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July 12, 2026
 

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MEDICINE

A specialist in electromedical equipment works at the provincial electromedical workshop in Havana.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 10, 2026
Cuban lives cut short as health system flatlines
Once the communist revolution’s crowning glory, the health system is now on life support, with the tightening of U.S. sanctions and an energy crisis pushing it to the brink.
The health ministry said that it will hold off on strengthening regulations against secondhand smoke emitted from heated tobacco products, citing a lack of scientific evidence concerning its health risks.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 9, 2026
Japan shelves beefing up regulations for heated tobacco products
Some public health experts have advocated for tougher measures against heated tobacco products, saying the ministry should apply precautionary principles.
Notebooks and related materials seized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, on Tuesday in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 8, 2026
Three arrested in Japan over illegal brokering of overseas organ transplant
It was the first time for Japanese police to take action against suspected organ transplant mediation for fees, according to Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department.
Toru Miyanaga, Suntory chief strategy officer, notes that the demand for self-care products will likely grow.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 7, 2026
Suntory sees opportunity in the OTC medicine business
The drinks maker is acquiring Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare and already has a health foods subsidiary.
A bloodstained helmet worn by an ambulance crew member who became involved in a case of violent abuse against the crew
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2026
Violence toward ambulance crews in Tokyo higher in 2025 and rising this year
Incidents not only impact the well-being of emergency personnel but also reduce the availability of emergency services for others.
Takashi Yonekawa, deputy head of the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on June 24.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2026
Kenporen seeks medical insurance reform talks
Japan should engage in discussions involving all stakeholders on whether and how to revise its public medical insurance system, deputy head Takashi Yonekawa said.
Employees at the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Kinshasa, Congo, on Wednesday
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 6, 2026
Experimental Ebola trial begins in Congo as death toll tops 500
The outbreak has already infected almost 1,600 people in Congo and seeded a small number of linked cases in neighboring Uganda.
Japan Cleft Palate Foundation Executive Director Nagato Natsume (second from left) examines a child at Nguyen Dinh Chieu General Hospital in Vinh Long province, Vietnam. Natsume is part of a Japanese team that carries out volunteer overseas missions to provide free surgery to people born with cleft lips or palates.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Chubu
Jul 6, 2026
Japanese doctors mark 34 years of free cleft-lip surgeries in Vietnam
In many developing countries, treatment for cleft lips or palates is often delayed because of financial hardship and limited access to specialized care.
Health workers receive a patient at the Rwampara General Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May.
WORLD
Jul 3, 2026
More than 400 dead in Congo’s spreading Ebola outbreak
The highly infectious disease has had a fatality rate of just over 31% since the outbreak was declared in May.
Clinical trials are being planned in Japan where modified pig kidneys would be transplanted into humans.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 29, 2026
Two hospitals in Japan to conduct pig-to-human kidney transplant clinical trials in 2028
The startup spun out of Meiji University said it would aim to obtain production and marketing authorization after confirming their safety through the trials.
Takeda Pharmaceutical is targeting a return on equity of at least 5% over that time, the company's newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Julie Kim said at her first news conference after assuming the top job this week.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 26, 2026
Takeda sees return to growth within three years, new CEO says
The company is targeting a return on equity of at least 5% over that time, Julie Kim said at her first news conference after assuming the top job this week.
A healthcare worker takes samples from a patient suffering from Ebola.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 26, 2026
Ebola scientists lack access to virus samples behind Congo’s largest Bundibugyo outbreak
The issue highlights growing disputes over pathogen sharing and the difficulty of moving infectious materials across borders for research.
Researchers are able to use cow tendons in humans without triggering an immune response through a unique “decellularization” technology.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 25, 2026
Cow tendons eyed as ligament material for ACL reconstruction surgery
One of the researchers involved hopes to eventually apply the cow-derived material to the reconstruction of other ligaments in the knee, as well as in the ankle and inner elbow.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks with international health officials from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Ugandan health authorities during a news conference at the Ebola isolation unit at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, on June 8.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 25, 2026
Global Ebola risk ‘remains low,’ WHO chief says after France case
France announced its first confirmed case of Ebola identified on its territory: a doctor who had flown back from the Congo.
A Pfizer logo is shown at a research facility in San Diego, California. Cancer patients given the Phizer drug sigvotatug vedotin didn’t live significantly longer than those given standard therapy.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 23, 2026
Pfizer’s lung cancer drug trial fails to boost survival
Patients given the drug, called sigvotatug vedotin, didn’t live significantly longer than those given standard therapy.
A doctor wearing protective gear stands near an ambulance at an Ebola treatment center in Bunia, eastern Congo, on Monday.
WORLD / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Jun 19, 2026
The vaccines and treatments being developed for Ebola outbreak
Scientists, pharmaceutical companies and funding bodies have been racing to develop new vaccines and treatments that can be swiftly and safely tested in humans.
Yasuo Urata, the president and CEO of Oncolys BioPharma, said in an interview Wednesday in Tokyo that he wants to develop treatments that improve the quality of life for patients.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 18, 2026
Oncolys president reflects on long journey to world-first cancer treatment
Yasuo Urata hopes the newly approved viral therapy will improve quality of life for esophageal cancer patients.
Volunteers wearing protective equipment prepare to recover the body of a 3-year-old child presumed to have died from Ebola in Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Thursday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 14, 2026
Health workers struggle to contain Ebola in Congo camps as distrust grows
Since the Ebola outbreak was ​declared a month ago, several treatment sites have been attacked by locals ​angry about not being able to bury their loved ones.
A Japanese startup tested a catheter injection of iPS heart muscle cells on a patient at Shinshu University Hospital in late March.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 13, 2026
Japan startup tests catheter injection of iPS heart muscle cells
The Tokyo-based company hopes to develop a minimally invasive treatment method that does not require surgery.
Health workers retrieve the body of an unidentified Ebola victim in Mongbwalu, a gold mining town in Congo.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 12, 2026
A cracked coffin, a funeral and the hunt for Ebola’s patient zero
The Ebola outbreak has caused about 635 confirmed infections and at least 127 deaths in eastern Congo, but the true toll could be much higher, officials say.
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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