Japan

Japan is suffering a record number of ramen shop bankruptcies. And it is partly the result of the “1,000 yen barrier”

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The ramen is almost a religion (gastronomic) in Japan. One, yes, condemned to adjust to a certain price range. Although bowls of noodles with soup, meat and vegetables are one of the symbols of Japanese cuisine and a draw for tourists, in the country ramen is seen as a modest dish for students leaving school or workers with a brief lunch break. A sort of ‘worker menu’. So much so that there is even talk of “1,000 yen wall”a psychological barrier to noodle bowl prices. The problem is that Japanese hoteliers have seen their costs increase until they are dragged into a critical situation: in 2024 they registered a record of bankrupt ramen shops and, although the situation improved significantly in 2025ruined businesses still number in the dozens. Bad season for business. That the expense sheet increases while the income sheet is conditioned by a psychological barrier that limits prices can only translate into one thing for businesses: problems. Japan’s ramen restaurants know this well, having been registering dozens and dozens of bankruptcies for years and in 2024 they even reached a record of closures. The data They come from the research firm Teikou and are eloquent. In 2020 there were 54 ramen restaurants condemned to bankruptcy, in 2021 there were 17, a figure that is largely explained by the aid given by the Government during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2022 the bankruptcies rose again to 33. The following year there were 53, in 2024 a record of 79 bankruptcies and last year, the latest data available, 59 stores were declared bankrupt. For their study, Teikoku technicians mainly take into account those businesses that accumulated debts of more than 10 million yen (just over 54,000 euros) and have no choice but to declare bankruptcy. The key: the trend. The figure may seem low if one takes into account that throughout the country they are distributed more than 21,000 restaurants of ramen, but it is significant. Last year, in fact, he made the weapons fly due to the record of bankruptcies. The latest data from the sector are somewhat more positive, but are still far from ideal: dozens and dozens of businesses continue to close. However, there is another reason why the figures attract attention: the discourse. Local media and international They have spent time warning of the cascade of closures. There is who warns Furthermore, beyond the balance of bankruptcies, a significant number of establishments that remain open do so in delicate financial health. That is, they remain operational, but they are not well. Struck by costs. Bankruptcy figures may vary depending on the period analyzed, but what does not vary are the analyzes that talk about the causes of the ramen crisis. The diagnosis It is clear: the problem for the stores has been the rise in costs and the limited margin to pass it on to customers. In 2025 Washington Post cited a study from Teikoku Databank that concluded that the sum of the ingredients – including pork, pasta and seaweed –, labor and energy required to make ramen had increased by around 10% in three years. Other calculations They point out that the cost per client grew by 5% between 2022 and 2023. “Prices have been rising over time, but in the last three years they have been incredible,” recognized Tetsuya Kaneko, with a location in Tokyo. The ‘perfect storm’ of ramen. Tetsuya Kaneko assumed in fact that his case was not unique and “everyone in the sector is struggling.” At the end of the day, hoteliers have been forced to deal with a ‘perfect storm’ that works against them: inflationthe rise in import prices due to the weakness of the yen against the dollar and the increase in the cost of energy that had the war in Ukrainewhich also affected the flow of cereals. For three months now, the war in Iran has been added to this panorama, which has made transportation more expensive. “The example of ramen shops illustrates economic trends well because they have a hard time passing on increased costs to end consumers,” explains to the newspaper American Norihiro Yamaguchi, economist specializing in Japan at Oxford Economics. In his opinion, until 2022, consumers were hesitant about any price increase, but the reality is now different: “They have to accept the increase in the cost of living.” For all pockets. As if the situation were not complex in itself, ramen establishments have to deal with another challenge: prices. Or rather, the image that the dish has in the country and the psychological barriers that in a certain way determine its rates. It is not something completely unknown in Spain, where a similar logic operates in the menus of the day of the restaurants. “Ramen has always been a staple food for low-income people, students… I don’t want it to be out of reach,” Kaneko explains.. The “1,000 yen wall”. A quick Google search shows several references, both on blogs and specialized websites in Japanese culture as in diaries generalistswhat is usually called the “1,000 yen wall”, which in exchange amounts to about 5.4 euros. That round number marks the price ceiling that rarely exceeds a basic noodle bowl with broth, meat and vegetables. Or so it was until recently. Faced with the new scenario and the delicate situation to which many businesses have been dragged, those in charge have had to consider a dilemma: cross the 1,000 yen barrier or resign yourself to following in the footsteps of the 72 establishments closed in 2024 and 59 in 2025. Upload with apology included. A few months ago Kaneko I remembered how in 2023 it had to increase its prices by 50 yen, reaching 1,000 for a standard bowl. Another professional in the sector, Taisei Hikage, recalled how rates have changed in a matter of a decade: if 10 years ago there were basic noodle dishes for 500 yen, today the situation is very different. When he opened his own restaurant in 2023, he … Read more

Despite the fact that it has been losing population and readers for years, Japan does not stop opening new libraries. And it makes perfect sense

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Japan has increasingly less people (in general). And less fond of reading (in particular). Despite one or the other, for years the country has been experiencing a curious phenomenon: its library network does not stop expanding, with hundreds and hundreds of new reading positions. To be more precise, Nikkei estimates that in 2024 there will be around 3,400 libraries spread across Japan, which is equivalent to 800 more than those that operated in 1999. The big question is… Why? The great paradox. In a country with less and less people and in which the passion for reading is losing ground, the logical thing would be for libraries to close. In Japan the first and the second happen (fewer people, fewer readers), but not the third. The curious thing is that he is not only avoiding the closures of reading positions. It is increasing them. Anyone who wants to find a place to read books at no cost has it much easier today than it was 25 years ago. Reviewing the data. To understand the paradox, it is necessary to first review three pieces of information. The first is the evolution of the Japanese population. According to World Bank Group, in 2024 they will reside in the country 123.9 million peopleconsiderably less than the 128 million it reached in 2010. And the medium and long-term outlook is not much better. The latest statistics Officials reveal that, far from slowing down, the decline in the birth rate is reaching historic figures and is advancing faster than the authorities anticipated. If nothing changes, in 2050 the population will fall to about 100 million. Less people, fewer readers. That is the second key. If we talk about reading, the problem is not so much that there are fewer Japanese as that those who exist seem less and less interested in literature. In 2018 the Agency for Cultural Affairs launched a survey to find out how often their fellow citizens read. He discovered that among those over 16 years of age the percentage of those who read less than one book a month was around 40-49%. In 2023, this indicator had already risen to 62.6%. Another 27.6% said they read between one and two books a month. As if that clue wasn’t clear enough, the number of bookstores open in Japan fell about 30% in just a decade. And the surprise came. With these figures on the table, the fact that just disclosed Nikkei and with which we started this article: today in Japan there are 30% more libraries than in 2000. Of the 2,600 public centers (in the hands of municipalities and districts) in operation at the beginning of the century, there were 3,400 in 2024. In 1996 they did not even reach 2,500. Although Japan is not far from it the country with higher ratio of reading seats per inhabitant, the increase is considerable and some libraries can even boast of moving hundreds of thousands of users a year. The Tenmonkan one, inaugurated in 2022, is around 700,000 people annually, many of them young people under 30 years of age. How is it possible? The big question. And the answer is simple: in Japan the libraries are not only more numerous, they are also they are changing. They are still reading spaces where one goes in search of books or a quiet room in which to devour a novel or study, but they are also places of socialization. Something similar to community centers, only with shelves full of books. “Residents use libraries very often. Together with auditoriums and museums, they attract people and create a lively atmosphere,” points out Katsuyoshi Kinoshita, head of the Foundation for the Advancement of Libraries. The “third place”. “They are spaces where people not only read books, but can also enjoy story-telling and other events or relax in a cafe,” confirm to Nikkei Fumihiko Suzuki of the Daiwa Research Institute. This openness has turned libraries into a kind of “third place” for many Japanese, a reference space beyond their homes, jobs or schools. Access is free, you can stay there as long as you want, there are always people and they often offer alternative activities to reading: events in auditoriums or for children, historical materials, museums… They are, in short, “meeting places.” Is it something spontaneous? Not quite. As explains Sadao Uematsu, of the Japanese Library Association, the phenomenon is partly explained by the “mergers” promoted at the beginning of the century, when “many reading rooms in community centers were converted into municipal libraries.” The success achieved last decade by some projects focused precisely on reading spaces encouraged other municipalities to get on the bandwagon. In recent years the pace of library opening has slowed down, but even so the phenomenon has aroused the interest of international institutions such as the World Economic Forum, which in February dedicated it an extensive analysis that connects the ‘boom’ of libraries with another of the phenomena that mark Japanese society: aging. In a country in which those over 65 years of age represent more than 29% of the population, spaces with community activities have become a key element for the well-being of the elderly. Against this backdrop, libraries have become valuable allies. Images | Olegs Jonins (Unsplash) and Yanhao Fang (Unsplash) In Xataka | While Japan’s population is sinking irremediably, Tokyo is growing. There is an explanation: ikkyoku shūchū

Japan wanted its roads to be more than just a place of passage. And they thought of something: vending machines

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There are many, many things that catch your attention when you arrive in Japan. At first, it is difficult to understand how this country of ancient traditions and quiet Buddhist or Shinto temples that seem to be everywhere can mix with the most hilarious bustle of stores like the Don Quixote. As the days go by, little by little, one begins to assimilate what one sees and begins to focus on issues just as curious but not as striking. When you want to realize you are in the konbini in turn choosing which of the 12 types of cold coffee and the eight hot ones you want the most. Or if you dare with that lemon soda marked by some kanji as attractive as they are threatening. A few days later, you are picking up any of those soft drinks in the middle of a road, in a layby where there is nothing… Where there is nothing but a vending machine. And then you ask yourself: but what is this machine doing here? Vending machine culture And in Japan there is something as ubiquitous as shrines: vending machines. The Japanese have a passion for jidouhanbaiki either jihanki. Obviously, the most famous and used are those that sell something to drink, but there are all kinds of them and for all kinds of objects. My colleague Javier Pastor already pointed out in 2017 that there were an estimated five million vending machines distributed throughout the country. Some with objects as extravagant “like this one from used panties either it’s poop“. But in addition to selling products, these vending machines have found another function: that of promoting national and inland tourism by road. The country has been fighting rural depopulation for years and has found in vending machines a great support for travelers to opt for the car and motorcycle instead of the very crowded bullet train. The formula is as simple as it is Japanese: make the traveler comfortable. With that premise, many vending machines have been popping up on lay-bys and rest areas in the country. A tremendously simple formula for the traveler to stop and even deviates from its path. With a density of less than 40 inhabitants for each machine vending machine, this option has not only become a tool to assist the traveler, It is already a tourist attraction in itself. And that has encouraged an increase in the number of people who see here as another incentive to go out with their car or motorcycle for the weekend. When the Japanese have an obsession, it is very difficult for others to catch up to them. If we talk about motorcycling and motorsports, Japan is one of the most cultural countries. Hence, some roads have simply become a hobby. One where the customer simply pays to drive but to which some auxiliary services have been added to improve the experience. like the ubiquitous vending machines. It is not the only tool they have found to encourage this type of pure leisure travel. There are musical highways where the asphalt emits a melody as the car or motorcycle passes by, using the roughness to create scores that the traveler plays as they pass over it. Or the michi no eki, something like the latest evolution of the service area where the gas station has the obligation to have another business or to offer a local product. There are those that only sell local food but there are those that even have their own natural science museum. A perfect opportunity to collect your stamps or banknotes, other tourist attractions of these spaces. And Japan is an obsessed country for collecting and making everyone as comfortable as possible. And for that jidouhanbaiki They are perfect. Photos | Xataka In Xataka | Japan is searching for the person who built a road on the country’s largest lake. It leads nowhere

