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Katia Beeden, life coach and campaigner for white South Africans who want to apply for U.S. refugee status, speaks at her residence in Fish Hoek, Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday.
WORLD / Society
Apr 25, 2025

U.S. eyes persecution claims as white South Africans seek resettlement

U.S. President Donald Trump issued a Feb. 7 executive order that called for the U.S. to resettle Afrikaner refugees.
Italy's Jannik Sinner in action during his round of 64 match against Argentina's Mariano Navone during the Italian Open in Rome on Saturday
TENNIS
May 11, 2025

Sinner enjoys triumphant return at Italian Open following doping ban

For the three-time Grand Slam champion, winning not about just about victory on home soil but also rebuilding momentum.
New buyers are entering the market for Japanese government bonds and amplifying volatility, said Dai-ichi Life CEO Tetsuya Kikuta in an interview.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 27, 2025

Dai-Ichi Life sees falling volatility in JGB market

New buyers are entering the market for Japanese government bonds and amplifying volatility, Chief Executive Officer Tetsuya Kikuta said in an interview.
The Cards series of aluminum statement earrings, designed by Kanako Matsuo and manufactured by Marushin Industrial Co. Ltd’s in-house brand Alart, each comprise five pieces that can be hung on loops in any combination.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jul 22, 2023

Summer is the season of playful design debuts

June's Interior Lifestyle Tokyo international trade fair was filled with objects designed to spark a little joy in life.
Masae Yamanaka joins colleagues from Panasonic Connect to take part in the Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade in April.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Aug 3, 2023

How one woman's career in sales flourished across four companies

As she rose through sales in various companies, Masae Yamanaka stuck to her mother’s teachings: keep working, commit to actions.
Prachi Gupta (left) after the birth of her first child in 2018
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Aug 14, 2023

For foreign expecting mothers in Japan, a struggle over maternity norms

Different expectations over things like natural births and weight gain can cause anxieties for non-Japanese.
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi has worked to make sure all the Springboks have a voice on the pitch.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Oct 13, 2023

South Africa benefiting from Siya Kolisi's leadership at World Cup

"I think what sets Siya aside from other leaders is how he includes everyone's opinions in the team," center Jesse Kriel explained.
While there should be a balance between entrepreneurial innovation and environmental responsibility, pollution should be the primary concern, not economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 2023

Embracing the green growth mindset

Some high-carbon economic activities need to shrink while low-carbon, high-efficiency sectors need to grow.
The natural attractions and the friendly locals convinced Norihiro Kanzawa and his wife, Zoe, to set up a business, Niyodo Adventure, in Kochi Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 13, 2024

Norihiro Kanzawa: 'Smiles are always a great source of inspiration'

An adventure tourism professional and soon-to-be father shares his journey into making canyoning and packrafting his full-time job.
Pope Francis presides over a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2024

Pope says Ukraine should have the ‘courage of the white flag’

Pope Francis has reiterated in a new interview that Ukraine should negotiate to end the war with Russia, but this time he used language — adopting his interviewer’s expression, "white flag” — that has drawn attention and raised questions about whether the pope was suggesting that Ukraine surrender....
Interpreters of the European Parliament in Brussels on April 11
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024

Babel in Brussels: The shadow army of EU interpreters

Humming with different languages like a modern-day Tower of Babel, the European Union's institutions are the world's largest employer of interpreters.
Demonstrators during a protest outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 22, 2024

Thousands protest contentious Taiwan parliament reforms

The protests in Taiwan outside parliament, and a raucous session inside, demonstrate the feverish political atmosphere facing new President Lai Ching-te.
U.S. surfer Jake Marshall rides a wave during a training session ahead of the World Surfing League Shiseido Tahiti Pro, in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, on May 16.
OLYMPICS / Surfing
May 24, 2024

Taming Teahupo'o: Olympic surf rehearsal in Tahiti

Nearly 16,000 kilometers from the French capital, the island of Tahiti was chosen to host the 2024 Paris Olympic's surfing events.
The cast of “Megalopolis” joins director Francis Ford Coppola on the red carpet at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2024

‘Megalopolis’ got the Hollywood treatment. The bad kind.

The real issue is that the American film industry, in its current condition, cannot make heads or tails of a movie like "Megalopolis."
The administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday approved this year's honebuto economic and fiscal policy guidelines.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 21, 2024

Japanese government restores 2025 primary budget surplus target

In its economic blueprint, the Kishida administration has pledged a balanced budget other than interest payments by fiscal 2025.
Several examples of rare and expensive fruits at Melissa’s Produce in Los Angeles on May 22.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2024

The world of luxury fruit: Does a $156 melon taste sweeter?

The United States is developing an appetite for luxury fruits long known in countries like Japan and South Korea.
A medical technician selects eggs for an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure Paris in 2019.
WORLD / Society
Jul 25, 2024

IVF mistakes are opening a new front in the fight over reproductive rights

The $40 billion U.S. industry is expected to triple in size over the next decade as more people delay having babies until later in life.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s decision to step down opens the door to newcomers competing at a time when the central bank is paving the way for policy normalization.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 16, 2024

Japan's change of leadership comes at challenging time for monetary policy

Next month’s ruling party vote will be held against a backdrop of persistent inflation.
Solar panels and wind turbines at a power plant in Hami in China's Xinjiang region. The U.S. and other countries have described China’s actions against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, a key cog in the cleantech supply chain, as a genocidal campaign aimed at erasing an entire culture.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Sep 16, 2024

How China’s dominance of solar and batteries is impacting Japan’s energy transition

China has thrown its industrial might behind cleantech, putting Japan in a tough spot as it weighs human rights concerns against its climate targets.
Many Japanese dating apps have ways to detail specific interests that can be as narrow as one particular TV show, game or an artist.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Swiping in Japan: How Gen Z is changing the dating app game

The once-stigmatized apps are flourishing as a new normal for dating among Gen Z in Japan, albeit with a different approach to before.
Wawira Njiru, the founder of Food4Education, serves food during the opening of a new kitchen in Mombasa County, Kenya, in 2022. The organization started in 2012 by feeding 25 children out of a single kitchen. Now it feeds nearly half a million every day.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jan 19, 2025

Amid rising world hunger, a Japan-inspired group in Kenya is making a big impact

Food4Education is helping feed half a million students through a program that drew inspiration from Japan's renowned school lunch programs.
Members of the popular Japanese pop group SMAP, including scandal-plagued Masahiro Nakai (right), perform in Beijing in September 2011.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 29, 2025

A pop-star sex scandal shows the death throes of old Japan

As the leader of a now-defunct boy band SMAP, the 52-year-old Nakai has been a ubiquitous mainstay in Japanese life for decades.
A farmhand prunes trees on a 4-year-old cocoa plantation, replanted after swollen shoot disease, in Enchi, Ghana, on March 4.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 23, 2025

Cocoa crunch isn’t over yet as top growers struggle with supply

Africa’s cocoa heartland has long grappled with blight and aging trees, leaving farms vulnerable as severe weather hammered crops in recent years.
Agriculture minister Taku Eto has come under fire for saying at the weekend that he receives so much rice from his supporters that he has enough to sell it.
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2025

Amid rice shortage, farm minister comes under fire for saying he gets plenty

Agriculture minister Taku Eto reportedly said at a fundraiser that he gets so much rice from supporters, he has enough to sell it.
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa has said that his U.S. counterparts are open to an extension of the July 9 deadline for countries that are making an effort toward a deal.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 20, 2025

Japan hopes good-faith negotiations will buy it some time in U.S. tariff talks

U.S negotiators have said that the July 9 deadline is flexible and that extensions might be granted.
Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay (left) runs past fallen Dutch runner Sifan Hassan (second from left) to win the women's 10,000-meter final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Aug 20, 2023

Gudaf Tsegay wins 10,000-meter gold after Sifan Hassan stumbles

World record holder Letesenbet Gidey was second in 31:28.16, while Ejgayehu Taye won the bronze with 31:28.31.
Aoi Suzuki and her two sons head back down to a barbecue after watching the sun set.
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 28, 2023

Traveling Okinawa with a broken heart

Writer and photographer Lance Henderstein reads us his article on traveling Okinawa during the rainy season.
Ruby Lilley practices in a skateboard bowl ahead of the Exposure 2023 skateboarding competition in Encinitas, California, on Nov. 2.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 10, 2023

Female skateboarders display skills in continued push for exposure

In the bowls and street skating ledges and rails of U.S. skate parks, women and girls exude pride over their increasingly impressive skateboarding skills and say even the guys who have long dominated the sport are taking notice.
Tossing your car in the forest when you leave Japan doesn't help anyone. If you want to throw away your things properly, you'll need to pay attention to your paperwork.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 24, 2023

Wheeling and dealing: A cautionary tale for expats headed home

Ditching big items, like your car, can be tough in Japan if you don't time things just right.
New Zealand's new Prime Minister Christopher Luxon takes an oath during the swearing-in of the new government in Wellington on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 27, 2023

New Zealand's new leader doesn't drink and loves country music

At 53, Christopher Luxon has completed a rapid political ascent four years after leaving one of the country's top executive roles.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji