News archive
Past daily articles for learners.
- daily life
Japan's first September five-day break since 2015: Sept 19-23, so do your paperwork first
Japan has a five-day run of days off this month, from Saturday September 19 to Wednesday September 23. Respect for the Aged Day falls on Monday the 21st and the Autumnal Equinox on Wednesday the 23rd; because the 22nd sits between two national holidays, the Public Holidays Act turns it into a citizens' holiday. It is the first September break this long since 2015. Plan around it: city and ward offices, Immigration Services Agency counters and banks are closed, so residence certificates and residence-status applications have to wait until the break ends. Many clinics also close, so refill regular medication beforehand. Shinkansen reserved seats and popular hotels fill up early, and some municipalities shift garbage collection or bulky-waste booking days, so check your local notice in advance.
N5N4N3N2N1 - daily life
September 9 is Japan's Emergency Day: when to call 119, and when to dial #7119 instead
September 9 is Japan's "Emergency Day", and the surrounding Sunday-to-Saturday week is Emergency Medical Week, run by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare together with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency; this year it falls on September 6-12. Preliminary agency figures show ambulances were dispatched about 7.69 million times in 2025 and carried about 6.76 million people, just below the record set the year before. The practical message for residents: if there is chest pain, trouble breathing or clouded consciousness, call 119 at once - both the call and the ambulance are free in Japan. If you genuinely cannot tell whether it is an emergency, the #7119 advice line connects you to doctors, nurses and staff with ambulance experience who listen to the symptoms and tell you whether to be seen and how to give first aid; it now runs in roughly forty areas, so check whether your own city has it. For a child's sudden illness, #8000 works in all 47 prefectures, and the free "Q-suke" app rates how urgent your symptoms look. Many fire departments can also take a 119 call in a foreign language through a three-way interpreter, so it is worth saving these numbers in your phone before you ever need them.
N5N4N3N2N1 - daily life
JLPT applications close September 7: December 6 test, 7,500 yen for every level
Applications for this year's second Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) inside Japan opened on August 24 and close at 5 p.m. on Monday, September 7. The test is held on Sunday, December 6, and the fee is 7,500 yen (tax included) for every level from N5 to N1. Applying is online only: create a MyJLPT account first, then apply and pay by credit card, bank transfer or convenience store. Test vouchers can be viewed online from November 17 and are mailed by November 20; results appear online in late January 2027, with paper certificates sent in late February. Because applicant numbers keep rising, the organiser warns that a site may stop accepting entries before the deadline once it is full, so it is safer to apply early than to wait for the last day.
N5N4N3N2N1 - daily life
From Today, Narrow Residential Roads in Japan Are 30 km/h by Law
From September 1, 2026, the default legal speed limit on Japan's so-called living roads (生活道路) falls from 60 km/h to 30 km/h. The lower limit applies automatically to ordinary roads that have no posted speed-limit sign and no center line, lane markings, or median separating the two directions of traffic. The National Police Agency estimates that about 70 percent of ordinary roads nationwide fit that description. Roads with a posted sign still follow the sign, and roads with a center line stay at 60 km/h unless a sign says otherwise. The change targets narrow streets where pedestrians and cyclists share space with cars: once a collision happens above roughly 30 km/h, a pedestrian's risk of being killed rises sharply. Practical takeaway for anyone who drives in Japan: when you turn into a narrow street, look for a speed sign. If there is no sign and no center line, assume 30 km/h.
N5N4N3N2N1 - daily life
Japan's other hay fever season: ragweed pollen peaks in September
Hay fever in Japan is not only a spring problem. From late summer into autumn, pollen from low weeds is in the air: ragweed (butakusa), mugwort (yomogi) and Japanese hop (kanamugura). Ragweed, the most common of them, flies from around mid-August to mid-October and peaks in September; in the Kanto area it is especially heavy from late August through September. Unlike cedar pollen, which can travel tens of kilometres, ragweed grows on riverbanks, vacant lots and roadsides, and its pollen usually reaches only a few metres to a few tens of metres. Simply changing your walking or commuting route to avoid overgrown ground therefore cuts your exposure a lot. The grains are fine enough to reach the bronchi, so coughing and a scratchy throat are common and the symptoms are easily mistaken for a cold; if they last more than about two weeks, see an ENT clinic (jibika). People sensitive to ragweed may also get an itchy mouth after eating melon, watermelon or banana. Otherwise the spring routine still applies: mask and glasses outdoors, wash your face and change clothes when you get home, and dry laundry indoors.
N5N4N3N2N1 - government
One app instead of two: Japan's new "Myna App" merges ID checks and government paperwork
On August 25, 2026 Japan's Digital Agency launched the "Myna App" (マイナアプリ), a renamed and upgraded version of the Myna Portal app that now absorbs the separate Digital Authentication app. One app handles My Number Card identity verification for both government and private services - banks, telecom carriers and the like - alongside administrative tasks such as filing an address change after a move, applying for a passport, and attaching an electronic signature. On iPhone, once you register your card to the device you can verify with face authentication alone, without taking the physical card out. On Android you still tap the card and enter your PIN for now, with biometric-only verification expected in an autumn update. Using the app requires a screen lock (PIN, face or fingerprint) on your phone. If you already had the Myna Portal app, there is nothing new to download - just update it. The Digital Agency says the former portal had roughly 85 million users and covers more than 300 government services.
