Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said 13 people have been found dead after a powerful quake shook part of southwestern Japan and rescue work was continuing Wednesday morning for the missing. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu late on Tuesday afternoon. “There are people who are still waiting to be rescued, and it’s a race against time,” Takaichi said. “We will go all out to find and rescue as many people as we can.” Takaichi offered...
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Japan's Kyushu island, causing building collapses, fires and widespread damage.
A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto, Japan, causing widespread damage, injuries and fears of deaths.
Japan is reeling from a major 7.1 earthquake that hit Kyushu island. Here is what we know so far.
Video shows locations across the region where a strong earthquake struck Japan's Kyushu island on 28 July.
A Hongkonger has described being “quite scared” as a 7.1-magnitude quake shook Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture where she and her boyfriend were travelling, while the city’s travel authority confirmed that about 200 members of tour groups visiting the region were all safe. Leon Chan, 18, recounted to the South China Morning Post that she and her boyfriend had just got off a bus on the west side of Kumamoto city when the quake hit on Tuesday afternoon. The epicentre was about 20km (12.4...
PM Sanae Takaichi urges people 'to remain vigilant for the possibility of another earthquake of similar magnitude'.
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake has hit Kumamoto on Japan's southern island of Kyushu.
As Japan increasingly relies on foreign workers, it is also grappling with how to integrate new cultures and religions.
Five young Pallas’s cats, dubbed the world’s grumpiest feline for their sullen facial expressions, went on display at a zoo in Japan on Thursday. Kobe Animal Kingdom put the four males and one female, all born in May at the facility, on public viewing last week. The animals are believed to be one of the oldest living cat species and are native to the dry, rocky areas of Central Asia. They are not commonly displayed at zoos as they are relatively more sensitive to infections, the Kobe zoo said...
Beijing has stepped up its global messaging campaign over East China Sea islets that Tokyo also claims by rolling out a five-part documentary to tell its version of history, as the countries’ relationship continues to be fraught. The state broadcaster’s English-language channel, China Global Television Network (CGTN), released the first part of Diaoyu Dao: Small Islands, Big Stakes on Monday to “examine the history, legal debates and contemporary realities” surrounding the group of small,...
Yuri Kawakami-Shotton is praised for her Spode Museum tours, in bringing in Japanese visitors.
The world's oldest professional footballer, Kazuyoshi Miura, scores as Fukushima United thrash Iwaki Furukawa 7-0.
Unesco decided on Sunday to add a group of ancient sites in Nara prefecture that show the formation of Japan’s centralised state to the World Heritage list, marking the country’s 27th such site. The decision on the Asuka-Fujiwara: Archaeological sites of Japan’s Ancient Capitals and Related Properties was made during a meeting of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation World Heritage Committee held in Busan, South Korea. The ruins are highly regarded for showing the...
A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries factory is expected to be the Japan centre for the development and assembly of the next-generation fighter jet to be produced by Japan, Britain and Italy, sources close to the matter said on Saturday. The three members of the trilateral Global Combat Air Program are discussing the roles each will play in the design and manufacture of the jet, with Britain to set up its centre in Warton and Italy in Turin, according to the sources. The Japanese centre will be set up...
Ukraine hopes to gain support from Japan as it looks to produce Patriot air defence systems under US licence, citing the expertise of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that manufactures the interceptors for the Japanese defence forces, according to an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “We maintain political dialogue” towards seeking cooperation from Japan, which is one of the few countries granted a licence to build the Patriot surface-to-air missile system, Sergiy Kyslytsya, first...
Japan has been establishing dialogue frameworks for artificial intelligence with like-minded countries and Global South partners to reduce reliance on top US and Chinese firms and promote domestic companies abroad. The outreach signals a growing recognition among those countries of the need for cooperation, rather than going it alone, to survive in the increasingly competitive field of AI. At home, Japan is seeking to foster its own domestic AI ecosystem. The move by the United States to...
