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The crude oil tanker New Odyssey arrives at the port in Qingdao, in China's eastern Shandong province on April 15. The U.S. has issued new sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports, including against a China-based independent oil refinery.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 17, 2025

U.S. issues new sanctions targeting Chinese importers of Iranian oil

The move comes as Washington seeks to ramp up pressure on Iran as it reentered talks with Tehran over its nuclear program this month.
A recently enacted ordinance aimed at respecting individual differences in Sapporo has not been without controversy.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Apr 28, 2025

Sapporo enacts ordinance to foster diversity and inclusion

The number of foreign residents in Sapporo has doubled over the past decade, despite an overall population decline in the city.
Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs have dealt a blow to U.S. credibility and the greenback. It’s a bigger leap to project the currency's demise.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2025

King dollar’s reign looks secure — for now

The greenback survived Trump's first term at the pinnacle and will likely endure his second.
A Buddhist monk walks past the debris of a collapsed building in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 18, 2025

Myanmar quake truce crumbles amid border clashes

Fighting erupts in Myanmar’s east despite a post-quake ceasefire, with rebel forces attacking key trade towns near the Thai border.
On the 28th floor of the Waldorf Astoria Osaka, the Peacock Lounge exemplifies the art deco decadence the brand has become synonymous with.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 19, 2025

Japan’s first Waldorf Astoria brings art deco luxury to Osaka

Stays at the Waldorf Astoria Osaka start at ¥150,000 per night, but this is no hotel to be pinching pennies.
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Apr 20, 2025

Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game

Taking an unconventional approach to sourcing, chef Keiji Ojima is out to showcase the little-known wild flavors of Okinawa in his French-inspired Okinawan fare.
Maritime Self-Defense Force sailors stand in formation after two Japanese vessels docked at the Ream naval base in Cambodia on Saturday.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2025

MSDF ships make port call at China-linked Cambodian base

The Cambodian government is believed to have been eyeing diplomatic balance by accepting vessels from Japan, a U.S. ally.
St. James' Park, home of Newcastle United, stands in the center of Newcastle, England — neither hidden away on a retail park nor tucked into a neighborhood, fenced in by neat rows of red brick terraced houses.
SOCCER
Apr 22, 2025

A soccer field can be sacred

For many, the pitch is anticipation and thrill and hope, but it is also familiarity, and comfort, and belonging.
Executives from U.K. self-driving startup Wayve and SoftBank attend an event in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2025

U.K. AI startup Wayve makes Japan debut after Nissan partnership

Earlier this month, Wayve said it was joining forces with Nissan Motor to help build the next generation of its ProPilot driver-assist system.
Keen to end its reliance on rice imports, Indonesia wants to plant vast tracts of the crop, along with sugar cane for biofuel, in the restive eastern region of Papua. But environmentalists warn it could become the world's largest deforestation project, threatening endangered species and Jakarta's climate commitments.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 22, 2025

Indonesia food plan risks 'world's largest' deforestation

Deforestation linked to the plan is already underway.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a meeting of the Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias Task Force at the Justice Department in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 23, 2025

Rubio plans to close offices in major State Department overhaul

Among those to be shut are offices responsible for women’s issues, global health security, and diversity and inclusion.
Trafficking experts have raised concerns over how satellite internet technology may hamper efforts to crack down on scam centers in Asia.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 25, 2025

Portable internet helps Asia scam centers bypass blackouts

Trafficking experts have raised concerns over how satellite internet technology may hamper efforts to crack down on scam centers.
Since Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency, his rhetoric, tariffs and threats toward allies have helped boost left-leaning or anti-Trump candidates in elections around the world.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 20, 2025

The 'Trump effect' on elections is just beginning, including in Japan

Since his inauguration, the new U.S. president seems to be creating a “Trump effect” on many, though not all, foreign elections.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks to the media upon arriving at his office on Parliament Hill on Tuesday in Ottawa. Carney pledged Tuesday to beat the United States in Donald Trump's trade war after winning Canada's election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 30, 2025

Carney’s plan to manage Trump: Keep calm, find new friends

Carney assured anxious voters that the country could not just survive the trade war — but win it.
U.S. President Donald Trump at his 100th day rally in Michigan on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Apr 30, 2025

Trump bashes Powell and touts tariffs at rally marking 100 days

The president’s denunciation came even though earlier this month he said he did not plan to fire the central bank chief.
Japanese junior high school students attending a traditional calligraphy class
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2025

Foreign tourists get taught the Japanese high school experience

Amid a tourism boom fuelled by an extremely weak yen, repeat visitors to Japan are looking for more immersive activities.
Toyota and Alphabet’s Waymo, along with Toyota’s automotive-technology division Woven, will seek to develop a new autonomous-driving platform, according to a joint statement Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 30, 2025

Toyota to partner with Alphabet’s Waymo on autonomous technology

Toyota and other major Japanese firms have poured money into artificial intelligence and autonomous driving for years, but have struggled to keep pace.
Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton celebrates after a basket during Game 5 of Indiana's series against the Bucks, on Tuesday in Indianapolis.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Apr 30, 2025

Haliburton leads comeback as Pacers advance past Bucks

The Pacers battled back from a 20-point deficit and then rallied again in overtime to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 119-118 and seal a 4-1 series victory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff prior to their talks in Moscow on April 25.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2025

The U.S. is letting Putin string it along on Ukraine

Russia is stringing Trump along with empty ceasefire gestures and escalating demands, exploiting his desperation to claim a quick Ukraine peace deal.
Princess Aiko during the spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace imperial garden in Tokyo on April 22
JAPAN
May 2, 2025

Princess Aiko to visit quake-hit Noto in mid-May

The only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako has never visited a disaster-hit area before.
Coming in handy: The "temaki-zushi" (hand-rolled sushi) was first created by Tama Sushi to solve the problem of eating sushi on the go.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 3, 2025

The sushi cone that changed everything

Inspired by ice cream cones, Tokyo’s “temaki-zushi” made sushi handheld, affordable — and a quietly radical moment in Japanese dining.
Former labor minister Kim Moon-soo arrives at the People Power Party's national convention in Goyang, South Korea, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 3, 2025

South Korea's conservatives pick hard-liner Kim Moon-soo as presidential candidate

Kim, 73, was a labor activist in his university days but later became a hard-line conservative.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at the Labor Party's election night event in Sydney on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 4, 2025

Trump backlash helps Australia’s leader to historic reelection

For the second time in a week, voters in a prominent U.S. ally angered by President Donald Trump punished conservatives and reelected a left-leaning incumbent.
The Trump administration has launched a full-scale federal "plastic patriotism" effort to eliminate paper straws, arguing they are ineffective, hazardous, more expensive and become soggy.
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2025

A world restored: The U.S. takes the offensive against paper straws

The Trump team has issued an executive order and a national strategy to rid the country of the pulpy, soggy mess of paper straws that torments too many of America's citizens.
Indian paramilitary personnel stand guard along a road in Srinagar on Wednesday after New Delhi launched missile strikes on archrival Pakistan in a major escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 7, 2025

India strikes Pakistan over Kashmir tourist killings

Islamabad said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in the worst fighting in more than two decades between the nuclear-armed enemies.
Local residents prepare to evacuate after Pakistani artillery shelling at the Lagama village in Uri, about 100 kilometers from Srinagar, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 9, 2025

Pakistan launched multiple attacks along India's western border, India says

Pakistan's armed forces launched "multiple attacks" using drones and other munitions along India's western border on Thursday night and early Friday.
China's Black Pearl Restaurant Guide held its award ceremony overseas for the first time, picking the dining capital of Singapore to promote its brand to an international audience.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 11, 2025

In China’s ‘Michelin Guide,’ Tokyo leads overseas listings with 30 entries

Tailored to the Chinese palate, the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide looks to expand its regional influence by rating restaurants in Japan and Southeast Asia.
Workers sew garments along a production line at Thanh Cong Textile Garment in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on April 28.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 12, 2025

Chinese factories are looking for the next China

Tariffs have resulted in the cost of sending products to the United States soaring in recent weeks, forcing companies to find new trade routes.
A former nonregular government employee, who cooked lunch for a public school in the Tohoku region, says she was dismissed after she was made to take an open recruitment exam.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
May 19, 2025

Civil service contract workers fear lack of job security

Contracted civil servants are paid about half the salaries of regular staff or even less, and a fear of being dismissed hangs over their heads.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney finishes a news conference in Ottawa on May 2. U.S. President Donald Trump's persistent desire to annex its northern neighbor continues despite Canada's rejection the notion.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 12, 2025

Sorry, America. Canada’s just not that into you.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has been tactful but firm. Yet President Donald Trump can’t seem to take no for an answer.

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Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear