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Japan’s autumn colour travels south and downhill over three months. Where it will be and when, why three record-warm autumns have pushed peaks later, who actually publishes the forecasts (and when), Silver Week’s five-day collision, and how to plan a trip that follows the leaves.
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Track real-time autumn leaf color changes and peak viewing times across 21+ curated locations.
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Foreign residents passed four million while Japan’s population fell 3.1 million. Now a government panel is studying a cap on the foreign share of the population, with a basic policy due before April 2027. The official numbers, the new rules, and what they signal.
Obon is Japan’s ancestor homecoming—not Halloween. 2026 dates (Aug 13–16, July Obon, Okinawa Kyūbon), a regional date map, peak travel days, Bon Odori etiquette, and why trains sell out.
What Japan's earthquakes actually mean for you—how the Shindo scale works, what the early warning can and cannot do, what to do in a hotel, mall, train or on the coast, and how building age decides whether a house survives. With official data and the lessons of Kobe, Tōhoku, Kumamoto and Noto.
Japan is rewriting permanent residency: tougher income and pension rules, a ¥200,000 fee, spouse wait times nearly doubled, and April 2027 revocation for willful tax non-payment. Old vs. new—with official sources.
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Akiya XScored Japan Real EstateJapanist has partnered with Akiya X. Navigate regional real estate with scored listings, hazard maps, and total cost calculators.
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Exclusive 20% Discount on the Akiya X Annual Plan.
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Learn more今年の漢字
Each year the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation asks the public to name the single character that best captures the events and mood of the past year. The winner is brushed onto handmade washi at Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto on 12 December and offered at the temple — one year, one character, one collective sentiment.
ユウ／くまYū / kuma
Bear
The first year 熊 has won. Bear encounters followed one another across the country, casualties reached a record high, and bears reached city streets — disrupting daily life and the local economy, and prompting a national conversation about coexisting with nature. The return of four giant pandas (熊猫, “bear cats”) to China also put the character in the news.
Read in sequence, they make an unusually honest record of how Japan felt about itself.
Select a year for the story
Chosen more than once金×5(2000, 2012, 2016, 2021, 2024)税×2(2014, 2023)戦×2(2001, 2022)災×2(2004, 2018)
The vote began in 1995 as part of the foundation’s campaign to show how much meaning a single character can carry. Nominations open each autumn — online, by post, and through ballot boxes in temples, bookshops and libraries nationwide — and the count is revealed on 12 December, read in Japanese as いいじいちじ (“one good character”).
At Kiyomizu-dera the head priest brushes the winner onto a sheet of handmade washi in a single pass, and the sheet is then offered at the temple: a rite to cleanse the year that is ending and to wish for a brighter one to come.
Characters, readings and selection rationales sourced from the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation. 「今年の漢字」 is a registered trademark of the foundation.
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