The drop was driven largely by a 61% fall in arrivals from China, which has been urging its citizens to avoid travel to Japan to protest comments by the prime minister about Taiwan.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has been reappointed by Parliament after last week's landslide election win that gave her a strong public mandate.

In 2040, just a decade and a half from now, the list of 10 most populous countries in the world is likely to include Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia. Missing will be one country that has been a mainstay of the list: Japan.

Japan's economy grew 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the previous three months, avoiding a technical recesssion

Japan's exports surged nearly 17% in January from a year earlier, lifted by seasonal factors and strong demand in China and other Asian markets. Imports slipped 2.5% from the same month a year earlier to 10.

Only USA's Alysa Liu broke up Japan's trio of Ami Nakai, Kaori Sakamoto and Mone Chiba, who finished first, second and fourth after the short program.

The deals, totaling $36 billion, were the first step in a $550 billion investment pledge aimed at securing tariff relief and sustaining U.S. relations.

From recalling pandas to cancelling tourist flights, China continues to retaliate after Takaichi's comments on Taiwan.

“Our findings challenge the prevailing view that tigers once took refuge in Japan and that cave lion distribution was limited to the Russian Far East and northeast China,” explained the study’s authors. “These findings provide evidence that lions, rather than tigers, colonized the Japanese archipelago during the Late Pleistocene.”