Japan recorded 86,473 IVF births in 2024, about 1 in 8 of its 686,173 births. Treatments fell to 550,265 while the multiple-birth rate rose to 4.15 percent, and the 2022 insurance reform helps explain both.
Japan's Children and Families Agency asked 100,000 young people about marriage. 35.1% of unmarried respondents said they have no intention of marrying, but only 53.1% of that group said they do not want to.
Japan cremated 99.98% of its dead in fiscal 2024. But the rate was 36.2% in 1915, and the Meiji government banned cremation in 1873 before reversing itself. Land, cholera policy and local ordinances built that number.
Toyota, NTT and Tokyu are among roughly 1,600 Japanese employers paying for an AI dating app for single staff. The workplace is trying to buy back a matchmaking role it lost over fifty years.
Seven Japanese research groups repeated two landmark University of Tokyo senolytics experiments under blinded conditions and found no effect. The original team's rebuttal ran the same day, in the same journal.
Kirin Holdings is buying Jamieson Wellness, Canada's top-selling vitamin brand, for C$1.898 billion. Why a 141-year-old brewer thinks fermentation science sells supplements, and why Western brewers chose another route.
PET scans of 37 patients whose hallucinations began after age 40 found tau, the protein behind Alzheimer's, in 64.9% of them against 14.9% of controls. They split into three near-equal groups.
Japan's 2026 population estimate shows foreign residents up 9.64% to 3.73 million while the total falls. How Japan is quietly becoming an immigration society, compared with Germany and Canada.
In greater Tokyo, families now wait one to two weeks to cremate the dead. As Japan's annual deaths head for a 2040 peak, new crematoriums stall on local opposition while a private near-monopoly drives up prices in the capital's 23 wards. A look at the limits of death-care infrastructure in the world's oldest society.
Japan's Koroyawa floor stays hard when you walk and softens only when you fall. Science Tokyo proved it prevents elderly hip fractures using a world-first simulation built from a real patient's CT data.
Japan's 2025 census preliminary count puts the population at 123 million, down 3.1 million in five years, the steepest drop since records began. The country fell from 11th to 12th in the world, overtaken by Ethiopia. We translate that number into cities you can picture, then compare how South Korea, Italy, and China face the same cliff, and ask whether Japan's immigration, birth-support, and regional-revival policies are working.
At a major Japanese pet expo, a homegrown technology called Livnight grows a sparkling gem from a dog's ashes. It costs far less than an ash-diamond, actually out-sparkles one, and never leaves Japan. A clear look at why Livnight, plus the country's pet farewell culture.
Kyoto University spinout Toregem Biopharma will begin Phase 2 trials of TRG035, the world's first tooth-regeneration drug, in summer 2026, dosing 24 children with congenital tooth agenesis. A pre-Series C round of ¥850 million brings cumulative funding, grants included, past ¥4.6 billion. A look at how Japan's university-biotech funding stack works, and why a super-aged society may produce this kind of innovation first.
PETOKOTO and three partner organizations launched the Pet Guardianship Lab to tackle Japan's emerging 'pet refugee' crisis. As single households hit 40% and the population ages rapidly, a uniquely Japanese law-insurance-NGO consortium is building a safety net for pets whose owners die, are hospitalized, or develop dementia.
JAL launches Japan's first humanoid robot trial at Haneda Airport in May 2026. Chinese-made Unitree G1 and UBTECH Walker E will handle cargo loading and cabin cleaning, Japan's bipedal answer to its aging workforce and aviation labor crisis.
Suntory Holdings is acquiring Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare, maker of Loxonin, Lulu, and Minon, for $1.55 billion. As Japan's youth abandon alcohol and the population ages rapidly, the beverage giant pivots to self-care. We analyze the deal, the booming OTC market, and what it means for global healthcare trends.
Kyoto University's AI-powered robot monk Buddharoid now offers spiritual guidance at a Kyoto temple, trained on ancient Buddhist scriptures. With 30% of Japan's 77,000 temples projected to vanish by 2040, can artificial intelligence save Buddhism? From the $1M Mindar android to BuddhaBot chatbots reaching Bhutan, we explore where faith meets technology.
Japan's government has approved a plan to make standard childbirth costs free by 2026. But the Japan Association of Obstetricians warns of a looming collapse in maternity care, delivery facilities have halved since 1996, and rural 'maternity deserts' are spreading. How does Japan's birth system compare to France and Sweden?
Japan's FY2026 budget of ¥122.3 trillion ($766B) passed on April 7, the largest ever. With defense spending at $56B, social security at $245B, and debt servicing costs exceeding $196B for the first time, can Japan sustain its finances with a 230% debt-to-GDP ratio as interest rates rise? We compare with G7 peers.
Japan's Children and Families Agency, launched in 2023 with great fanfare, faces growing calls for abolition just three years in. With a $50 billion annual budget under fire as 'wasteful spending' and births hitting a record low of 671,236 in 2025, we examine why Japan's 'unprecedented' measures against the declining birthrate have failed, and how other countries are tackling the same crisis.