Japan's Fisheries Agency will sell fully farmed eel to the public for the first time on May 29. After cutting glass-eel production cost from 40,000 to 1,800 yen, the country aims to end wild-juvenile dependence by 2050.
On May 17, 2026, Empress Masako waved goodbye to a polar bear at Tobe Zoo in Ehime, telling her 'I hate to leave.' Meet Peace, the 26-year-old 'miracle bear' who became Japan's first successful hand-raised polar bear — and the keeper who took her home to live with his family.
A Reeves's muntjac was sighted in Sakai, Ibaraki Prefecture in late April — the first confirmed sighting in two years and five months. Under Ibaraki's first-of-its-kind ¥2,000 bounty program for citizen-submitted photos, this should have been the first qualifying case. Why is Japan offering cash for sightings of a cute, dog-sized deer? We unpack the agricultural damage, the SFTS tick-borne disease angle, the unsettling lessons from Britain, and what happens if the front line in Ibaraki fails.
In April 2026, all six Tohoku prefectures issued their earliest-ever bear alerts. A fatal attack in Iwate, Aomori's first urban emergency hunting in Hachinohe. Meanwhile, Shirakawa-go deployed 10 'Bear Sonic' units emitting a chalkboard-scratching sound. In Toyama, sightings dropped to zero for a year after installation. Can this Japanese acoustic technology save the day?
Frass discovered on a wild cherry tree at Yoshinoyama, Nara—home to 30,000 sacred cherry trees revered for 1,300 years—has been confirmed as damage from the invasive red-necked longhorn beetle. The first such case in any Japanese national park. A story at the intersection of invasive species, climate change, and cultural heritage.
Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have discovered that pill bugs (Armadillidium vulgare) don't just incorporate the calcium carbonate they eat — they rebuild it from scratch inside their bodies, always producing calcite even when fed aragonite. The unexpected polymorph control reveals a deeper biomineralization mystery and may inspire next-generation biomimetic materials.
On May 31, 2026, 19 Crested Ibises will be released in Hakui City, Ishikawa—the first wild release on Honshu in 56 years. Their Imperial Highnesses Crown Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko will attend, returning to a milestone they witnessed in 2008 on Sado Island. The release is also a symbol of recovery from the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake. We compare this revival story with the California Condor and Korean Oriental Stork programs.
When did crabs start walking sideways? A Japan-US-Taiwan team led by Nagasaki University filmed 50 species and mapped them onto a phylogenetic tree, finding that sideways walking evolved just once around 200 million years ago, published in eLife.
In central Japan's Nagano Prefecture, a dwarf bamboo called Suzutake is undergoing its once-in-120-years mass flowering. The last recorded event was in 1906. Researchers are seizing this rare scientific opportunity and asking citizens for sightings. We unpack the biology behind this mysterious cycle and compare it with India's Mautam famine and the giant panda food crisis in China.
Tatsumi Publishing's Tanuki Marugoto BOOK, released May 1, hit #1 in 12 Amazon categories during pre-orders alone. From Shigaraki pottery statues outside every Japanese restaurant to Studio Ghibli's Pom Poko, from Animal Crossing's Tom Nook to viral SNS memes with 96 million views — why is Japan so devoted to this uniquely Japanese canid? A guide for overseas readers (and please, it's not a raccoon).
A JAMSTEC-University of Tsukuba team has discovered self-replicating circular RNA replicons living in 70-80°C Japanese hot springs. These newly found members of the Obelisk superfamily, a mysterious RNA entity first described by Nobel laureate Andrew Fire in 2024, expand our view of RNA-based life and may offer fresh clues to the RNA world hypothesis on the origin of life.