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A member of the medical staff treats a woman with COVID-19 next to her four-day-old baby at a hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, in November 2021.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 27, 2024

COVID pregnancies may have boosted autism risk, study shows

"There’s something really going on,” pediatric infectious diseases physician Karin Nielsen says. "We don’t want to alarm the world, but that’s what our data are showing.”
Gaza’s reconstruction is needed, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach — framing it as a business deal without addressing Palestinian political aspirations — makes little sense as foreign policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2025

Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ scheme may be more than a fantasy

It’s tempting to dismiss Donald Trump’s bid to take over Gaza as just another wild proposal, designed more to change the conversation and wrong-foot negotiating partners than as policy.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Vice President JD Vance looks on in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday in Washington.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 1, 2025

How Trump and Zelenskyy’s Oval Office skirmish broke a deal

An account of a remarkable and heated Oval Office exchange that seems certain to color the course of world history for decades to come.
As the U.S. under Donald Trump reassesses its commitment to Ukraine, countries worldwide, particularly in Europe and Asia, are reconsidering their defense policies and alliances with America. 
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2025

Europe braces for a post-American world. Is Japan ready?

A diplomatic posture that makes demands only of Ukraine and not Russia suggests, however, that Washington has taken sides.
One year on from the Bank of Japan's historic rate hike, the biggest winners are the banks.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 17, 2025

Banks boom and shoppers scrimp a year after Japan’s rate pivot

Higher borrowing costs are also fueling a political battle over how the government can rein in its outlays.
Tokyo Humanities Cafe was launched in 2017 by Laurence Williams (left) and Alex Watson, professors at Sophia and Meiji Universities, respectively.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Apr 7, 2025

Tokyo Humanities Cafe feeds hungry minds

A free quarterly event invites everyone to explore what it means to be human.
People walk past the communist-era Palace of Culture and Science in the center of Warsaw on April 2.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 7, 2025

Sex toys and exploding cosmetics: anatomy of a 'hybrid war' on the West

European security chiefs described the parcel fires as part of a "hybrid war" being waged by Russia to destabilize countries that support Ukraine.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi eats a rice ball made of stockpiled rice during a tasting event in Tokyo on May 29.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 11, 2025

How long can Koizumi stay frenemies with the agriculture lobby?

The farm minister's aggressive advocacy for change in the agriculture sector sets him up for a direct showdown with Japan Agricultural Cooperatives.
Japan’s deepening corporate governance reforms and exit from more than a decade of deflation have rekindled global investor interest in the world’s fourth-largest economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 16, 2025

Hedge funds reap cash from investors ‘starved’ of Japan exposure

Japan’s deepening corporate governance reforms and exit from more than a decade of deflation have rekindled global investor interest.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in February. U.S. intelligence consistently showed Israel might go ahead with an attack on Iran with or without U.S. support.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 20, 2025

How Trump, a self-proclaimed 'peacemaker,' embraced Israel's campaign against Iran

No epiphany is seen to have tipped the scales for U.S. President Donald Trump so much as a lack of diplomatic progress, a push from Israelis and hawkish ally appeals wore him down.
Masaru Sato says the ossuary at Matsuoka Hoyoen must be preserved even after residents are gone from the sanatorium.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jul 7, 2025

Former Hansen’s disease patients shed light on history of discrimination

Although the prejudice against Hansen's disease patients brought on by past segregation policy persist, the memories of their hardships are now fading.
Members of the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, and U.S. armed forces carry national flags during the opening ceremony of joint military exercises in Taguig, Philippines, in October 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 27, 2023

How Japan can make the most of its latest diplomatic tool

Japan recently decided to establish a policy of Official Security Assistance. But how can it ensure its success?
Jesse Ehrenfeld, the board chairman of the American Medical Association, in Chicago in 2019. The F.D.A. has approved many new programs that use artificial intelligence, but doctors are skeptical that the tools really improve care or are backed by solid research.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 1, 2023

Doctors wrestle with AI in patient care, citing lax oversight

Are AI programs likely to identify something a doctor would miss?
Japan, Britain and Italy have made headway in their joint next-generation fighter aircraft project, with industry officials saying that the partners are close to completing the aircraft’s conceptual design phase.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 26, 2024

Japan joint fighter program gains steam as firms zero in on conceptual design

The completion of the conceptual design phase will allow Japan, Britain and Italy to move to the next stage of the program next year.
French President Emmanuel Macron on International Women's Day in Paris on March 8
WORLD / Politics
Mar 14, 2024

France faces centrist vacuum as far right builds momentum for presidency

A far-right presidency would be a transformational moment for France, Europe’s second largest economy.
Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Apr 15, 2024

For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on

After a five-year absence, kabuki has returned to Kotohira. Can it be the draw that this tourism-hungry town desires?
A sign in support of Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump is displayed in Bad Axe, Michigan, on Sept. 30.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 9, 2024

Election officials backing Trump’s 'Big Lie' stir unease in U.S.

Donald Trump's false ideas about voter fraud have become an article of faith among many Republican members of local election boards that certify results.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump campaigns at the Dodge County Airport in Juneau, Wisconsin on Oct. 6. Even before he kicked off a comeback bid, foreign governments realized that Trump was still a force in American politics and  took him into account in their dealings with the United States.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 12, 2024

Much of the world treats Trump as a shadow president

The former U.S. president has remained a force in international politics, with governments taking him into account in their dealings with the U.S.
OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair gestures during the Axios BFD event in New York on Oct. 12, 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 30, 2024

How OnlyFans turned into a global empire bent on redefining porn

For all its ambition and influence, the inner workings of OnlyFans remain opaque.
Though vegan restaurants have been on the upswing since 2017, Japanese vegans still lack a wide variety of options.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jan 29, 2025

In meat- and fish-loving Japan, veganism is making a comeback

Tourism, climate goals and animal rights concerns are sparking a plant-based renaissance in a country famous for sushi and pork ramen.
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2025

A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers

Syndicates are increasingly targeting middle- to upper-class individuals from across the world through something as harmless as online video games.
Fluminense's Thiago Silva before the FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinal match against Al Hilal in Orlando, Florida, on Friday.
SOCCER
Jul 7, 2025

Youthful Chelsea ready for Thiago Silva reunion at Club World Cup

Silva initially made his name at Fluminense, and returned to the side upon leaving Chelsea.
The Culver City Express Car Wash remains closed after a raid by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency detained many of its workers in Culver City, California, on June 11.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2025

Immigration raids derail Los Angeles economy as workers go into hiding

Few places in the U.S. are feeling the shock as acutely as Los Angeles, a longtime sanctuary city and home to one of the nation’s largest migrant labor forces.

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