Search - 2017

 
 
Taiwanese comic artist Rishiazao and interpreter Yun-wen Huang greet an attendee at the 2025 Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2025

Taiwan comics on the rise: Local storytellers, global aspirations

A supportive ecosystem and eager audiences — both domestic and global — are boosting the soft power of illustrated narratives from Taiwan.
The global electric vehicle boom has resulted in a lithium supply shortage since 2022 despite the 180% increase in production compared to 2017.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 1, 2025

Three novel approaches that can revolutionize batteries

The innovations aren’t yet available at a commercial scale, but they are part of an effort to prevent the global clean energy transition from stalling.
Journalist Kazuyoshi Konishi says many men lack a sense of ownership and responsibility over issues such as women's empowerment and child-rearing, leading to such policies being overlooked.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 3, 2025

Male participation key to solving gender issues, journalist says

Gender inequality in the household is a large barrier to women’s participation in politics, creating a vicious cycle that delays progress, Kazuyoshi Konishi says.
Houston Dash player Yuki Nagasato greets fans after a match against Seattle Reign FC at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston on Sept. 21, 2024.
SOCCER
Mar 4, 2025

Houston Dash forward Yuki Nagasato retires after storied career

The 37-year-old appeared in 134 National Women's Soccer League matches, recording 23 goals and 25 assists.
Nihon Hidankyo Assistant Secretary-General Jiro Hamasumi delivers a speech at the third meeting of signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on Monday at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025

Nihon Hidankyo executive urges abolition of nuclear weapons at U.N. meeting

"Atomic bombs are the 'devil's weapons' that rob people of their future," said Jiro Hamasumi, assistant secretary-general of Nihon Hidankyo.
A video board highlights LeBron James' 50,000 career point milestone after the Lakers forward scored a three point basket against the Pelicans in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Mar 5, 2025

LeBron James becomes first NBA player to score 50,000 total points

James has shown no sign of slowing down in his 22nd season in the league.
Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a former deputy manager at Hana Credit Union’s Yokohama branch on suspicion of stealing ¥619 million in cash from the branch's safe deposit boxes.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 5, 2025

Hana Credit Union employee arrested on suspicion of safe deposit box theft

The suspect admitted to the allegations, telling police he used the stolen money to pay off debts and gamble.
After the ruling in the lawsuit seeking an injunction against the operation of the No. 3 reactor at Shikoku Electric Power's Ikata nuclear plant, the representatives of the legal team led by attorney Kan Ebisuda (center) hold a news conference on Wednesday in Naka Ward, Hiroshima City.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2025

Hiroshima court rejects request for Ikata reactor injunction

Presiding judge Kazumi Ohama said "It cannot be said that there is a specific danger that violates the lives of the plaintiffs."
Toru Akama cares for dogs and cats left behind in the March 2011 Fukushima meltdown disaster, at his home in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2025

Former Fukushima plant worker continues caring for pets left behind

The 62-year-old was driven by a sense of responsibility for the pets being abandoned as “it came about because of the meltdown at our plant.”
Yoko Suetsugu at Haco, her gallery in New York
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Mar 17, 2025

Sculptor connects Fukushima to U.S. through New York gallery

Yoko Suetsugu is aiming to launch a program inviting U.S. artists to hot springs in the city of Fukushima for a creative retreat.
Naomi Osaka returned to tennis in 2024 after giving birth to her daughter in July 2023.
TENNIS
Mar 7, 2025

WTA and Saudi PIF to provide paid maternity leave to tennis players

The PIF WTA Maternity Fund Program "will offer benefits to more than 320 eligible WTA players," the WTA said in a statement.
Hiroko Nagano, a former member of the assembly of Tokyo's Toshima Ward, speaks during an interview in Tokyo in January.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 7, 2025

Female assembly members with children seeing better work conditions

As of July 2024, there were 5,187 female municipal assembly members in the country, or only 17.9% of the total, however.
Hoshoryu will make his debut at yokozuna during the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament, which begins in Osaka on Sunday.
SUMO
Mar 7, 2025

New yokozuna Hoshoryu and rising star Onosato enter Spring Basho as favorites

Hoshoryu already has a pair of titles to his name, and is coming off perhaps the most impressive eight-bout stretch of his career to date.
Aizawa Concrete employees work in the Namie factory in Fukushima Prefecture in January.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Mar 11, 2025

14 years after 3/11 disasters, Fukushima vies to become a startup hub

Part of the goal is to attract a more permanent workforce to Fukushima to support the development of the prefecture as a whole.
Jewish settlers pray in the Evyatar settler outpost in the northern West Bank last July
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2025

Christians press Trump to clear path for Israel to annex West Bank

Some 80% of white, evangelical Christians voted for President Trump. Now, some want a policy change that could undermine a future Palestinian state.
Excavators to be used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to remove debris from homes destroyed by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / FOCUS
Mar 10, 2025

Cascading extreme weather events unleash billions in damages globally

Compound weather, when two or more concurrent events that collectively yield a result worse than if each had occurred on its own, are occurring more frequently.
A tank holds untreated waste from plutonium production at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, a site that was integral to the nation’s nuclear arsenal after World War II, north of Richland, Washington, in March 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 11, 2025

Most contaminated U.S. nuclear site is set to be the largest solar farm

Plans to transform Hanford had just begun inching forward when U.S. President Donald Trump started his second term.
South Korean evangelical preacher Jun Kwang-hoon speaks during a rally to support impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on March 8.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 12, 2025

South Korean pastor vows revolt against Yoon's impeachment

Experts say the pastor has tapped into a far-right constituency that expanded in the wake of Yoon's martial law declaration.
After living a sheltered life with her previous owner, Crispin is just now getting used to being out in the world.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Mar 12, 2025

A shy Shiba mix is ready to bloom

Seven-year-old Crispin is learning to explore the world and receive affection after a sheltered upbringing.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a piece of paper with information about tariff rates at the White House on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2025

The U.S. says Japan has a 700% tariff on American rice. Is that the case?

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's accusation describes only a small portion of U.S. rice imported by Japan.
Supporters of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gather outside the The Hague Penitentiary Institution prison, which houses the International Criminal Court's (ICC) detention unit, in Scheveningen, Netherlands, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 13, 2025

Philippines’ Duterte is bound for ICC’s Hague jail with spartan cells and spiritual advisers

He will likely be confined to a 10-square-meter cell — little larger than a sedan — with off-white walls, a bed, desk, cupboard, sink and toilet.
Alcohol is shaping up to be a key friction point in the brewing trade war.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 14, 2025

Trump threatens tariffs on European wine and spirits in escalating trade war

The threat came in response to a European Union plan to impose tariffs on American whiskey and other products next month.
“Ravens” stars Tadanobu Asano as Masahisa Fukase, a real-life figure who was known for his photos of the psychedelic party scene of 1960s Shinjuku, portraits of his wife and images of the ravens of his home prefecture of Hokkaido.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 14, 2025

‘Ravens’ is a portrait of art, love and inner demons

Director Mark Gill brings the turbulent life of celebrated photographer Masahisa Fukase into focus in his new film.
K-Ballet Tokyo celebrates its 25th anniversary with an extended lineup including a revival of the vibrant pirate-story ballet "Le Corsaire."
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 15, 2025

K-Ballet Tokyo marks 25 years of passion and perseverance

The dance company celebrates a milestone anniversary with an extended lineup including a revival of the vibrant pirate-story ballet "Le Corsaire."
Then-U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol attend an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework event at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 15, 2025

U.S. designated South Korea a 'sensitive' country amid talk of nuclear weapons

The move after the South Korean president briefly imposed martial law and amid talk of Seoul potentially developing nuclear weapons.
Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Mar 17, 2025

The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo

Thirty years after Aum Shinrikyo attacked Tokyo’s subways, the nation continues to prepare for the unthinkable.
The Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto during training at Tokyo Dome on Monday
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 17, 2025

How Yoshinobu Yamamoto rebounded after his disastrous MLB debut

Yamamoto is a different pitcher than he was a year ago when he was still adjusting to the transition from NPB to MLB.
Instead of spending billions to resurrect woolly mammoths, we could focus on preserving endangered species, saving ecosystems, and securing biodiversity for the future.
COMMENTARY
Mar 17, 2025

Got $10 billion? Don’t blow it cloning a woolly mammoth.

Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based biotechnology and genetic engineering startup valued at $10 billion, has raised $435 million to "de-extinct” the woolly mammoth.
Shohei Ohtani gets a kiss from his dog Decoy at a game in August 2024. The Japanese slugger-pitcher’s return to his country to kick off the Major League Baseball season has sparked immense excitement, highlighting his unparalleled career and symbolic role as a national hero.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2025

Superstar Shohei Ohtani for prime minister

He’s unavoidable in Japan: His face adorns ads for cosmetics, mattresses, English conversation schools and, most recently, convenience store rice balls.
Shikoku Electric Power's Ikata nuclear plant in Ehime Prefecture. The Matsuyama District Court has rejected a petition filed by some 1,500 residents near the nuclear plant in the town of Ikata over safety concerns.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2025

District court rejects residents' petition to halt Ikata nuclear power plant

The petition was filed over safety concerns by some 1,500 residents living near the plant in Ehime Prefecture, which is operated by Shikoku Electric Power.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person