N5N4N3N2N1 - daily life
Japan issues its first bear-spray performance guidelines, and warns about counterfeits
Japan has never had an official standard for bear repellent spray. On August 25, 2026 the Ministry of the Environment published its first recommended performance requirements: a capsaicin-type concentration of roughly 1.0-2.0%, a spray reach of at least 7.5 metres and a spray time of at least 6 seconds at normal temperature with no wind, delivered as a spreading mist rather than a straight liquid jet. The same day the Consumer Affairs Agency, the Ministry and the National Consumer Affairs Center issued a joint alert, warning that products of very different quality are on sale, including anti-personnel tear gas sprays marketed for bears and counterfeits copying the labels of registered overseas products. If you hike or live near bear country: buy a spray made for bears, check the expiry date, practise with a training canister, carry it in a holster on your waist or chest rather than inside your rucksack, spray toward the bear's face from about 5-10 metres while standing upwind, and remember it cannot be taken on a plane. Above all, the alert stresses avoiding an encounter in the first place: check local sighting reports and avoid moving around at dawn and dusk.
N5N4N3N2N1 - society
Record rain in Ishikawa and Toyama: a Level 5 emergency warning, and why the danger lasts after the rain stops
Early on August 27 the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a Level 5 heavy rain emergency warning (大雨特別警報) for Hakui City, Shika, Hodatsushimizu and Nakanoto in Ishikawa Prefecture, and for Himi City in Toyama Prefecture. Hakui recorded 237.5 mm of rain in six hours and Himi about 180 mm, all-time records for both. A linear rain band stalled over the Kaga area, landslides cut roads, and part of the JR Nanao Line was flooded. The emergency warning was later lifted, but heavy rain warnings stayed in place and up to about 200 mm more rain was forecast for the Hokuriku region through August 28. The practical point for anyone living in Japan: once the ground is saturated, even light rain can set off a landslide or flood a river, so keep checking your city or town's evacuation information and the JMA's Kikikuru risk maps, and plan to be somewhere safe by alert Level 4.
N5N4N3N2N1 - daily life
Flu in midsummer: Kanagawa and Yokohama enter the epidemic period 1.5 months early
Influenza has arrived in Japan while it is still hot. Yokohama announced on August 19, 2026 that the city had entered the influenza epidemic period: reports from designated sentinel clinics reached 1.22 patients per clinic per week, above the 1.00 threshold that marks the start of an epidemic, with 11 of the city's 18 wards over the line. Kanagawa Prefecture followed on August 20 at 1.37 per clinic, about a month and a half earlier than last season, which crossed the line in late September. Numbers are highest in the west of the prefecture (Ashigarakami 2.5, Atsugi 2.0), and cases are being reported not only in children but across a wide range of ages. With the second school term about to start, the city asks residents to wash hands with soap, use cough etiquette such as masks or tissues, ventilate rooms regularly, keep indoor humidity around 50-60%, and get enough rest and balanced meals. If you are thinking about a flu shot, note that protection takes time to develop, so it is better to be vaccinated before the peak rather than during it.
N5N4N3N2N1 - daily life
Japan's autumn outlook: heat lingers into October, autumn leaves run late
The Japan Meteorological Agency released its September-November outlook on August 25, and it points to a long, late summer. Average temperatures from western Japan through northern Japan are expected to run above normal for all three months. September is likely to keep producing days of 35C or more, October may still see days above 30C, and November should stay warmer than average too; Okinawa and Amami are put at near normal or above. Rainfall is forecast to be roughly normal nationwide, although the Pacific side of eastern and western Japan may get normal-to-above amounts in November as autumn rain fronts pass. Forecasters attribute the warmth to westerly winds running further south than usual and to the broader warming trend. Practically, that means autumn arrives late: keep taking heatstroke precautions through September and into October, drink water even on days that feel mild, and expect the best autumn leaf colours later than usual, so check local timing before booking a leaf-viewing trip.
N5N4N3N2N1 - economy
Japan's new rice is getting cheaper — advance payments to farmers fall 20–40%
Japan's 2026-crop rice looks set to be markedly cheaper than last year's. Kyodo News reported on August 20 that the "gaisankin" — the advance payment JA co-operatives make to rice farmers when they collect the crop — is being set 20 to 40 percent below last year in Hokkaido and three Hokushin'etsu prefectures; JA Zen-Noh Niigata fixed ordinary Koshihikari at 18,500 yen per 60 kg of brown rice, 38 percent under the 2025 crop. Supply is the reason: the 2025 harvest came in at 7.47 million tonnes against 6.79 million a year earlier, government stockpile releases added more, and private inventories at the end of June stood at 2.43 million tonnes versus 1.55 million a year before. Shops are already reflecting it — the national supermarket average for August 3-9 was 3,220 yen per 5 kg, 13.8 percent below the same week last year — and prices may ease further once new-crop rice reaches shelves in quantity from September. If you buy rice in Japan, it is worth comparing prices again in September rather than stocking up now. The flip side is that a sharp fall leaves some farmers unable to cover production costs, which raises questions about how much rice gets planted next year.
N5N4N3N2N1 - government
Japan's residence application fees jump on October 1 — permanent residence goes from 10,000 to 200,000 yen
Japan is preparing a large increase in the fees charged for residence procedures. Under a draft cabinet order published by the Immigration Services Agency and put out for public comment from July 3 to August 2, 2026, the flat 6,000 yen fee for extending a period of stay or changing a residence status would be replaced by a tiered fee of 10,000 to 75,000 yen, depending on how long a period of stay is granted, and the permanent residence fee would rise from 10,000 yen to 200,000 yen. The planned start date is October 1, 2026, and the fee is set by when the application is received, not when it is approved — so applications accepted by September 30 are expected to keep the current amounts. Some categories are set cheaper for online applications than at the counter, and a reduced fee is planned for applicants in serious financial hardship. A renewal can be filed from three months before your period of stay expires, so if your card expires this autumn, applying in September is worth considering. Check the Immigration Services Agency website for the final confirmed amounts.
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