Street prostitution in areas such as Tokyo’s Kabukicho district has increasingly become a social issue, prompting the Justice Ministry to consider revising the Anti-Prostitution Law to introduce penalties for those who purchase sex, according to officials familiar with the matter.

A prolonged stretch of unusually dry weather, described as a “once-in-30-years” event, has led to worsening water shortages across parts of eastern Japan, prompting local governments to urge residents to conserve water as reservoir levels fall to historic lows.

Canon announced a change in its top management, with President Fujio Mitarai set to relinquish the presidency for the third time. Mitarai, currently 90, will move into the role of chairman and chief executive officer while handing day-to-day management to Vice President Ogawa, who will assume the post of president and chief operating officer.

China’s tightening grip on rare earth exports is emerging as a fresh pressure point for Japan, with manufacturers warning that shipments have slowed to a trickle and analysts estimating that a yearlong disruption could erase years of the country’s already thin growth.

Gold prices have hit a historic milestone, topping 30,000 yen per gram for the first time, with the surge spilling over into silver and other precious metals and creating unexpected strains across a wide range of industries.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is set to acquire the naming rights to Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, often described as the spiritual home of Japanese rugby, in a deal worth around 100 billion yen in total.

Toyota Motor Corp. said on January 29th that its global vehicle sales in 2025 reached a record high, marking the sixth consecutive year the automaker has ranked first worldwide, supported by strong demand for hybrid vehicles in North America.

Mitsui Fudosan has announced that it will begin regular operations of electric passenger boats in April, marking what the company says will be the first scheduled service of its kind in Japan and positioning water transport as a new pillar of urban mobility tied to its real estate developments.

Reports of measles infections have been emerging one after another across the Kanto region, prompting health authorities to urge the public to remain vigilant.

A Japanese-developed humanoid AI robot known as “cinnamon 1,” standing about 170 centimeters tall and weighing roughly 70 kilograms, has drawn attention as a next-generation “physical AI” robot designed to understand real-world environments and act within them.

Jazz composer Miho Hazama has been nominated for Best Instrumental Composition at the 68th Grammy Awards, widely regarded as the most prestigious honor in the U.S. music industry, for her piece “Live Life This Day: Movement I.”

A professor at the University of Tokyo’s graduate school has been arrested on suspicion of receiving entertainment in connection with a joint research project, with investigators revealing that spending on some days reached as much as 850,000 yen.

Rare earths are strategic materials on which the world remains heavily dependent on China, and as Beijing increasingly uses export controls as a diplomatic and economic lever, Japan’s latest challenge is drawing historic attention as a potential turning point. With 2026 being described as the “first year of domestically sourced rare earths,” the question is whether Japan can truly become a game changer in reducing its reliance on China.

A man wearing a black hood emerged from a police station on January 27th, identified as Hiroaki Obata, 40, chairman of Japan’s largest scout group, “Natural,” who had been on the run for nearly a year before being arrested on January 26th on Amami Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, according to police.

On December 24, 2025, Lexus added a new model, the RZ600e, to its battery electric vehicle RZ series, marking the culmination of an unconventional development partnership that is challenging long-held assumptions in automotive engineering.

A winter pressure pattern is set to re-establish itself in the latter half of this week, allowing cold air to flow more easily into areas around Japan. The peak of the cold air is forecast for Thursday, January 29, and Friday, January 30, when snow clouds associated with the Japan Sea Polar air mass Convergence Zone (JPCZ) are expected to move inland, particularly across eastern parts of the San’in region and western Hokuriku, raising the risk of heavy snowfall.

A Noh performance created to support recovery from the Noto Peninsula earthquake was staged in Tokyo on January 25th after an unusual crowdfunding campaign led by a member of Japan’s Imperial family raised more than 13 million yen in donations over three months.

According to the Nikkei, Japan is expected to lift its ban on exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that invest in crypto assets as early as 2028.

Snowfall is expected to spread across northern Japan and the Hokuriku region from Tuesday afternoon, with locally heavy snow possible as multiple low-pressure systems move through the area, while dry, sunny conditions on the Pacific side of western and eastern Japan are raising fire risk, and seasonally cold weather is set to persist nationwide through the weekend.

The dollar-yen rate swung sharply over just a few days, with the yen strengthening rapidly from the 159 range to the 153 range, fueling market speculation that Japanese and U.S. authorities may have carried out “rate checks” to signal readiness for intervention.

Tokyo police have taken 32 boys and girls into protective custody after they were found gathering at night around the “Toyoko” area near Kabukicho in Shinjuku.

A private lodging operator based in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward and its chief executive have been referred to prosecutors on suspicion of violating Japan’s Private Lodging Business Act, marking the first such criminal referral nationwide under the law, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

In Osaka, the number of residents from Nepal has risen sharply in recent years, with many international students and workers settling around the UR Kongo housing complex near Kongo Station in Tondabayashi. The area has become home to a growing Nepalese community after public housing operators, seeking to address vacancies caused by an aging population, partnered with educational institutions to accept trainees from Nepal, a move that has led to long-term settlement by many residents.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has released its one-month forecast covering the period from January 24th to February 23rd, warning that cold air is likely to continue flowing into the country through early February before temperatures begin trending upward later in the month. Heavy snow has continued to fall along the Sea of Japan coast as a strong winter pressure pattern drives intense cold air into the region, prompting authorities to warn of large-scale traffic disruptions and other snow-related disasters.

Airport quarantine inspectors in Japan are repeatedly finding prohibited foods hidden inside souvenirs, from pork and chicken products to fruit and even vegetable seeds, as travelers return from overseas unaware that strict import rules apply.