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U.S. President Joe Biden walks to board Marine One at Delaware Air National Guard Base, in New Castle, Delaware, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 22, 2024

Did Biden blunder with New Hampshire primary snub?

After a dispute with officials in New Hampshire over scheduling, he will not be on the ballot when the state's primary kicks off the party's nomination process on Tuesday.
According to Hitoshi Matsumoto’s lawyer, he is suing Bungei Shunju, the publisher of the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine over an article that was published in the magazine and online on Dec. 27.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2024

Comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto sues publisher over sexual assault article

The Downtown member is suing Bungei Shunju, the publisher of the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine, for defamation.
Japan's Zion Suzuki (top) and Yukinari Sugawara (bottom) in action with Iraq's Youssef Amyn in Al Rayyan, Qatar, on Friday.
SOCCER
Jan 23, 2024

Japan goalkeeper racially abused online after Asian Cup errors

The news comes after two instances of racist abuse directed at players in Italy and England during matches.
Local authorities say oil tanks at this storage facility caught fire after the military brought down a Ukrainian drone, in the town of Klintsy in the Bryansk Region, Russia, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 23, 2024

Ukrainian drone attacks menace key Russian oil export route

Keeping Russia’s oil exports steady is crucial for the Kremlin, which receives approximately 30% of total budget revenues from the nation’s energy industry.
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.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 23, 2024

China pivot from Taiwan would be Tuvalu's decision, says Australia

Comments by Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong come after agreement with Tuvalu that gave Australia greater say in the Pacific nation’s defense and security decisions.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2024

With meetings, Japan leader amplifies call for wage hikes at small firms

Dissatisfaction over falling real wages has been one of the factors undermining the prime minister's support rate, which remained under 30% in a series of recent polls.
Sompo Holdings' Kengo Sakurada is planning to step down as the company's CEO at the end of March.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 23, 2024

Sompo Holdings' CEO to resign over handling of Bigmotor wrongdoing

The Financial Services Agency has ended its on-site inspections of Sompo Holdings and Sompo Japan and is expected to issue business improvement orders.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2024

BOJ stands pat on policy as quake's economic impact remains unclear

Observers are watching for when the BOJ will start exiting negative rates, amid growing expectations it will likely seek normalization this year.
Palestine forward Mahmoud Wadi (19) and midfielder Oday Kharoub (6) greet supporters after the team's win over Hong Kong at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha on Tuesday.
SOCCER
Jan 24, 2024

Palestine 'fulfills promise' after historic Asian Cup win

The 3-0 victory over Hong Kong was also their first win in the history of the competition and enough to squeeze into the last 16 as one of the four best third-placed teams.
Turkish lawmakers attend a session before voting on a bill regarding Sweden's accession to NATO on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2024

Turkey approves Sweden NATO bid, leaving Hungary as holdout

Sweden’s entry would bolster defense alliance, reinforcing its northern reach and improving its ability to defend the eastern flank.
The market cap of Japan’s largest automaker reached ¥48.79 trillion ($330 billion) at the end of Tokyo stock trading on Tuesday, with Toyota shares having closed ¥9 higher at ¥2,991 after briefly reaching an all-time high of ¥3,034.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 24, 2024

Toyota’s market cap hits record high for a Japanese firm

Market participants are keeping a close eye on Japan’s top automaker amid expectations that it will post strong earnings.
An Oppenheimer film poster at AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York in July
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jan 24, 2024

'Oppenheimer' to be shown in Japan, eight months after meme outrage

The release date is almost eight months after memes mixing visuals from the film "Barbie" with atomic blasts provoked anger from people in Japan.
American President Joe Biden hugs Brittany Alkonis after giving a State of the Union in February. The wife of jailed U.S. sailor Lt. Ridge Alkonis ran a successful pressure campaign to get her husband released from a Japanese prison into American custody. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 24, 2024

Japan owes no apology for U.S. Navy officer’s treatment

The case of Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis is a divisive one, which both the U.S. and Japanese governments have tried to keep quiet about.
Outlawing the second-most popular party in Germany would be democratically questionable and could have negative consequences.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2024

Should Germany’s AfD party be banned?

