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July 05, 2026
 

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DIET

Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), delivers a question during a House of Representatives plenary session on May 25. Making the DPP a coalition member would make it easier for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (above left) to drive forward her legislative agenda.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 3, 2026
The LDP wants another coalition partner. Will it happen?
The Liberal Democratic Party floated the idea of inviting the Democratic Party for the People to join the ruling bloc.
Junya Ogawa, leader of the Centrist Reform Alliance, attends a news conference on Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
May 31, 2026
Three Japanese opposition parties explore new alliance
With the current Diet session slated to end July 17, the three parties hope to confirm such plans by mid-July, according to sources.
Kazuhiko Shigetoku, Lower House parliamentary affairs chief of the Centrist Reform Alliance (center, left), and Yoshitaka Saito, Upper House parliamentary affairs chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (center, right), meet in parliament on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2026
Japan ruling and opposition parties at odds over extra budget
The budget committees of both the upper and lower chambers will each spend one day deliberating the extra budget for the fiscal year that started in April.
Health minister Kenichiro Ueno at an Upper House plenary session following the passage of a bill to reform the nation's health care insurance system
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 29, 2026
Japan passes bill to raise co-payments for prescription drugs similar to OTC counterparts
The health ministry plans to require individuals to bear additional costs for some 1,100 over-the-counter-like prescription drugs starting in March 2027.
Royal family members greet guests during the spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace's imperial garden in Tokyo in April.
JAPAN / Explainer
May 29, 2026
Who are the former royals who may be reinstated to the imperial family?
A proposal to allow the reinstatement of former male royals along the male line of the imperial family through adoption is being considered by policymakers.
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.
‘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 plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
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.
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.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
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. 
Iran war exposed, but hasn’t changed, Japan’s reliance on imported oil
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.
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.

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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