listens to ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Yasuhide Nakayama during a taping of Ota's weekly "news" show at NTV in Tokyo in May. AP PHOTO

"It's easy to spot them nodding off during Diet sessions," he tells the studio audience while a large screen on stage shows a napping lawmaker. "Sometimes they're even dead!"

Our Planet

Data storage tapes at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center facility in Berkeley, California. Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and water, and that will only rise as generative artificial intelligence takes off in earnest.
Japan faces fresh energy challenge as it seeks to expand power-hungry data centers

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?