and Yukio Hatoyama beam Sunday as they place a flower signifying a win next to a name on the DPJ's list of candidates at party headquarters in Tokyo. SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTO

But DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa was conspicuously absent from any victory fanfare Sunday, and questions about his health continued to make the rounds.

Our Planet

Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past