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Rabbits are supposedly easier to get through quarantine, but Japan’s outgoing quarantine rules for our fluffy friends actually take a fair bit of time.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 1, 2023

Hare today, gone tomorrow: Another cautionary tale for expats headed home

In another piece about leaving Japan, our departee learns some hard truths about the country’s quarantine guidelines for animals.
Yuki Fukui (center) squares up against a student during a training session at a judo dojo in Thimphu, Bhutan.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 2, 2023

'The people of Bhutan think differently, and that has changed me'

Originally from Sendai, 26-year-old Yuki Fukui is the fifth Japanese judo coach for the Bhutanese national team.
New Zealand's Ardie Savea (right) in action with South Africa's Jean Kleyn at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, on Oct. 28
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Dec 1, 2023

All Black Savea eager to test himself with Japan move

The All Blacks loose forward has signed for Kobe Steelers on a one-season deal that means he will not miss any games for his country.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2023

U.S. Osprey crash rekindles safety concerns in Japan

The unique aircraft has had its share of incidents, but still has a relatively safe record compared to other military aircraft.
Gen Nakatani, then-special adviser to the prime minister for international human rights, speaks at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2022
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 1, 2023

Kishida’s puzzling decision to ax his human rights adviser

Why did the prime minister eliminate the post of special adviser on human rights from the Cabinet and what does this mean for Tokyo's foreign policy?
Tokyo Healthcare University professor Takayuki Mifune explains how he is trying to re-create bonito broth from 1,300 years ago.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Dec 4, 2023

The quest to re-create what the Japanese ate 1,300 years ago

Professor Takayuki Mifune and his team are hoping to understand, in minute detail, the culinary habits of our Japanese ancestors.
World leaders prior to the opening ceremony of the COP28 summit in Dubai on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 2, 2023

A tense climate summit begins amid wars and record heat

At the U.N. climate conference in Dubai, a parade of dignitaries invoked faith, science and economics in their calls for a rapid energy transition.
A screen grab from a video taken by SpaceX shows the Falcon 9 rocket minutes before it launched a South Korean spy satellite on Friday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 2, 2023

SpaceX launches South Korean spy satellite from California

The launch comes shortly after North Korea's successful launch of its own spy satellite.
Charles Q. Brown
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 3, 2023

Top U.S. general still waiting to hear from China on military ties

At a summit in November, President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, promised to restore military communications.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 5, 2023

Japan defense chief says concerns linger after U.S. Osprey crew remains found

Dive teams have found the remains of five more crew members from a CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft that crashed off southwestern Japan last week.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 5, 2023

Osaka Expo woes weigh on city's casino resort project

Given the logistical and timing issues facing the expo, there are concerns over whether the casino resort can be built on schedule.
Filmmaker Kah Wai Lim (left) interviews the owners of 22 independent cinemas across Japan about the difficulties and joys of running a “mini-theater” in “This Magic Moment.”
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2023

‘This Magic Moment’: Mini-theaters keep indie cinema love alive

Kah Wai Lim highlights the resilient determination of small theater owners across the country who keep their businesses afloat against the odds.
Armed men stand on the beach as the Galaxy Leader commercial ship, seized by Yemen's Houthis last month, is anchored off the coast of al-Salif, Yemen, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 7, 2023

Saudi Arabia urges U.S. restraint as Houthis attack ships in Red Sea

Riyadh is concerned about a derailing of its own peace process with the group that rules much of Yemen even as war rages in the Gaza Strip.
Naomi Osaka in action during the 2022 U.S. Open in one of her final tournaments before her pregnancy leave
TENNIS
Dec 8, 2023

Returning Osaka targets Paris Olympics and more Grand Slam titles

The 26-year-old former world No. 1 is set to return to competition at the Brisbane International starting at the end of the month.
The day after the Fukuoka District Court dismissed her lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of Japan's dual nationality law, Yuri Kondo, 76, was in high spirits as she drove to see family and friends.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 8, 2023

Japan-born U.S. national Yuri Kondo continues dual citizenship fight

The dismissal of her lawsuit over the dual nationality ban has implications for tens of thousands of people, and Kondo says she'll keep fighting for them.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno attend a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 8, 2023

