Japan

Explore our coverage of Japan’s politics, economics, business and culture, in articles, charts, podcasts and video


Asia

Joe Biden’s mixed legacy on Japan

Security co-operation flourished, but a scuppered steel deal leaves a sour taste

Christmas Specials

Why do small children in Japan ride the subway alone?

The pluses and pitfalls of the world’s most disciplined primary schools

Christmas Specials

A day in the life of Toyosu, the world’s greatest fish market

The best sashimi chefs on the planet rely on Japan’s Wall Street of seafood

The World Ahead Asia in 2025

This is the year Japan will really start to feel its age

Bold reforms and greater honesty are needed

Asia

Why suspects in Japan are almost never acquitted

And it is facing renewed criticism

Culture

Hello Kitty, still cute at 50

The face that launched a thousand products

Business

Can Japan’s toilet technology crack global markets? 

The leading maker of electronic bidets shows the difficulties facing Japanese companies abroad

Asia

Voters deliver a historic rebuke to Japan’s ruling coalition

But the Liberal Democratic Party may still hang on to power

Asia

Japan is remarkably open to AI, but slow to make use of it

The land of Doraemon embraces the new technology in theory but not in practice

Culture

Why the world is so animated about anime

Japan’s cartoons have conquered its screens, and more

Leaders

Socially liberal and strong on defence, Japan’s new premier shows promise

But he must ditch his more eccentric ideas if he is to control his party

Asia

Japan’s new prime minister is his own party’s sternest critic

This could make it harder for Ishiba Shigeru to govern effectively

Asia

Ishiba Shigeru will become Japan’s next prime minister

The maverick won his fifth bid for leadership of the ruling party

China

Another attack on a Japanese local points to a big problem in China

Has anti-Japanese xenophobia gone too far?

Asia

Has the Quad lost its way?

Critics say the loose coalition is lowering its ambitions

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