Weak Yen, Empty Homes and AI
Japan’s Systems Are Being Rewritten
A record ¥11.3 trillion import bill, nine million empty homes, teacher mental illness and a mayor’s maternity leave—alongside underwater drones, university ventures, industrial AI, quasicrystals and satellite technology. Fifteen new reports, four selections from yesterday, and Komura Settai’s “secret beauty.”
Start with These Four
Yen, empty homes, teachers, AI
Four from the July 23 Edition
Yen, maglev, shipbuilding, heat
Today’s News: 19 Reports
15 new stories + four from July 23
Weak Yen and Oil Shock Push Japan’s Imports to Record ¥11.3 Trillion
Crude-import volume fell, but the bill surged. From the 1973 and 2022 oil shocks to a ¥163 currency, the report traces Japan’s renewed vulnerability.
Japan, United States and South Korea Expand Security and Technology Cooperation
The partnership is moving beyond missile warning toward semiconductors, satellites, supply chains and disaster response despite difficult history.
Japanese Mayor Makes History by Taking Maternity Leave
Can childbirth and executive government continue together? The case exposes how slowly political institutions have adapted to women’s participation.
Record 1,319 Japanese Teachers Quit Because of Mental Illness
Vacancies, long hours, parent demands and isolation are pushing educators out—and forcing Japan to confront the design of the school system itself.
Japan’s Nine Million Empty Homes Become “Negative Real Estate”
Homes that cannot be sold, rented or demolished cheaply are turning inheritance, taxes and depopulation into one of Japan’s largest asset problems.
Underwater Drones Enter Japan’s Aging Sewer System
Small robots swim through flooded pipes people cannot safely enter, illuminating cracks in infrastructure built during Japan’s high-growth decades.
Kyoto’s Last Traditional Roof-Tile Workshop Fights for Survival
Black kawara and skilled hands preserve temple roofs. Falling demand, fuel costs and succession now threaten the workshop behind Kyoto’s skyline.
Gifu High-School Entrepreneur Launches Festival Exclusively for Under-18s
Young people become performers, organizers and audience, creating their own cultural and economic space in a regional Japanese city.
Two Thousand SMEs Join Regional Bank Business-Matching Event
The bank becomes more than a lender by connecting customers to one another. Can its network create new markets in shrinking regions?
Hokkaido Town Trains the Next Generation of Rural Entrepreneurs
Atsuma turns the whole town into a business laboratory, using lessons from disaster recovery to create work that can remain in the community.
Japan Reverses the University-Startup Model: Entrepreneurs Will Search for Science
Instead of asking researchers to become executives, business builders enter laboratories to find discoveries worth turning into companies.
A 150-Year-Old Japanese Manufacturer Moves Its Institutional Memory into AI
Furukawa Electric and CADDi connect drawings, machinery history and expert judgment to prevent industrial knowledge from disappearing.
What Japanese Companies Are Actually Selling at AI World 2026
Private corporate AI, business agents, automation and security: an examination of artificial intelligence as a product companies can buy.
Machine Learning Helps Japan Create Stable Magnetic Quasicrystals
Ordered but nonperiodic matter challenges conventional crystal rules. Machine learning helped search the enormous map of possible magnetic materials.
German Satellite Technology Company Begins Full-Scale Japan Expansion
Small satellites, components, ground systems and joint development expand the international supply chain behind Japan’s growing space industry.
Yen Falls Past 163: Japan’s Intervention Dilemma
The currency reached its weakest level since 1986. The report traces who orders intervention and why official buying has limits.
Shizuoka Agreement Moves Japan’s Maglev Past Its Largest Barrier
A path toward construction has opened, but the Oi River, Southern Alps, ¥11 trillion cost and uncertain opening date remain.
Japan and the United States Develop AI Shipbuilding Robots
Welding, steel bending and digital twins bring software and machines into shipyards struggling with productivity and labor shortages.
Japan Records Its First Official 40°C “Extreme Heat Day”
Tajimi reached 40.3°C, Toyota 40.1°C and Hachiman 40.0°C, forcing Japan to define practical survival in a new climate.
20. Today’s Art Choice
Komura Settai / 小村雪岱
Komura Settai and Japan’s “Secret Sense of Beauty”
A half-open screen, a figure not fully revealed, disciplined negative space, black, white and vermilion: Settai lets the viewer complete the scene. Today’s sixteen editorial images pay tribute to that silence, theatrical tension and mystery.
Read the art story →