Kishida walks tightrope after new funds allegations against Matsuno

The top government spokesperson is believed to have received kickbacks from his faction totaling more than ¥10 million over the last five years.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan (left), South Korean national security adviser Cho Tae-yong (center) and secretary-general of Japan's National Security Secretariat, Takeo Akiba, at a news conference in Seoul on Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2023

Japan, U.S., South Korea to step up action on North's cyberthreats

The national security advisers of the three countries met in Seoul on Saturday as Pyongyang warned that it would deploy more spy satellites.
Former South Korean "comfort woman" Lee Yong-soo with a statue symbolizing "comfort women" at the Seoul Comfort Women Memorial
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 9, 2023

No appeal by Japan after 'comfort women' ruling: South Korea

The ruling ordered Tokyo to pay around 200 million won ($152,000) to each of the Korean complainants.
Drag queens (from left) Trinity the Tuck, Manila Luzon and Kylie Sonique Love headlined the most recent edition of Opulence, Tokyo's fast-growing drag performance extravaganza.
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 10, 2023

The opulence of Manila Luzon

The Asian American drag queen who rose to stardom after a stint on "RuPaul's Drag Race" pays things forward with her Philippines-based show "Drag Den."
The newly built city of Nusantara is scheduled to become the capital of Indonesia in 2024 and aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2045.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 11, 2023

Indonesia’s new capital aims to be a net zero model city

Nusantara, Indonesia's future capital, is being built with climate solutions at its core. The city hopes to inspire others to do the same.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 12, 2023

Funding scandal deepens as parliament session draws to a close

The probe into a Liberal Democratic Party funds scandal looks likely to deepen in the coming days, making the political scene increasingly unpredictable.
Shingo Takashima, a 26-year-old doctor, killed himself three months into his specialty doctor training at a general hospital in Kobe.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Dec 13, 2023

Young doctor’s suicide highlights overwork culture at Japan hospitals

The issue is coming into sharper focus ahead of the April implementation of a legal cap on doctors’ overtime.
Shohei Ohtani is joining a franchise that has long been a trailblazer in an increasingly diverse and global game.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 13, 2023

In a land of stars, Los Angeles can’t stop talking about Ohtani

Dodgers fans were still beside themselves days after Ohtani agreed to the most lucrative contract in sports history.
A sullen high schooler (Haruka Fukuhara, left) travels back in time and falls in love with a kamikaze pilot (Koshi Mizukami) in “Till We Meet Again on the Lily Hill.”
CULTURE / Film
Dec 14, 2023

‘Till We Meet Again on the Lily Hill’ has its head in the clouds

Yoichi Narita’s romance about a time-traveling teenager who falls for a kamikaze pilot in wartime Japan has the wholesome feel of a propaganda film.
Shohei Ohtani puts on a Dodgers cap and uniform during his introductory news conference at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles on Thursday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 15, 2023

Shohei Ohtani says shared commitment to winning led him to Dodgers

The one-of-a-kind talent received a Hollywood intro Thursday as he began his new chapter with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
While Hayao Miyazaki’s return to filmmaking, “The Boy and the Heron,” did not attain the ¥10 billion milestone that the beloved animator’s movies had once routinely surpassed, it debuted at the top of the North American box office and became the first original anime film to lead the box office in the United States and Canada.
CULTURE / Film / 2023 in Review
Dec 15, 2023

Japan’s auteurs and anime triumphed in 2023

From Hayao Miyazaki's “The Boy and the Heron” to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Monster,” the box-office hits kept coming.
A woman walks past a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at the main railway station in Seoul on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 18, 2023

North Korea launches long-range ballistic missile for fifth time in 2023

Japan said the missile was estimated to have a range of 15,000 kilometers, putting the entire U.S. within striking distance.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida greets Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet during their bilateral meeting at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 18, 2023

Japan and Cambodia vow to deepen security cooperation

The two sides affirmed cooperation on getting North Korea to completely scrap its arsenal of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.
A mobile missile launcher awaits the order to fire a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile from an undisclosed location in North Korea in this undated picture released Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 19, 2023

Japan, South Korea, U.S. begin sharing real-time data on North Korean missiles

The data-sharing system was activated as Pyongyang confirmed that it tested a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile a day earlier.
A screenshot of the website for "The One Piece"
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Dec 19, 2023

'One Piece' series to be remade on Netflix

Titled "The One Piece," the show is set to be released on streaming services. The release date is yet to be determined.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan