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For US$200, foreign visitors can experience a day as a secondary school student in Japan, immersing themselves in the local school culture. Photo: SCMP composite/QQ.com

Japan offers 1-day student experience for tourists for US$200

‘Naughty students’ with baseball bats disrupt PE class, creating chaos, playfully intimidating classmates.

9 Dec 2024 - 9:00AM

Japan’s ‘concerned’ exporters brace for tariff pain under Trump 2.0

9 Dec 2024 - 8:00AM

Food and Drinks

Why a Japanese spirit has been made with Thai rice for 600 years

8 Dec 2024 - 2:19PM

Japan man uses wig, props to create dating photos with imaginary girlfriend

Man notes that a natural photo features a shy smile, much like a bashful boyfriend being photographed by his girlfriend.

9 Dec 2024 - 11:51AM

A Japanese man creates dating photos with an imaginary girlfriend, amusing social media, but some warn it may worsen loneliness. Photo: SCMP composite/QQ.com

‘Good listener’ Japan man travels for 5 years, stays in 500 strangers’ homes for free

He finds the wait for a free host exhilarating as it’s like casting bait, waiting for a fish to bite.

6 Dec 2024 - 6:00PM

Asian cinema: Japanese films

Love Letter actress Miho Nakayama found dead in bathtub

Japanese actress best known for 1995’s Love Letter, who also had a stellar career as a singer, found dead at home, having cancelled a show.

6 Dec 2024 - 11:45PM

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Sexual harassment and assault

Ex-Saudi diplomat investigated for allegedly groping woman at Tokyo club

He is suspected of touching the breasts of the victim over her clothes at a club in Roppongi entertainment district.

6 Dec 2024 - 2:41PM

A former Saudi Arabian diplomat is accused of touching a woman’s breasts at a nightclub in Tokyo. Photo: Shutterstock

US-China tech war

US exempts some Chinese firms from chip curbs for Japan, sources say

Washington has excluded some of China’s largest semiconductor companies from its latest export restrictions.

7 Dec 2024 - 10:55AM

Russian diplomats dodge Tokyo parking fines, citing foreign-policy loophole

The unresolved fees ignited online outrage, leading to calls for stricter measures against the Russian embassy.

6 Dec 2024 - 12:00PM

My Take | Japan should not just focus on abduction issue and reach out to North Korea

Tokyo has demanded the return of its citizens abducted by North Korea over the decades but any breakthrough on the issue is unlikely.

6 Dec 2024 - 10:30AM

Takuya Yokota, head of a group representing the families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, speaks about the issue in August. His sister Megumi (on the screen) was abducted by North Korea in 1977. Photo: Kyodo

Japan’s Nippon Steel races to complete US Steel takeover before Trump 2.0

Analysts say Nippon Steel remains confident as it pushes for the deal to go through, despite Trump’s vow to block it.

6 Dec 2024 - 8:00AM

US-China relations

Trump’s export controls hurting China could rankle US allies: analysts

Sanctions targeting Beijing’s hi-tech progress anticipated as report finds Washington has increasingly used such mechanisms in recent years.

6 Dec 2024 - 5:55AMvideocam

Editorial | China benefits on all fronts as visitors soar

Tourism, business and mutual understanding are among the winners as travellers from more countries receive visa-free access.

6 Dec 2024 - 12:01AM

Sumo makes historic return to London’s Royal Albert Hall after 34 years

The five-day event, or ‘basho’, has been held only once before outside Japan – back in 1991 and also at the venerable concert hall.

6 Dec 2024 - 1:06AM

Sumo wrestler Daisuke Kitanowaka makes a stand outside London’s Royal Albert Hall, which will host a “basho” for the second time next year. Photo: AP

Will Trump’s threats push China and Japan closer together?

Relations between the Asian powers have become highly strained in recent years, but officials from both sides are now talking up the value of cooperation.

6 Dec 2024 - 4:09AMvideocam

Japan and China have greater incentives to deepen economic ties amid rising global uncertainties. Photo: Reuters

Food and Drinks

Japan’s sake brewers hope Unesco heritage listing boosts sales

Hong Kong sake-focused restaurant founder among those hailing sake’s heritage listing. Brewers of the rice wine hoping for rise in exports.

5 Dec 2024 - 6:07PM

Macroscope | Fears of China’s ‘Japanification’ are overblown

While low yields might be a symptom of Japanification, evidence shows bond markets are on China’s side.

5 Dec 2024 - 6:28PMvideocam

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Japan’s sake joins Unesco heritage list

5 Dec 2024 - 3:22PM

Food and Drinks

Why do Hongkongers love izakayas so much – and what exactly are they?

Fukuro, Nadagogo and Yurakucho are 3 more popular takes on the concept, but their differences leave some asking – just what makes an izakaya anyway?

5 Dec 2024 - 11:00AM

Biomedicine: Companies

Hong Kong residents reticent to get latest Covid-19 jab, Moderna survey finds

About 52 per cent of Hong Kong respondents said they were willing to get the updated vaccine, compared with 58 per cent in Singapore.

4 Dec 2024 - 8:22PM

Japanese court convicts Australian who says she was tricked into smuggling drugs

Donna Nelson, in custody for nearly two years, was arrested in 2023 with about 2kg (4.4 pounds) of hidden phenylaminopropane.

4 Dec 2024 - 7:17PM

Family members of Australian citizen Donna Nelson walk out from the Chiba District Court after the opening day of the trial over Nelson for attempting to import drugs into Japan. Photo: AP

Tokyo to propose 4-day work week for government staff in parenthood push

PM Shigeru Ishiba has called Japan ’s stubbornly low birth rate a ‘quiet emergency and has pledged policies like flexible working hours.

4 Dec 2024 - 4:50PMvideocam

A family at Tokyo’s Shibuya Sky. While many developed countries are struggling with low birth rates, the problem is particularly acute in Japan where the population has declined for 15 straight years. Photo: Reuters

Books and literature

Why Japanese author Mieko Kanai charms readers overseas, but not at home

Mieko Kanai was seen as a contender for the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, but in Japan her books are rarely even reviewed.

4 Dec 2024 - 4:15PM

Japan’s end-of-year drinking parties downsize as enthusiasm wanes

Younger employees say they do not want to be pressured to go to such corporate parties, seen as an extension of work they would rather avoid.

4 Dec 2024 - 11:00AM

Hong Kong stock market

Hong Kong stocks trade near 3-week high, led by SMIC, Trip.com

Investors weigh heightened US-China trade tensions versus prospect of additional economic stimulus measures.

4 Dec 2024 - 4:23PM

‘Really unfortunate’: political rows stoke deep mutual Japan-China distrust

A survey conducted in Japan and China shows the overwhelming majority of people in both countries have negative views of each other.

4 Dec 2024 - 9:30AM

Japan’s flag flutters outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 2018. Photo: Reuters

Alibaba Cloud aims high in Southeast Asia with new AI partners

China’s leading cloud services provider is prioritising investments in its operations across Indonesia, Thailand and other markets.

3 Dec 2024 - 6:30PM

Is Tokyo now Asia’s sex tourism hub?

3 Dec 2024 - 5:48PM

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Help preserve 120 years of quality journalism.

Japan

Latest news, in-depth features and opinion on Japan, covering politics, economy, society, the country's relationships with China, North Korea and South Korea and the legacy of World War Two in Asia.

Capital

Head of State

Emperor Naruhito

Head of Government

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida

last updated:

29 November, 2024

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