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A notice board at a station in Tokyo announces suspended shinkansen services due to a tsunami warning after a strong quake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday. 
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2025

A troubling reminder of Japan's vulnerability to natural disasters

There is considerable work to be done. Multiple studies and surveys of municipalities show that they are not prepared for a big incident.
Although the idea is still small in scale, Kitepower flying a giant kite to generate renewable electricity — with Padraic Doherty acting as the "pilot" on the ground — could yet prove to be a mighty plan as Ireland seeks to cut its reliance on fossil fuels such as oil and gas.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Aug 4, 2025

'Let's go fly a kite': Capturing wind for clean energy in Ireland

A sparsely populated spot in Ireland near the stormy Atlantic coast is home to the world's first designated airborne renewable energy test site.
Nyjah Huston of the United States competes in the men’s street finals during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games on July 29, 2024.
OLYMPICS / Skateboarding
Aug 5, 2025

Nyjah Huston targets Olympic skateboarding gold at LA28

Inspired by Los Angeles skateboarding videos, Huston moved to Southern California at 15 and remains deeply connected to the region.
A musical genius (Takeru Satoh, second from right) recruits an unknown rookie drummer to play with Japan’s hottest band in “Glass Heart.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 7, 2025

'Glass Heart’: A flashy rock fairytale scrubbed of grit

Netflix’s drama series about a musical genius forming Japan’s hottest new band is glossy, shallow and strangely sanitized.
"My heart and soul are in Deir el-Zor. No money, no homes or luxury in the world can compensate for what I’ve lost there," said Ehab Mzeal, a 41-year-old Syrian. However, he is grateful for his life in Europe, "I like Germany for one reason: it stood by us."
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Aug 8, 2025

A journey to belong: Migrants describe 10 years in Europe

Migrants from around the world discuss the rewards and challenges of their new lives in Europe.
Operations of a medical helicopter in Tokyo will be suspended for seven days this month due to a staff shortage.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2025

Tokyo temporarily halts medical helicopter operations due to staff shortage

The suspension began on Thursday and will continue through Sunday. The helicopter will also be out of service between Aug. 24 and Aug. 26.
At Himawari Shokudo 2, chef Hozumi Tanaka serves Italian-inspired fare with a focus on Toyama produce, such as this appetizer of lightly blanched "hotaru ika" (firefly squid) served atop mixed wild plants and a crepe prepared from "yamato-imo" yam.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Aug 8, 2025

At Himawari Shokudo 2, Italian food with a Japanese soul

Punching above its own weight, the intimate restaurant is one of the growing number of quality establishments that are helping to cement Toyama's status as a dining destination.
The Republic of Nauru is one of the world's smallest nations, with a total landmass of just 21 square kilometers.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 9, 2025

Pacific microstate sells first passports to fund climate action

The remote Pacific nation has approved just six applicants since early this year, but officials say interest in joining the low-lying, largely barren island is increasing.
Former astronaut Jim Lovell talks about his historic space flights in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in April 2010
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 9, 2025

Jim Lovell, commander of NASA's Apollo 13 moon mission, dies at 97

The mission nearly ended in disaster but became an inspirational saga of survival and endurance and led to the hit Hollywood movie starring Tom Hanks.
Machiko Taniguchi speaks to the memorial marker for her husband who died in the 1985 crash of a Japan Airlines jumbo jet at the crash site on Osutaka Ridge in the village of Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, in July.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2025

Woman whose husband died in 1985 plane crash advocates safety to JAL employees

Japan Airlines Flight 123 bound for Osaka crashed in the mountains north of Tokyo on Aug. 12, 1985, killing 520 passengers and crew.
Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer; Bob McGrew, an adviser at Thinking Machines Lab and OpenAI’s former chief research officer; Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer; and Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s chief product officer at a military ceremony in Arlington, Va., in June 2025. The four current and former executives were pronounced lieutenant colonels in a new unit, Detachment 201, which will advise the Army on new technologies for potential combat.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 11, 2025

Silicon Valley is in its ‘hard tech’ era

Instead of the tap-to-pay apps of a decade ago like Clinkle and Bump, young companies are now making unmanned aerial drones stocked with AI-guided Barracuda cruise missiles.
People walk past a time board at Hakata Station in Fukuoka. Luckily for those trying to catch a train, reading a clock is universal.
LIFE / Bilingual
Aug 15, 2025

Reading the Japanese clock: Are times a-changin'?

