News On Japan
June 27, 2026
TOKYO - Transport disruption from Typhoon No. 7 (Mekkhala) widened further on June 26, with airlines extending weather-related ticket handling to Tokyo airports for June 27 and JR East announcing planned suspensions and reduced service on several conventional lines as the storm moves along Japan’s Pacific side.
Image of Typhoon No. 7 Travel Disruptions Extend to June 27

As of 4 p.m. on June 26, Typhoon No. 7 was near Amami Oshima and moving northeast while Typhoon No. 8 was over waters south of Japan, with the two storms forecast to approach Tokai and Kanto in succession on June 27 and bring two waves of heavy rain, raising the risk of flooding, landslides and river overflows from western Japan to the Tokyo region.

Japan advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup after a 1-1 draw with Sweden on June 25, finishing second in Group F and setting up a Round of 32 clash with Brazil in Houston.


SOCIETY | June 27, 2026
Shinjuku Ward, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department have jointly established a Kabukicho measures council to strengthen efforts to prevent young people known as "Toyoko Kids" from being drawn into crime in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district.
Image of Police Set Up Kabukicho Council To Protect Toyoko Kids

A 23-year-old Chinese man has been arrested and sent to prosecutors on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in injury after allegedly crashing a Porsche into two vehicles at an intersection in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward on June 9, leaving three people with minor injuries.

The number of people with dementia or suspected dementia who were reported missing to police totaled 17,345 in 2025, down by nearly 800 from the previous year but still at a high level, according to a National Police Agency summary.

Removal work has finally begun on a massive hose that washed ashore on the coast of Shika, Ishikawa Prefecture, six months ago, but crews are already facing difficulties because the structure is filled with a large volume of water.

A 50-year-old woman has been arrested in Kobe on suspicion of abandoning the dismembered body of her former husband in a large freezer at a condominium unit, where she allegedly continued paying rent for more than 14 years while hiding his death.


KYOTO - Damage was reported across the Kansai region as a stationary seasonal rain front and an approaching typhoon brought heavy rain, triggering landslides in Seika, Kyoto Prefecture, and flooding in other areas.
Image of Kyoto Town Issues Highest-Level Safety Alert After Landslides

A powerful earthquake with a maximum seismic intensity of upper 6 struck off Iwate Prefecture at around 7:30 a.m. on June 25, shaking parts of Aomori Prefecture and leaving Hachinohe, which was hit by a similarly strong quake last December, facing fresh damage.

Rice field art depicting Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his dog Decoy is nearing its best viewing period in Oshu, Iwate Prefecture, Ohtani’s hometown.

FamilyMart began testing a new bear deterrent on June 24 at a store in a mountainous area of Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, installing a wolf-shaped device known as Monster Wolf next to the outlet in the first such trial at a convenience store.

A luxury hotel using the former Nara Prison, a nationally designated Important Cultural Property, will open on June 25, offering rooms from 147,000 yen per night as Japan sees a growing trend of converting historic cultural assets into hotels.


TOKYO - Japan’s political agenda on June 26 was dominated by national security, election regulation and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s push to reshape the country’s long-term economic strategy, as the Diet advanced measures that point to a broader shift in how the government is preparing for defense, technology and political campaigning.
Image of Japan Politics Daily: Diet Moves On Defense And Election Rules

The Takaichi government said on June 24 that public and private investment in 17 strategic fields, including AI and semiconductors, is expected to exceed 370 trillion yen by 2040, as it seeks to draw out private-sector spending and turn advanced technologies into economic growth.

A cross-party national council discussing a reduction in the consumption tax on food will present a draft proposal on June 24 calling for the rate to be lowered to 1% from April next year.


Japan Access, Japan's leading general food wholesaler, is expanding the potential of food logistics with frozen-to-chilled processing, a system that stores products frozen and thaws them only when orders arrive before shipping them to retailers as chilled goods.

A U.S. family took part in a Japanese school experience program at a former school building in Chiba Prefecture, joining calligraphy, disaster drills, school lunch duty and a sports day-style event in a six-hour program that has attracted more than 200 foreign participants since it began about a year ago.

Japan will face Brazil in the Round of 32 at Houston Stadium at 2:00 a.m. Japan time on June 30, with Hajime Moriyasu’s side seeking the first knockout-stage victory in the country’s World Cup history against the five-time champions and one of the tournament’s most dangerous attacking teams.

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OIL CRISIS | June 27, 2026
TOKYO - Crude oil prices have plunged to the low $70 range per barrel following the signing of a memorandum aimed at ending fighting between the United States and Iran, but while the immediate risk of an energy crisis appears to have eased, economists warn that price increases for electricity, food and everyday goods may still be about to intensify.
Image of Crude Falls Toward Earlier Levels As Household Costs Keep Climbing

Japan will begin a new system on June 23 to sell paint and thinner directly from manufacturers to construction firms and other businesses, aiming to ease supply bottlenecks and curb price increases as worsening conditions in the Middle East make such materials harder to obtain.

Japan's reliance on Middle Eastern crude oil has left manufacturers exposed to rising costs for plastic containers, ink and other products that use naphtha, but JEPLAN President Masaki Takao is pushing a recycling technology that could reduce the need for petroleum-derived raw materials by turning used plastic back into material close to new.

A rice ball chain based in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, is feeling the effects of turmoil in the Middle East through higher costs and supply shortages for packaging film and other materials essential to selling onigiri.

The global oil market could face a major supply surplus in 2027 if the United States and Iran maintain an agreement aimed at ending hostilities, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly report released on June 17.


BUSINESS | June 27, 2026
TOKYO - Tokyo stocks fell sharply on June 26 as investors locked in profits from Japan’s record-setting AI-driven rally, with SoftBank Group and chip-related shares leading a broad retreat after reports that OpenAI may delay its initial public offering.
Image of Nikkei Tumbles As AI Rally Reverses

Japanese households held 2,386 trillion yen in financial assets at the end of March, up 7.1% from a year earlier, as rising share prices, wider use of the new NISA investment program and the weaker yen lifted the value of assets held by individuals.

The sale of religious corporations that operate temples and shrines across Japan is drawing growing scrutiny from authorities, who fear the transactions could be used for tax evasion and money laundering, as brokers openly advertise properties and corporate status for tens or even hundreds of millions of yen.

The Nikkei Stock Average fell for a second straight session in Tokyo as investors locked in profits from a rapid rally in artificial intelligence and semiconductor-related shares, briefly sending the benchmark down more than 1,300 yen before bargain hunting helped it recover part of the loss.

Imabari Shipbuilding, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Namura Shipbuilding are aiming to resume construction of liquefied natural gas carriers around 2035, as Japan’s shipbuilding industry looks for a path to recovery after losing much of the global market to lower-cost rivals in South Korea and China.