Level 5 Flood Emergency on the Shonai River
Japan issued its highest river-flood warning for the Shonai basin after record hourly rain in Nagoya and Tajimi. What triggered it, where it applied, what flooded and what remains unconfirmed.
Read the full report →September 10, 2026 edition
Four Stories to Start
The day’s essential arguments
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Trade, currency and low-carbon procurement
China Hits Japanese Chip Material With Deposits Up to 99.2%
China has imposed provisional cash deposits of 80.8% to 99.2% on Japanese dichlorosilane. We examine the ruling, the disputed market data and the implications for semiconductor supply chains.
The Yen’s Rise Starts Unwinding Global Carry Trades
The yen has risen 4.5% in less than a week. Japan.co.jp examines the carry-trade unwind, the evidence visible in futures and cross-border lending, and the lessons of 1998, 2008 and 2024.
Kitakyushu Pays the Premium for Low-Carbon Steel
Kitakyushu will use Nippon Steel’s GX steel in a riverbank project. Japan.co.jp examines the procurement, mass-balance accounting, Yawata’s industrial history and what remains undisclosed.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Neuroscience, evolution and animal behavior
A Neural Circuit That Suppresses Brain Tumors
A Japanese collaboration has found that inhibitory synapses restrain adult glioma by lowering tumor-cell calcium activity and YAP1/mTOR signaling. The evidence, history and limits explained.
How Centipedes Crossed the Seas to Japan
DNA and morphology reveal six Japanese Cryptops centipedes with multiple origins—from lineages present before Japan separated from Asia to possible recent ocean or human-assisted arrivals.
Tadpoles Raised Alone Avoid Their Peers
A Kyoto University experiment with 90 Eastern-Japanese common toad tadpoles finds that solitary-reared larvae spent more time away from conspecific groups. The design, history and limits explained.
COMMUNITIES
Flooding, wildlife and regional migration
Level 5 Flood Emergency on the Shonai River
Japan issued its highest river-flood warning for the Shonai basin after record hourly rain in Nagoya and Tajimi. What triggered it, where it applied, what flooded and what remains unconfirmed.
Bear Sightings Move Closer to Kurihara Communities
Miyagi has issued a targeted bear advisory for Kurihara after two sightings in residential areas. The incidents, alert criteria, regional history and practical safety response explained.
Toyama and 12 Municipalities Court New Residents
Toyama Prefecture and 12 municipalities are taking a coordinated pitch to Japan’s largest migration fair. The event, demographic stakes and two decades of policy examined.
SPORTS
Golf, table tennis and cricket
Japan’s Leading Women Golfers Gather in Ishikawa
The Sony Japan Women’s Professional Golf Championship brings 132 elite players to Katayamazu Golf Club in Ishikawa, renewing a tournament history that began in 1968.
Miu Hirano Wins First International Singles Title in Three Years
Miu Hirano defeated Hina Hayata 4–1 at WTT Contender Almaty for her first international singles title since 2023, then completed a singles-and-doubles sweep.
Japan Names Its Squad for a Historic First T20 Against India
Japan has named 15 players for its first men’s international cricket match against India, a September 22 T20I in Sano that leads directly into the Asian Games.
CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
Noto, folding screens and artists’ housing
Noto’s Damaged Landscape Is Rebuilt Through Art
At the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Hitoshi Ushijima rebuilds an earthquake-damaged sculpture while Hiraki Sawa creates a new video work from research and family memory in Suzu.
Gifu Explores the Monumental Art of Folding Screens
A long-form guide to Gifu’s 17-work exhibition of Japanese folding-screen painting, tracing the screen as movable architecture from Meiji-period Nihonga to contemporary abstraction.
Kyoto Builds a Residential Community for Artists
Kyoto is converting a former international-student dormitory into FLAT ArtSphere KYOTO, a 78-room residence designed to connect housing, studios and community for artists.
Four Seasons Across a Single Golden World
A deep reading of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Birds and Flowers in a Landscape of the Four Seasons, made by an anonymous 16th-century follower of Sesshū Tōyō.
Read the art essay →Image note: A Japan.co.jp AI-generated editorial illustration inspired by a six-panel bird-and-flower screen by a follower of Sesshū Tōyō. It is not a reproduction of the Cleveland Museum of Art work.
Six More Stories from September 9
Worth carrying into today
Koyaguchi LifeTextile Reweaves a Fabric Town’s Future
Koyaguchi’s new LifeTextile identity seeks to carry 149 years of machinery, specialist labor and invention into a new generation of buyers and makers.
Japan’s Scam-Signal Network Tests Cross-Border Defense
A Japanese alliance has begun sharing intelligence on fraudulent advertisements and scam sites internationally. Speed is the promise; evidence, privacy, errors and measurable results remain the test.
The Science Behind Japan’s 20-Year Ig Nobel Run
A modest 1977 experiment brought the late Tokuji Unno a posthumous prize and extended an extraordinary sequence of Japanese and Japan-linked winners.
Small SAR Satellites Map Fire Damage Through Smoke
Japan is testing how radar echoes collected through darkness, cloud and smoke can become damage maps that emergency officials can trust.
Nagoya’s ONE ASIA WORLD Takes the Games Beyond the Stadium
Nagoya’s public fan zone will combine live viewing, medalist celebrations, food, music and cultural programs during Aichi-Nagoya 2026.
Lucie Rie and the Bowl That Crossed Continents
Lucie Rie learned the wheel in Vienna, rebuilt her life in London and found a devoted audience in Japan. Tokyo’s retrospective closes September 13.
