems Warton factory in Warton, England, in July last year.
JAPAN
U.K., Italy and Japan award $6.14 billion contract to advance GCAP fighter jet
The contract award comes after a rival Franco-German fighter program collapsed in June, ​leaving European defense alliances in flux.
Micron Technology’s factory in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture
BUSINESS / Tech
Micron breaks ground on $9 billion western Japan plant expansion
The company is building the facility in Hiroshima to make high-bandwidth memory chips, with shipments to start around the summer of 2028.
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
Midori Inagaki
Once volunteer-based, the system is shifting toward shared responsibility between local governments and trained professionals.
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 

JAPAN

Mobile power banks were the products most frequently responsible for fire or smoke incidents involving lithium-ion batteries.
Lithium battery fires hit record high in Japan in fiscal 2025
Mobile power banks were the products most frequently responsible for fire or smoke incidents involving lithium-ion batteries, followed by heated tobacco products.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi delivers a speech during a meeting with NATO permanent representatives at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo in April.
Japan foreign and defense ministers to attend NATO events in Turkey
Tokyo had initially considered having Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attend the events, but decided against it because of her parliamentary commitments.
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
By Kanako Takahara
Families mourn victims of 2021 Atami mudslide
Kyoto University to be third recipient of world-class research aid
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
By Jessica Speed

BUSINESS

Sharp is targeting ¥300 billion in new business sales by fiscal 2030
Sharp targets ¥300 billion new business sales by fiscal 2030
Sharp also plans to expand its satellite communications equipment business, including compact antennas.
Storage tanks and trucks loaded with gas cylinders in Mumbai.
Energy-hungry Asia is already drawing lessons from Iran crisis
By Yongchang Chin and Kanoko Matsuyama
The region is realizing that it needs bigger buffers, a greater diversity of fossil-fuel suppliers, and a better mix of power sources overall.
Japan’s 2026 wage talks result in third year of gains above 5%
By Erica Yokoyama and Akemi Terukina
Kioxia ships samples of new flash memory for AI data centers
By Takashi Mochizuki and Mari Kiyohara
Google loses fight against record €4.1 billion EU antitrust fine
Trump financial disclosure shows 21,000 trades in 2025

WORLD

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a celebration for the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, at Mount Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota, U.S., on Friday.
Trump extols America and rails at communism in U.S. 250th celebration
By Steve Holland
He urged Americans to protect the freedoms envisioned by the nation’s founders against what he called the “communist” threat posed by progressive Democrats.
People dine in December near a television screen showing a news report on patrol and law‑enforcement operations around Taiwan by the China Coast Guard, at a restaurant in Beijing.
China launches coast guard patrol east of Taiwan despite international pushback
China has begun using its coast guard to enforce its territorial claims in ⁠what Taiwan calls “lawfare” to claim a legal basis for Chinese actions.
Huge crowds gather as funeral ceremonies for Iranian supreme leader Khamenei begin
Venezuelans frustrated by quake response want new presidential elections
NATO leaders — including Trump — to affirm ‘ironclad commitment’ to collective defense
China’s Xi taps new military anti-graft chief as he rebuilds top command

Sports

Naomi Osaka arrives for her second-round match at Wimbledon in London on Wednesday.
Stylish Naomi Osaka cruises into third round at Wimbledon
Osaka, who has ⁠not progressed beyond the third round at the All England Club, takes on Australian Daria Kasatkina in the next round.
X Games returns to Chiba with new team format
By Jason Coskrey
Portugal survives late drama to beat Croatia and reach World Cup last 16
By Frank Pingue
Seiya Suzuki marks 100th home run in MLB career
NBA to test ‘one free throw’ rule in Summer League games

Opinion

Newly enthroned Emperor Naruhito takes part in a ritual at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in May 2019, in which imperial envoys are dispatched to the Ise Grand Shrine and imperial mausoleums.
Tradition vs. change: Japan’s imperial succession debate intensifies
Kuni Miyake
For decades, the government has postponed action. This week, however, Prime Minister Takaichi’s administration submitted a bill to the Diet to revise the Imperial House Law.
Little hope for a declining yen amid structural pressures
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy calls Russia’s bluff in Belarus
By Sergey Maidukov
Where is China’s trillion-dollar trade surplus going?
By Miao Yanliang
Modi is rigging Indian democracy
By Jayati Ghosh

ENVIRONMENT

A woman with an umbrella walks at Plaza Puerta del Sol during a spring heat wave in Madrid on May 27.
Net-zero champion Europe snared by climate change on its doorstep
June’s record-breaking heat wave in Europe has focused minds on the urgency of adapting to global warming in a continent once complacent about its relatively gentle climate.
Japan deploys bear cameras in mountains as attacks surge
NATO project tests perennial grass to clean Ukraine’s war-hit soil
Industrial firms warn EU carbon overhaul could benefit polluters
By Kate Abnett
World’s oceans break June heat record, EU monitor says

CULTURE

Tujiko Noriko’s album “PON” is dedicated to Ponpon, her late cat, and includes field recordings of her family life in France.
Tujiko Noriko’s new album is a feline tour de force
By James Hadfield
On tour in Japan this month, the France-based artist talks about channeling her “crazy cat woman” energy into musical creation and finding harmony in dissonance.
Sachiko Kazama’s art bites back at a cruel society
By Jennifer Pastore
NU Festival tests Takanawa Gateway City complex’s culture cred
By James Hadfield
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are married, as pair hosts New York celebration
Murakami says his novels are ‘different’ from AI literature

LIFE

With a golden-brown broth and a host of classic toppings, Rairaiken's shoyu ramen carries on a legacy dating back to 1910.
Japan’s first standalone ramen shop reopens in Asakusa
By Weiwen Lin
Fifty years after it closed its doors, Asakusa Rairaiken is now back to court a new generation of ramen lovers with the shoyu-seasoned broth it created in 1910.
Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession
By Gabrielle Doman
Fender opens a second, more unplugged Shimokitazawa cafe
By Aden Max Juarez
Sony to end video game disc production in January 2028
By Owen Ziegler
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
By Robbie Swinnerton

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
Iran war exposed, but hasn’t changed, Japan’s reliance on imported oil
By Eric Johnston
Wind turbines generate energy from strong easterly winds on the Shonai Plain in Yamagata Prefecture. Despite the oil crisis caused by conflict near the Strait of Hormuz, and concerns instability in the region could continue to impact supply and the price of imports, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does not seem to be drawing on the war as a pretext to hasten progress toward Japan's renewable goals.
SUMO
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
By John Gunning
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.
BUSINESS
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
By Kazuaki Nagata
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
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.

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

New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency
New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency

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

JAPAN
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
By Kyoko Hasegawa
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
By Jessica Speed
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
JAPAN
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
By Kanako Takahara
Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito, said in a 2022 news conference upon coming of age that she hopes to “spend a long time together” with her parents.
JAPAN
Japanese police arrest nine over Sierra Leone-based special fraud
Japanese police have arrested nine individuals for their alleged involvement in a special fraud case using Sierra Leone as a base.