Deep Dive from The Japan Times

Over the past few months, Japan has been slowly easing its COVID-19 related border restrictions. In March, after almost two years, it started allowing in students, academics and business people. Then in April, parents and immediate relatives of foreign residents were allowed to enter the country.

But the borders are still closed to tourists, a broad category of people that includes everyone from leisure travelers to the unmarried partners of residents of Japan...

Since 2008, Japan’s population has been falling, and each year the amount it falls by grows larger and larger. In 2008, the country lost around 20,000 people. In 2010, 100,000, and by 2019, the figure stood at over half a million. The most recent data, released earlier this month, shows that in 2021, Japan lost more than 640,000 people...

Since the beginning of March, the value of the yen has plummeted against the dollar, the euro and the British pound. Bloomberg economy reporter Yuko Takeo joins Deep Dive to explain why.

Read more:

• Yen falls to ¥129 against U.S...

Demolition of the Nakagin Capsule Tower — an iconic representation of Japan’s metabolist architectural movement — officially kicked off on Tuesday, with fans of the building showing up to take a last glimpse before it is torn down.

On this week's Deep Dive, Japan Times editor Chris Russell joins to discuss the story of Nakagin and why he thinks it has captivated so many people over the years...

Two weeks ago, Japan's government issued its first ever electricity supply warning for Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures, calling on citizens to conserve power to avoid blackouts. Bloomberg energy reporter Shoko Oda joins Deep Dive to explain why that crisis was a decade in the making...

During the pandemic, women in Japan have been more likely to lose their jobs, face increased pressure at home and be victims of domestic violence. And data released earlier this month showed that in 2021 suicides increased among women for the second year running, whilst declining for men...

March 24th marks one month since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, starting a war that has forced millions of Ukrainians to flee their country. 
Kanako Takahara explains Japan's efforts to help these refugees, and why the government here isn't calling them by that name. Later in the episode, we hear the story of Maria, a 71-year-old Ukrainian woman who was reunited with her daughter Nataliia last Friday, after a six-day ordeal escaping from Ukraine to Japan...

From India to the U.S., the pandemic has spurred millions of people to leave their jobs in search of more fulfilling, flexible roles, in what has been dubbed the Great Resignation.

But so far at least, Japan’s workforce is charting a very different course, with fewer people than ever moving jobs. This week, senior staff writer Alex Martin joins to discuss the changing face of work in Japan, and why so few people seem inclined to switch roles...

As Vladimir Putin's grim war in Ukraine escalates, The Economist's Tokyo bureau chief, Noah Sneider, joins to discuss the reasons for the conflict, the lengths to which Japan is supporting Ukraine, and how the war will redefine relationships between Japan and its northern neighbor, Russia...

In a world where getting from A to B is dominated by cars, planes and trains, we all walk far less than people used to. 10,000 steps a day is an aspirational target for many. But for Craig Mod, that's just a stroll before lunch.