Germany's democratic values should be upheld by engaging with disgruntled voters in the voting booth, rather than seeking a legal ban.
Daniil Medvedev celebrates his victory over Poland's Hubert Hurkacz on Wednesday in Melbourne.
TENNIS
Jan 24, 2024

Gutsy Medvedev outlasts Hurkacz to reach Melbourne semis

In the women's draw, Dayana Yastremska extended her dream run, but made sure to remind tennis fans about her countrymen and women fighting in Ukraine.
A Russian military transport plane crashes near Yablonovo, Belgorod Region, Russia on Wednesday in a screen grab from a social media video.
WORLD
Jan 24, 2024

Russia says plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners has crashed

The IL-76 aircraft came down while transporting the prisoners for an exchange with Ukraine, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Wednesday, according to Tass.
South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee have been plunged into controversy after hidden camera footage emerged appearing to show Kim accepting a Dior bag as a gift.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 24, 2024

'Dior bag scandal' mars South Korean ruling party before election

The controversy over the apparent acceptance of a gift by his wife may threaten Yoon Suk-yeol's bid to reclaim a parliamentary majority in April's election.
An aspiring pianist who was blinded in a traffic accident (Minami Hamabe, right) finds a devoted protector in a mute custodian (Ryosuke Yamada) at her music college in “Silent Love.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 25, 2024

‘Silent Love’: Formulaic romance strains credulity

Unlike “Midnight Swan,” Eiji Uchida’s previous film that raked in awards, the director’s new melodramatic romance lacks depth and nuance.
Two lovers on the run (Misa Wada, left, and Takahiro Fukuya) wrestle with poverty and a monstrous mutant appendage in Taichiro Natsume’s “The Beast Hand.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 25, 2024

‘The Beast Hand’: Splatter movie has more soul than guts

Misa Wada proves a standout in Taichiro Natsume’s surprisingly soulful low-budget horror flick.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden participate in their first 2020 presidential campaign debate in Cleveland, Ohio.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 25, 2024

Wall Street maps out 2024 election as Trump vs Biden looks likely

While calculations at this stage come with caveats, expectations for politically fueled moves in asset prices around the 2024 vote are high.
Ice covers the Moskva river in downtown Moscow. The Kremlin still mostly relies on volunteers to fight its war in Ukraine, offering 210,000 rubles monthly.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2024

Russia’s war fuels a wage spiral that threatens army recruitment

The competition for employees has pushed wages up at a double-digit pace and made once-relatively lucrative military service less appealing.
China’s economy is facing an uphill battle filled with challenges, including a deepening housing slump, fears of a deflationary spiral and high levels of youth unemployment.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 25, 2024

China officials told Xi’s belt-tightening rules are here to stay

While President Xi Jinping has long discouraged excess, the renewed calls for austerity come as the world’s second-largest economy faces severe challenges.
Anindya Shabrina Prasetiyo (center), a Labour Party legislative candidate in the upcoming general election, attends a rally on Jan. 19 in front of City Hall in Surabaya. Indonesia's presidential and legislative elections next month will see more than 200 million people eligible to vote, with slightly more than half of them women according to the country's election commission, yet with much fewer women representing them.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 25, 2024

Indonesian women hope election breaks them into boys' club

More than 200 million people are eligible to vote in the Feb. 14 election, yet only a handful of women represent them in parliament.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meet in Beijing in April last year.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2024

With China in mind, EU aims to toughen rules on foreign trade and investment

The package includes requiring member states to potentially prevent foreign direct investments that may pose a risk to the bloc’s security.
Seiste's ¥1,650 limited-edition ice cream will be available for eat-in customers throughout the Valentine's Day period at the Matsuya department store in Tokyo's Ginza district.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 25, 2024

Tokyo department stores to offer in-store dining options for Valentine's Day

In recent years, the Feb. 14 celebration has evolved from a day of gifting sweets to a celebration of love for chocolate.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 25, 2024

Japan’s space agency confirms breakthrough high-precision moon landing

JAXA's "Moon Sniper" successfully landed within 100 meters of its target, much more precise than the several kilometers of typical moon missions.
A man walks out of a game store displaying a promotional poster for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the latest in the Yakuza series of video games. Behind the worldwide success of Japanese video games lies a delicate task: appealing to overseas players whose expectations on issues like sexism are increasingly influencing the content of major titles.
LIFE / Digital
Jan 25, 2024

From Japan to the world: how to translate a game

Everything from slang to costumes needs to be considered in an era where international success is crucial to making a blockbuster.
Executive officer, producer and director Masayoshi Yokoyama poses next to a promotional poster for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. The Yakuza gangster series has long been seen as a Japanese version of Grand Theft Auto, but Yokoyama dismisses any such comparison.
LIFE / Digital
Jan 25, 2024

'We don't hit women': How Yakuza differs from Grand Theft Auto

Designer Masayoshi Yokoyama sat down to discuss video game violence ahead of the Jan. 26 release of the latest in the Yakuza series.
The U.S. push to undermine Beijing’s semiconductor ambitions has increasingly singled out ASML, drawing the ire of the Dutch company's outgoing head Peter Wennink and some local lawmakers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 26, 2024

ASML’s China sales surged despite secret Dutch deal with U.S.

The deal, which hasn’t been reported before, stumbled as ASML turned to Beijing to compensate for weak demand elsewhere.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb