The impact of Japan’s growing naphtha shortage is spreading across a widening range of industries, raising concerns about manufacturing, logistics, and even daily consumer life.
The Cannes Film Festival opened this week with three Japanese films nominated for the festival’s top prize, the Palme d'Or, including 'Sheep in the Box' directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, 'Nagi Notes' directed by Koji Fukada, and 'Suddenly Feeling Unwell' directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Police have arrested a couple in their 40s and their son in his 20s for allegedly confining a teenage girl inside a locked closet at their Tokyo home under the guise of discipline.
The National Red Cross Convention held on May 12 honored people involved in Red Cross activities across Japan. Empress Masako, serving as honorary president, attended the event alongside other female members of the Imperial Family, including Crown Princess Kiko, who serves as vice honorary president.
Three men, including 22-year-old Sakuya Murakami from Takatsuki City in Osaka Prefecture, were arrested on suspicion of robbery resulting in injury after allegedly spraying a man in the face with what is believed to have been bear repellent and attempting to steal his backpack on a street in Nagaokakyo, Kyoto Prefecture, in April.
Thick black smoke billowed across an expressway in Fukuoka on May 11th after a fire broke out beneath an elevated section of the road, temporarily blocking visibility for drivers and forcing a partial road closure.
I have often thought that the true rhythm of a city like Tokyo is best understood not from the high-rise lobby of a luxury hotel, but from the quiet side streets where the local vending machines hum through the night and the scent of a neighborhood bakery begins to drift at dawn – a perspective that is becoming increasingly attractive as we all try to navigate through (and at times, away from) a more and more complicated digital world.
A popular geological attraction in Toyooka known for its distinctive volcanic rock formations has reopened after being temporarily closed following a large-scale rock collapse.
A breathtaking scene unfolded before photographers as the setting sun illuminated terraced rice fields stretching toward the coastline in Saga Prefecture.
Damage caused by 'spring bears' emerging from hibernation is increasing across Japan, with sightings now being reported even near major tourist destinations, while those involved in hunter training warn of growing challenges in cultivating new bear hunters.
A new parliamentary group within the Liberal Democratic Party known as the "National Strength Study Group" is set to be launched, bringing together a powerful lineup of senior ruling party figures including Vice President Taro Aso, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, and Policy Research Council Chairman Takayuki Kobayashi.
The House of Councillors' settlement committee convened on May 11th with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in attendance, as lawmakers continued debating the government's response to the worsening situation surrounding Iran and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Brand rice variety Yumepirika was being planted one after another in rice paddies in Higashikawa, Hokkaido, as rice planting work accelerates across Japan ahead of the autumn harvest, with attention now turning to how much this year’s new rice will cost.
Japan has approved the application of public health insurance to a regenerative medicine product using iPS cells to treat Parkinson’s disease, marking the world’s first practical use of iPS cell-based regenerative medicine.
Changes are emerging within PTAs that support children's school lives as growing numbers of dual-income households make it increasingly difficult for parents to participate in traditional school activities.
A centuries-old Chinese medical text discovered inside a storage box at the Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens has become the center of attention after being appraised at an astonishing 100 million yen, despite AI initially estimating its value at only around 30,000 yen.
Despite a prolonged downturn in the publishing industry, a bookbinding machine manufacturer based near Lake Biwa has continued to expand globally by adapting to a major shift in the way books are produced.
The “ink shock” caused by tensions in the Middle East is beginning to spread across Japan’s food packaging industry, prompting manufacturers to simplify designs and reduce ink usage as concerns grow over naphtha supplies and rising printing costs.
The yield on Japan’s benchmark newly issued 10-year government bond rose to 2.60% in the Tokyo bond market on May 13th, marking its highest level in approximately 29 years since June 1997.
Foreign acquisition of Japanese land has become a growing topic of debate in recent years, and now the trend is reaching Ashiya, one of the Kansai region’s most prestigious residential areas, where soaring property prices are increasingly being linked to demand from wealthy Chinese buyers.