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The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.

JAPAN / Society / Longform

Jun 29, 2026

What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival

By Alex K.T. Martin

Faced with the same demographic pressures confronting other towns, Yokoze is experimenting with a different approach.

Haru Ono founded Nijiiro Kazoku in 2010 after forming a same-sex stepfamily. She said the impetus for founding the organization was that she couldn’t find much reliable information out there for families such as hers in Japan.

JAPAN / Society / FOCUS

Jun 28, 2026

LGBTQ+ families are building lives Japanese lawmakers still struggle to see

By Jessica Speed

Japan does not offer same-sex couples the same legal rights and benefits granted to married couples.

The National Police Agency said the eyes of the local community are essential in finding people with dementia who have gone missing.

JAPAN / Society

Jun 25, 2026

Reports of missing dementia sufferers in Japan fell in 2025 but remain high

Among those who were found, 139 were using location-tracking devices such as GPS or loss prevention tags for safety purposes.

Punch, a Japanese macaque known for clinging to a stuffed orangutan, at the Ichikawa City Zoo in Chiba Prefecture in March

JAPAN / Society

Jun 25, 2026

‘Unacceptable’: Laser pointer aimed at Punch, the viral baby monkey

By Kanako Takahara

Pointing a laser at a monkey will cause it a great amount of stress, a zoo official said, adding that aiming one at its eyes could cause blindness.

Yoichi Miura (third from left) now divides his time between his import business and guiding international visitors across Japan.

JAPAN / Society / FOCUS

Jun 23, 2026

Stepping up, not aside: Japan’s retirement-age tour guides

By Mai Yoshikawa

The older guides — some driven by financial need, others by civic goodwill — reflect a changing concept of what later life can look like in graying Japan.

Health minister Kenichiro Ueno lays flowers during a ceremony held in Tokyo Monday to restore the honor of leprosy patients in Japan.

JAPAN / Society

Jun 22, 2026

Japan commemorates victims of discriminatory leprosy policy

A ceremony was held in Tokyo to restore the honor of leprosy patients in Japan, who had suffered severe discrimination based on a policy of forced isolation.

Although paper customs forms are still available in many cases, it is no longer standard practice to hand them out on all flights.

JAPAN / Society

Jun 22, 2026

Japan to fully digitalize airport customs system by 2030

By Yukana Inoue

The phasing-out of paper customs declaration forms is among measures eyed by the Finance Ministry to handle the inbound movement of people and goods more efficiently.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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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TDC Global challenges norms at Japan workplaces

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