shakes hands with his South Korean counterpart Ban Ki Moon before their meeting in Tokyo.

Ban made the comments in an evening meeting with Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura -- the first ministerial talks Japan and South Korea have held since Koizumi's fifth visit to the contentious shrine on Oct. 17.

Our Planet

A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan