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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2023

Japan and South Korea discuss Seoul's proposal to solve wartime labor dispute

The Japanese government is expected to back the proposed solution so long as it can maintain its position on the issue of compensation, sources familiar with the bilateral ties said.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / Longform
Jan 16, 2023

The race to save the Japanese giant salamander

River infrastructure is causing the salamander's decline. To stop Japan from losing this rare species, conservationists are calling for an alternative vision of rural development.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jan 16, 2023

The drug mules carrying Europe's cocaine in their guts

More than a sixth of the cocaine consumed in France is smuggled inside the bodies of drug mules from its poverty-stricken South American region of Guiana.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2023

New AI smartphone app will be able to decipher Japanese cursive manuscripts

The app's beta version is set for release later this month, while the full version is scheduled to become available to the public this March.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Jan 16, 2023

Rafael Nadal victorious at Australian Open but heartbreak for Nick Kyrgios

Top-seeded Nadal recovered from a second-set wobble to defeat the 38th-ranked Briton 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 at Rod Laver Arena.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2023

TV announcer turned portfolio manager beats 97% of Japanese peers

Maiko Uda reckons the Bank of Japan will raise its cap for 10-year sovereign yields to at least 1.5% within two years from 0.5% now.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2023

Japan’s transport ministry plans expressway fee collection through 2115

The transport ministry is drawing up bills to be submitted during the next parliament session that begins on Jan. 23, including a revision to the road construction law.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2023

COVID-19 tracker: Tokyo logs 4,433 new cases

Tokyo reported 4,433 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, down by 3,766 week on week.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 16, 2023

Japan opposition party lawmaker Hakase Suidobashi resigns

The comedian-turned-politician of Reiwa Shinsengumi had stopped his political activities in October last year after being diagnosed with depression.
Inmates in a cell at the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Centre mega-prison southeast of San Salvador on Aug. 21, 2023.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 28, 2024

El Salvador's two-year push has crushed street gangs but at a high price

Deployment of the military and police dealt a heavy blow to the structures of the gangs but at the cost of human rights, and poverty remains a major issue.
The Pacific League's Chusei Mannami is congratulated by his teammates after his home run during Game 2 of NPB's All-Star series in Hiroshima on Thursday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 21, 2023

Chusei Mannami powers Pacific League to two-game sweep of All-Star games

The 23-year-old Mannami, who is having a breakout season with 15 home runs, 41 runs, and 42 RBIs this year, was making his first All-Star appearance and was named Game 2 MVP.
An image of the lunar surface taken Tuesday by Japan's moon lander, which has survived three lunar nights
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 25, 2024

Japan's moon lander survives third lunar night

SLIM successfully reestablished communication and was continuing to take snapshots and probe the lunar surface, JAXA said.
Japan's Yuki Ishikawa (left) scored a match-high 27 points during his team's win over Slovenia in the Nations League semifinals.
MORE SPORTS / Volleyball
Jul 21, 2023

Japan beats Slovenia to reach Nations League semifinals for first time

Japan defeated Slovenia in straight sets Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Nations League men's volleyball tournament for the first time in the history of the event, previously called the World League.
Medics help a woman who had passed out from the heat in Athens, Greece, on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 21, 2023

Extreme heat and weather conditions attributed to stagnant jet stream

It’s no coincidence that extreme heat is engulfing huge swaths of Asia, Europe and North America all at the same time.
Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
CULTURE / Books / Longform
Apr 22, 2024

The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores

Shops without staff, shelves for rent, cafes and meetups are some of the ways the country's dwindling bookstores are trying to survive.
Four-piece Atarashii Gakko! and Okinawan rapper Awich (center) shared the Mojave Stage at 88Risings’s “Futures” showcase at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival last weekend.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 19, 2024

Japanese acts seize Coachella's spotlight — and this ain't your typical J-pop

Yoasobi, Awich and Atarashii Gakko! shine at the California festival, proving just how much J-pop has made strides in reaching international audiences.
People walk with umbrellas to shade against the sun in Tokyo's Ginza area on Saturday. The Meteorological Agency announced the same day that the rainy season was believed to have ended in the Kanto-Koshin and Tohoku regions.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2023

