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July 02, 2026
 

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ELDERLY

Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital​, where doctors see the toll of aging and dementia every day, in Seoul on April 15
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 30, 2026
‘They said AI saved me’: How South Korea is checking on its older adults
An artificial intelligence-powered call service​ adopted by cities and counties across South Korea check​s on thousands of older adults living alone in isolation or poverty.
The combined balance at health insurance associations at all large firms in the fiscal year that ends in March 2027 is forecast to result in a ¥289 billion ($1.8 billion) deficit, according to the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 30, 2026
Deficits loom for many health insurance associations at large Japanese firms
Over 70% of such groups are projected to log deficits in fiscal 2026, the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies says.
In Japan, where AI companion robots are being introduced in nursing homes to cope with a growing caregiver shortage, their use underscores both the urgency of the global aging crisis and the danger of placing too much reliance in technology.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2026
AI is coming for our aging parents, ready or not
Japan, long a leader in industrial automation, has been trying to make eldercare robots happen for a long time.
Family members Takuya Matsunaga (right) and Yoshinori Uehara offer flowers during a memorial service on Sunday for Mana and Riko Matsunaga who were killed in a car crash in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district seven years ago.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 20, 2026
Investigator urges people not to forget deadly 2019 Ikebukuro crash
The incident attracted significant attention and prompted many older drivers to voluntarily give up their drivers’ licenses.
Nearly 60,000 people age 65 or older were found dead alone in their homes last year, with many of them discovered more than a week after they died.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 17, 2026
Some 77,000 people found dead alone in their homes in 2025
People age 65 or older accounted for three-quarters of these cases of solitary deaths.
Hidetaka Ota, head of Akita University's Advanced Research Center for Geriatric and Gerontology, in the city of Akita on Monday
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 10, 2026
Study to analyze impact of bear sightings on elderly people
In Akita Prefecture, 67 people were attacked by bears, including four fatalities, in the year that ended in March.
Aris Senior Living resident Giuliana Gorini, 93, is served pasta during lunch at the facility in Rome on March 19.
WORLD / Society
Apr 9, 2026
Italy discovers ‘silver housing’ as traditional elder care buckles
The market potential for such residences is bolstered by Italy’s rapidly aging population and one of the world’s highest life expectancies.
The new adult guardianship system will let people in Japan opt out of support based on their needs, unlike the current system.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2026
Japan to overhaul adult guardianship system and allow digital wills
Among the changes, the new system lets support recipients flexibly replace their guardians, and it will allow for digital wills to be created on computers and smartphones.
A supermarket employee arranges diaper products in Aira, Kagoshima Prefecture, in January.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2026
Dirty diapers born again in Japan recycling breakthrough
The project hopes to ease bloated landfill sites and respond to a growing need for adult diapers in aging Japan.
Nahoko Manako teaches a small class to prepare students for the annual Certified Care Worker national exam at Hiraoka Care Worker School in Ogori, Fukuoka Prefecture. Of the school's 36 second-year students this year, only 10 are Japanese.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Mar 30, 2026
Foreign students at nursing care schools outnumber Japanese peers
A shrinking youth population and below-average wages are among factors contributing to the trend.
Iwao Tanaka (right) speaks to a snowboarder getting off a ski lift at a resort in Daisen, Tottori Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Mar 30, 2026
For some retirees, life is a little bit like a holiday
More and more older people are taking up short-term resort jobs as they embark on their “second life” post-retirement.
In some cases, those posing as contractors deliberately destroyed parts of the building or fixtures during their inspections so that they then needed to be repaired.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 26, 2026
Cases of home-renovation fraud rose to new record in 2025, police data shows
The cost of damages in 2025 totaled ¥15.1 billion — more than three times that recorded during the previous year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 23, 2026
‘Alone in Japan’ travels towns in decline and talks to the people left
While Japan’s depopulation is a much discussed issue, Tom Feiling’s book “Alone in Japan” tackles the topic face to face as he travels to remote parts of Japan.
Zhipu staff members help residents install and setup AutoClaw, a local version of the AI agent OpenClaw developed by Zhipu, at an office building in Beijing.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 20, 2026
As OpenClaw enthusiasm grips China, school kids and retirees alike raise ‘lobsters’
The hype over the open-source bot is the latest example of how a new technology could overhaul the world’s second-largest economy through unbridled consumer adoption.
The last two students at Yumoto Junior High School attend their graduation ceremony in Ten-ei Village, Fukushima Prefecture, in March 2023.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 19, 2026
We have to stop discussing Japan’s birthrate like this
Declining Asian fertility is often framed negatively: a backlash against a crushing society. When it happens in the U.S., though, it’s young women taking control over their lives.
A small group of people carry rare genes that slow aging itself, protecting them from major diseases even when their lifestyles are far from ideal. Scientists hope to replicate these protective effects.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2026
Why some people live to 100 despite doing everything wrong
A recent study showed that longevity is roughly 50% genetic and 50% environmental — a substantially higher genetic contribution than earlier research indicated.
At 85 years old, Makiko Kimura still works about four times a month at a local snack shop — not to make money in retirement but as a way to stay in touch with her community.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 7, 2026
Working overtime: ‘Silver Jinzai’ centers keep Japan’s seniors employed
With about 3 in 10 adults currently over the retirement age, community agencies keeping seniors in part-time work bring both personal and economic benefits.
A defaced sign near the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office on Thursday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2026
Osaka police arrest man in his 90s for alleged graffiti
The man later admitted to investigators that he had “dirtied” a sign at a prosecutor’s office in the city of Osaka.
A care worker demonstrates exercises for residents at a nursing home in Tokyo. A decision on raising the share of nursing-care costs paid by older people has been postponed again by the government.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Feb 24, 2026
Expansion of nursing care costs delayed again
The government is shelving until fiscal 2026 a plan to widen the scope of those required to make a 20% copayment, concerned the move could add to the burden of higher costs.
Artificial intelligence is likely to boost growth and productivity but will not remove the need to save for retirement despite Elon Musk’s claims because economic uncertainty and real-world costs will still exist.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2026
Musk is wrong about AI and retirement: You still need to save.
There are certain things not even AI can do, and one of them is suspending the basic laws of economics.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

Podcast

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

Longform

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What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
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