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April 29, 2025
 

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FOCUS

Tesla's store in Tokyo's Shibuya district. While sales of American cars in Japan appear to be shrinking, Tesla's presence in the country is growing.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 28, 2025
Counting the reasons why there are so few American cars in Japan
One reason is size, with American cars tending to be larger and not generally suited for driving in busy cities with many narrow roads, such as Tokyo.
AI-generated content — including those made using pictures of real people, which are known as “deepfakes” — is not explicitly covered under Japan's current legal framework, nor are human-drawn illustrations that depict child abuse.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Apr 27, 2025
Japan struggles with gray zone of AI deepfakes exploiting children
AI-generated content is not explicitly covered under the country's legal framework, nor are human-drawn illustrations that depict child abuse.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a discussion on the employment ice age generation in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 25, 2025
‘Employment ice age generation’ returns to spotlight ahead of Upper House election
The generation, which graduated between 1993 and 2004, has long grappled with pay stagnation and irregular employment due to a tight labor market.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura says he hopes the prefecture's new rule prohibiting older people from using ATMs while talking on phones becomes widely known and eventually accepted as common sense.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Apr 24, 2025
Osaka to ban older people from using ATMs while on the phone to help stop scams
While the ban does not include penalties, the Osaka prefectural government hopes to build public consensus to help prevent scams.
A bereaved family member prays at a port in Shari, Hokkaido, to mourn the victims of the Kazu I boat sinking on its third anniversary on Wednesday.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Apr 24, 2025
Hokkaido fisher to hold memorial service for tour boat accident victims
Sakurai instantly decided to organize the offshore memorial service when he saw photos recovered from a 34-year-old Kazu I passenger's digital camera.
A farmhand prunes trees on a 4-year-old cocoa plantation, replanted after swollen shoot disease, in Enchi, Ghana, on March 4.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 23, 2025
Cocoa crunch isn’t over yet as top growers struggle with supply
Africa’s cocoa heartland has long grappled with blight and aging trees, leaving farms vulnerable as severe weather hammered crops in recent years.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a meeting of the Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias Task Force, at the Justice Department in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 23, 2025
Hegseth delivers what Trump wants but with unwanted controversy
Hegseth has done most everything so far that Trump hoped he would — and for now, that’s been enough to keep Trump on Hegseth’s side.
The yen strengthened dramatically this month — hitting ¥139.9 to the dollar on Tuesday — and could become a topic of conversation in trade talks between the United States and Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 22, 2025
Yen on the march as Plaza Accord 2.0 debate grows
The U.S. has claimed that Japan's currency is undervalued, with some in the administration of President Donald Trump calling for a Plaza Accord 2.0.
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 21, 2025
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Among the world’s largest democracies, Japan has some of the highest minimum age requirements for politicians.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on April 9.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 19, 2025
How AI is aiding Trump's immigration crackdown
The practice is raising fears that risks to accuracy and privacy could put almost anyone in danger of getting caught up in the crackdown.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference, in Washington in January.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 19, 2025
Trump goes to war with the Fed
The U.S. president has threatened to take the unprecedented step of ousting the head of the fiercely independent central bank.
Ride-sharing vehicles in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, in March
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Apr 15, 2025
One year in, ride-hailing in Japan has room for improvement
Japan has lagged in adopting ride-hailing services, largely due to opposition from the country's powerful taxi industry.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Japanese Trade Union Confederation chief Tomoko Yoshino in a meeting Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 15, 2025
Why Ishiba became the first prime minister to hold talks with Rengo in 16 years
The last time an official meeting was held between a prime minister and Rengo to discuss labor policies was in 2009.
Sachiko Ishizuka, who was born via artificial insemination by donor (AID), tells her story to lawmakers from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on April 9.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 15, 2025
Privacy and transparency clash in debate over bill on artificial insemination
At stake is the thorny question of when children conceived through artificial insemination by donor can access information on their biological parents, and to what extent.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Osaka Expo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 14, 2025
As Osaka Expo kicks off, Nippon Ishin continues to hold its breath
The Kansai-centered opposition party has a lot to lose if the six-month event being held in its stronghold turns out to be a flop.
The Grand Ring walkway is crowded with visitors amid rain on the opening day of the Osaka Expo on Sunday.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Apr 14, 2025
Crowds, long lines and confusion: Osaka Expo makes turbulent start
India, Nepal and three other countries were unable to open their pavilions on the first day of the Expo, due to construction delays.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 14, 2025
How China went from courting Trump to ‘never yield’ tariff defiance
Beijing has put civilian government officials on a "wartime footing” and ordered a diplomatic charm offensive aimed at encouraging other countries to push back.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, greets supporters after speaking at the "Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here" rally at Gloria Molina Grand Park in Los Angeles on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2025
Bernie Sanders fights apathy on American left
The 83-year-old senator is drawing tens of thousands of people to his "fighting oligarchy" rallies around the country.
People walk through an Apple Store in Hong Kong on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2025
Apple was on brink of crisis before tariff concession from Trump
Donald Trump’s 125% tariffs on goods produced in China threatened to upend its supply chain as seriously as the COVID-19 snarls did five years ago.
The Bundeswehr booth at the Hannover Messe 2025 trade fair in Hannover, Germany, on March 31.
WORLD / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2025
Germany wants to be a military powerhouse. Can it pull it off?
Achieving this may be easier said than done. Germany’s defense and national security apparatus is fragmented and encumbered by bureaucracy.
China seizes disputed reef near key Philippine military outpost
China Coast Guard officers unfurl a national flag on Sandy Cay reef, near the Philippine-held Thitu Island, in disputed waters of the South China Sea this month in this screen shot taken from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
California says it overtakes Japan to become world’s No. 4 economy
Vehicles travel along the 110 freeway in downtown Los Angeles. California's GDP has overtaken Japan's to become the world's fourth largest economy, according to the U.S. state.
Arunima Mazumdar: ‘Japanese literature has a niche but deeply engaged readership in India’
Arunima Mazumdar, a New Delhi-based communications professional, began sharing her love of Japanese literature online in 2022. The platform has grown into a robust community known as Dokusha Book Club.
Counting the reasons why there are so few American cars in Japan
Tesla's store in Tokyo's Shibuya district. While sales of American cars in Japan appear to be shrinking, Tesla's presence in the country is growing.
Shohei Ohtani's example could change Japan's views on paternity leave
Shohei Ohtani and Mamiko Tanaka announced the birth of their first child on April 19.
Counting the reasons why there are so few American cars in Japan
Tesla's store in Tokyo's Shibuya district. While sales of American cars in Japan appear to be shrinking, Tesla's presence in the country is growing.
Nearly half of workers in Japan engage in ‘quiet quitting’
"Quiet quitting" is most common among the younger generation, with 46.7% of respondents to a survey in their 20s identifying with the practice, reflecting a less-motivated workforce more focused on work-life balance.
U.S. secretary of the navy weighs ‘dual-use’ shipbuilding with Japan
John Phelan at a Senate confirmation hearing for U.S. secretary of the navy in Washington in February
Expo '25 gives the world a masterclass in mascots
2025 Osaka Expo mascot Myaku-Myaku dances on the stage during the event's official opening ceremony on April 12.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
By Alex K.T. Martin

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