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Japan's Daichi Kamada (right) vies for the ball against Saudi Arabia midfielder Abdulelah Al-Malki during their World Cup qualifying match in Jeddah on Thursday.
SOCCER
Oct 11, 2024

Japan looks to Australia and beyond after beating Saudi Arabia in World Cup qualifier

Samurai Blue are five points clear at the top of Group C, with the top two teams securing direct passage to the 2026 World Cup.
Yoshihiko Noda, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, speaks during a party leaders' debate at the Upper House of parliament in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 11, 2024

Opposition party shakes up Japan’s rate debate with new inflation target

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan calls for redefining the Bank of Japan’s inflation target to “above 0%” from the current 2%.
Justice Minister Hideki Makihara speaks during a joint interview with media outlets at his office in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 11, 2024

Justice minister says he has severed all ties with Unification Church

Hideki Makihara has promised to follow the Liberal Democratic Party’s commitment on ceasing ties with the group moving forward.
Capsule hotels were created as a way to deal with the amount of overwork employees tend to do in Japan. Can't commute home? Then spend the night in an tiny, affordable sleeping space.
BUSINESS / Tech / Longform
Oct 12, 2024

Japan wakes up to the market for a proper sleep

After years of sleep deficits and drowsy mornings, a growing number of products and services are being developed to help us rest easier.
FamilyMart's net profit nearly doubled to ¥65.4 billion in the first six months of its fiscal year, though its operating revenue fell 1.4% to ¥257.5 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2024

Lawson and FamilyMart post higher first-half profits

FamilyMart's net profit nearly doubled to ¥65.4 billion in the first six months of its fiscal year, though its operating revenue fell 1.4% to ¥257.5 billion.
People visit the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima on Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2024

People in Hiroshima and Nagasaki reiterate call for peace after Nobel win

Nihon Hidankyo was named this year's recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for its work to abolish the use of nuclear weapons.
Scotland's former first minister, Alex Salmond, attends an event in Ellon, Scotland, in April 2021.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 13, 2024

Alex Salmond, champion of Scottish independence, dies at 69

Salmond, who died after falling ill after making a speech in North Macedonia, stepped down as Scotland's first minister after losing the 2014 independence referendum.
The Guardians celebrate after defeating the Tigers in Game 5 of their AL division series in Cleveland on Saturday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 13, 2024

Guardians get best of Tigers' ace in Game 5 to reach ALCS

Cleveland will face the New York Yankees on the road in Game 1 of the ALCS on Monday.
Houseboats of the indigenous seaborne Bajau Laut community anchor in the waters of Semporna, Malaysia, on Aug. 20.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 14, 2024

Malaysia's eviction of sea nomads casts light on precarious lives

Many face impoverished, precarious lives and are denied access to health, education or financial services due to a lack of basic paperwork.
Japan has been trying to boost its fertility rate for 30 years and now the rest of the rich world is, too.
WORLD / Society
Oct 14, 2024

Can the government get people to have more babies?

The number of babies born in Japan last year fell to the lowest level since the government started collecting statistics in 1899.
Israeli soldiers escort a group of international journalists along a trail just across the border in southern Lebanon on Sunday.
WORLD
Oct 15, 2024

How Israel’s army uses Palestinians as human shields in Gaza

Seven Israeli soldiers interviewed presented the practice of using detainees as human shields as routine, commonplace and organized.
With projections indicating a population drop in Japan from around 125 million to 63 million by 2100, traditional solutions like immigration and labor reforms are unlikely to be effective in time.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 15, 2024

Japan should master, not resist, its demographic destiny

Japan needs a strategic reorientation toward accepting and mastering its demographic changes rather than resisting them.
Yuichiro Tamaki, the head of the Democratic Party for the People, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 16, 2024

DPP chief noncommittal about alliances ahead of Oct. 27 polls

Yuichiro Tamaki keeps the door open for a pact with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and a team-up with the Liberal Democratic Party on individual policies.
Angry at what they view as China's state-led xenophobia, taught in schools and prevalent online, some people are taking action after the killing of a 10-year-old Japanese boy on his way to school in China, even at their own personal risk.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 16, 2024

Killing of Japanese boy leaves Chinese asking: Is this my country?

Some Chinese people believe the boy was a victim of surging anti-Japanese sentiment fueled by China’s government.
A billboard displaying pro-Russian slogans in the Russian-controlled city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine. The billboard reads: "We are the one people. We are together with Russia."
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2024

Like in magic, Moscow is playing a game of distraction

Defying common sense, the Kremlin continues to proclaim with a straight face that its attack on Ukraine was an act of self-defense.
A voting station for the general election set up at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 16, 2024

Overseas voting for Japan's general election begins

In Beijing, a voting station was set up at a hall inside the Japanese Embassy.
Context has always been the key to successfully translating a video game from Japanese to English. Recently, though, cultural sensitivities come into play as well.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 17, 2024

How your favorite Japanese video games are translated into English

Localizers have to grapple with challenging issues of tone and nuance. Even a simple "thank you" may not be what it seems.
Journalist Shiori Ito's documentary "Black Box Diaries," which follows her own investigation into her sexual assault and struggle for justice, was one of 19 Japanese films that screened at the Busan International Film Festival this month.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2024

Japan-based features generate buzz at Busan International Film Festival

With 278 films on offer, Asia's largest film festival tackled heavy themes such as assisted suicide and struggles faced by migrants.
Members of the rock band Bright Eyes Super-Duper perform a song using sign language at a venue in Nagoya on Sept. 15.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 27, 2024

Sign-language rock band marks 35 years in Japan

To keep rhythm for their performances, the members of Bright Eyes Super-Duper with impaired hearing feel the vibrations of the music.
One Direction members (from left) Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles arrive at the 42nd American Music Awards in Los Angeles in November 2014.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 18, 2024

One Direction members 'devastated' by Liam Payne's death

Singer's bandmates say they will speak more on the incident when they are able to.
Koichi Hagiuda, former economy minister, shakes hands with his supporters in Hachioji, Tokyo, on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 18, 2024

In western Tokyo, national scandals rub up against local politics

In the Tokyo No. 24 district, the LDP is grappling with a backlash, but the opposition is struggling to capitalize on the public’s lingering dissatisfaction.
A street in Zakir Nagar, a Muslim neighborhood in New Delhi, last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 19, 2024

In Modi's Delhi, Indian Muslims segregate to seek security

There is no official data on segregation in India, but it appears to be increasing among Muslims in recent years due to rising Islamophobia.
Rescuers near the rubble of a building that was leveled by an Israeli airstrike in Abbassiyeh, Lebanon, on Friday.
WORLD
Oct 19, 2024

Foreign workers trapped and terrified amid conflict in Lebanon

The International Organization for Migration says Lebanon hosts more than 177,000 migrant workers, primarily from Africa and Asia.
Wakaba Higuchi competes in the Skate America women's free program in Allen, Texas, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Oct 20, 2024

Wakaba Higuchi wins Skate America women's gold in Japan one-two

It was a big day for Japanese skaters as former world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara claimed pairs gold.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal after their third-place match at an exhibition in Riyadh on Saturday.
TENNIS
Oct 20, 2024

'Don't leave tennis,' Djokovic tells Nadal after 'amazing rivalry'

Nadal, 38, announced on Oct. 10 that he would retire from tennis after the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, Spain, next month.
British cyclist Chris Hoy takes part in a parade during a celebration to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth, in London in June 2022.
MORE SPORTS / Cycling
Oct 20, 2024

Six-time Olympic track cycling champion Chris Hoy reveals he has terminal cancer

The announcement comes after the 48-year-old Scot said in February he was feeling "optimistic and positive" as he was undergoing treatment.
INAC Kobe's Megumi Takase (left) battles Hiroshima's Funa Yanase during a match in Hiroshima in 2022.
SOCCER
Oct 20, 2024

Struggling WE League seeks course correction as it aims close gap with world’s top leagues

The top women's soccer league in Japan has struggled to meet its ambitious targets. Officials hope a new vision can right the ship.
A portion of the Tokyo skyline from an observatory deck at an industrial port in Kawasaki
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Oct 20, 2024

Japan scientists are tracking the big climate problem with tiny aerosols

The clear signs of climate change are everywhere, but a Japan team has found a way to trace the crisis with something that's a little less visible: aerosols.
Trucks are parked at a convenience store truck stop used by long-distance drivers, in the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture in September.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 20, 2024

New rules drive Japanese trucking sector to the brink

Despite its importance to the world's fourth-biggest economy, the trucking industry occupies a weak position in Japan's economic hierarchy.
“The Secret Lives of Numbers” co-author Kate Kitagawa discovered the power of storytelling as a research assistant for a professor in Japanese history. Since then, Kitagawa has been dedicated to using storytelling to show that humans are able to unlock the greater secrets of the universe through collaboration, not competition.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2024

'The Secret Lives of Numbers' reveals the unsung figures of mathematics

The book’s core message of creative collaboration leading to great discoveries is the brainchild of co-author Kate Kitagawa, a leading expert on the history of math.

Longform

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