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July 10, 2026
 

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DIET

While media polls show a high support rate for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet, the support for the LDP is not as great, meaning there’s no guarantee of a coattail effect if a snap poll is called.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 5, 2025
Will Takaichi bank on her high approval ratings to call a snap election?
Calling a snap vote ahead of next year’s parliamentary session could bring great rewards for the prime minister and her party, but the risks may outweigh them.
Measures in a law to address the uneven availability of doctors in Japan will be implemented in stages from April 2026.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2025
Japan’s parliament approves bill to address uneven doctor availability
Measures in the revised law will be implemented in stages starting in April 2026.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers a policy speech during an extraordinary session of the Lower House in Tokyo on Oct. 24. Japan needs to right-size its parliament to match a declining population.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 5, 2025
A plan to fix voter disparity and modernize Japan’s political system
With the population continuing to decline, down 5% since 2009, and people relocating from rural to urban areas, the scale of the government should also be adjusted.
Ruling and opposition lawmakers deliberate on bills related to political donations reform at a House of Representatives committee session in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 4, 2025
Japan’s parliament starts debates on corporate donation reform bills
Some have speculated that the ruling side is putting the bills on the back burner.
Katsunobu Kato, head of the Liberal Democratic Party's political system reform panel, speaks at a party meeting on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 4, 2025
Proposed Lower House seat reduction could affect 20 prefectures
As the 20 prefectures include areas with many conservative voters who strongly support the LDP, an increasing number of party members are voicing their opposition to the measure.
LDP and JIP lawmakers discuss Lower House seats reduction in Tokyo on Nov. 21.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 1, 2025
Takaichi and JIP’s Yoshimura agree to submit bill reducing Lower House seats
Passing a bill to cut seats in the lower chamber was a key demand for the Japan Innovation Party to enter into a coalition government with the Liberal Democratic Party.
Fumitake Fujita, co-leader of the Japan Innovation Party, speaks at a news conference on Nov. 19.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 1, 2025
Uncertainty looms over Lower House seat reduction
Frustration is increasing within the Liberal Democratic Party over the attitude of the Japan Innovation Party.
Independent Lower House lawmakers (from left) Hiroki Abe, Takeshi Saiki and Tadashi Morishima speak to reporters in parliament on Friday after meeting with Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 28, 2025
LDP-led coalition regains Lower House majority with three independents’ backing
With the three lawmakers in the LDP’s in-house group, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will be able to pass key budget bills without opposition support.
The Upper House passed and enacted a bill to scrap the provisional tax surcharges for gasoline and diesel fuel at its plenary session on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 28, 2025
Japan enacts bill to abolish add-on gasoline tax
The bill’s supplementary clause urges the central government to work out concrete measures to make up for an estimated overall annual tax revenue shortfall of ¥1.5 trillion.
Takashi Endo, parliamentary affairs chief of the Japan Innovation Party and special adviser to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, speaks during an interview at the parliamentary building on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 28, 2025
Japan Innovation Party may leave coalition if seat-cut talks falter
Although the JIP positions seat reductions as an absolute condition for the coalition, there are still cautious voices within the LDP over the move.
In Japan, the left-right label doesn’t apply as conveniently as in the United States or Europe.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Nov 27, 2025
A guide to Japan’s political parties ... beyond the binary labels
The origins of the respective parties and who backs them — rather than left-right labels — are more consistent indicators of their leanings.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi takes part in a debate with opposition party leaders, including Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda (right center), in parliament on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 26, 2025
Takaichi hints that Taiwan remarks were off the cuff
The PM has indicated that she didn’t initially intend to offer an example of what she could consider a “survival-threatening situation” that would allow the SDF to be deployed.
Lower House lawmaker Hitoshi Aoyagi from the Japan Innovation Party speaks during an interview in his parliamentary office on Nov. 20.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 26, 2025
Japan one step closer to relaxing single-surname rule for married couples
While still having married couples adopt the same surname, the ruling coalition is working on a bill that would allow the option of giving more weight to birth names.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers a speech in parliament in Tokyo on Oct. 24.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2025
Opposition leaders to press Takaichi on China and fiscal policy
The prime minister is struggling with backlash from China over her recent remarks about a potential Taiwan contingency.
Former Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato (third from left) attends a meeting with Japan Innovation Party lawmakers in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 21, 2025
LDP and JIP agree to submit bill outlining reduction of Lower House seats
The two parties are postponing reaching a conclusion on the actual number of seats to be cut and whether to cut proportional seats.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (center) in the parliament building earlier this month. Takaichi took office on Oct. 21.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 21, 2025
A month into her premiership, Takaichi’s style proves to be double-edged sword
The prime minister’s straight talk appears well received by the public, but other aspects of the way she works have caused a stir in other circles.
Ichiro Aisawa (second from right) of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who heads the council on the all-important lower parliamentary chamber's electoral system, attends a meeting on Tuesday at the Diet building.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 18, 2025
Opposition lawmakers voice caution on proposed Lower House seat cut
The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan urged that a conclusion be reached at the council to better reflect the opinions of smaller parties.
Yoshihiko Isozaki (right), the LDP's Diet affairs chief in the House of Councilors, and his CDP counterpart, Yoshitaka Saito, ahead of a meeting on Monday at the Diet building
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 18, 2025
Takaichi’s first Diet debate with opposition leaders set for Nov. 26
The upcoming debate will also be the first since Komeito left the LDP-led ruling coalition.
The headquarters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo's Nagatacho area
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 15, 2025
Ruling LDP marks 70th anniversary as it looks to regain footing
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Saturday marked the 70th anniversary of its establishment, as it looks to stage a comeback after recent electoral drubbings.
The Japan Innovation Party's Nobuyuki Baba (left) and the Liberal Democratic Party's Yoshitaka Shindo at a meeting on constitutional revision held in the National Diet Building on Thursday. Baba and Shindo co-chair the two parties' working-level forum for discussing constitutional amendments.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 14, 2025
LDP and JIP to advance talks over constitutional revision
The ruling parties held the first meeting of their working-level forum for discussing constitutional amendments on Thursday.
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.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Trump says ‘Japan’ instead of Iran at meeting in Ankara
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference during a NATO leaders' summit in Ankara on Wednesday.
Wakatakakage injury casts pall over July meet, but potential new stars loom
Nicholas Tarasenko trains at Minato stable in August 2024.
Osaka trumps Tokyo as both ranked among world’s top 10 most livable cities
Osaka’s infrastructure earned higher marks than Tokyo’s in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Global Liveability Index.
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.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.
Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession
Tourists in Japan have always been interested in quintessentially Japanese approaches to modern culture, and, increasingly, visits to nail salons have become the new hot thing.

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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