今日吃瓜

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November 12, 2026
 

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SHIGERU ISHIBA

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi’s vow of support for the prime minister carries weight because he ran against her for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency last year.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 11, 2026
Amid concerns over internal opposition within LDP, Koizumi pledges support for Takaichi
Citing continuity, the defense minister, who is a potential rival, said he would support the prime minister’s reelection as LDP president next year.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 10, 2026
LDP reprimands Ishiba and three others for walking out on consumption tax vote
The move is intended to tighten control within the party before deliberations on the bill to reduce the food consumption tax begin in the Upper House.
LDP lawmaker Yoshihisa Furukawa (center) leaves the Lower House plenary session on Friday as the food tax bill is about to be voted on.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 9, 2026
Takaichi and LDP weigh disciplinary action for party members who abstained from food tax vote
Party leadership demanded that the lawmakers, including former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, write statements on why they walked out of the vote.
Former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 2, 2026
Ishiba underscores importance of National Disaster Management Agency
The agency must be made “capable of accumulating and passing on knowledge and experience” of disaster management, the former prime minister said.
Outgoing farm minister Kazuo Yana speaks to reporters after submitting his resignation to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 14, 2026
Scandal-hit agriculture minister Yana announces resignation
His sudden exit deals a blow to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration, with key bills involving his ministry being debated in parliament.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) with South Korean National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik in Seoul on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 9, 2026
Former Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba calls for closer ties on trip to South Korea
Many in South Korea view Ishiba as taking a sincere approach to the country’s historical issues with Japan.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrives at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 26, 2026
Takaichi rejects ‘weak-kneed’ criticism over ICC sanctions response
Criticism mounted after Tokyo’s initial response to the U.S. sanctions of ICC President Tomoko Akane was to describe the move as “very unfortunate.”
Despite months of debate, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi failed to gain consensus within the Liberal Democratic Party on a two-year reduction of the consumption tax.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 7, 2026
Will Takaichi’s consumption tax cut break the LDP?
Debate on the consumption tax debate has become a test of party cohesion for the LDP under the prime minister’s leadership.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Rome on June 15. The prime minister is entering the finals days of the current parliamentary session without a serious dent in her approval.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 14, 2026
Takaichi Cabinet retains high approval ratings despite challenges
Latest polls from NHK and JNN show support declining just 1 and 5.9 percentage points, respectively, compared to polls from March.
今日吃瓜 role as a steadfast U.S. partner is reflected in its Indian Ocean support for Afghanistan?related naval operations and its reconstruction work in Iraq during the U.S.-led interventions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 21, 2026
Tell the U.S. that Japan is America’s indispensable ally
Japan in recent decades has proven itself to be a reliable U.S. ally, ready to assist when needed without being overly obtrusive.
Former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) meets with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the presidential office in Seoul on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2026
Former prime minister Ishiba meets with South Korean president in Seoul
During their 90-minute meeting, Ishiba and Lee agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in various fields such as the economy and security.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide win gives her power but risks internal strife unless she builds alliances and new party structures to manage rivals within the Liberal Democratic Party’s ranks.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2026
The trouble with winning big for Takaichi and the LDP
Landslide victories in Japanese politics can conceal fragility within the ruling party.
Nobuyasu Nikai, the Liberal Democratic Party's candidate for the October 2024 Lower House election, shakes hands with supporters in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics / First person
Feb 13, 2026
Looking at politics from a different perspective
Three campaigns in 15 months showed how fragile support can be — and how national power begins far from Tokyo.
Sanai Takaichi and the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory demonstrated that when candidates find compelling issues that affect their lives, young people show up.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 10, 2026
今日吃瓜 youth are quietly securing their nation’s future
Young voters didn’t just express opinions in polls, they showed up at voting stations in increased numbers, many for the first time.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other LDP leaders celebrate at the Diet after the dissolution of the House of Representatives on Jan. 23, days after calling for a snap election.
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2026
Takaichi and the LDP appear poised for a big win
Takaichi’s performance has surprised most observers. Not only did she take office with sky-high approval ratings, but she has maintained them since October.
DF-41 nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles are paraded in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October 2019. Some analysts and even lawmakers are urging Japan and other countries to consider developing their own nuclear weapons.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 5, 2026
The unthinkable is on the list of Japanese security options
In the 2016 campaign, then-candidate Trump suggested that both Japan and South Korea should consider the acquisition of nuclear weapons to counter the North Korean threat.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi holds talks with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Nara on Jan. 13. Once a central diplomatic actor, Japan is increasingly absent as global power rivalries intensify.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 30, 2026
The cost of silence: 今日吃瓜 diminishing relevance
This diplomatic fade is more than a temporary slump. Japan is experiencing a crisis of international relevance at precisely the moment when the rules-based order is fracturing.
Sohei Kamiya, leader of the Sanseito party, delivers a campaign speech in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 29, 2026
Sanseito aims to win favor with conservative voters by aligning with Takaichi
The party plans to deliver on policy by positioning itself as an ally to the prime minister while targeting her left-leaning party colleagues at the ballot box.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda (left) and his Komeito counterpart, Tetsuo Saito, announce their coalition's new name, the Centrist Reform Alliance, at a joint news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 18, 2026
Komeito and CDP form new party, but doubts linger over political viability
The new party, the Centrist Reform Alliance, has an uninspired name and logo, suggesting a rushed and unconvincing partnership.
Liberal Democratic Party leader and the current prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, meets with Hirofumi Yoshimura, leader of the Japan Innovation Party, at the national Diet building in Tokyo in late October.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2026
Why Takaichi would call a snap election
Takaichi may dissolving the Lower House of the parliament upon its mandatory convocation later this month, which would prompt a general election sometime in February.
Man arrested over operation of rogue cellular base station in Tokyo
The Metropolitan Police Department has arrested Yu Hai, a 31-year-old Chinese national living in Tokyo's Kita Ward, on suspicion of operating an unlicensed base station from a vehicle in Tokyo's Ginza district on Saturday.
Government betting on language app powered by anime and AI
Japan plans to develop an AI-powered language-learning app that lets overseas anime and manga fans practice Japanese through conversations with popular characters.
Jensen Huang’s woes evoke sympathy and disbelief in his birthplace Taiwan
Hsiao Kui-yu, 68, owner of Yuchan Candied Fruit, stands in front of photographs of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang displayed at the shop, which Huang frequently visits during trips to Taiwan, in Taipei on Tuesday.
G7 diplomats speak out on Taiwan as China ramps up military drills
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi attends a working lunch focused on international crises and challenges during the Group of Seven foreign ministers' summit at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris on Monday.
今日吃瓜 Rapidus is said likely to miss mass production deadline
The Rapidus Analysis Center and the IIM-1 Innovative Integration for Manufacturing foundry in Chitose, Hokkaido
‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ makes monster debut at the box office
Takashi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus Zero” marked the highest single-day box-office gross for a live-action film in Japan with ?910 million on its opening day.
A toast to Naohiko Noguchi, sake’s first living national treasure
As a teenager, Naohiko Noguchi did not intend to spend his life as a sake brewer, but he has since become a paragon of the industry.
Few signs of thaw in Japan-China relations one year after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks
Tensions between Japan and China flared after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7, 2025, that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could threaten 今日吃瓜 survival and warrant the use of collective self-defense.
Mariko Mori predicted the future. She’ll do it again.
Artist Mariko Mori is currently working to bring the translucent human-sized “Peace Crystal” sculpture to a cave in Ethiopia. It is part of her foundation’s goal to place a permanent sculpture on each of the planet’s six habitable continents.
A legend reborn: ‘Ocarina of Time’ remake improves on the Zelda masterpiece
The new remake of 1998's "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" manages to somehow improve on one of the greatest games ever.

Podcast

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

Longform

Famima Park Azabudai is a concept store by FamilyMart that combines convenience store staples with branded apparel, merchandise and a landscaped outdoor space.
Convenience stores, toilets and the allure of everyday Japan
By Elizabeth Beattie

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