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July 01, 2026
 

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ELDERLY

A growing number of profitable Japanese companies are cutting jobs, including through voluntary retirement programs, to rebalance their workforces and sustain growth amid rapid innovation, signaling a shift away from the traditional commitment to long-term employment.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 17, 2026
More profit-making companies cutting jobs in Japan
Some experts say the long-held belief in long-term employment among Japanese companies is changing in the face of competition with foreign companies.
A trainee in a beauty care program for older people provides hand care to a resident at a senior care facility, in the city of Saitama in November.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 5, 2026
Putting smiles on faces: Makeup help and beauty treatments energize older people
“I felt that beauty care gives people the energy to take action,” said a certified care worker.
Japan is seeing growing demand for social security services as its population ages, but the burden on working generations is also rising due to the declining birth rate.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 30, 2026
Social security remains conundrum for parties ahead of Lower House election
Japan is seeing growing demand for social security services as its population ages, but the burden on working generations is growing due to the declining birth rate.
Residents warm up inside a government-run humanitarian aid tent where people can charge devices, receive hot meals, as well as psychological support if needed, during a power blackout due to Russian missile and drone strikes on critical infrastructure in Kyiv on Jan. 25.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2026
Despite failed peace talks, Ukrainians find ‘Way Home’
Across Ukraine, millions of families have been living with widespread blackouts and electricity that comes back only briefly.
Lidia Teleshchuk, a 91-year-old pensioner, in her apartment that most of the time has no electricity and heating, in Kyiv on Monday
WORLD
Jan 29, 2026
‘Hard to survive’: Kyiv’s elderly face bitter cold after Russian attacks
Repair crews in Kyiv are racing to reconnect homes to power and heat, but subzero temperatures and repeated airstrikes have slowed their efforts.
A viral check-in app that alerts contacts if users fail to confirm they are alive has exposed rising loneliness, demographic anxiety and unmet eldercare needs, showing the next breakout tech hit may come from confronting social isolation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2026
Forget DeepSeek, dying alone is China’s latest tech obsession
The interface is almost aggressively plain. Users, largely people living alone, tap to confirm they are still alive.
Volunteer Shunichi Hirata (right) checks a heater as he chats with Takako Shimizu, who manages residents’ mutual support activities in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 19, 2026
Mutual support in Gifu housing estate offers model case for aging society
From helping with hospital visits to even being a playmate for board games, residents of Yagiyama district help one another with small everyday problems.
Posts and videos shared on social media have amplified fears about crime in Japan, with unverified claims spreading faster than official crime statistics.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jan 12, 2026
Japan is safe. Why do the Japanese feel unsafe?
Crime is low but anxiety is rising, fueled by demographics, social media and perception gaps shaping how safety is felt.
Children play at a park in Beijing on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 7, 2026
China’s birth-rate push sputters as couples stay child-free
A decade since China scrapped its stringent one-child policy and implemented a two-child policy in January 2016, the nation is dealing with a looming demographic crisis.
Older adults with no remaining teeth had a mortality risk about 1.7 times higher than those with 21 or more teeth, according to Japanese researchers.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 5, 2026
Dental hygiene key to predicting mortality, Japanese researchers find
Studies concluded that poor oral health among older adults is closely linked with higher mortality rates and a higher risk of requiring long-term care.
The Shizuoka Prefectural Police arrested three boys for allegedly breaking into a house and robbing ¥10 million last month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 5, 2026
Shizuoka police arrest three teens over ¥10M robbery of elderly couple at home
Investigators suspect the involvement of other accomplices and that the crime might be orchestrated by tokuryū — anonymous, fluid criminal groups.
As Japan’s population ages, fewer workers will be supporting more dependents, reshaping the country’s social and economic balance.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Dec 29, 2025
On to 2050: Life in a shrinking Japan
By 2050, Japan’s youth will inherit a transformed country, reshaped by population decline, longer lives and unprecedented demographic imbalance.
For fiscal 2026, the government plans to lower drug fees by 0.87% but raise medical service fees by 3.09%, the first increase above 3% in 30 years.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 27, 2025
Efforts to reduce burden on Japan’s working generation still limited
The budget bill allocates a record ¥39.06 trillion for social security-related expenses, up ¥760 billion from fiscal 2025, reflecting a rise in medical and nursing care costs.
A road information board publicizing the newly issued “off the coast of Hokkaido and Sanriku subsequent earthquake advisory” on Wednesday in the city of Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2025
Some care facilities unsure how to respond to new earthquake advisory
Japan’s first-ever megaquake advisory, issued after Monday’s earthquake off the coast of Aomori Prefecture, is set to remain in effect until Monday.
Among older Japanese people who die, a rising number are unmarried and without close relatives.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2025
Japan’s isolated elderly leave record sums to government
In recent years, the aging population has seen soaring numbers of deaths and more people reach the end of their lives with no immediate family.
Masato Edamitsu, the 60-year-old founder of Shinshin Kenko Club, training and guiding his client
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Dec 4, 2025
Japan’s fitness industry is catering to a new clientele: Health-conscious seniors
A fitness survey released by the Sports Agency in October of this year found that seniors today are fitter than they were in 1998.
David Ho, 75, whose 73-year-old ex-wife and son are among the missing people in the deadly fire at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex, at a nearby park in Hong Kong on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Nov 29, 2025
‘Just silence’: Families mourn elderly loved ones after Hong Kong inferno
The subsidized housing complex that went ablaze on Wednesday claimed at least 128 lives, with hundreds still missing.
An elderly couple visits the Tuileries Garden in Paris in 2019.
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2025
Aging populations a ‘ticking time bomb’ for GDP growth, says EBRD
Countries must act now to keep slowing population growth from wreaking havoc on their long-term economic prospects, according to the EBRD’s semiannual report.
A former police officer and another suspect allegedly took a bank card and passbook from a 96-year-old woman, saying that they would manage her money.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 13, 2025
Former Kyoto police officer arrested for defrauding elderly dementia patient
The former officer is a board member of a group based in the city that works with police to provide daily assistance to elderly dementia patients.
Care worker and bodybuilder Hokuto Tatsumi helps a woman train at a care home for people with disabilities operated by Visionary in Aichi prefecture.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 28, 2025
Bodybuilders find new calling in Japan’s struggling care industry
A Nagoya firm is tackling Japan’s caregiver shortage by recruiting bodybuilders — offering gym perks, protein subsidies and purpose.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
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.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
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.
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
Japan's currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.
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.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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