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April 01, 2026
 

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JAPAN

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Explainer
History
The news of Gen. Douglas MacArthur came as a surprise to the Japanese public and was covered from a variety of angles.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Japan Times 1951: Truman ousts Gen. MacArthur
U.S. President Harry Truman dismissed the key player in Japan's postwar recovery 75 years ago this month.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
An island tale of myth, desire and the wisdom of laughter
A journey from Japan's oldest myths to Edo eccentric Hiraga Gennai, who discovers the absurdity and humor at life's core.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
The long, humble history of the umbrella
From ancient courts to Meiji streets, the umbrella shelters commerce, faith, folly and fragile human longing.
The front page of The Japan Times on March 3, 1976, carries the news of a terrorist attack in Sapporo.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Mar 6, 2026
Japan Times 1976: Bomb explosion in Sapporo claims 2 lives, injures 85
A note left after the terrorist attack at a government building cited "imperialists" as the target.
The front page of The Japan Times on Feb. 6, 1976, carried the first of many stories aiming to get to the bottom of the Lockheed bribery scandal.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Feb 2, 2026
Japan Times 1976: Lockheed paid Kodama $7 million to win deal
This month 25 and 50 years ago saw the beginnings of stories that would go on to become significant historical moments.
After a busy couple of weeks on the public lecture circuit, German-born physicist Albert Einstein took a few days of relaxation on Hiroshima Prefecture’s Miyajima island.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Jan 20, 2026
When Einstein came to Hiroshima
By Patrick Parr
Einstein saw Hiroshima before it was history — not a symbol but a place, quiet and charming.
A statue of Saint Francis Xavier in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture. Christianity spread rapidly in Kyushu before facing brutal suppression under the Tokugawa shogunate.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jan 16, 2026
How Tokugawa Japan learned to fear faith
By Michael Hoffman
The Shimabara Rebellion reveals how faith, fear and power converged in Tokugawa Japan, ending in martyrdom, massacre and historical memory.
The Siyuan Aircraft Bunker in Yilan City, Taiwan, which was built by the Japanese during World War II, contains small historical displays and has a bamboo model of Zero fighter plane on its roof, used as a decoy to fool American bombing raids.
JAPAN / History
Jan 11, 2026
Aircraft bunkers in Taiwan’s Yilan county shine light on little-known kamikaze outpost
By David Frazier
The Pacific-facing county hosts the largest concentration of such bunkers in Taiwan that are among the best-preserved examples still remaining anywhere.
The front page of The Japan Times on Jan. 28, 1926, carries news of the death of the prime minister.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Jan 2, 2026
Japan Times 1926: Premier Kato is dead; victim to influenza after short illness
The front page from a century ago carries an obituary for the Japanese prime minister, who was seen as being from a new generation.
A suicide note left by international politics scholar Kei Wakaizumi is currently on display at the Okinawa Prefectural Archives in the town of Haebaru, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / History
Dec 22, 2025
Secret Okinawa-reversion negotiator’s suicide note now open to public
The letter, which describes the envoy’s grief over brokering a nuclear agreement with the U.S., will be on display through Sunday.

Former mayor of Ito indicted after allegedly falsifying academic record
Maki Takubo, former mayor of Ito in Shizuoka Prefecture, was indicted without arrest on Monday by public prosecutors on suspicion of violations including contravening the local autonomy law through alleged academic fraud.
ADHD medication in short supply in Japan as demand soars
Concerta, an ADHD drug marketed by Janssen Pharmaceutical, is in short supply in Japan as demand has climbed recently.
JMA warns of potential tremors throughout the week after magnitude 5.0 quake
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures on Wednesday morning.
Japan’s 'counterstrike capability' takes shape with missile deployments
Kumamoto Gov. Takashi Kimura (left) and city of Kumamoto Mayor Kazufumi Onishi (second from left) speak to reporters after viewing upgraded Type-12 surface-to-ship missile systems (seen in the background), which have a range of about 1,000 kilometers, at the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Camp Kengun in the city of Kumamoto on March 17.
Yemen's Houthis enter Iran war with attacks on Israel, as U.S. Marines arrive in region
Young Houthi supporters hold weapons during a rally in solidarity with Tehran and Beirut, amid the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Friday.
Japan’s 'counterstrike capability' takes shape with missile deployments
Kumamoto Gov. Takashi Kimura (left) and city of Kumamoto Mayor Kazufumi Onishi (second from left) speak to reporters after viewing upgraded Type-12 surface-to-ship missile systems (seen in the background), which have a range of about 1,000 kilometers, at the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Camp Kengun in the city of Kumamoto on March 17.
ADHD medication in short supply in Japan as demand soars
Concerta, an ADHD drug marketed by Janssen Pharmaceutical, is in short supply in Japan as demand has climbed recently.
What happens when Japan curates its aesthetic for the world?
The Sui Collection, a Cabinet Office-backed showcase of traditional Japanese artisanship, is visually stunning, but what is lost in translation when the state is a partner in cultural communication?
With the end of 3G, Japan's beloved flip phones go dark
Japan was the first country in the world to adopt 3G, but this month, it cuts off access to the obsolete wireless network for good.
Japan to tighten requirements for naturalization starting April 1
Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday.

Podcast

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

Longform

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.”
The voices of Tibet, far from home
By Michael Judge

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