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August 13, 2026
 

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KOJI

In an effort to move past its troubled legacy, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical has replaced its president twice and appointed an external chairman.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 8, 2025
Despite leadership changes, Kobayashi Pharma still struggling with reform
The Osaka-based company has replaced its president twice and appointed an external chairman, seeking to reduce the influence of the founding family seen as a cause of the scandal.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical President Norikazu Toyoda in Osaka on May 30
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical vows never to repeat health crisis
In March 2024, the drugmaker, based in Osaka, announced that it had received a series of reports about such symptoms as kidney disease from users of its supplements.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical President and CEO Satoshi Yamane apologizes for the company's health hazard scandal involving its supplement products during a news conference in Osaka on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 11, 2025
Kobayashi Pharma logs first net profit drop since 1999 listing
The company¡¯s net profit plunged 50.5% in the aftermath of a health scandal involving its supplements, which emerged last year.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical executives bow their heads at a news conference in Osaka in March following a health hazard scandal involving the firm's supplements containing red fermented rice.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 29, 2025
Hong Kong fund to sue former Kobayashi Pharma execs
The fund will seek a total of roughly ?11 billion in damages from former Chairman Kazumasa Kobayashi and six then-board directors.
While many patients showed improvement in Fanconi syndrome, 87% still had kidney function indicators below standard levels despite two months having passed since Kobayashi Pharmaceutical urged consumers to stop taking the supplement.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 8, 2025
Tainted beni k¨­ji supplement linked to persistent kidney damage, study finds
The Osaka University study analyzed data from patients who reported health issues between late March and late April 2024.
Staff work at a sake brewery in Fukushima Prefecture in October. Sake, a traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage made from grains and water, holds deep cultural significance in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 5, 2024
UNESCO panel recommends sake brewing for intangible cultural heritage list
A UNESCO intergovernmental committee meeting in December is expected to make a final decision on its inclusion in the Representative List.
A Kobayashi Pharmaceutical factory in Osaka
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma sued in Taiwan over beni k¨­ji products
A group filed the lawsuit with the Taipei District Court against six firms including a Taiwanese unit of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical and an importer in Taiwan.
Health ministry officials inspect the Wakayama factory of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical in March after reports of health damage surfaced among people who took the firm's red yeast rice supplements.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 18, 2024
Puberulic acid confirmed as source of beni k¨­ji health issues
The substance produced by blue mold was the cause of kidney problems suffered by consumers of the Kobayashi Pharma supplements, the health ministry said.
Officials of the Osaka Municipal Government enter Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's factory, which was closed in December, in the city of Osaka on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 1, 2024
Japan makes supplement health damage reports mandatory
The measure is aimed at enabling administrative authorities to quickly grasp related information and prevent the spread of health damage.
Roasting cauliflower can seem daunting when its already hot outside, but the flavors here more than make up for slaving over a hot stove for a bit.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Aug 25, 2024
With a bit of Â鶹´«Ã½ ¡®national mold,¡¯ cauliflower becomes a superstar
Picallili is a style of lightly spiced cauliflower mustard pickle, the result of South Asian flavors integrated into colonial British cuisine.
Former Kobayashi Pharmaceutical President Akihiro Kobayashi (right) and Satoshi Yamane, the new president, bow in apology over health problems caused by its beni k¨­ji products, during a news conference in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 8, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma to withdraw from beni k¨­ji product segment
The firm said it would offer compensation to those who suffered health problems linked to their products and prevent a recurrence of the incident.
As of Sunday, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical reported 279 deaths and 2,274 hospital visits due to health issues related to its beni k¨­ji supplements, among which 461 required hospitalization.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 23, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma¡¯s president and chairperson resign over health scandal
For the first time in its history, someone outside of the Osaka-based drugmaker¡¯s founding family will become its president.
Health ministry officials enter Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's plant in the city of Osaka on March 30.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 28, 2024
Dozens more deaths may be linked to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical¡¯s supplements
The ministry has instructed Kobayashi Pharmaceutical to create a plan to carry out a probe into the causal relationships between the deaths and their products.
A lawyer representing a consumer organization speaks during a meeting held to call for stricter regulations on "functional foods," in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
May 24, 2024
Mandatory reporting of ¡®functional food¡¯ health problems proposed
The Consumer Affairs Agency panel discussed reforms in response to health problems caused by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical supplement products.
A pack of dietary supplements designated by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical as a functional food.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 30, 2024
Japan panel reviewing ¡®functional foods¡¯ label system
The system has been criticized for leaving it entirely up to functional food makers to guarantee the safety of their products.
Health ministry officials enter Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's factory in the city of Osaka on March 30.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 26, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma to cover bills of people who got ill after taking supplements
The Osaka company¡¯s board has also set up a third-party panel to probe the company¡¯s handling of the issue.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's Tokyo office. The company has received 88,000 inquiries about health damage from its supplements.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 20, 2024
More unexpected compounds found in Kobayashi Pharma¡¯s beni k¨­ji supplements
At least two compounds not normally found in the supplements were detected in an analysis of ingredient samples.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's headquarters in Osaka
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 11, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma troubles reverberate in Taiwan as firm assists with recall
Taiwan is the only place outside of Japan to have seen reports of people falling ill after consuming the company¡¯s beni k¨­ji.
Health ministry officials head to a Kobayashi Pharmaceutical factory in the city of Osaka on March 30 to conduct a search of the premises.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 9, 2024
Kidney doctors report 95 health complaints linked to beni k¨­ji pills
So far, five people have died, 212 people have been hospitalized and 1,224 others have sought medical treatment after taking the supplements.
A building in Osaka's Chuo Ward housing the Kobayashi Pharmaceutical headquarters
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 7, 2024
Government holds hearings at Kobayashi Pharmaceutical on supplements
Of those who took the supplements, five people have died and 196 people have been hospitalized so far.
Gut bacteria may be behind many of Â鶹´«Ã½ colorectal cancer cases
A Japanese research team found that a toxin produced by certain E. coli strains, colibactin, caused genetic mutations in nearly half of colorectal cancer cases studied
¡®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.
She is Russia¡¯s richest woman. Her business empire is going up in flames.
Tatyana Kim, the head and co-founder of Wildberries, speaks about Ukrainian drone attacks on the company's warehouses in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image from a handout video released on July 31.
Severe tropical storm Chan-hom makes landfall near Tokyo
Severe Tropical Storm Chan-hom made landfall around Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Tuesday night.
What Â鶹´«Ã½ language rules for permanent residency should look like
Potential health care workers hoping to find work in Japan take Japanese language instruction in Jakarta. Not all applicants for permanent residency should be expected to reach this level of proficiency.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®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.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.
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.

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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