In Japan there is no doubt that they live worse than 30 years ago. Houses are literally getting smaller.

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The demographic crisis that drags Japan comes long. In 2024 we say that it is the great challenge of the nation, the same one that we could summarize with one fact: if we continue like this, By 2531 all its inhabitants will have the same last name. That’s why we have seen all kinds of ideas and proposalssome with more common sense than othersbut all with the idea of ​​raising birth rates and combating aging. Now there is another fact that aggravates the situation even more: the houses are smaller. The house shrinks. The data is official and comes from a study that is carried out every five years in the nation. The average housing space in Japan has reached its lowest level in 30 years, with an average of 90 square meters at the end of 2024three square meters less than the 2003 peak, according to the government study. The change reflects a trend towards reduction in the size of homes, evident in the last five years. Additionally, in both single-family homes and multi-family units, including rentals and condominiums. Multifamily, in particular, average only 50 square metersfive less than what the government considers adequate for two adults in urban areas. It’s the economy, friend. They counted on a report in Nikkei that the increase in construction costs, which has shot up 30% since 2015 in the country, is the main driver of this reduction of space in homes. To keep prices affordable and protect their profit margins, builders are downsizing homes, a practice known as “hidden price gouging.” Not only that. In addition, land prices in popular residential areas are also on the rise, which further aggravates the situation. This increase in prices has reduced the demand for larger, more expensive, personalized homes in favor of smaller, cheaper units. Impact on quality of life. It is another of the legs that slips from the problem. The reduction in living space creates discomfort, especially in small homes. For many people, like a 50-year-old woman who lives in a 30-square-meter apartment with her husband, the situation is described as suffocating. Even single-person homes, which They represent 38% of households according to the national censusare often considered too small for a comfortable lifestyle. And then there are young people, who face greater barriers to accessing larger homes, with prohibitive prices even on the second-hand market. Young people and birth rates. All this leads to what we indicated at the beginning. The reduced living space and the impossibility of purchasing larger homes discourage young couples from, for example, starting families, exacerbating the already worrying drop in the birth rate. Housing policies alone do not seem sufficient to reverse this trend, and experts such as Masayuki Takahashi emphasize that The key is to increase salaries in a sustained manner. During the period of high economic growth in Japan, rising wages allowed more people to access spacious housing, something that is not the case today. The elderly and housing. The housing problem goes much further. In fact, every time More seniors in Japan face difficulties renting housingeven if they have financial means. Cases like that of an 88-year-old man in Tokyo, who, with more than 100 million yen in savings after planning to sell his apartment, experienced multiple rejections for not being able to provide an emergency contact under 70 years of agea common requirement among homeowners in the nation. After four months of searching, he managed to find an apartment, but the case reflects a broader problem. Rent and the veto for older adults. According to 2020 census data, Japan had 6.7 million single-person households with residents aged 65 or older, accounting for 12% of the total. By 2030, it is estimated that this number will reach 8 million. Again, even though there are approximately 9.3 million of vacant homes, landlords’ reluctance to rent to seniors is a significant obstacle. In August 2025, the Ministry of Infrastructure published a survey specific about owners of the akiya which revealed that approximately 60% of these properties were inherited, with more than 70% built before 1980, and that more than 70% show signs of deterioration or damage. Reasons? 66% of landlords expressed reluctance to accept older tenants, in a ministry survey. The main fear: the risk of death of the tenant alone of which we have talked beforewhich can require costly cleanups and require reporting to future tenants for three years. This situation is worsened by the increasing loneliness of older people and the lack of close family members throughout the nation. Ultimately, and with official figures and data In hand, it does not seem that the housing problem in Japan has improved for three decades. In reality, and sticking to those numbers, houses are literally smaller and more expensive, both to buy and to rent. a problem that we see in many other nationswhere the practice of downsizing in homes to maintain competitive prices ends up affecting the stability of the real estate market and the residents’ own quality of lifewith special emphasis on the case of young people and the elderly. A version of this article was published in January 2025 Image | Ted McGrath In Xataka | Japan has known for many years the secret to cleaning dust less frequently at home In Xataka | If you thought that living in Japan was already a luxury, wait until you see the latest house signed by Aston Martin

In 1970 Japan built homes of the future where each capsule would be replaceable. Half a century later he discovered that no one knew how to repair them

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In 1970, during the Osaka World Expomillions of people lined up to enter pavilions where Japan showed how it imagined the 21st century: domestic video calls, automated cities, assistant robots and modular homes capable of changing over time. That event was so impressive that many visitors came away convinced that the future was going to arrive much sooner than expected. The spaceship that Japan wanted. In 1972, in the heart of Tokyo, a building appears that seemed to have landed from the future. The Nakagin Capsule Tower It was unlike anything of its time: two concrete towers covered by 140 metal capsules with circular windows, like a stack of futuristic washing machines or a block of space modules suspended over Ginza. The architect Kisho Kurokawa He imagined those capsules as replaceable homes that could be removed and replaced every 25 years, just as an organism renews its cells. The idea perfectly summed up the Japanese postwar optimism: mutable cities, living architecture and a future where houses would function more as interchangeable pieces than as permanent buildings. Half a century later, Japan discovered something much more uncomfortable: no one really knew how to repair that vision of the future. Nakagin Capsule Tower The metabolic dream. The Nakagin was born within the Metabolist movementa Japanese architectural movement obsessed with constant change. After the destruction of World War II, architects like Kurokawa wanted break with the western idea of eternal buildings of stone and brick. Japan lived with earthquakes, fires and permanent reconstructions. For them, the city had to behave like a living being capable of growing, adapting and transforming. The capsules were the perfect symbol of that philosophy. Each module It measured just ten square meters and included a bed, folding desk, compact bathroom, Sony television and even a tape player. They were aimed at typical Tokyo office workers who wanted a small urban retreat during the week, avoiding hours of travel to the suburbs. Kurokawa saw those capsules as the beginning of a new way of ultramobile life where people would change their homes just as they change their technology. Interior of one of the capsules The problem: the future cannot be dismantled. The great irony of the Nakagin is that the central element of its design it never worked. The capsules had to be periodically undocked and replaced with more modern versions, allowing the building to survive for centuries. On paper it seemed brilliant, but in practice It was almost impossible. Individual capsules could not be removed without disassembling all those that were on top, the costs were gigantic and the system hid structural problems that worsened over time. The joints began to rust, constant leaks appeared, and asbestos complicated any serious attempt at renovation. As Tokyo continued to move towards the 21st century, that supposed architecture of tomorrow began to look an aged relic from an old science fiction. The capsules that were supposed to be renovated like Lego pieces ended up converted into small corroded boxes where there were hardly any permanent residents left. Entrance to the Tower From futuristic utopia to cult ruin. As the decades passed, Nakagin stopped functioning as a residential experiment and began to transform into something else: a work of worship. Architects, photographers, designers and tourists arrived fascinated by that impossible building that continued to resist in the middle of Ginza like a time capsule from the 70s. Many apartments were used as creative studioswarehouses or simple occasional shelters. The community that formed around the building ended up being almost more important than its original use. Some residents organized guided tours, parties and campaigns to save the tower as the deterioration continued. In fact, Francis Ford Coppola, Keanu Reeves and numerous international artists They visited the complex attracted by that strange mix of decadence and futurism. What had failed as a practical solution survived as a cultural icon. Demolishing a utopian future. In 2022 it finally started the disassembly of the Nakagin Capsule Tower. The images were almost poetic: cranes tearing off the capsules one by one, as if they were dismantling an abandoned space station. Most were destroyed, but a small group of owners and preservationists managed to save 23 modules. Some have been completely restored with their original televisions, telephones and furniture, others have ended up in museums, galleries, hotels or exhibitions spread across Japan, Europe and the United States. Paradoxically, Kurokawa’s idea ended up being fulfilled otherwise: The capsules did end up separating and traveling around the world, although not as part of a living city, but as fossils from a future that never came to exist. The failure that changed architecture. The Nakagin It failed as a building, but triumphed as an idea. It inspired capsule hotels, modular architecture, and much of the contemporary obsession with micro-apartments and flexible spaces. Furthermore, its influence can be traced in high-tech projects later and even in current debates on sustainability and compact housing. What is fascinating is that the building simultaneously demonstrated two opposite things: that futuristic architecture can be decades ahead of its time… and that a vision that is too advanced can also become impossible to maintain in the real world. Japan dreamed of housing where each apartment would be replaceable and adaptable forever, and in the end he discovered that he had built something much stranger: a masterpiece of the future condemned to age before the future itself. Image | David Meenagh, Jordy Meow, Kestrel, Dick Thomas Johnson In Xataka | The incredible story of the tallest building on the planet that ended up becoming the largest swimming pool in the Soviet Union In Xataka | After the Guggenheim fever in Bilbao, Alcorcón wanted to replicate its success with a megaproject in 2004. It ended very badly.