Japan’s tourism boom has packed the streets of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka with foreign visitors, but one of the country’s most scenic regions is still struggling to draw them north. Tohoku, the northern region of Japan’s main island of Honshu, comprises Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata and Fukushima prefectures – an area known for mountains, hot springs, skiing, festivals and a slower rural pace. Of the record 42.7 million foreign visitors to Japan in 2025, just 2.57 million – roughyl 6 per...
Japan’s move to establish a new bureau to boost defence cooperation with allies is part of Tokyo’s wider policy to deepen deterrence against China, analysts say, adding that the internal reform was also long overdue for the government. The new unit will be under the defence ministry to oversee international coordination with like-minded countries, according to government and political sources cited by local media earlier this month. The move is said to be aimed at strengthening the ministry’s...
Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese militant who took part in a deadly attack on Tel Aviv’s airport more than five decades ago, died on Thursday in Beirut, the Palestinian group that had been protecting him said. He was 78. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a faction that is the second-largest group in the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that Okamoto had been ill for a long time. Okamoto, who made rare public appearances since he settled in Lebanon after being released from...
Canada’s decision to take a role in the next-generation Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) has eased Japan’s fears over its fighter jet future, while Germany is also reported to be exploring whether it could join the project that also involves Britain and Italy. The moves could give fresh momentum to GCAP, a programme to develop a next-generation fighter that Japan sees as critical to replacing its ageing F-2 fleet and avoiding a gap in its air defences, analysts say. Tokyo has been frustrated...
Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi says she survives on zero to three hours a night, and people are reacting.
A Japanese study has found that the locked zone in the Nankai Trough is not permanent but changes over time, further complicating the task of predicting megaquakes along the fault line. A locked zone is where tectonic plates merge, allowing stress to build up until it is released in an earthquake. In the case of the 900km (560-mile) long Nankai Trough off Japan’s Pacific coast, it is where the Philippine plate meets the Eurasian plate. The Philippine plate is slipping under the Eurasian plate at...
Japan’s largest convenience store operator has issued a warning to its 7-Eleven franchisees nationwide that unauthorised resale of merchandise featuring popular anime and game characters may be rampant, multiple sources close to the matter said on Thursday. Some owners and employees have been caught setting aside merchandise before its release or buying up large quantities to sell on resale sites. Such activity is seen as a betrayal of consumer trust and likely to call into question the...
Public support for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi appears to be fraying, with two new opinion polls suggesting voters are losing patience with a leader who won a sweeping mandate in February but has since spent political capital on conservative causes instead of tackling cost-of-living pressures. Analysts said the problem was not simply that Takaichi’s honeymoon period was ending, but that she had used her commanding position to push through legislation dear to the most conservative...
Japanese cities are experiencing “cruelly hot days”, a new meteorological term devised this year to warn people of intense heat above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), with emergency officials describing the soaring temperatures on Wednesday as “a disaster”. Heatstroke alerts were issued across almost the whole country and emergency officials said at least 14 people had died from heat-related causes in the past week. Three central cities logged scorching temperatures on Tuesday above the new...
The term was introduced in April by the weather agency to describe days when temperatures reach 40C.
Japan is turning to five lesser-used straits in Southeast Asia as insurance against the next maritime shock, with plans to create detailed nautical charts for ships to navigate through these waters and bring vital goods to its economy. Tokyo would work with Indonesia and the Philippines to chart their respective straits, the foreign ministry told the Yomiuri newspaper, as it stepped up efforts to mitigate disruption to global trade arising from the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. The...
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government wants workers to ditch the suit and tie for t-shirts, trainers - and shorts.
From underground networks to emerging AI start-ups, Japan is testing whether its greatest issue can be an opportunity.
Chinese and Russian navy ships were spotted conducting joint live-fire drills within Japan’s claimed exclusive economic zone in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, its defence ministry said. Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi first revealed that the two navies had held drills in Japan’s EEZ during an address to the Farnborough International Airshow in Britain on Monday, highlighting their deepening military cooperation, according to media reports. Japan’s defence ministry later confirmed that...
Chinese tourists are being unfairly blamed for Kyoto’s overtourism crisis, according to a new report, even as data shows mainland visitor numbers have fallen sharply amid worsening ties between China and Japan. The report released earlier this month by the Kyoto City Tourism Association’s destination management organisation said many local residents assumed crowded public transport, congestion at popular sights and rising hotel prices were being driven by mainland Chinese tour groups. But...
China’s military mouthpiece on Monday dedicated a full page to warning about Japan’s expanding offensive drone capabilities, which it said threatened regional peace and security. PLA Daily said Japan’s right-wing political forces had long sought to bypass Tokyo’s constitutional ban, adopted after World War II, on offensive combat capabilities. Uncrewed platforms have allowed Japan to circumvent these constraints on military development, according to one of four PLA Daily articles on the topic in...
On a clear summer morning at Mount Fuji’s fifth-station trailhead, the crowds look more beach ready than alpine prepared with canvas slip-ons, bare legs and lightweight jackets. Above them, Japan’s most famous peak rises to 3,776 metres (12,389 feet) and into sub-zero temperatures, even in July. For Tatsuo Nanai, a veteran climber and until recently secretary general of the Fuji‑san Club, the scene has become a source of dread. Japan’s official climbing season has only just begun, but he says he...
What if Wall Street stock prices were to collapse from their current pinnacles under the sheer weight of excessive investment in artificial intelligence (AI)? Would markets in Tokyo and other Asian centres – not to mention Europe and beyond – follow suit? These are questions that are likely to be put to the test before long if US stock prices continue their strong upward trajectory, interest rates and inflation keep rising and, as seems likely, the US-Israel war against Iran drags on. What a...
Officials in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Fukuoka are facing growing scrutiny over a series of overseas “research trips” that included stays in Paris and London and millions of yen in hotel upgrades, as public frustration builds over political spending during a period of rising household costs. The controversies have put pressure on Governor Seitaro Hattori and the local chapter of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Fukuoka, one of Japan’s most important regional governments and...
Critics claim latest element of PM Takaichi's conservative drive threatens free speech, invites political abuse.
The law now allows the adoption of male distant relatives aged over 15 back into the imperial family.
Japan’s firm support for Ukraine in its war against Russia is expected to be tested after Kyiv expressed interest in working with Tokyo to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. Such a move is unlikely because it would require Japan to cross a sensitive line on exports of lethal weapons and complicate its regional relations, according to analysts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Kyiv was keen to work with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to manufacture Patriot...
Concern that foreign spies can operate with impunity in Japan has deepened following a media report that dozens of Russian agents ordered to leave Western European countries have entered Tokyo and are buying components for Moscow’s war on Ukraine. The New York Times reported on Sunday that Moscow’s agents were taking advantage of Tokyo’s failure to enact a law specifically designed to combat espionage and the large number of companies manufacturing components critical to the Kremlin’s war...
Japan plans to launch its first centralised intelligence body with help from Western allies.
A prominent Chinese maritime analyst has sounded the alarm over Japan’s increasing military presence in the South China Sea, warning it has a “destructive potential” that could ultimately surpass that of the United States. Speaking on Monday at a round table event in Hong Kong discussing security in the region, Wu Shicun, the founding president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said “unilateral infringements” in the disputed waters were becoming “normalised”. He told the...
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said “the Islamic Republic of Japan” fired missiles at a US aircraft carrier, apparently confusing long-time ally Japan with Iran. Trump made the remark during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Turkish capital Ankara on the sidelines of a Nato summit. “We had 111 missiles shot by the Islamic Republic of Japan,” Trump said. He went on to say that the missiles were shot at the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln over a period of one...
