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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 25, 2020

In South Korea, draft resisters still go to prison. But now it’s a job.

Alternative service is a seismic shift in a country that considers conscription crucial to its defense against North Korea, with which it is still technically at war.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 25, 2020

Mike Pence chief of staff and political adviser test positive for COVID-19

Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, has tested positive for coronavirus infection this week, bringing the pandemic into the vice president’s inner circle.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Oct 25, 2020

Victorious and undefeated, Khabib Nurmagomedov retires from UFC

Three days before headlining UFC 254 in Abu Dhabi, the main attraction, Khabib Nurmagomedov, told reporters he planned to retire as the undefeated, undisputed UFC lightweight champion.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Oct 25, 2020

As China clamps down, activists flee Hong Kong for refuge in the West

Western leaders have said they will stand up for human rights in Hong Kong, while Chinese officials have rebuked what they called interference in Beijing's affairs.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 24, 2020

Top 5: Tokyo’s best soba restaurants

Soba noodles are Tokyo's original fast food, simple and filling. Whether you prefer them hot or cold, here's five soba shops worth a trek across town.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 24, 2020

Minamata disease victims struggle to find closure

More than 60 years after first raising awareness about a neurological disease caused by industrial mercury poisoning, photojournalist Aileen M. Smith still wants answers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2020

‘Handmade in Japan’: A cross-country journey with traditional artisans

Irwin Wong's personal project, which began with photos of craftspeople he admired, is now an insightful deep dive on Japan's traditional crafts.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 24, 2020

Hokkaido municipalities gamble on a nuclear future, but at what cost?

Nuclear waste site survey applications reflect muddled official policy about what to do with the country's spent nuclear fuel
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 24, 2020

Pandemic pushes Japan's wealthy to spend like there's no tomorrow

Since overseas travel has become virtually impossible, some people have been diverting more of their disposable income into luxury items such as new cars.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2020

Unclutter your mind with ‘Zen Wisdom for the Anxious’

Ryuunji temple's head priest, Shinsuke Hosokawa, offers encouragement and friendly advice with 52 Zen sayings and simple English explanations.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 24, 2020

Social media creators take advantage of the subsidized Go To campaigns

The government’s Go To Travel campaign prompted plenty of skepticism ahead of its debut in July. Understandably so — new cases of COVID-19 infections were back on the upswing at that time and the whole push to help support the country’s ailing tourism industry felt far too early. Initial results...
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2025

Demystifying the manufacturing success of China

The obvious question is how a country with such low per capita GDP has managed to reach the technological frontier in so many sectors.
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 19, 2025

Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot

Japan’s capital topped the rankings for its “exceptional broadband speeds, transport infrastructure, safety, culture, and new digital nomad visa.”
A third-party probe into the Fuji TV scandal had reported about a dinner hosted by an executive attended by “a powerful male cast member,” since revealed to be singer and actor Masaharu Fukuyama.
JAPAN / Media
Aug 19, 2025

Masaharu Fukuyama admits to attending Fuji TV dinner

The singer-actor said he was the “powerful male cast member” referenced by a third-party panel investigating the broadcaster, but denied involvement in any harassment.
Tokyo stocks moved higher on Tuesday morning in uninspired trading.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 19, 2025

Tokyo stocks hit a fourth all-time high in six trading days

Nikkei 225 ekes out another record and then falls back to end the day down.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with European leaders in Washington on Monday amid signs of U.S. and its NATO partners drifting further apart. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 19, 2025

All is not quiet on the Western front

The Trump-Putin Alaska summit is further evidence that the U.S. and its NATO partners are drifting further apart with each passing month.
Onlookers at the site of a rescue operation after flooding in Beshonai, Pakistan, a village that sits near the border with Afghanistan, on Monday
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 19, 2025

Survivors claw through rubble after deadly Pakistan cloudburst

"A huge bang came from the top of the mountain, and then dark smoke billowed into the sky," a 46-year-old local laborer said.
Khalid Jamil playing for India on July 24th, 2001. Jamil was this month appointed coach of the national team.
SOCCER
Aug 19, 2025

Global soccer players' union urges India to revive top league

The fate of the Indian Super League, which is usually played between September and April, hangs by a thread.
A total of 13,179,000 passengers used these services on 46 major routes between Aug. 8 and Sunday, the Japan Railways Group companies said Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2025

JR train demand strong during Bon holiday

A total of 13,179,000 passengers used these services on 46 major routes between Aug. 8 and Sunday.
Sharon Kwok Pong, founder of the Hong Kong Parrot Rescue, interacts with "Winnie," a rescued yellow-crested cockatoo.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Aug 19, 2025

Hong Kong scientist puts hope in nest boxes to save endangered cockatoos

Their future now hangs in the balance, due to habitat loss and, some suspect, a black market for the rare birds.
A research team from Kyoto University has announced that it is the first in the world to create 3D jawbone-like organoids from human induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 19, 2025

Kyoto University group successfully creates jawbone from iPS cells

The team expects that its method will be applied to regenerative medicine and drug discovery.
Just 42% of respondents in a recent survey approved of U.S. President Donald Trump's performance on crime.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 19, 2025

Trump approval holds at 40%, lowest level of his term, poll finds

The latest poll showed Hispanics, a group that swung toward Trump in last year's election, have also soured on the president.
Omar Garcia Harfuch has earned respect from rank-and-file military and security forces by showing up, gun-in-hand, on the front lines, one source said.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 19, 2025

Battle-tested cop is Mexico's hope to tame cartels and placate Trump

Garcia Harfuch has earned praise for helping deliver on Sheinbaum's vision of increased cooperation with the U.S.
A Japanese soldier (Eiji Funakoshi) with tuberculosis struggles to survive in the Filipino countryside during World War II in “Fires on the Plain.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 20, 2025

‘Fires on the Plain’: Haunting imagery in restored 1959 war film stands the test of time

Now restored in 4K, Kon Ichikawa’s film is a far from simple survival story that stares into humanity’s darkest corners.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with top European leaders in the White House Library in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025

Trump says no ground troops, but maybe air support, to back Ukraine peace deal

The path to peace remained uncertain as the U.S. and allies prepared to work out what military support for Kyiv might include.
Local residents carry their belongings out of a heavily damaged residential building following a Russian strike in the town of Bilozerske, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on Aug. 12.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025

U.S. and European planners start to craft Ukraine security guarantee options

One option being considered is sending European forces to Ukraine but putting the U.S. in charge of their command and control.

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan