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Simone Biles, seen after winning the U.S. championship on Sunday, brought greater awareness to the subject of mental health during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
OLYMPICS
Jun 6, 2024

Olympic organizers committed to protecting athletes' mental health in Paris

Research suggests that elite athletes suffer from mental health disorders in around the same proportions as the general population, experts say.
Indonesian gymnast Rifda Irfanaluthfi practices at the gymnastics training center in Jakarta on May 16.
OLYMPICS / Gymnastics
Jun 8, 2024

Indonesia's first Olympic gymnast encourages others to 'dream higher'

Rifda Irfanaluthfi's feat is even more impressive considering Indonesia does not yet have a national training center for gymnastics
People wait for the main act to begin at Summer Sonic, which holds simultaneous music festivals for those in Tokyo and Osaka.
CULTURE / Music / Longform
Jun 9, 2024

Can Japan's summer music festivals adapt to a post-pandemic reality?

Soaring temperatures, the cheap yen and a dearth of headline options may require reshaping the outdoor concert formula.
French center Victor Wembanyama said France must avoid extremes in its upcoming parliamentary elections.
BASKETBALL
Jun 28, 2024

Victor Wembanyama urges French voters to reject 'extremes' in parliamentary election

Basketball star Victor Wembanyama joined other leading French athletes on Thursday in warning against voting for the "extremes" in this weekend's parliamentary election.
You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
PODCAST / deep dive
Jul 4, 2024

Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Summer music festivals are back, but for how long? Climate change is putting the heat on our favorite outdoor entertainment.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games' opening ceremony, which will be held outside of a stadium for the first time in history, has attracted a lot of interest from Japanese fans.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 10, 2024

Japan fans shun pricey Olympics tickets even as top-tier packages sell out

Travel agencies report a noticeable drop in demand for Paris Olympics tours amid a weakening of the yen and the introduction of a new booking system.
Tokyo police display the high-end sports bicycles stolen in Tokyo to be sold in Vietnam.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 11, 2024

Two Vietnamese held on suspicion of stealing high-end bicycles for sale abroad

Besides the latest charges, the two suspects were allegedly involved in about 70 cases of luxury bicycle theft in Tokyo since last October.
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
OLYMPICS
Jul 14, 2024

She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics

While news sites have suggested that being a volunteer is a way to attend the Games for “free,” that doesn’t apply to international volunteers like Mai Tarumi.
Members of Japan's women's Tokyo 2020 Olympic volleyball team. Along with table tennis and hockey, volleyball is set to be one of the sports at the 2024 Paris Games in which Japan's female players will don new uniforms that help protect them against secret photography while they compete.
OLYMPICS
Jul 16, 2024

New uniforms to help protect athletes against secret photography

The clothes will be used by Japanese athletes in volleyball, table tennis and hockey at the Paris Games.
Passersby holding parasols walk through Tokyo on July 9 amid a heatstroke alert in the capital and other prefectures.
JAPAN / Boiling Point
Jul 19, 2024

Boiling Point

This special series focused on this year’s scorching summer will also lay the groundwork for enhanced heat coverage in future years.
Misaki Nobata competes at the World University Games in 2023. A hero in her hometown of Oita, Nobata is one of three Japanese shooters who will compete at the upcoming Paris Olympics.
OLYMPICS / Shooting
Jul 19, 2024

‘Sniper from Oita’ sets her sights on Paris Olympics target

In a country with strict anti-gun laws, 20-year-old university student and rifle shooter Misaki Nobata is not your typical Olympian.
French maritime police patrol the waters of the River Seine in Paris on Thursday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 21, 2024

Paris Olympics preparations hit the home stretch

Police with sniffer dogs checked the 6-kilometer route along the Seine ahead of the opening ceremony on the river.
Pedestrians walk past fences closing off access to the Trocadero in Paris on Friday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 21, 2024

The bickering and 'cold sweat' as Paris built its Games

Following the horse-trading to win the Games came the French infighting over how to host them.
Attendees inspect a Lamborghini Revuelto high performance electrified vehicle on the opening day of the Geneva International Motor Show Qatar 2023, in Doha on Oct. 6, 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 22, 2024

In the world of luxury cars, hybrids are the sexiest new thing

Engineers insist the technology is as much about getting more performance out of existing combustion engines as it is about going green.
U.S. gymnastics superstar Simone Biles takes part in a training session in Le Bourget, France, on Monday.
OLYMPICS / Gymnastics
Jul 25, 2024

Biles targets 'redemption' as she reenters the spotlight at Paris Olympics

The U.S. gymnastics star is once again eyeing the top of the podium after she prioritized her mental health at the Tokyo Games.
Charlotte Dujardin and her horse, Gio, compete in the dressage event at the Tokyo Olympics in July 2021.
OLYMPICS / Equestrian
Jul 25, 2024

Caught repeatedly whipping a horse, top British rider is out of the Olympics

In the video, Charlotte Dujardin, who has won six Olympic equestrian medals, repeatedly strikes a horse being ridden by another person as an onlooker laughs.
Torchbearers Teddy Riner and Marie-Jose Perec light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Paris Games on Friday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 28, 2024

Upset bishops and mixed reviews for Paris Olympics ceremony

The show's artistic director Thomas Jolly, who is gay, had pledged earlier this month that the ceremony would celebrate "diversity" and "otherness."
Bronze medalists Kazuma Tomoto, Toshiyuki Tanaka, Yoshiaki Oiwa and Ryuzo Kitajima celebrate on the podium with their medals Monday in Versailles.
OLYMPICS
Jul 30, 2024

Japan earns first equestrian medal in 92 years

The last time Japan won an equestrian medal was in the 1932 Los Angeles Games, when Col. Takeichi Nishi won gold.
World Anti-Doping Agency President Witold Banka holds a news conference in Paris on July 25. WADA and the entire global anti-doping system have been under intensifying scrutiny in recent months.
OLYMPICS
Jul 31, 2024

Anti-doping agency acknowledges concern over use of tainted food as excuse

The global anti-doping regulator disclosed Tuesday that it is investigating why athletes in China and other countries who are testing positive for banned drugs are escaping discipline through claims that they have unwittingly ingested the performance-enhancing substances through food.
Japan's Yuki Kawamura goes to the basket in the men's preliminary round group B basketball match between Japan and Brazil during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, northern France, on Friday.
OLYMPICS / Basketball
Aug 3, 2024

Japan's 'Slam Dunk' fans upstaged by 'Brazilian chapulines'

The Brazilians crushed Japan 102-84 in men's Group B to end the Asian side's Olympic dreams.
Athletes who are part of the Refugee Olympic Team participate in the Parade of Nations on the River Seine during the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics on July 26.
OLYMPICS
Aug 6, 2024

Refugee Olympic Team representing displaced people and making its mark in Paris

The refugee team, which first competed at the 2016 Games, will walk away from the Paris Olympics with one medal and potentially more.
Bottles of Coca-Cola inside a fridge in the Olympic Village.
OLYMPICS
Aug 7, 2024

Health experts urge Olympics to cut ties with Coca-Cola

Events at the Paris Games have been lined with advertising for the ubiquitous fizzy drinks of Coca-Cola, which has been sponsoring the Olympics since 1928.
Paris Saint-Germain forward Goncalo Ramos (right) celebrates with teammates after scoring in a preseason friendly against Germany's RB Leipzig on Saturday.
SOCCER
Aug 14, 2024

Ligue 1 begins post-Mbappe era further weakened after TV rights fiasco

League grapples with a loss of star power as its TV deal falls further beyond other European leagues.
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh hits a two-run home run against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago on July 28.
BASEBALL
Aug 20, 2024

A skill with a huge advantage is becoming taboo for young baseball players

Switch-hitters are a dying breed in the major leagues, particularly among Americans.
A Ferrari seized by the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau which will be put up for auction
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2024

Tokyo’s tax agency will auction off $390,000 Ferrari it seized

Other high-end items up for auction include luxury real estate and a rare bottle of Suntory Holdings' cult-favorite whisky Hibiki 30.
Lions players celebrate after a win over the Buffaloes on Wednesday at Belluna Dome in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 25, 2024

A fight over free agency in NPB, with help from an American union

The union representing players in NPB is fighting to secure rights over players' images and give them the opportunity to make the jump to MLB sooner.
John McFall, a former Paralympian, has been cleared for future space missions with the European Space Agency.
PARALYMPICS
Aug 28, 2024

World's first 'parastronaut' hails Paralympics' 'powerful platform'

John McFall will be taking a stand for sports and space this week after becoming the first person with a physical disability to be cleared for missions by the ESA.
2024 Paris Paralympics taekwondo bronze medalist Palesha Goverdhan greets the crowd upon her arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 4, 2024

Crowds give Nepal's first Paralympic medalist hero's welcome

Palesha Goverdhan brought the nation its first medal in the Games after returning home with a bronze in taekwondo.
Great Britain's Sarah Storey competes in the women's road cycling time trial at the Paris Paralympics in Clichy-sous-Bois, France, on Wednesday.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 5, 2024

Paralympic fencing star Bebe Vio handed shock defeat as Storey criticizes cycling course

Storey, who is competing in her ninth Paralympics, dominated the C5 time trial in the Paris suburbs, but said the short, 14.1-kilometer course was "appalling."
Japan's Tokito Oda (L) reacts after beating Britain's Alfie Hewett in the men's singles gold medal match of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on Saturday.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 8, 2024

Tokito Oda becomes youngest Paralympic men's wheelchair singles champion

Oda prevailed in just over 2 1/2 hours, in front of a virtually sell-out crowd at Roland Garros, in a great advertisement for the event.

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