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November 05, 2025
 

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One-third of elementary school students in Japan do not like learning English, according to a 2021 poll, an 8% rise since 2013. The pressure of taking proficiency tests is eroding children's engagement with studying English and its benefits.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2025

Japan’s English-language education doesn’t pass the test

An excessive focus on testing students' English ability is turning language learning into a chore, depriving children of the joy and opportunities of intercultural communication.
The rapid advance of artificial intelligence and technology threatens traditional human life and values, but finding a balance between innovation and preserving human connection may offer a path forward for humanity's future.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

Does humanity have a future in the virtual and AI age?

The virtual age and artificial intelligence are making traditional ways of life seem increasingly obsolete, and this will only grow with AI's spread.
Taiwan worries that Donald Trump’s dealmaking with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine signals uncertainty for its own security, and the island democracy is boosting efforts to strengthen U.S. ties and defense spending.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

Trump’s phone call with Putin is causing a stir in Taiwan

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te’s government should consider what it can offer Trump to avoid becoming a pawn in the U.S.-China rivalry.
Mike Sunda at a concert in Haikou, China
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 20, 2025

Mike Sunda: ‘Creative production comes with a bigger responsibility than ever before’

Creative strategist Mike Sunda talks about his influences and the filming of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Mamushi” music video.
Once a boon to tea farmers' bottom lines, the global matcha craze is now pushing producers and distributors to their limits with few options to adequately meet demand.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 23, 2025

Japan struggles to fend off a world without enough matcha

Production methods and economic risks keep the domestic tea industry from ramping up supply.
David Moreton, a former professor at Tokushima University, originally came to Japan as a missionary in 1988. He is now one of the world’s foremost experts on the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 24, 2025

How a Canadian missionary found spiritual transformation in Shikoku

David Moreton has devoted decades to researching southern Japan’s famed 88-temple pilgrimage, established by influential monk Kobo Daishi.
Without the well-developed road infrastructure of many parts of Honshu, it has never been easy to be a truck driver in Hokkaido, Japan’s second-largest island but largest prefecture in terms of landmass-
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Mar 3, 2025

Hokkaido trucking industry faces challenges from overtime cap

Without the well-developed road infrastructure of many parts of Honshu, it has never been easy to be a truck driver in Hokkaido.
U.S. Marines during training in Okinawa last month.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 22, 2025

U.S. Marines start to leave Japan, decades behind schedule

The U.S. base on Okinawa has relocated 105 Marines. But an agreement to move 9,000 in total is colliding with the perceived threat from a rising China.
A makeshift memorial for Ukrainian soldiers who died fighting invading Russian forces and the Monument to Independence in Kyiv on Feb. 14
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2025

Ukraine can survive with the ‘least worst’ peace deal

Clearly the main issue and unfortunately it looks like Trump’s idea of ending the war fast means doing very little for the people who were actually invaded.
Leeds United's Ao Tanaka (center) scores his side's second goal against Sheffield United in Sheffield, England, on Monday.
SOCCER
Feb 25, 2025

Tanaka scores in Leeds' late-show win over Sheffield United

Ao Tanaka headed into the top corner two minutes from time to spark delirious scenes among the traveling fans.
A woman fits her wedding dress at a bridal shop in Luliang, northern China's Shanxi province, on Feb. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 25, 2025

China adviser pushes to lower legal marriage age to 18 to boost birthrate

The comments comments come ahead of China’s annual parliamentary meeting, where officials are expected to announce measures to offset the country's declining population.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (center) takes questions during a daily briefing at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

White House takes control of picking media who cover Trump

The move came amid an escalating battle between the White House and the Associated Press news agency, which Trump has barred from presidential events.
Both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have called for placing levies on the U.S. that are similar to those the U.S. places on Canada.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2025

Something is rotten in Canada

So while Trump is right to say Canada’s trade surplus with the U.S. has grown, he’s wrong about why it has expanded.
People walk along a bridge with the Kremlin and Saint Basil's Cathedral seen in the background, in Moscow on Feb. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025

The 'new silent ones': Opponents lie low in Russia

Since the start of the offensive three years ago, Moscow has cracked down on any public dissent of what it calls the "special military operation."
People take photos of the Shinjuku Alta building on Friday evening.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 28, 2025

Shinjuku Alta closes its doors after 45 years

The shopping complex near the JR Shinjuku Station served as a de facto meeting point for many in one of Tokyo’s busiest entertainment districts.
A sign directs people to a measles testing center in Gaines County, Texas, on Tuesday. A measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico is sparking fears of worsening public health crisis in the United States. 
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2025

Texas measles outbreak was entirely avoidable

"It’s more contagious than COVID, more contagious than the flu, more contagious than Ebola,” says Paul Offit, of Philadelphia's Vaccine Education Center.
Ukrainian servicemen play with dogs at their position on a front line in the nation's Zaporizhzhia region on Feb. 21.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 2, 2025

Europe's nightmare is here: They have to fight Putin without the U.S.

