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Dame Maggie Smith, a star of the stage, film and television, died Sept. 27 in London. She was 89. The actor is pictured here in 2015.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Sep 27, 2024

'National treasure' U.K. actor Maggie Smith dies aged 89

Over the course of her long career, Dame Maggie Smith won a Tony, two Oscars, three Golden Globes and five Bafta Awards.
The upscale Gangnam area of Seoul is one area in South Korea where high-end apartments for seniors are being developed.
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2024

Fast-aging South Korea sees money in luxury retirement homes

The popularity of such residences have prompted the likes of Lotte and Hyundai to invest billions of dollars on new projects.
A Kobayashi Pharmaceutical factory in Osaka
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2024

Kobayashi Pharma sued in Taiwan over beni kōji products

A group filed the lawsuit with the Taipei District Court against six firms including a Taiwanese unit of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical and an importer in Taiwan.
An aerial view of damaged houses are seen after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Horseshoe Beach, Florida, on Saturday.
WORLD
Sep 29, 2024

U.S. southeast faces daunting cleanup from Helene as death toll rises

Damage estimates range between $95 billion and $110 billion, potentially making this one of the most expensive storms in modern U.S. history.
Wozme, founded by dancer and choreographer Wakaba Kohei, is composed of Kana Kitty, Ami Ishii, Akane Watanabe and Natsuki. Its aim is to inject elegance and beauty, traits traditionally associated with femininity, into the sometimes grotesque art form of butoh dance.
CULTURE / Stage / Longform
Sep 29, 2024

Wozme, an all-women dance troupe, wants to move the needle in butoh

The art form’s younger dancers are experimenting with long-standing approaches to the choreography, marketing and image of this captivating piece of Japanese culture.
Associate professor Fumiyuki Yamasaki checks how a helmet fits on a baby at Hiroshima University Hospital’s outpatient clinic.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Oct 7, 2024

Hiroshima hospital’s helmet therapy helping reshape babies' heads

Results vary greatly depending on symptoms and when treatment begins.
At least four Japanese firms removed Nomura Holdings as bond manager after market rule violations were found.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 30, 2024

Nomura excluded from several yen bond deals on rule breach

The securities watchdog said it had investigated Nomura for suspected market manipulation in government bond futures and found violations.
Prices of nearly 3,000 food and beverage products will rise in October, due to the soaring costs of ingredients.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 30, 2024

Food price hikes in Japan in October to be largest so far in 2024

Prices of 2,911 products from 195 major food and beverage manufacturers will be raised in October, surpassing April’s figure.
A scene from "Whale Restaurant," a documentary film about whale food culture in Japan
JAPAN / Society
Sep 30, 2024

Documentary on whale food culture in Japan showing in U.S.

Director Keiko Yagi said she found it difficult to find theaters that would agree to show the film.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to sign a memorandum on intellectual property tariffs on high-tech Chinese goods at the White House in March 2018.
COMMENTARY
Sep 30, 2024

Trumpism, Stalinism and the tariff debate

Trump loyalists — which these days means almost the entire Republican Party — insist as a group that foreigners, not American consumers, pay taxes on imports.
U.S. lawmakers and others speak at a news conference in Washington in March to voice their opposition to legislation cracking down on TikTok.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2024

China’s silence on U.S. Tiktok ban speaks volumes

Beijing's past actions suggest that protecting its national interests, including ByteDance's valuable algorithm, outweighs concerns about foreign investment.
People walk on an overpass with a display of stock information in front of buildings in the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai on Aug. 6.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 1, 2024

Global investors call time on their exodus from China

Beijing's moves to entice more cash into equities and jolt consumer spending have boosted the appeal of still-low Chinese company valuations.
The ByteDance logo at the company's office in Shanghai in 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 1, 2024

ByteDance rumored to be planning new AI model trained with Huawei chips

ByteDance has diversified to domestic suppliers of chips for artificial intelligence and has been accelerated development of its own since the U.S. restricted exports.
JR Tokai officials send off the Nozomi No. 1 bullet train bound for Hakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, at Tokyo Station on Tuesday as the Tokaido Shinkansen marked the 60th anniversary of its services the same day.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2024

Tokaido Shinkansen marks 60th anniversary

A commemorative ceremony was held by Central Japan Railway at Tokyo Station to send off the first train of the day.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 10. The governor has signed a law that aims to prevent instances of stalking and harassment using sophisticated car features such as location tracking and remote control.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 1, 2024

