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New Year's celebrations in Japan and Western countries can differ wildly, but Tokyo offers plenty of ways for you to ring in 2024 in any way you prefer.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 9, 2023

A Tokyoite’s guide to a Western-style New Year’s Eve

Typically, Ōmisoka (New Year’s Eve) is a family affair — even in the global metropolis that is Tokyo.
Delegates arrive at Dubai's Expo City during COP28 on Saturday
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 9, 2023

Oil is everywhere at COP28, vexing those seeking its demise

To many of the activists in attendance, the prominence of the oil and gas industry is a travesty.
Surfers wait for waves in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, on Aug. 9.
OLYMPICS / Surfing
Dec 12, 2023

Olympic surfing to be held in Polynesia despite row, president says

Debate about the suitability of having Tahiti host the competitions has made waves for weeks.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng meet for talks in Beijing on Aug. 29.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 12, 2023

The Washington-Beijing tech war is just getting started

U.S. Commerce Secretary Raimondo emphasizes the need to prevent China from accessing cutting-edge technology, citing national defense concerns.
Prime Minster Fumio Kishida joins ASEAN leaders for a family photo before the start of the ASEAN-Japan summit in Jakarta in September.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 14, 2023

With eye on China, Japan and ASEAN to unveil ‘new vision’ for ties

The three-day summit will see the two sides launch a wide range of cooperation initiatives.
Developed by Larian Studios, Baldur's Gate 3, a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired action-adventure role-playing game, is the consensus game of the year.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 16, 2023

Critical success: Baldur’s Gate 3 wins Game of the Year honors

First presented in 2014, the Game Awards decides on winners through a voting jury of the news media and input from players.
Nobuko, younger sister of Kotaro Nishizawa, who died at his clinic in Osaka during an arson attack, hugs one of the audience members following a memorial concert for the victims held in the city on Dec. 3.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 17, 2023

Deadly arson attack in Osaka remembered two years on

A piano concert was organized as an opportunity for bereaved relatives to connect and heal.
A contingency in the event that China invades Taiwan is emerging as a key focus in Japan’s new defense policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 17, 2023

Will Japan intervene in a Taiwan contingency? It depends.

If Taiwan puts up a fight against a Chinese invasion, it would likely engender a U.S. intervention that would not be possible without Japan’s assistance.
Tiger Woods walks onto the 18th green with his daughter Sam Woods during the PNC Championship at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Dec 18, 2023

Woods optimistic following family weekend at PNC Championship

Woods said his surgically repaired right ankle continues to hold up well and that he recovered quickly after the Hero World Challenge earlier this month.
OLYMPICS
Dec 19, 2023

Sapporo to halt efforts to host winter games, says mayor

In October this year, Sapporo dropped its initial plan to host the Games in 2030 as it failed to win sufficient understanding of local residents.
Surfers hold banners as they gather during a demonstration in Guethary, France, against the construction of a tower at the Olympic surfing venue in Polynesia.
OLYMPICS
Dec 21, 2023

Surfing tower will be built, Paris Games chief says

Tony Estanguet explained the option offered by the surfing body had been studied but was deemed insufficient.
French police evict migrants from a squat in a disused industrial building not far from the Paris 2024 Olympic Village in Ile-Saint-Denis, near Paris, in April.
WORLD / Society
Dec 25, 2023

Asylum-seekers and Roma evicted from Paris squats ahead of Olympics

Advocates and some officials say the evictions appear to be a policy aimed at beautifying the area for the sporting event.
A woman holding an umbrella walks near a fluttering Taiwanese flag outside the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei in November.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 25, 2023

What’s at stake in Taiwan’s January presidential election?

Depending on the outcome, the closely watched vote could have markedly different security and economic implications for the entire region.
Naomi Osaka during a training session ahead of her competitive return, in Brisbane on Wednesday
TENNIS
Dec 27, 2023

Nadal and Osaka set for comebacks in Australia

Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka has not played since the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in 2022.
Prime minister Fumio Kishida reviews Japan Self-Defense Forces troops at Camp Asaka in Tokyo in November 2021.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 27, 2023

Reviewing Japan's security moves in 2023

With Japan's economic malaise and scandals eroding political capital in Tokyo, 2024 may yield an extended waiting period for new security measures.
Global Indian International School (GIIS) Tokyo opened in 2006 with 60 students and has now grown to over 1,300, the majority of whom are Japanese.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 28, 2023

How Japan's international school landscape is evolving

With lower tuition than legacy international schools, new affordable facilities are catering to the growing communities of non-Japanese Asian communities.
Firefighters inspect earthquake-damaged houses in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 3, 2024

Heed the warning of Japan’s New Year's Day earthquake

That so few deaths happened in Japan's Noto region, even in areas with the most severe shaking, isn’t down to luck.
A South Korean soldier stands guard at the Joint Security Area in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas on Feb. 7, 2023. Since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a stalemate, both nations have had policies that treat each other differently than other countries.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 4, 2024

In threatening shift, Pyongyang moves to redefine relations with Seoul

Changes to North Korean policy and government organizations effectively treat South Korea as a separate, enemy state.
The burned wreckage of a Japan Airlines passenger plane lies on the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Wednesday. AFP-JIJI
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 4, 2024

One of aviation’s biggest challenges played out on a Tokyo runway

Authorities across the globe are aware of the need to prevent runway incursions — lessons from the Haneda crash may bring us a step closer to eliminating them.
The Sapporo Snow Festival offers outdoor dining, markets, sports, ice sculptures and more across three event sites.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 6, 2024

Asia's winter festivals: Snow, fire and spectacle galore

The ancient city of Nara wards off the wintertime darkness with an unusual tradition: lighting a local mountain on fire.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a speech to mark the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol at a campaign event at Montgomery County Community College, in Blue Bell, near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 6, 2024

Biden says democracy on ballot as he makes case against Trump

Biden’s remarks Friday offered some of his sharpest warnings yet about the threat he says Trump poses to the country’s institutions.
Ryoyu Kobayashi on Saturday in Bischofshofen, Austria, added the 2024 Four Hills title to triumphs in 2019 and 2022.
MORE SPORTS / Ski jumping
Jan 7, 2024

Japan's Kobayashi clinches third Four Hills ski jump crown

Kobayashi added the 2024 title to triumphs in 2019 and 2022 after finishing in second place in the last of the four events at Bischofshofen in Austria.
A triathlon Olympic test event in the River Seine in August of last year. Local authorities still have thousands of new sewer connections and key storm-water infrastructure to finish in the next few months ahead of the Games.
OLYMPICS
Jan 11, 2024

Paris Olympics chief insists River Seine will host opening ceremony

French security services have consistently raised doubts about having the opening team parade on the river in the heart of the City of Light.
U.S. President Joe Biden gives a thumbs-up as he walks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at Filoli estate on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, in Woodside, California, on Nov. 15. Their meeting attempted to calm the waters and tried to convey a sense that the U.S. and China could effectively manage their differences.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 11, 2024

In 2024, U.S.-China ties likely to get worse before they get better

The trajectory of Washington and Beijing's relationship this year will have profound effects on Japan's own policies going forward.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 13, 2024

China and Taiwan focus of top U.S. and Japanese diplomats' talks

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken “stressed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."
A snow plow drives down an empty street in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 13, 2024

Coldest weather ever during Iowa caucus threatens Trump’s lead

Caucus-time temperatures on Monday are forecast to be as low as minus 27 degrees Celsius, which would be the coldest ever for the event.
Iga Swiatek won the WTA Finals in November 2023 to end an event that featured bad weather and a number of complaints from the players.
TENNIS
Jan 15, 2024

WTA and ATP Tours embarking on year of formative changes

The WTA is looking to take steps toward equal pay for women at combined events, and the ATP hopes to align the interests of its players and tournaments.
Executives at the World Economic Forum say they are grappling with how to turn early demos featuring artificial intelligence into money-makers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 18, 2024

AI buzzes Davos, but CEOs wrestle with how to make it pay

The arrival of OpenAI's viral ChatGPT in late 2022 triggered a frenzy of venture investment and an abrupt change of course inside the world's biggest technology companies.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 19, 2024

Debate grows over whether expo funding should go to Ishikawa recovery

It has been suggested it would be better to postpone, or even cancel, the troubled 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo.
Ethnic Uyghurs protest against China in Istanbul on July 5.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 23, 2024

China to face rare scrutiny on rights record in U.N. review

The Universal Periodic Review is an examination all 193 U.N. member states must undergo every four to five years to assess their human rights record.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past