A record 13 people have been killed by bears so far this year. Canada, the U.S. and several other nations have issued warnings for citizens traveling in Japan.

If Japan’s hawkish new prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, has her way, Japan’s security evolution will quicken. The country’s military build-up is a response to increasingly aggressive neighbours in China and North Korea and to an ever more unreliable ally in America.

The impact is especially pronounced in Japan, which the United Nations has classified as a " super-aged" society —meaning at least 20 percent of the population is over 65. In Japan, that figure is close to 30 percent. Newsweek reached out by email to Japan 's Foreign Ministry with a request for comment.

An off-the-cuff remark by new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that triggered Japan's biggest bust-up in years with powerful neighbour China was not meant to signal a new hardline stance. But after openly stating how Japan might react to a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan,

Firefighters and army helicopters battled a fire that burned through old wooden houses in a fishing town in southwestern Japan.

Tension between Japan and China has escalated over the new Japanese leader's suggestion Tokyo could intervene militarily if Beijing attacks Taiwan.

Investors bailing out of the yen and Japan's government bonds have driven borrowing costs there to record highs, bending markets out of shape and piling pressure on the country's policymakers as they try to pilot the economy through a rough patch.

TOKYO >> An increasing number of local governments are toughening regulations on private lodging businesses, known as minpaku, which offer private homes and condominiums as accommodations for international tourists.