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Tech News
A tech feature compiled a list of ten niche Japanese gadgets, ranging from an AI companion shaped like a meerkat that remembers past conversations to a handheld umbrella with a built-in fan, that are largely absent from American retail shelves. The author sourced these products by digging through Japan's domestic gadget market, deliberately focusing on inventions rarely exported abroad.
New government data shows Japan now counts 107,677 residents aged 100 or older, retaining its status as the country with the most centenarians worldwide. Women make up 88% of this group, and the oldest citizens are Kishimoto Fuyo, 114, of Kyoto City, and Kato Hikaru, 112, of Kumamoto.
Japan's Digital Agency disclosed that an attacker exploited a known, medium-severity vulnerability in a VPN device used by its Government Solution Service to access internal systems. The breach, detected after unusual account activity on June 25 and confirmed on July 9, may have exposed roughly 246,000 rows of data including names, emails, phone numbers and some addresses belonging to government staff and affiliated businesses.
Universal Studios Japan is marking its anniversary year with expanded Halloween programming, including a haunted attraction restricted to older guests for the first time. The move is part of a broader lineup of Halloween Horror Nights additions planned for 2026.
A new Japanese book, 'Building a library like a city,' documents how public libraries in Japan are shedding their old reputation as dull spaces and becoming central gathering points for local communities. The trend traces back to 2013, when bookstore chain Tsutaya opened an unconventional public library in Takeo, Kyushu, combining a Starbucks, a retail bookstore, and stationery goods alongside the usual lending services. The redesigned library drew visitors from far beyond the neighborhood and gradually reshaped civic life in the small city.
Hitachi Global Life Solutions has unveiled a Y-series of EcoCute CO2 heat pump water heaters for Japan, with sales beginning progressively from November 2026. The flagship BHP-FV37YD and BHP-FV46YD models offer mains-pressure hot water in 370-liter and 460-liter capacities for three-to-five and four-to-six person households respectively, though full efficiency specs remain undisclosed. The key update is broader compatibility with electricity tariffs that reward daytime water heating, selectable directly via the unit's remote controller.
Sony Japan published a policy on September 1 defining customer harassment and warning it will restrict or suspend support for customers who cross the line, including abusive language, excessive demands, or intimidating behavior toward staff. The move comes after intense customer anger over Sony's plan to stop producing physical PlayStation discs by January 2028, a decision already facing several lawsuits.
Japan's Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency has approved mass production of the Terra B1, a 3D-printed rocket-powered interceptor drone built on Terra Drone's battle-tested A1 platform already used in Ukraine. The B1 beat out proposals from 37 other companies after demonstrating strong performance in range, speed, guidance and simultaneous-control capability during trials for Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Forces. Domestic production lines are expected to deliver the first units this month.
The fire department in Kanazawa, Japan has released an Instagram video asking people to leave paramedics' removed shoes exactly where they were placed, rather than tidying them as is customary. Officials explained that crews position their footwear deliberately so three stretcher bearers can step in quickly without jostling a patient or dislodging an oxygen mask, and rearranging them can cost about 30 seconds during an emergency.
Filmmaker Dave Boyle, fresh off his horror breakout 'Never After Dark' set in Japan, has signed on to helm a new adaptation of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2001 supernatural thriller 'Pulse.' The original film centers on ghostly figures spreading through the internet, and Boyle's version will offer a fresh interpretation of that unsettling premise.
Capcom's long-dormant Onimusha franchise returns after nearly two decades with Way of the Sword, casting players as a young, brash version of swordsman Miyamoto Musashi who is killed and resurrected by the series' signature Oni gauntlet to fight a demon invasion. The game blends its classic mythic samurai setting with precision-timed, parry-based combat reminiscent of modern Soulslike titles like Elden Ring.
An essay examines how Japanese woodblock printmakers since the 1880s have depicted telegraph and power lines as symbols of modernity rather than eyesores, contrasting this with Western social media users who frequently mock utility wires as ugly. It highlights a 2021 Nerima Art Museum exhibition, curated by Yosuke Kato, that gathered roughly 130 works from the 1850s to today under the title 'Densen Kaiga' (Electric Wire Paintings), showing wires as a recurring visual motif in Japanese art and anime.