Thursday, July 23, 2026

Japan's summer has turned lethal. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 10,857 people were taken to hospital by ambulance for heatstroke in the week through July 19, more than double the same week a year earlier and the first weekly total above 10,000 this season; 14 died, and more than 60% of those hurt were 65 or older (via The Japan Times). The heat only sharpened after that: on July 22 the mercury hit 40.6 C in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, and topped 40 in Gifu and Shizuoka, triggering Japan's newly coined 'kokushobi' (brutally hot day) alerts for a second straight day (via The Japan Times).

The bears are coming indoors. Police in Iwate Prefecture fielded a call from a family who found a bear inside their home, where it had opened the fridge and scattered the contents before wandering off (via The Japan Times). It fits a grim run: bears have killed at least five people in the Tohoku region since April, after a record 13 fatal maulings nationwide the previous fiscal year, and authorities are now rolling out more than 800 cameras to track the animals.

Drunk drivers face a hard new number. Japan enacted a revision spelling out exactly when reckless driving crosses into the far more serious crime of 'dangerous driving': a breath-alcohol reading of 0.5 milligrams per liter or more, or blowing past the speed limit by over 50 kph. The offense carries up to 20 years in prison, against seven for negligent driving (via The Japan Times).

The honeymoon is fading for Japan's first woman prime minister. Sanae Takaichi's cabinet approval slipped below 50% in July polling, with a Jiji Press survey putting support at 49.0%, its lowest since she took office in October, as voters bristled at her decision to prioritize divisive legislation over cost-of-living relief (via The Japan Times).

Japan rewrote its imperial rulebook but left its biggest fault line untouched. Parliament passed the first substantive revision to the Imperial House Law in nearly 80 years, letting the shrinking royal family adopt male heirs from former branch lineages and allowing princesses to keep their status after marrying commoners. It kept the male-only succession rule intact, drawing a rebuke from a UN women's rights committee (via The Japan Times).

The Quad met in Manila and talked tough on the sea without naming the elephant. Foreign ministers from Japan, the US, Australia and India, including Japan's Toshimitsu Motegi, singled out maritime security in Southeast Asia amid South China Sea tensions, yet pointedly avoided mentioning China in their joint statement (via The Japan Times).

How rich is the average Japanese lawmaker? Newly disclosed filings put the average declared assets of Lower House members at 32.82 million yen, a figure the disclosure rules exist precisely to surface (via The Japan Times).

The yen is in free fall. It slid to 163 per dollar at the July 22 close, its weakest since 1986, as Middle East tensions lifted oil and investors fretted over Prime Minister Takaichi's expansionary fiscal plan (via Nikkei Asia). Stocks, by contrast, have been on a tear, with the Nikkei 225 topping 71,000 for the first time in mid-June (via The Japan Times).

Japan's heat wave is now a wallet problem. The day-ahead wholesale electricity price jumped to 24.78 yen per kilowatt-hour, up 24% in a week and the highest in three and a half years, as blistering temperatures, a weak yen and rising fuel costs landed at once (via The Japan Times).

Two of Japan's biggest customer bases are about to pool their points. SoftBank's PayPay and convenience-store giant Seven & i Holdings are in final talks to combine loyalty programs and share data, uniting roughly 100 million users to challenge Rakuten and NTT Docomo (via Nikkei Asia).

Toyota's trading arm wants to mine your scrap heap. Toyota Tsusho plans to spend 1.2 trillion yen (about $7.4 billion) by March 2028 to become the world's largest metal-scrap recycler, pulling rare metals from waste without owning a single mine (via Nikkei Asia).

Japan wants to write the rules for AI and chips, not just follow them. The government is creating a senior 'chief standards' role to push domestic technology as global benchmarks in artificial intelligence and semiconductors, part of Takaichi's growth strategy to help Japanese firms compete after falling behind (via Nikkei Asia).

AI is supposed to be a gold rush, so why is NEC getting punished? The IT group's shares have dropped nearly 20% since year-end, badly lagging the Nikkei's roughly 30% climb, as investors worry AI could hollow out traditional software firms; the CEO is pushing back and eyeing overseas acquisitions (via Nikkei Asia).

The world's drone makers are shopping in Japan. At the Farnborough air show, defense firms including Anduril, showing off its Fury drone, are courting Japanese precision-parts suppliers such as Nidec and MinebeaMitsumi to lock down their global supply chains (via Nikkei Asia).

Japanese live-action cinema has vanished from its own box-office elite. Not a single homegrown live-action film now sits in the country's top 10 highest-earning movies, a list ruled by anime and Hollywood, and the reasons say a lot about how Japan watches films these days (via Japan Today).

Two heavyweight names are anchoring Tokyo's summer galleries. Photographer and architect Hiroshi Sugimoto returns with his first major solo photography show in Japan since 2005, while sculptor Ron Mueck brings his unsettling, hyperreal human figures to the Mori Art Museum (via Tokyo Weekender).

Here is one show that dares you to steal from it. Gigamart, open at Azabudai Hills Gallery, turns a gallery visit into a game that challenges players to lift the art off the walls (via Tokyo Weekender).

Yoshinobu Yamamoto picked the perfect stage for a first. The Dodgers ace threw his first MLB regular-season complete game, holding the Yankees to two runs on four hits in an 8-2 win in the opener of a July 19 doubleheader at Yankee Stadium (via Kyodo News).

A rising star is one step from sumo's second-highest rank. Sekiwake Aonishiki notched his 10th win on Day 11 of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament to seize sole possession of the lead, putting a return to ozeki within reach (via Kyodo News).

Seiya Suzuki keeps mashing, even in defeat. He belted his 16th home run of the season, a two-run shot, but the Cubs fell 8-6 to the Tigers in extra innings at Wrigley Field on July 20 (via Kyodo News).

Kyogo Furuhashi is taking his goals to Los Angeles. The former Japan and Celtic striker signed with the LA Galaxy through 2030-31, joining compatriots Maya Yoshida and Miki Yamane in MLS (via Kyodo News).

The most coveted amateur in Japanese baseball chose the majors. Stanford slugger Rintaro Sasaki said he will begin his pro career with the Miami Marlins, spurning the SoftBank Hawks after both clubs drafted him (via Kyodo News).