California enacts car data privacy law to curb domestic violence

The move aims to prevent stalking and harassment using features such as location tracking and remote control as automakers add more sophisticated tech to their cars.
Workers picket outside of the APM container terminal at the Port of Newark in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2024

U.S. dockworkers strike to stop automation already seen at other ports

Longshoremen have gone on strike for the first time since 1977 as the union takes a hard-line stance against automation.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on Aug. 1. In a matter of three months, Vietnam's leadership engaged India, Russia and China while securing billions in U.S. and Western investments by positioning itself as a manufacturing alternative to China.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2024

Vietnam’s bamboo diplomacy has lessons for the Global South

In just months, Vietnam engaged India, Russia and China, securing billions in U.S. and Western investments by positioning itself as a manufacturing alternative to China.
“Super Happy Forever” tells the story of a couple (Hiroki Sano, left, and Nairu Yamamoto) who met at a seaside hotel.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2024

‘Super Happy Forever’: Melancholy romance makes most of fleeting happiness

Kohei Igarashi’s nonlinear romantic drama is an understated but emotionally resonant tale of love and loss.
Newly appointed industry minister Yoji Muto says there is no change to a government plan to safely restart nuclear power plants.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2024

Japan to keep nuclear and boost renewables, new industry minister says

Yoji Muto says securing energy will be "the most important part of Japan's growth."
A network camera installed at a nursery school in the city of Chiba monitors children.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 3, 2024

Network cameras offer better views in Japan

Cameras with built-in computing functions are gaining popularity as they allow users to easily check video feeds via the internet.
A bus is seen submerged in floodwaters in Yufu, Oita Prefecture, on Aug. 29 as Typhoon Shanshan dumps torrential rain across southern regions of Japan.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 3, 2024

How climate change affects Japan's typhoons

The number of typhoons appears to be dropping, but the ones that do arrive are also becoming more violent.
While China's recent initiatives signal a willingness to address economic challenges, the road ahead remains difficult as the country's policymakers have yet to offer a clear road to success.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2024

A stimulus is good, but China still faces a hard slog

Beijing is back in investors' good books. To justify the euphoria, it needs some meaty goals.
At France's Kura Master competition, top honors went to "Shirayuki Daiginjo Itami Morohaku" (left) and "Araroka Matsufuji."
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 3, 2024

Award ceremony for Japanese alcohol held in Paris

1,223 sake products and 197 shōchū and awamori products were put up for the competition.
In recent months, some of the biggest would-be developers of green hydrogen have canceled projects, axed orders and scaled back investment plans.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Oct 4, 2024

Green hydrogen hype fades as high costs force project retreat

Some of the biggest would-be developers of the fuel have canceled projects in recent months.
As is the trend in movies and TV, the games with the biggest budgets at Tokyo Game Show 2024 were by and large remakes and remasters.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Oct 5, 2024

At Tokyo Game Show 2024, nostalgia was king

Indie gems were on the show floor, but the nostalgia from remakes and remasters drew the biggest crowds this year.
Plamo Furniture’s Baum series of interior works, designed by Takuro Izumi, is made with vertically layered panels of engineered wood that can be custom-designed to seamlessly fit any space.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Oct 5, 2024

Japan's flat-packed furniture doesn't skimp on aesthetics

Disappointed by flat-packed aesthetics? Not if you give these Japan-designed pieces a look.
For one night in Tokyo last month, Daniel Calvert (left) and Quique Dacosta brought their wildly different culinary styles together into a remarkable service.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 6, 2024

A meeting of Michelin minds at Tokyo's Sezanne

Daniel Calvert says no to most requests for pop-ups at two-Michelin-starred Sezanne — except when the chance to work with three-starred Quique Dacosta came up.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2024

Masamitsu Yoshioka, last Pearl Harbor bombardier, dies at 106

"I’m ashamed that I’m the only one who survived and lived such a long life,” Yoshioka said in an interview last year.
Paul Watson speaks at a news conference on the sidelines of the U.N. climate summit in Paris in December 2015.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2024

Japan says Paul Watson case 'nothing to do with whaling'

The co-founder of Sea Shepherd was arrested in Greenland in July on an arrest warrant issued by Japan.
A Geely assembly line in Chengdu, China, in April 2023
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2024

EU presses ahead with Chinese EV tariffs after split vote

The proposed duties on Chinese-built EVs of up to 45% would cost carmakers billions of extra dollars to bring cars into the bloc.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight