Anyway, Kasuga-taisha - which has been rebuilt over the centuries since its founding as the Fujiwara family shrine in 768 CE - is badass and beautiful, and you should go.

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Takahashi Matsuri reportedly worked 130 hours of overtime a month before her death. Her employer, Dentsu, was accused of compelling employees to work cruel hours while also falsifying their overtime reports to avoid government scrutiny.

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Takaichi's gov plans to lift some restrictions on working hours. That concerns Yukimi, who says "[the PM] ought to know why survivors have strived to prevent karōshi." She's pleading with the government not to reverse the progress that Japan has made since then.

According to Mie Prefecture officials, Mie is one of 12 prefectures in Japan that currently has no nationality requirement for hiring.

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The head of Tokyo Bus said the move is necessary, as his company can't fill bus driver positions with Japanese workers even after raising wages.

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Buses are a common and cheap method of cross-country travel in Japan. They're becoming even more popular as some operators add sleeper beds so that customers don't have to pay rising hotel rates for overnight stays.

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Bus operators are working to eliminate the seat block by removing options such as combini pay for seat reservations.

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There are more immigrants in Japan than ever, with the country setting new records for 12 consecutive years. However, that may change if Japan's current anti-foreigner wave continues to gather steam.

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Even though nursing homes across Japan remain chronically short-staffed, the Japanese government lowered the cap on Specified Skilled Worker 1 visas, from 820,000 in 2024 to 805,700 this year.

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At the Ai no Hana Nursing Home, 12 of its 35 workers are from Myanmar, the Philippines, Bolivia, and elsewhere. The facility says that their ambition has helped them raise both their Japanese knowledge & caregiver skills to the point where they're widely praised by residents and families.

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Japan has long had one of the world's strongest passports. However, few Japanese even have one. Passport ownership and usage are expected to decline further as the weak yen makes it hard (if not impossible) for many to afford international travel.

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