Eastern Japan exits rainy season as high temperatures continue

Compared with an average year, the rainy season ended three days later in the Kanto-Koshin region, the agency said.
An artist's conception of a manned lunar rover using regenerative fuel cell technology
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 22, 2023

Toyota eyes lunar rover powered by regenerative fuel-cell tech

Toyota has teamed up with JAXA since 2019 to develop the manned lunar rover — which it dubbed the Lunar Cruiser — that they hope can be put on the moon in 2029.
Yoasobi vocalist Lilas Ikuta, who goes by “Ikura,” and bandmate Ayase performed a solo set Friday night and appeared a second time as part of the American company 88Rising’s showcase Sunday at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 17, 2024

A White House dinner, a slot at Coachella — Yoasobi is having a great week

J-pop's Ikura and Ayase say they had to cut their hair and learn English for a string of stateside engagements.
A man watches a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 22, 2023

North Korea fires cruise missiles into Yellow Sea, but remains silent on U.S. soldier's fate

Experts say cruise missiles, which fly far slower than ballistic weapons, present a unique danger in that they can fly low and maneuver, making them potentially very difficult to intercept.
A group of 19 host club owners in Kabukicho who own most of the host clubs in the area have pledged to ban the pay-later system by April and prohibit entry to those under 20 years old from January.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 26, 2023

How Japan's host clubs trap young women under mountains of debt

False promises of love — and even marriage — lead to huge bills for some as young as 18, who are often then coaxed into sex work to make repayments.
Japanese imports of seafood are seen at a supermarket in Hong Kong on July 12.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 22, 2023

Hong Kong tightens radiation inspection of Japanese seafood imports

The tighter inspections started in mid-June and customs clearance of Japanese seafood was delayed by about three hours compared with earlier clearance times.
A website for a lawyers group supporting followers and next of kin over alleged Jehovah's Witnesses abuse
JAPAN / Society
Nov 21, 2023

Many children of Jehovah’s Witnesses experience abuse, Japan report says

Report sheds lights on abuses such as forcing the children to refuse blood transfusions regardless of their situation, and corporal punishment.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during Prime Minister's Questions, at the House of Commons in London on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2023

British PM Rishi Sunak avoids wipeout in key local elections

By-elections were seen as an indicator of the two main parties' prospects at a time when voters are struggling with high inflation, strikes and rising mortgage rates.
Dried cocoa beans at the Somos Cacao farm and production in Ragonvalia, department of Norte de Santader, Colombia, on March 22, 2024. Cocoa is the best-selling commodity in the world so far in 2024, and futures have doubled in less than three months as poor harvests in West Africa, where most of the world's cocoa is grown, have led buyers to look elsewhere for supplies.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 29, 2024

Cocoa market 'broken' as crop failure drives third year of shortages

here’s a risk poor harvests in West Africa could be long-lasting, with climate change and crop disease ravaging trees.
Green marks the spot where a fissure formed, then fused back together in this artistic rendering of nanoscale self-healing in metal. Red arrows indicate the direction of the pulling force that unexpectedly triggered the phenomenon.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 21, 2023

Self-healing metal? It's not just the stuff of science fiction

Scientists have witnessed pieces of pure platinum and copper spontaneously heal cracks caused by metal fatigue during nanoscale experiments.
A woman walks past the Bank of Japan headquarters in central Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2024

BOJ leaves policy unchanged despite yen’s continued weakness

Investors and market observers had been watching for whether the bank would send more hawkish signals to prop up the Japanese currency.
In the new Disney+ series “House of the Owl,” Min Tanaka (left) plays a powerful political fixer, or “kuromaku,” who has a troubled relationship with his adult children, particularly his idealistic son, played by Mackenyu.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Apr 18, 2024

'House of the Owl' brings Hollywood values to Japanese TV

Min Tanaka plays a powerful political fixer in the 10-episode show, which centers on the behind-the-scenes machinations of "kuromaku."
The 1975 perform at the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London in 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 22, 2023

Malaysia halts music festival after same-sex kiss by U.K. band The 1975

Homosexuality is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia. Rights groups have warned of growing intolerance against the country's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
A cargo vessel on the Sulina Channel en route to the Danube River, in Romania
WORLD
Jul 21, 2023

Ukraine grain relies on a river that’s drying up

A heatwave fanning across the southern part of Europe is lowering river levels and crimping export capacity, which will make shipping grain even more difficult.

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree