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March 15, 2025
 

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History
After multiple failed attempts, Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339) and his loyalists overthrew the Kamakura shogunate and restored imperial power — for a time.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Divine authority and mortal desires in the turbulent 14th century
The literary monk Kenko yearned for an “uncontaminated world,” even during the tumultuous rule of Emperor Go-Daigo, who toppled the shogunate and consolidated imperial power.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Japan Times 1925: Government sanctions official broadcasting station, the precursor to NHK
Japan’s first official broadcasting station began operating 100 years ago, setting a new precedent for the speed of communication and news.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
‘The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty’
A man of leisure from 700 years ago extols the virtues of asymmetry, imperfection and ephemerality.
Emperor Hirohito speaks during a welcome ceremony hosted by U.S. President Richard Nixon in Anchorage, Alaska, on Sept. 26, 1971.
JAPAN / History
Feb 11, 2025
Emperor Showa was cautious about Nixon's 1972 visit to China, document shows
That the emperor voiced his own position on the visit to China may raise questions about diplomacy involving the imperial family.
The front page of The Japan Times on Feb. 21, 1925, carried news of clashes in the streets over the debate of extending voting rights to Japanese males over the age of 25.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Feb 1, 2025
Japan Times 1925: Tokyo factions ready to fight over manhood suffrage bill in Diet
Objections from the country's 1% came as Japan debated extending voting rights to all men over the age of 25.
Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Jan 26, 2025
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick
By Alex K.T. Martin
Discover the hometown of the Yoshiwara publisher who helped shape Japan’s artistic legacy and inspired NHK’s latest period drama.
Those who lived in Japan’s Nara Period, which lasted from the year 710 to 794, by and large knew themselves to be blessed. It wasn’t just those in power who felt it, either. From nobles to commoners, the poets seemed to have democratized joy itself.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jan 17, 2025
From Genji to 'hikikomori,' how we make peace with disappearing
By Michael Hoffman
Japan’s reverence for impermanence reveals a profound connection between beauty and loss, from poetic musings to spiritual retreats, echoing in modern expressions of solitude.
The entrance gate to Arakura Sengen Shrine in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, with Mount Fuji in the distance.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jan 15, 2025
From wrath to radiance: Why the 'Manyoshu' feels like paradise lost
By Michael Hoffman
While the Bible’s God demands obedience and punishes sin, the 'Manyoshu' radiates innocence, joy and harmony with nature.
On the first day of the 2000s, the world was relieved that the Y2K computer glitch was mostly nothing. And in Russia, Vladimir Putin came to power.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Jan 1, 2025
Japan Times 2000: Japanese celebrate new year
Check out what was on the front page on Jan. 1 in 1925, 1950, 1975 and 2000.
The front page of the final Japan Times of the 1900s carried news on the crown princess as well as the Y2K computer glitch panic.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Dec 3, 2024
Japan Times 1999: Stores hit by Y2K stockpile feeding frenzy
From year-end predictions by mystics to panic from technologists, Decembers past have brought more than just year-end tidings to those reading the news.

The U.S. says Japan has a 700% tariff on American rice. Is that the case?
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a piece of paper with information about tariff rates at the White House on Tuesday.
Man arrested in Tokyo stabbing tracked victim through livestream
Kenichi Takano leaves a police station in Tokyo on Thursday to be sent over to prosecutors.
Japanese superfans turn dental clinic into Ohtani mini-museum
Japanese dentist Yusuke Kamimura poses for a photograph in front of a private collection dedicated to MLB player Shohei Ohtani, inside his dental clinic in Koshigaya, north of Tokyo, on Feb. 28, 2025.
Bonsai thefts sweep Japan as miniature trees grow more popular
According to the Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative, there were about 30 cases of bonsai theft last year.
U.S. steered Syrian Kurds toward Damascus deal, sources say
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (right) and Syrian Democratic Forces commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in Damascus on Monday.
As pollen season peaks, Japan's allergy struggle emerges from hibernation
Urbanization is amplifying pollen-related allergies as grasslands and soft soil give way to concrete and asphalt.
Japan to get tough on businesses not taking heatstroke countermeasures
A construction site in Tokyo in July 2018. Businesses failing to take measures to prevent severe heatstroke among employees will be subjected to criminal punishment from June.
In a sea of Dodger Blue, Japanese superfan ready to cheer on the Cubs
Takuya “Moby” Okamoto after Game 5 of the 2016 World Series, which the Cubs went on to win in seven games to snap a 108-year drought
Drones, budgets and infighting: Taiwan's daunting defense challenges
Officials from Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), the Ministry of National Defense’s research arm, say the lessons from the Ukraine conflict are clear for the democratic island: drones and other autonomous systems are crucial for its defense.
How Upper House pressure led to Ishiba's stunning reversal on medical cost caps
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends an Upper House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Monday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly
By Tomoko Otake

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