A Ritsumeikan University and POLA Chemical Industries study showed scientifically that resistance training can improve skin ageing. In a four-month trial with 61 women in their 40s and 50s, the strength training group saw thicker dermis. Here is how myokines and inflammatory factors may explain improved skin elasticity.
Japanese researchers from RIKEN, Nippon Medical School, and Tohoku University developed a breakthrough AI method for cancer prognosis prediction. By incorporating medical knowledge through "intermediate reasoning scores," the system overcomes the dual challenges of institutional and specimen variations, achieving consistent predictions across different hospitals.
Japan is at the front of smart contact lens development: holographic display technology from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, SEED's open-source platform, and Waseda's electromagnetic shielding. One industry forecast puts the global market at about $13.4 billion by 2030. Discover how Japanese universities and companies are shaping the future of wearable tech.
SFTS is a tick-borne disease with a 10-30% fatality rate. A treatment was approved in 2024, which made early diagnosis the bottleneck. Japanese institutions including Osaka University are developing a 15-minute test on the model of flu antigen kits. 2025 brought a record 183 cases and Hokkaido's first infection.
A Juntendo University and Hiroshima University team showed in mice that soluble ST2 (sST2), present at high levels in the body, naturally suppresses food allergy, and that fibroblasts in the skin and small intestine are its main source. Application to humans is still ahead, but the finding offers a lead for new prevention and treatment.
Kyoto University researchers, working with macaque monkeys, identified a "motivation brake" in the brain: the VS-VP pathway linking the ventral striatum and ventral pallidum suppresses starting a task under stress. Human studies are still to come, but the finding may help explain loss of motivation in depression and burnout.
A Shinshu University and Asahimatsu Foods study found that resistant protein in koya-dofu (freeze-dried tofu) raised GLP-1 production via gut bacteria and curbed weight gain and fatty liver in mice. Effects in humans have not yet been tested. Here is the mechanism and what remains to be shown.
Bankruptcies and closures among Japanese healthcare institutions hit record highs two years running. How suppressed fee schedules, rising costs, and staff shortages combined, and what the 3.09 percent fiscal 2026 revision changes.
Two decades after Shinya Yamanaka's 2006 paper, Japan approved the world's first iPS-derived regenerative medicine products on March 6, 2026: Amchepry for Parkinson's disease and RiHEART for severe heart failure. The trial data, the seven-year clock, and the 55 million yen price.
Meiji University spinout Pormedtec is preparing Japan's first pig-to-human organ transplant trial, now targeted for 2028 at Hokkaido University Hospital and Shonan Kamakura General Hospital. Only about 4% of Japan's 16,000 registered transplant candidates receive an organ each year. In the US, a gene-edited pig kidney has functioned in a patient for more than seven months.
Researchers at Japan's JAIST found that Ewingella americana, a bacterium from Japanese tree frog intestines, completely eliminated colorectal tumors in mice after a single dose, a 100% complete response rate that outperformed chemotherapy and immunotherapy in the same comparison. Here is what the preclinical study showed, and what it does not yet show.