Learn how the Japanese tell time — from zero o’clock to 27 o’clock, and why 10 minutes "before" isn’t always clear.
In a region more associated with art, Keirin Hotel 10 takes a decidedly more athletic approach to attracting tourists.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 16, 2025

A seaside hotel built on competitive Japanese cycling

Naoshima is known for art, but this coastal hotel in Tamano, Okayama Prefecture, focuses on Japan’s competitive cycling scene.
Hiromi Kishi of the Japan Society on the History of Blind Education holds a vinyl record containing recordings of U.S. military aircraft sounds, which was used during World War II to train students of the school for the blind to recognize the approach of enemy planes, during an interview in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, in June.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2025

For the disabled, WWII was a terror of another level

Individuals with disabilities, many of whom struggled to escape from attacks, were also expected to contribute to the war effort.
Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Aug 15, 2025

The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers

An decades-long effort to recover the remains of those who died during World War II, most of them abroad, may be entering its final phase.
The Japan Boxing Commission's safety protocols have been thrust into the spotlight following the deaths of Shigetoshi Kotari and Hiromasa Urakawa, who suffered fatal brain injuries while fighting on the same card on Aug. 2.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Aug 15, 2025

Recent deaths of Japanese boxers underline importance of emergency action plans

Such plans are crucial to minimize delays and increase a fighter’s chances of survival after sustaining a serious injury in the ring.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during an Indian Independence Day ceremony in New Delhi on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 15, 2025

Modi slams ‘economic selfishness’ in defiance of U.S. tariffs

In the last few weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump hit India with a 50% tariff rate — much higher than its regional peers.
An aerial view shows houses partially submerged in sludge along a riverbed in the aftermath of flash floods at the Buner district of mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 18, 2025

Flash floods kill hundreds in northwest Pakistan district after rare cloudburst

Officials say global warming has changed the pattern of the annual monsoon, pushing it around 100 kilometers west of its normal path.
Chen Yani (right), nicknamed "Keke," eats lunch with friends and guests in a female co-living space she founded called "Keke's Imaginative Space" in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on July 14.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 18, 2025

Women-only communities flourish in China

A growing number of co-living spaces in the country are providing their exclusive clientele with a haven from social pressures and male judgment.
Female students are given a tour of U.S. chip giant Nvidia's office in Tokyo in July.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2025

Firms host female high school students to tout science and technology

Through company tours, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government hopes to encourage female students to pick science and technology when pursuing higher education.
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.
Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi celebrates after winning the Diamond League men's 800m final at the London Stadium on July 19.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Aug 20, 2025

Former cattle herder Wanyonyi ready to eclipse Rudisha

Wanyonyi was crowned Olympic champion at last year's Paris Games at just 20, a year after sealing silver at the world championships in Budapest.
Jimmy Lai at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong in 2020. The national security trial of the Hong Kong media mogul, which began in late 2023, entered its final stages on Aug. 14, as lawyers present closing arguments.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2025

Why Jimmy Lai’s persecution should worry Japan

The trial of 77-year-old publisher is showing how Beijing uses Hong Kong as a laboratory for silencing critics worldwide, from students to exiles.
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 22, 2025

Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas

Yellowish and high in acidity, German sake won't please the purists, but open-minded consumers, especially wine drinkers, may find something appealing.
Tourists from abroad get water mist sprayed on them to cool down on the street at Tsukiji Outer Market, a popular sightseeing spot, as the Japanese government issued a heatstroke alert in Tokyo and other prefectures due to a heat wave on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 23, 2025

World’s climate change crisis has tourists seeking ‘coolcations’

Record heat waves are transforming the world’s tourism industry as holidaymakers struggle to deal with the havoc wrought by climate change.
Shinji Mizutani opened Tanikoretani in August 2024, after converting a dilapidated shophouse in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa into a retro-look "izakaya" tavern.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 24, 2025

Behind Tanikoretani’s quiet facade, a lively world of sake-fueled food

A chance encounter with a two-story rental space led Shinji Mizutani to set up a vibrant tavern in Tokyo’s Kiyosumi-Shirakawa neighborhood.
The Burj Khalifa skyscraper (center left) and the Dubai skyline on Aug. 7
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2025

Less tax, more luxury: millionaires flock to Dubai

The tightly-policed UAE has molded itself into a magnet for the wealthy, offering economic and political stability with an easygoing business environment.
Meliana Bruguera, 41, poses with her children Victoria, 9, and Rurik, outside Madrid, on  Aug. 8.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 25, 2025

Fleeing Maduro then Trump, Venezuelans seek refuge in Spain

For the first time, Venezuelans were the largest group applying for asylum in the EU.
Members of the national guard patrol near diners in Washington on Aug. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 26, 2025

Trump and JD Vance attack 2028 rivals in national guard push

Trump has pushed the boundaries of his powers in trying to rid Democratic-run cities of what he says is rampant crime, drawing accusations he is politicizing the military.

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