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August 11, 2026
 

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FOOD

Japan's food self-sufficiency ratio, which stood at ?37% in fiscal 2025, has remained below 40% for ?more than a decade despite ?government efforts to boost domestic production of heavily imported crops.
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ food self-sufficiency ratio falls to 37%, well below 2030 goal of 45%
The ?ratio is among the lowest of developed economies and underscores the country¡¯s vulnerability ?to food supply disruptions amid heightened geopolitical ?tensions.
A restaurant in Tokyo in August 2024. Restaurant operators are poised to expand take-home meals to cope with a wider tax gap between eat-in meals and takeout foods.
BUSINESS
Aug 6, 2026
Japanese businesses brace for tax cut
Restaurant operators are poised to expand take-home meals, such as bento boxed meals and other precooked dishes, to cope with a wider tax gap between eat-in meals and takeout.
The effort to cut consumption tax on food has created a rift between Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and several senior members of her own party who are openly critical of the plan.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 5, 2026
Takaichi¡¯s Cabinet approves consumption tax cut on food
While the majority of the Liberal Democratic Party endorsed the cut, some party veterans opposed lowering the tax rate, fearing it will lead to economic and political chaos.
Volunteer Vicky Parthasarathy (right) believes that people from various cultures can understand each other better through food.
COMMUNITY
Aug 2, 2026
This children¡¯s cafeteria in Shikoku serves up free meals and global perspectives
As immigration becomes an increasingly contentious issue in Japan, a children¡¯s cafeteria in Shikoku is bridging cultural gaps, one hot meal at a time.
A recent cyberattack impeded systems at major Japanese frozen food maker Nichirei, significantly affecting related industries, including restaurant chains.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2026
Japan adopts cybersecurity policy for early threat detection
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi voiced her hopes for Japan to have ¡°one of the world¡¯s highest levels of cyber defense¡± during a cybersecurity meeting.
The total number of food and beverage products subject to price hikes this year, including already announced planned hikes, reached 18,347.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2026
Prices of 2,311 food products to rise in Japan in August
The number soared 83.1% from a year earlier, reflecting rising materials and logistics costs amid tensions in the Middle East.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a meeting with Liberal Democratic Party executives at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 30, 2026
Takaichi announces plan to lower consumption tax rate on food to 1%
The decision comes despite opposition party criticism and concerns among fellow LDP members about how lost revenue ¡ª ?5 trillion annually ¡ª from the reduction would be covered.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Itsunori Onodera, who chairs the National Council, speaks in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 29, 2026
Takaichi finalizing plan to cut consumption tax rate on food products
The prime minister is expected to make a formal decision on the matter as early as Thursday.
Bags of rice displayed for sale at a store in Aichi Prefecture. The amount of domestic rice consumed in the year from July 2025 hit a record low of 6.83 million tons on a preliminary basis in terms of brown rice.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2026
Japan sees record low consumption of domestic rice following shortages
The decline in domestic rice consumption is largely due to an increase in rice imports that came as domestic prices jumped in the wake of severe shortages in summer 2024 and later.
Hitoshi Kikawada, minister for consumer affairs and food safety, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 28, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ consumer agency certifies food banks for first time
The certification program was rolled out in response to concerns over risks such as food poisoning and the resale of donated food items.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a budget committee session at the Lower House in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 27, 2026
After a legislative sweep, Takaichi faces public confidence test
A recent poll shows 71% of respondents disapproved of the government¡¯s response to rising living costs as talks remain stalled over a reduction of the consumption tax for food.
Staff grill eels at Yatsumeya Nishimura's Meguro outlet in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2026
Eel draws long lines on Day of Ox despite scorching heat in Tokyo
Japanese people traditionally eat grilled eel on the midsummer Day of the Ox, believing it helps replenish energy and endure the summer heat.
A combine harvester reaps a field of wheat early in the season due to France's current and late June heat wave in Marly-lez-Valenciennes, northern France, on July 7.
WORLD
Jul 23, 2026
Heat and war deal Europe¡¯s grain harvest biggest blow in decades
High temperatures are expected to cut the region¡¯s corn crop to the smallest in 19 years, as the Middle East conflict conflict has pushed up fuel and fertilizer costs.
A cyberattack on Nichirei last week caused disruptions to shipments at refrigerated warehouses and deliveries of frozen-food products.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 22, 2026
Hacker group RansomHouse claims responsibility for cyberattack on Nichirei
RansomHouse has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on several Japanese businesses, including a ransomware attack in October on office-supplies retailer Askul.
Yumiko Watanabe, the chairperson of nonprofit Kidsdoor, explains the results of a survey in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on July 1.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 21, 2026
Low-income families in Japan cut food and air conditioning during summer break
The financial strain is affecting parents¡¯ mental health, with 44% of survey respondents saying they always or often feel extremely depressed when thinking about summer vacation.
Nichirei headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday
BUSINESS
Jul 18, 2026
Nichirei to fully resume operations as early as next week
The company on Friday partially restarted operations at refrigerated warehouses and food factories, by accepting limited orders from client companies.
LDP lawmaker Itsunori Onodera (right), who chairs the National Council on Social Security, in Tokyo on Thursday
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 16, 2026
Parties agree on new benefit program but stay divided over consumption tax on food
While there is agreement to a refundable tax credit for certain workers, debate on cutting the consumption tax on food is expected to intensify.
The Aeon supermarket chain saw stock shortages due to a supply disruption following a cyberattack on food distributor Nichirei.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 16, 2026
Nichirei getting back online after cyberattack hit KFC supplies
Cyberattacks are becoming a recurring operational risk for Japanese companies, with incidents increasingly disrupting more than just internal IT systems.
Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan says it may scale back its menu after a system failure at one of its logistics contractors disrupted food deliveries to stores across the country.
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2026
KFC Japan may cut menu as logistics outage disrupts deliveries
The fast-food giant says product shortages, reduced menus and changes to opening hours are possible due to the disruption.
The humble egg, a popular food in West Bengal, was taken off the menu after the state's recently elected Hindu nationalist government said a religious charity will provide free, vegetarian cooked meals in state-run schools.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 14, 2026
Egg-free school meals scramble politics in India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi¡¯s party often promotes vegetarianism as a part of its nationalist agenda, although most Indian Hindus eat meat and fish.
America¡¯s cyberforces grapple with cluster of deaths by suicide
The U.S. Cyber Command building (center) stands on the National Security Agency campus at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Many Indonesians named after Japanese anime characters
Some people in Indonesia are named Doraemon, the name of a lead character of the blockbuster anime series with the same title.
Yasukuni Shrine introduces ban on military attire and cosplay
People gather in front of thousands of lanterns on display at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on July 15 during the Mitama Matsuri, one of the capital's largest summer o-Bon festivals.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn't just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it's an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.
J. League enters new era as league kicks off first fall-spring campaign
Players from each J. League club pose during a kickoff event on Monday ahead of the start of the 2026-27 campaign.
Speaking Japanese at the movies with ¡®Chiikawa¡¯
A "Chiikawa The Movie" poster is seen at Toho Cinemas in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
How Â鶹´«Ã½ racehorses find second careers away from the track
TCC Therapy Park is supported financially by racing organizations as well as donations from members of the public.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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