Japan has just crossed a line that it has not crossed since World War II. China has responded with supersonic missiles

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At the beginning of the 20th century, during the battle of tsushimathe Russian imperial fleet took more than seven months to circle half the planet to confront Japan. The result was so disastrous and fast that several powers suddenly understood an idea: in the Asia-Pacific, controlling the sea could decide the global balance long before a total war began. Supersonic missiles off the US and Japan. It we count last week. The South China Sea is becoming a huge military board where Beijing wants to make it clear that it is willing to answer directly to any attempt to surround its area of ​​influence. While the United States, the Philippines and Japan develop the largest Balikatan maneuvers of recent years, China has now responded by sending H-6 bombers armed with YJ-12 supersonic missilesJ-16 fighters equipped with anti-ship missiles and several naval groups around Luzon and Scarborough Shoal. The message is difficult to ignore: Beijing wants to show that it can deploy air and naval force heavy right in front of a military bloc led by Washington and Tokyo without abandoning the initiative in the region. Already looks like a war rehearsal around Taiwan. The Balikatan maneuvers have changed enormously in recent years. What were once relatively conventional exercises between the United States and the Philippines have morphed into focused simulations in maritime settingsattacks against major adversaries and possible conflicts around Taiwan and the South China Sea. The full participation of Japanese forces and the presence of ships from Australia and Canada reflect the extent to which Washington is trying to build a regional network capable of responding to China in the event of a crisis. Beijing interprets it as a direct threatespecially since several of these maneuvers take place near routes and positions that China considers essential to protect its access to the Pacific. Japan has crossed a symbolic line. A few hours ago one of the movements that most irritated Beijing during the maneuvers took place, and it was not only the American presence, but the increasingly active role of Japan. for the first time since World War IIJapanese forces launched abroad a Type 88 anti-ship missile during military exercises in the Philippines, something that China interprets as a clear sign of Japanese “remilitarization.” Although the missile can be used for defensive purposesBeijing considers that deploying this type of weaponry outside Japanese territory breaks part of pacifist logic that Tokyo maintained for decades after 1945. Furthermore, the context further aggravates the tension: Washington also fired Tomahawk missiles from the Philippines using the Typhon systemcapable of hitting targets hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away, potentially including mainland China itself. For Beijing, the image is disturbing because it reflects how Japan, the Philippines and the United States are beginning to rehearse together a scenario where the Pacific island chains could be transformed into advanced attack platforms and military containment against China. Two armed H-6 bombers fly over Scarborough Reef in an attempt by Beijing to show its superiority to Manila and its allies amid the Balikatan maneuvers and territorial disputes H-6 bombers are no longer simple propaganda. Chinese bomber flights over Scarborough Shoal have become relatively commonbut this time the important detail was the weapons. The H-6 appeared with a greater load of YJ-12 supersonic missiles, specifically designed to attack large ships and naval groups. At the same time, J-16 fighters They escorted the deployment while Chinese ships closely followed the multinational flotilla led by the United States and the Philippines. In other words, Beijing is using these exercises to show something very concrete: in a hypothetical regional conflict, it would try saturate and keep away US naval forces using massive quantities of anti-ship missiles launched from land, aircraft and ships. China is surrounding the Philippines with layers of military pressure. Beyond the bombers, China deployed the combat group of the Liaoning aircraft carrier and various armed surface groups with Type 055 destroyersconsidered some of the most powerful ships in the Chinese Navy. One of these groups carried out live fire exercises east of Luzon, precisely in areas that the United States and the Philippines are studying as possible reinforcement routes in the event of war. The Chinese strategic idea is increasingly evident: convert the Philippine maritime environment into a extremely dangerous area for any US attempt to move troops, supplies or reinforcements towards Taiwan or the South China Sea. Naval warfare is changing because of drones. While showcasing bombers and aircraft carriers, China is also accelerating the adaptation of its navy to a threat that has transformed recent conflicts such as Ukraine or attacks in the Middle East: the drones. In fact, Beijing has just presented a new naval antidrone system capable of intercepting stealth and very low altitude attacks in complex electronic warfare environments. The tests carried out in the Bohai Sea show the extent to which the Chinese Navy assumes that future naval confrontations will not depend only on large ships and missiles, but also on enormous swarms of drones capable of harassing or destroying much more expensive ships. The China Sea is filling with signs. The bomber combination with supersonic missilesnext-generation destroyers, aircraft carriers, artificial bases and anti-drone systems reflects something deeper than simple military exercises. China is preparing an environment where any US intervention around Taiwan or the Philippines would be extremely complexsaturated with aerial, maritime and electronic threats. And the most significant thing is that it is no longer just about propaganda displays: Beijing is testing in the field how to coordinate all those capabilities against real forces from the United States, Japan and their allies in one of the most tense regions on the planet. Image | CCTV In Xataka | The YJ-20 has just entered the scene at the most delicate moment: China has launched its hypersonic missile against the US and Japan In Xataka | China is beating the US with a simple strategy: manufacturing hypersonic missiles at the price of a Tesla

Europe and Japan step on the accelerator of nuclear fusion and place the ball in the court of a strategic country: Spain

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Europe and Japan walk hand in hand towards nuclear fusion commercial. They have been working together for several years in the JT-60SA experimental reactorthe largest magnetic confinement fusion energy machine that currently exists. However, this is not the only project in which they collaborate. They are also fine-tuning the LIPAc linear particle accelerator (Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator or IFMIF Prototype Linear Accelerator). This machine resides in Rokkasho (Japan). After having undergone a very ambitious update, it is ready to begin the final phase that will conclude with its commissioning in 2027. Its purpose is to test the limits of particle beam physics to pave the way for future fusion reactors. Europe and Japan began developing this 36-meter-long particle accelerator in 2007 with the aim of validating the design of an IFMIF-type machine (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility) capable of acting as a neutron source. To achieve this, this device had to recreate the intense irradiation conditions that occur inside a fusion reactor. One of Europe’s most important contributions is a huge steel cryostat with magnetic shielding and a thermal shield that houses a powerful superconducting radio frequency system. This component serves to accelerate protons and deuterium nuclei until they reach a maximum energy of 9 MeV (megaelectronvolts), which will place them close to the high-energy neutrons that future commercial fusion reactors will produce. LIPAc is the precursor of IFMIF-DONES, which is already being built in Spain The knowledge that scientists hope to gain from LIPAc will be used in the development of IFMIF-DONES (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility DEMO-Oriented NEutron Source), that is already being built in Escúzar, a town in the province of Granada. The heart of this facility is a linear particle accelerator that will cost approximately 450 million euros, although the Government of Andalusia will provide half of this money. However, this is the cost of the accelerator; The entire IFMIF-DONES project will cost around 700 million euros. Spain will contribute half of this capital. IFMIF-DONES is one of the three fundamental pillars of the nuclear fusion edifice in whose construction the European Union is involved. The other two are ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) and DEMO. The experimental nuclear fusion reactor that is currently being built in the French town of Cadarache aims to demonstrate that fusion at the scale that man can handle worksand also that it is profitable from an energy point of view. However, ITER does not aim to produce electricity. That will be the task of DEMO (DEMOnstration Power Plant), a facility that will take the technological advances that have been proven to work correctly at ITER and take them one step further to establish itself as the true precursor of commercial nuclear fusion reactors. However, without IFMIF-DONES there will be no DEMO, so right now Granada is the center of attention. The IFMIF-DONES linear accelerator will produce high-energy neutrons with the intensity and irradiation volume necessary to test candidate materials To fully understand the role of the IFMIF-DONES project, it is necessary to briefly review the fundamentals of nuclear fusion. One of the greatest challenges faced by technicians involved in the development of nuclear fusion reactors using magnetic confinement, such as ITER, is to recreate the conditions necessary for them to operate inside the vacuum chamber of these sophisticated machines. deuterium and tritium nuclei fuse. However, this is by no means all. When this reaction takes place, the fusion of a deuterium nucleus and another tritium nucleus triggers the production of a helium nucleus and a neutron that is ejected with an energy of about 14 MeV. The problem is that the neutron lacks a net electrical charge, so it cannot be confined inside the magnetic field which, however, does manage to retain the deuterium and tritium nuclei, which have a positive electrical charge. This is the reason why when it originates as a result of the nuclear fusion reaction, this neutron is ejected towards the walls of the vacuum chamber with enormous energy. This particle is very important because in practice it will be closely linked to the production of electrical energy in nuclear fusion reactors, but, at the same time, it represents a very aggressive form of radiation that can significantly degrade the materials used in the reactor. The components that will be most affected by the direct impact of high-energy neutrons and the most intense heat flow are the internal wall of the vacuum chamber and the blanket. The components that will be most affected by the direct impact of high-energy neutrons and the most intense heat flow are the inner wall of the vacuum chamber and the blanketwhich is a mantle that covers it and whose purpose is to regenerate the tritium that must be used as fuel in the nuclear fusion reaction. This is why it is crucial to develop new materials that are able to withstand the neutron flux and therefore ensure that the reactor will have a long operational life. This is, neither more nor less, the purpose of IFMIF-DONES. And to carry it out it is necessary to set up facilities designed to allow the technicians involved in the project evaluate the properties of candidate materials to intervene not only in DEMO, but also in future commercial nuclear fusion reactors. The mission of this project invites us to intuit what the heart of IFMIF-DONES is: a source capable of producing high-energy neutrons with the intensity and volume of irradiation necessary to test the candidate materials. And this neutron source will be nothing more than a linear particle accelerator that will help IFMIF-DONES scientists to test, validate and qualify the materials that in the medium term should reach future electric energy production plants through fusion. Image | Fusion for Energy More information | Fusion for Energy In Xataka | ITER has faced one of the great challenges of nuclear fusion: preventing plasma at 150 million ºC from destroying the reactor

China has launched its hypersonic missile against the US and Japan

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During the Falklands War, British naval officers they later recognized that one of the most tense moments was not a big attack, but the simple missile warning that no one saw arriving clearly on the radars. In a matter of seconds, the uncertainty was enough to disrupt maneuvers, communications and critical decisions across the fleet. The scene left an idea that is difficult to forget: at sea, sometimes the decisive factor is not firepower, but the speed at which everything happens. A missile, three speeds and a dashboard change. The appearance of YJ-20 missile marks a qualitative leap in the military competition between great powers, and it does so because it places China in a position of advantage in the development of hypersonic weapons capable of altering the naval balance in a matter of minutes. This system, designed specifically to attack large surface ships, introduces a threat difficult to neutralize due to his extreme speed and ability to overwhelm defenses. In other words, the difference no longer lies only in who has more ships, but in who can hit first without giving any room for reaction. The problem of extreme speed. Several analysts said weeks ago that the YJ-20 moves in a range that redefine the times naval combat, with cruising speeds around Mach 6 and a final descent that can reach Mach 10. This means that the interval between launch and impact is drastically reduced, seriously limiting the ability of current defensive systems to detect, track and intercept the projectile. For example, in scenarios close to China, this margin narrows even moreto the point of compromising any effective attempt at a response. missile launch Aircraft carrier in the spotlight. The Scmp analysts They recalled that the priority target of this type of missile is aircraft carriers, considered the core of US naval power. Although these operate within complex battle groups with multiple defensive layers, the nature YJ-20 hypersonic calls into question the effectiveness of that model. There is no doubt, we always talk about deterrence, but the possibility of launching multiple missiles against the same target increases the risk of saturationopening the door for even advanced systems to be overwhelmed. A sea as a scene of tension. And it is at this point where the missile has been in the news this week. The tests and demonstrations of the YJ-20 that have taken place do not occur in a vacuum, but in a context of increasing friction in the South China Sea. The reason? As the United States, the Philippines and Japan carry out joint exercises like Balikatan 2026China has responded showing its offensive capacity in exactly the same region. Geographic proximity, especially in areas such as Luzon or the Taiwan Strait, turns each maneuver into a strategic message with direct implications on regional balance. Technology versus technology: the emerging gap. Yes, because the comparison with systems like Japanese Type 88 missile highlights the technological leap that hypersonic systems represent. While the latter multiply speed and reduce reaction times, many of the allied systems continue to operate with subsonic capabilities or, at best, supersonic. This gap forces to rethink doctrinesinvestments and priorities in defense, since current tools may not be sufficient against this new generation of threats. A career that moves to space. They explained from IE that the American response points to large-scale solutions, such as the development of space-based interception systems. Here proposals arise such as the so-called “Golden Dome” announced by Trump that reflect the magnitude of the challenge, with projected investments of hundreds of billions of dollars and deadlines that extend for years. The problem is not only technological, but strategic: how to adapt to an environment in which speed and surprise can decide a confrontation before it even fully develops. A debut at the worst possible time. The entrance on scene of the YJ-20 matches one of the voltage spikes more visible in the region, just when forces from the United States, Japan and their allies deploy their largest joint exercise in waters near China. In that context, the public demonstration of this missile is not an isolated gesture, but rather a calculated message that takes advantage of the moment of maximum military exhibition rival. If you will, the result is a particularly delicate combination: one with a new weapon, tested against potential direct adversaries, in a scenario where each movement has an immediate strategic reading and increases the risk of possible escalation. Image | CCTV In Xataka | China is beating the US with a simple strategy: manufacturing hypersonic missiles at the price of a Tesla In Xataka | China has revealed a new naval military strategy: civilian ships that can become missile launchers

Japan has plunged into a crazy spiral of aging that is claiming an unexpected victim: the yakuza

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the yakuza it’s news in Japan. And not because of his coups, a particularly successful police raid or a change in policy by the Government of Sanae Takaichi to combat the criminal network that takes centuries filtering into Japanese society. No. The yakuza is in the news because after several years of seeing its ranks decimated, it has reached an all-time low. According to police statistics, in 2025 their criminal groups numbered about 17,600 people (among members and allies), far from the more than 80,000 just a decade and a half ago. This loss of strength is explained by the control of the police and a turn in the underworld towards new criminal networksbut also because of a trend that affects the rest of the country: the yakuza ages, just like society ages Japanese. The yakuza is shrinking. These are not good times for the yakuza. Not at least as far as follow-up is concerned. Statistics from the National Police Agency show that Japan’s quintessential criminal institution (and one of the best-known in the world) has seen its member and affiliate base fall to a minimum. In 2025 They totaled 17,6001,200 less than the previous year. If we look only at the hard core, the full members, the figure is even more devastating: it remains at 9,400, the lowest since there are records. Is the data so bad? Yes. The problem is not that 2025 has been a particularly bad year for the yakuza, but that it maintains a trend that goes back a long time. Nippon explains that the institution has been seeing its ranks thinning little by little for at least 21 years, tracing a negative curve that has no signs of improving. For reference, the newspaper recalls that until 2009 the yakuza had more than 80,000 people spread throughout the country. If we go back to the 1960s, that support base was considerably higher. The crisis also seems to be affecting (to a greater or lesser extent) the different organizations that make up the yakuza. Nippon appointment half a dozen entities that have either stagnated their social mass or have lost members. The worst stop is Sixth Yamaguchi-gumiwhich in 2025 remained at 3,100 members and 3,200 affiliates. They are 200 and 400 less respectively than a year before. Curious yes, new no. The 2025 data is revealing, but will probably surprise few people in Japan. The country takes years reading headlines that report the gradual loss of base of organized crime networks. In 2022 the Police Agency already revealed that the number of members and associates of mafia groups had fallen to 24,100, the lowest figure since at least 1958, the first year with statistics. Only a few years later the ranks of the yakuza fell below the 20,000 barrier, a new low. What is the reason? As is often the case with all social phenomena, whether related to crime or not, this trend is explained by a combination of factors. In the case of Japanese bands, however, there is one particularly interesting one: age. The Japan Times reveals that one of the theories that the authorities use to explain this decline is the aging suffered by organized groups. The yakuza is getting older, just like japan. In 2022, the Japanese police estimated that 30.8% of members They were between 50 and 59 years old, making it the largest cohort. People between 60 and 69 years old represented 12.5% ​​and septuagenarians 11.6%. More than 50% were 50 or older. In general, the average age of the members was 54.2 years, seven more than a decade before. Members between 40 and 30 years old accounted for 12.9% and those in their twenties did not exceed 5.4%. An increasingly aging country. That the ranks of the yakuza are aging can be explained for several reasons. A key one is that Japan in general is getting older. The country has been immersed in a serious demographic crisis which has plunged its birth rate and raised the average age of the population. According to the records According to Statista, in 1950 this indicator marked 21.3 years, in the mid-90s it had already risen to 39 years and in 2020 it was close to 48. Their forecasts assume that at the end of this century the average will comfortably exceed 50 years. The result of that drift? Japan presents one of the worst percentages of population over 65 years of age: represents more than 29%. Click on the image to go to the tweet. One word: tokuryū. There is, however, another factor that explains why the organizations that make up the yakuza are increasingly aging. It is not that crime is fading in Japan, rather it is transforming and it is doing so by leaning towards a new format: the tokuryūcriminal networks that flee from hierarchical and well-structured models, such as the yakuza. The tokuryū (the word is the sum of tokumeik“anonymous” and ryūdo“fluid”) often operate as groups of criminals who form for coups, without structure, codes, organizational rigidity or bonds. That nature deprives them of some of the advantages of the yakuza, but it also has its strengths. The police find it difficult to deal with such loosely knit groups. And they also seem to offer an attractive model for younger offenders. The Japan Times assures that last year 12,178 people related to tokuryū were arrested, 2,073 more than in 2024. Many of them were under 40 years old or even in their twenties, which gives another clue about the changes that the underworld world is experiencing. “The younger generations’ aversion to yakuza organizations, with strict codes of conduct and hierarchies, is a contributing factor to their decline,” precise the diary Sankei Shimbun. Fighting crime. When explaining the bleeding of the yakuza, the authorities point to another factor: the work of legislators and police. Specifically, they point to greater application of the law and ordinances that complicate the participation of companies and individuals in organized crime. To combat crime the … Read more

Japan has just landed with a weapon to take down its shaheds

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Sometimes wars change because of an unexpected solution to a seemingly minor problem. There we have the case of the Second World War, when the Allied pilots began to use simple aluminum strips launched from aircraft to confuse enemy radars, saturating them with false echoes and completely disrupting German air defense. The idea, as simple as it was cheap, showed that in certain conflicts the key is not to have the most powerful thing, but to find the most effective way to neutralize what already exists. Japan enters the drone war. Yes, Tokyo has taken an unprecedented step in the Ukrainian war by directly introducing proprietary technology on the battlefield, something unusual in its recent defense policy (although not for the future). Through the Terra Drone companyTokyo has not only invested in the Ukrainian Amazing Dronesbut has taken one of its systems from the laboratory to the real front. The result is a new type of cooperation where Ukrainian combat experience is combined with Japanese industrial capacity, creating a hybrid actor that did not exist until now in this conflict. An interceptor to knock down swarms. A proper name appears here. The key system is Terra A1 interceptor dronedesigned specifically to address threats like the Shahedthe same ones that Russia has used massively since the beginning of the invasion. We are talking about devices with speeds close to 300 km/h and a range of about 32 kilometersdrones that can detect and attack targets in the same mission cycle. Their advantage is not only in their features, but in their approach: they are designed to combat cheap drones with equally cheap solutions, avoiding the use of much more expensive missiles for lower value threats. The Terra A1 interceptor The cost war. Here is the key change of the conflict. While a Shahed drone can cost tens of thousands of dollars, such an interceptor can cost just a few thousand. Faced with this and how we have been countingtraditional systems such as anti-aircraft missiles can easily exceed one million per unit. This difference allows Ukraine to raise a volume based defensecapable of responding to massive attacks without exhausting strategic resources in each interception, something critical in a war of attrition. Ukrainian technology, Japanese industrial muscle. In reality, the alliance is anything but casual. Ukraine provides direct knowledge of combat, with systems adapted to electronic warfare, jamming and real front conditions. For its part, Japan provides production capacityfinancing and industrial scaling. The objective here is clear: to move from improvised or limited solutions to mass production capable of sustaining the pace of the conflict, all with a view to even exporting this model to other scenarios where cheap drones have become a dominant threat. Towards more autonomous drones. In fact, the next step is already practically defined and is none other than reduce human intervention. Current developments seek to ensure that these interceptors can take off, locate targets and attack automatically, without the need constant control. In theory, this not only increases efficiency, but allows you to respond faster to crowded attacks, where reaction time is key. In this field, the combination of Ukrainian software and Japanese technological development aims to accelerate a trend that is already transforming the air war into other conflicts like the Middle East. A new front for Russia. It is the last of the legs to analyze, because the arrival of the Terra A1 It means that Russia now faces a different problem than usual. These are no longer just traditional Western systems, but a new layer of defense based on cheap, scalable drones specifically adapted to your tactics. Japan’s entry into this field introduces an unexpected factorthat of a country with great technological capacity that is beginning to directly influence the balance of the battlefield, and does so by providing tools designed precisely to neutralize the type of weapon that Moscow more has exploded on Ukrainian territory. Image | Amazing Drones In Xataka | Ukraine is shooting down Russian drones with “pilots” 500 kilometers from the front: it is a radical revolution in war In Xataka | In 1914, submachine guns forever changed the way war was waged. In 2026, it’s algorithms’ turn

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