The European Union is aiming to follow up with an emergency package of €20 billion ($21 billion) in military aid for Ukraine at an emergency summit in Brussels.
Hidetaka Ishii, an official at the Chiba Municipal Government, says close coordination with private-sector operators is key for regional decarbonization efforts.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Mar 2, 2025

Japan’s climate heroes show potential and limits of local initiatives

Chiba and others show the potential for local areas to accelerate the energy transition, as well as the challenges of building locally driven, carbon-free energy models.
Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Mar 3, 2025

As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows

Women and young people are leading a migratory wave that the government is struggling to halt.
Government stockpiled rice stored in a warehouse on Feb. 18 in Saitama Prefecture
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2025

Japanese government to auction stockpiled rice on March 10

It is the first time stockpiled rice will be released to ensure smooth distribution. This was previously limited to cases of seriously poor harvests and large-scale disasters.
Destroyed homes after the Palisades Fire near Los Angeles on Jan. 30
WORLD / Society
Mar 3, 2025

Fire danger in LA is all around, but signals to residents are mixed

There is a disparity between what data on the issue is freely available and the fuller data that private companies can pay to access.
Prince Hisahito attends his first news conference at Akasaka Estate in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025

At first news conference, Prince Hisahito pledges to fulfill royal duties

The prince, who is second in line to the throne, underlined the importance of thinking of the people as a member of the imperial family.
A S-300 missile system is seen during the National Army Day parade in Tehran on April 17, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025

Russian missile experts flew to Iran amid clashes with Israel

It could not be determined what the seven specialists were doing in Iran.
Hong Kong activist Tang Ngok-kwan speaks to reporters in Hong Kong on Thursday after the Court of Final Appeal ruled in his favor and quashed his jail term for refusing to hand over information to the city's national security police.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 6, 2025

Hong Kong’s Tiananmen activists win rare appeal in security case

The ruling marked a rare victory in challenging the enforcement of the national security law imposed by Beijing.
While Google may be the restaurant review medium of choice in other countries, Japan largely prefers Tabelog, where five-star reviews are rare and three-star reviews aren't what they seem.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2025

On Japan's top foodie site, imperfection is gold

Cultural expectations may influence ratings on Tabelog, but reading between the lines might help you find the next hidden gem.
Bar Bota, the 37th-floor watering hole at the Four Seasons Osaka, looks out on a glittering cityscape better known for its cheap eats and drinks.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2025

Slowly but surely, Osaka emerges from Kyoto’s fine-dining shadow

The majority of tourists go to Osaka with street food on their minds, but the city is rapidly improve its elevated dining options as well.
“The Place of Shells” takes place mostly in Gottingen, Germany, where both the author and the book's narrator live, while also jumping both geographically and temporally to Sendai, Japan, through memories of the 3/11 disaster and its aftermath.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 10, 2025

Grief ebbs and flows between two tragedies in 'The Place of Shells'

Mai Ishizawa’s debut novel, which won one of the three Akutagawa Prizes awarded in 2021, is also her first to be released in English, translated by Polly Barton.
Japan is grappling with a budget shortfall, and while raising the tax-free threshold has sparked political debate, the country's booming tourism industry presents an untapped revenue source.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2025

Japan has a revenue hole. Plug it with tourists

More than 35 years after sales tax was first introduced, it remains incredibly unpopular and reducing it is a regular promise of opposition parties.
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the opening bell in New York on Monday, when stocks plummeted as investors fretted that uncertainty over President Donald Trump's tariff policy could tip the world's biggest economy into a recession.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 11, 2025

Markets rocked by Trump show economic fear across Wall Street

What had been a steady pullback from the U.S. stock market accelerated sharply Monday as investors retreated from virtually every type of risk.
People hold a Ukrainian flag and a Taiwan flag during a protest to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Taipei on Feb. 23.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Mar 11, 2025

‘We are not Ukraine’: Top Taiwan officials temper comparisons after U.S. U-turn

Top Taiwanese officials believe the U.S. will stay invested in the island's security as Washington remains united on the need to counter China.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo
The unstoppable rise of konbini tourism
Guests typically follow Ryo Ito’s lead as he weaves through the narrow, colorful aisles of convenience stores.
A narrow Pacific waterway at heart of U.S. plans to choke China’s vast navy
Philippine and Australian troops fire an M777 howitzer during live fire exercises as part of joint military drills in Laur, Nueva Ecija, the Philippines, in August.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo
Young Indonesians in Japan find their political voice
Indonesian students at Hiroshima University hold posters of the 17+8 Demands, demanding transparency and action from their homeland’s government.
The unstoppable rise of konbini tourism
Guests typically follow Ryo Ito’s lead as he weaves through the narrow, colorful aisles of convenience stores.
Kenshi Yonezu, 'Chainsaw Man' and the art of pop ubiquity
Kenshi Yonezu's “Iris Out” was an instant hit when it dropped in September. Its association with smash anime "Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc" has spread it to even more people.
How airlines are refining their in-flight food in Japan's tourism boom
All Nippon Airways' gourmet program, The Connoisseurs, showcases the Japanese concept of "shun" (peak season for ingredients), giving passengers a preview of the refined cuisine that awaits them in Japan.

Podcast

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

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
By Alex K.T. Martin

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