Japan is facing mounting calls to decide whether its long-frozen development aid to Myanmar should stay that way, as rights advocates warn that any resumption could ease pressure on a regime accused of widespread abuses. The decision is a delicate one for Tokyo, which has tried to retain influence in Myanmar without appearing to legitimise the junta that seized power in 2021 – all while watching China deepen its own engagement with the country. Human Rights Watch has urged Japan to resist...
India and Japan have agreed to jointly develop technology that makes Indian warships harder to detect, in a move that analysts say takes their defence partnership to a new level and reflects growing unease in both capitals over how far they can rely on Washington. The project involves fitting Indian warships with Japan’s Unified Complex Radio Antenna (Unicorn) system, which lowers a vessel’s radar profile by combining multiple antennas into a single, compact structure and reducing the exposed...
Three months after moving from China to Japan, Alisa Lin has yet to buy a single drink from Mixue – the Chinese ice cream and tea giant – despite being a frequent customer back home, where a cup costs under five yuan (73 US cents) during promotions. “It’s not a very popular brand here. Only one of my friends in Japan has ever bought it,” Lin said, adding that value for money was the main consideration behind her own consumer choices in Tokyo. While Mixue’s basic teas are cheap, a plain bubble...
A provincial propaganda department has accused some Chinese football fans of using the Japanese team’s success at the World Cup to denigrate China’s squad, suggesting their behaviour had come close to crossing a line. In an online post on Friday, “Zhejiang Propaganda”, a social media account affiliated with the Zhejiang provincial publicity department, said that while Chinese fans could appreciate the skills of other teams, their support should have “boundaries”. “The current controversy shows...
Japan has partnered with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to support Kazakhstan’s efforts to address the decline in the Caspian Sea’s water level driven by climate change, pledging a 465 million yen (US$3 million) grant towards its sustainable use. Under the initiative for the world’s largest inland water body, Japan hopes to promote cooperation among littoral states on water resource management and enhance monitoring systems, according to the foreign ministry. The decline in the Caspian...
China has issued a legal warning to Japan and the Philippines over their planned maritime border talks, calling the move “internationally wrongful” and saying it had the right to hold both nations accountable. It is the latest protest from Beijing after Manila and Tokyo agreed in May to launch formal negotiations to delimit the maritime boundary of the exclusive economic zones and continental shelf between the two countries, which overlap with areas claimed by China. “The announcement,...
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrived in India this week seeking a deeper economic and security partnership, but analysts say the bigger question is how far New Delhi is prepared to align with Tokyo’s China-focused Indo-Pacific strategy. Takaichi held talks with her Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in Delhi on Thursday, with economic security, strategic cooperation and collaboration on innovative technologies high on the agenda. Analysts suggest the overarching aim of the three-day...
PM says two-thirds of Suzuki’s global production now comes from India; Toshihiro Suzuki, head of Suzuki Motors announces plans to expand the Haryana facility to one of the world’s largest car manufacturing plants
More than 2 million cars could be damaged by tsunami waves in the event of a megaquake along the Nankai Trough off Japan’s Pacific coast, according to a survey by an organisation offering free rental vehicles to disaster victims. The survey, which covered 12 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, including Aichi in central Japan, showed that at least 2.04 million privately owned vehicles could be hit by tsunami waves following a magnitude-8 or -9 earthquake – about five times the number of vehicles damaged...
In a tiny Tokyo restaurant filled with the smell of Nepalese dumplings, Budhathoki Samjhana surveys the business she built from scratch but may now have to give up as Japan tightens visa rules. Even though Japan has a rapidly ageing population and is suffering labour shortages in many sectors, opposition to immigration is growing and the new rules for business manager visas were introduced by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in late 2025. Nepalese national Budhathoki, who spent a decade away...
Martinelli's stoppage-time goal in Houston takes the five-time champions to the Round of 16, breaking Japanese hearts.