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Jan 17, 2025 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Yukana Inoue
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to begin offering financial aid of up to ¥3.15 million ($20,200) from 2026 for those looking to study abroad at a higher education institution. Any Japanese national who is either enrolled in or is set to enter a university or technical college in Japan and whose parents residein Tokyo will be eligible for the new program. There is no household income limit set for the aid. “Nurturing global-minded people will lead to the future development of Tokyo,” Gov.
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Yukana Inoue
The probability that a Nankai Trough megaquake will occur in the next 30 years has risen to “around 80%,” according to new research released Wednesday by a government expert panel. Every year, the Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion recalculates the probability of earthquakes occurring in the active faults and seabed around Japan based on data from Jan. 1.
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Jan 15, 2025 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Yukana Inoue
The city of Kyoto plans to raise the accommodation tax to a maximum ¥10,000 per night — the highest in Japan — to improve city infrastructure and mitigate crowds amid problemsregarding overtourism. The city has been imposing an accommodation tax on tourists staying overnight since 2018, but the maximum amount each facility could charge was ¥1,000 per person per night.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Yukana Inoue
At 9:19 p.m. on Monday, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake — measuring a lower 5 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale — struck southern Japan, with the epicenter in the Hyuganada Sea off the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture. Immediately after, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said they would begin a temporary investigation into the possibility of issuing an emergency advisory alert regarding a potential Nankai Trough earthquake, holding an evaluation meeting among experts to assess the situation.
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Jan 10, 2025 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Yukana Inoue
The site of the Osaka Expo, which kicks off in April on the artificial island of Yumeshima, may turn into an auto racing circuit or a resort facility with a luxury hotel after the six-month event is over. On Thursday, the prefecture and city of Osaka jointly announced two plans selected from proposals on what to do with the site of the expo, which is set run from April 13 to Oct. 13.
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Jan 9, 2025 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Tomoko Otake |Kathryn Wortley |Yukana Inoue
Japan saw a record 64.39 influenza patients per clinic on average in the final week of December, the health ministry said Thursday, confirming the highest number of reported cases since ministry records began in 1999. In the week through Dec. 29, there were a total of 317,812 reported cases of the flu, which is nearly three times the number from the same period in 2023. The average number of cases per clinic jumped from 42.66 the week before.
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Jan 9, 2025 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Yukana Inoue
Japan saw a record 64.39 influenza patients per clinic, on average, in the final week of December, the health ministry said Thursday, confirming the highest number of reported cases since ministry records began in 1999. In the week through Dec. 29, there were a total of 317,812 reported cases of the flu, which is nearly three times the number from the same period in 2023. The average number of cases per clinic jumped from 42.66 the week before.
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Jan 8, 2025 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Tomoko Otake |Kathryn Wortley |Yukana Inoue
The cities of Toyama and Osaka have been featured in The New York Times’ list of “52 Places to Go in 2025.” Toyama, which is located between the Sea of Japan coast and the Japanese Alps, was praised by the Times as a place where tourists could “enjoy cultural wonders and culinary delights while skipping the crowds.” The paper noted how the area has been appealing to tourists as part of its recovery efforts following an earthquake and torrential rain that devastated the Noto Peninsula in...
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Yukana Inoue
Tokyo is looking to begin offering a subsidy for epidural childbirths in the 2025 fiscal year as a way of reducing the burden on women looking to have children, which, if it materializes, would make it the first such move in the country at the prefecture-level. Such a subsidy was one of Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's campaign promises when she ran for her position last year.
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Jan 6, 2025 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Yukana Inoue
One day in October, 26-year-old Seokjin decided to download Tapple, a popular dating app in Japan. The business consultant, who asked to go by his first name for privacy reasons, said that he wanted someone he could lean on after starting his first job in April and feeling overworked. “Around August and September I was constantly thinking, why do I have to work so much?” he says.
