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July 03, 2026
 

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EXPATS

Amy Yee poses for a photo in Lalibela, Ethiopia. An award-winning journalist and former foreign correspondent for the Financial Times, Yee shifted her focus to the issue of Tibetans in exile for her book, “Far From the Rooftop of the World: Travels Among Tibetan Refugees on Four Continents.”
CULTURE / Books / Longform
Mar 31, 2026
The voices of Tibet, far from home
A conversation with author Amy Yee on exile, identity and the lives of Tibetan refugees across continents.
Nahoko Manako teaches a small class to prepare students for the annual Certified Care Worker national exam at Hiraoka Care Worker School in Ogori, Fukuoka Prefecture. Of the school's 36 second-year students this year, only 10 are Japanese.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Mar 30, 2026
Foreign students at nursing care schools outnumber Japanese peers
A shrinking youth population and below-average wages are among factors contributing to the trend.
The executive committee of Women in Law Japan poses for a photo at the organization’s 10th anniversary gala.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Mar 30, 2026
Women in Law Japan marks 10 years amid persistent gender gap in the profession
Through events, workshops and mentorship programs, the platform offers opportunities to connect for women in the legal profession in Japan.
Visitors in the Dotonbori area in Osaka. The number of foreign residents in Japan has exceeded 4 million for the first time.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 28, 2026
Japan’s foreign resident population hits record 4.12 million
The figure is a 9.5% increase from a year earlier, the Immigration Services Agency said Friday.
Japan introduced the specified skilled worker residency program in 2019 to expand the acceptance of foreign workers amid domestic labor shortages.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2026
Japan’s tally of specified skilled workers hits record 390,296
The program was introduced in 2019 to expand the acceptance of foreign workers amid domestic labor shortages.
Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2026
Japan to tighten requirements for naturalization starting April 1
The criteria for foreign nationals seeking citizenship will be brought to the level required for permanent residency.
The Japanese government is considering revising requirements for permanent residency, including mandatory language proficiency and other moves that could place foreign residents under continuous evaluation and uncertainty about their future.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 23, 2026
Japan’s residency debate risks turning integration into exclusion
What was once a predictable path toward long-term stability could become a precarious process subject to continuous state evaluation.
Over the past 15 years, a spate of restoration projects in Onomichi has emerged due to demographic decline, a surplus of vacant hillside homes and growing interest from visitors drawn to the town’s historic character.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Mar 23, 2026
In Onomichi, urbanists redesign public life via vacant homes
Since 2019, a volunteer renovation and reconstruction project has been reimagining community and bringing new energies to a seaside town in Hiroshima Prefecture.
Training for foreign workers under Japan’s Specified Skilled Worker program on March 6 in Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 22, 2026
Japan trains foreign workers for railway maintenance
The trained workers are expected to find jobs at railway companies across the country, attracting attention as to whether they can contribute to alleviating the labor shortages.
A bereaved family member said they thought the Saitama District Court's life sentence ruling on Monday was generous and that they hope the prosecutors "will quickly appeal the ruling."
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 17, 2026
Man convicted of 2022 triple murder in Saitama Prefecture given life in prison
Public prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Jun Saito for murdering three members of a family in Saitama Prefecture on Christmas Day in 2022.
The Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau in the capital's Minato Ward. The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a bill that would see the first major revision to the statutory ceiling on immigration-related residence fees for foreign nationals since 1982.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 10, 2026
Japan visa fee cap to surge more than tenfold under new immigration bill
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved legislation to sharply raise the upper limit on fees for foreign nationals in the biggest revision of its kind in more than four decades.
Water coming from an underground artesian well through brass pipes
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 10, 2026
Government panel to compile groundwater report that includes users’ nationalities
In response to whether the panel might consider restricting foreign nationals’ access to groundwater, a land ministry official said discrimination was not the goal.
Do Van Tuan shows some of the Vietnamese books he took with him to the Sendai Detention House in Sendai in December.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Mar 9, 2026
The Vietnamese interpreter who sends his imprisoned countrymen books
Do Van Tuan, 45, hopes that through books, detainees might be able to make good use of their time while under detention to build a better future.
Ronda Payne (center), the mother of Christopher Payne, an American man convicted of sexual assault in Japan, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2026
American man found guilty of sexual assault fights ruling over DNA evidence
A Tokyo High Court ruling in December said his conviction was based on insufficient evidence and sent his case back to the district court.
In the week before CC’s closed, customers lined up in the rain to pay a final visit to the longstanding cafe.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Mar 6, 2026
Kyoto bids farewell to a storied poets’ cafe
Opened by American poet Cid Corman in 1974, CC’s in Nakagyo Ward had served as an important gathering ground for the literary community.
The Metropolitan Police Department has arrested three men over alleged involvement in employing Vietnamese nationals without work permits in Fukuroi, Shizuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 4, 2026
Three arrested over illegal hiring of Vietnamese workers in Japan
The incident came to light last May following an investigation into a 26-year-old Vietnamese man who was arrested on suspicion of illegal stay.
A window overlooks Shinjuku’s skyscrapers, at a high-rise building in Tokyo, Japan, in 2016.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2026
Government panel on foreign buyers of land to submit proposal this summer
The panel convened as the government aims to submit a bill to tighten restrictions on land purchases by foreign nationals in the current parliamentary session.
The percentage of foreign drivers who passed the written test for a Japanese driver’s license dropped to 42.8% between October and December last year, and the practical test, to 13.1%, police figures show.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 3, 2026
Foreign driver’s license conversion rates plunge after tighter rules brought in
The passing rate for the written test plummeted to 42.8% between October and December, while that for the practical test tumbled to 13.1%.
Somayyeh Mehri speaks in an interview on Monday in Tokyo. The psychological weight of watching events unfold from Japan is gut-wrenching for Mehri.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 3, 2026
‘My hope has fear inside it’: Iranians in Japan react to attacks back home
Following U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, Iranians living in Japan say they are feeling a mixture of relief, hope and fear as they try to contact their loved ones back home.
Though Okinawa accounts for only 0.6% of Japan’s total land, it hosts 70.3% of exclusive-use U.S. military bases.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Mar 2, 2026
Recentering Okinawa, one story at a time
Through conferences, films and publications, international scholars and journalists are building bridges with Okinawan communities and amplifying the voices of local residents.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Why is the yen so weak and what can Japan do about it?
Japan spent ¥11.7 trillion ($73 billion) between late April and late May to prop up the weak yen.
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.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

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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