A group of 20 Japanese lawmakers has formed to regulate the country's booming trading card market, addressing issues like counterfeits and bulk purchases for resale. Chaired by Seiji Kihara, the group aims to enhance market transparency and support the industry's global expansion, following significant domestic growth to 338 billion yen.
Japan saw a 70% surge in business manager visa holders to 46,000 by mid-2025, with Chinese nationals forming about half. However, new visa rules introduced by the ruling LDP in late 2025 are causing concern among immigrant entrepreneurs like Nepalese national Budhathoki Samjhana, who fears expulsion despite contributing to the economy.
Japanese PM Takaichi denies allegations of using anonymous social media accounts to smear opponents during the LDP election, where she became the first female PM and appointed Koizumi as defence minister.
Japan's LDP considers increasing defence spending to 5% of GDP, in line with many NATO members, due to US pressure and Indo-Pacific security concerns.
Alleged dirty tricks in Japan's LDP leadership contest raise stakes beyond internal party politics
A pro-Kremlin Japanese politician has said Russia is trying to arrange a meeting of the two nations’ foreign ministers in July, although analysts suggest that Muneo Suzuki’s efforts to act as a go-between are unlikely to bear fruit. Suzuki, who represents a constituency in Hokkaido and returned to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in 2025 after 23 years as an independent member of the Diet, met senior Russian government officials in Moscow on Monday. Andrey Rudenko, deputy foreign minister in...
Japanese tabloids reveal internal criticism of Sanae Takaichi from within her party, with senior politicians complaining she is acting "like a queen" and has proven harder to control than expected. Veteran male lawmakers oppose her plan to suspend the 8% consumption tax for two years and criticize her meetings with US President Donald Trump as overly fawning. Professor Go Ito of Meiji University says there is a "cleavage within the party based on factional lines."
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is pursuing the first ever revision of her country’s post-World War II pacifist constitution, a step that observers say is likely to be welcomed in Washington and condemned in Beijing. Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secured a historic two-thirds majority in the National Diet’s lower house in February’s election, passing the threshold needed to pass constitutional amendments without other parties’ support. “An independent constitutional amendment...
