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Containers stacked up at the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port in Phnom Penh on Thursday. Southeast Asian countries with a significant trade surplus with the U.S. came in for harsh treatment from Trump's stinging tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 4, 2025

Trump tariffs are a ‘disaster’ for world’s poorest countries

Poor nations' labor-intensive export industries face new risk in trade war.
The skyline during sunset in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Japan's new underground criminal groups operate under a highly organized and brutal system.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 10, 2025

How police are cracking down on 'scout' sex broker groups

Major scout groups are under scrutiny, as authorities uncover a far more systematized and sinister network than previously imagined.
Visitors walk atop the Grand Ring at Expo 2025 in Osaka on April 13.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 20, 2025

Digitalized Osaka Expo troubling elderly visitors

Under the Expo's digital and paperless policies, visitors are asked to use devices such as smartphones to make reservations and navigate the massive venue.
Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Mount Everest, makes front-page news on May 18, 1975.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
May 3, 2025

Japan Times 1975: Junko Tabei becomes first woman to summit Mount Everest

A 35-year-old housewife from Saitama achieved the impressive feat in May 1975 with the help of a Sherpa guide and 15-member Japanese women’s team.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri celebrates on the podium after winning the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
May 5, 2025

Piastri completes hat trick of wins to stretch F1 championship lead

The win from fourth on the grid was the Australian's third in a row, after Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and fourth of the season.
Ayano Kikuchi began practicing yoga in 2014 to alleviate her chronic back pain, and now shares her knowledge with the Karuizawa community as the manager of W Tree House.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
May 10, 2025

Ayano Kikuchi: ‘People need to take care of themselves holistically’

How a corporate office worker in Tokyo became a yoga studio manager in Karuizawa
The crowded center circle of the Kansai Pavilion at the Osaka Expo, featuring photos and videos of various prefectures
JAPAN
May 25, 2025

Osaka Expo highlights uniqueness of Kansai region

The Kansai Pavilion offers numerous experiences to allow visitors to understand the rich history and culture of the region.
Atsuko Okatsuka tries out some of the jokes from her new special, “Father,”  at the Tokyo Comedy Bar in Shibuya in January.
CULTURE / Stage
May 30, 2025

Atsuko Okatsuka brings big 'dad' energy to new special

The comedian’s upcoming special, titled “Father,” blends whimsical comedy and family drama — just in time for Father's Day.
Anime director Shunsuke Nakashige accepts the anime of the year award for “Solo Leveling” at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2025

Anime's big night out is getting bigger — and more surreal

The soft-power spectacle at Crunchyroll's awards ceremony in Tokyo underscores anime's expanding global influence.
A notice sent from the Sendai Municipal Government to those denied entry to an after-school care facility
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jun 16, 2025

Sendai faces growing waitlist at after-school care facilities

The Sendai government has been working to expand the capacity of such programs, but many of them are still full.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Joel Vowell, the deputy commanding general of United States Army Pacific (fourth from right), walks with soldiers during the Khaan Quest 2025 exercises on June 15 at the Five Hills Training Area in Mongolia.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 29, 2025

U.S. Army capable of countering China’s plans to keep it at bay, top general says

Increased firepower, cutting-edge tech and greater interoperability with regional allies and partners are key for U.S. deterrence.
The total number of people who sat for police departments' exams in Japan during fiscal 2023 fell by more than 20% from fiscal 2021, while 30% of applicants who received informal job offers turned them down.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2025

Police in most prefectures miss hiring targets

Around 30% of the applicants given informal offers in many prefectures end up turning them down.
Cases of cancer patients and doctors having conversations about where the patient wanted to spend his or her last days came to 52.9% in 2021, up from 35.7% in the previous survey.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 3, 2025

About half of people who died from cancer discussed last days with doctors

About 60% of cancer patients were able to spend their last days at places where they wished to be, a report has shown.
Ichiro Kanai, founder and president of Tokyobike, is developing a niche but a new customer base who want to cycle as part of a lifestyle.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 15, 2025

Tokyobike founder believes in taking in sights of dynamic cities slowly

There's no use having a wonderful bike if you don’t have a thrilling city to explore, with Tokyobike's founder believing stylish products can only complement a compelling city.
A nurse takes a blood sample from a child for an HIV test at a clinic in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, South Africa, on March 12.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

Tighter borders bar poor nations from summits — on poor nations

Sudanese climate activist Roaa should have been leading meetings with other youth advocates at a United Nations climate conference in Germany in June.
Protesters gather in the streets of western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Wednesday following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s decision to hobble anti-corruption authorities.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2025

Zelenskyy risks Ukraine EU bid as protests over graft office grow

EU leaders regarded the about-face on more than decade of rule-of-law efforts as a major setback for Ukraine’s bid on Western integration.
Japanese passport holders have visa-free access to 190 destinations out of 227 globally.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 24, 2025

Japan ties with South Korea for second most powerful passport

Japan continues to hold the world’s second most powerful passport — tied with South Korea — according to a new global ranking.
Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates, has become irresistible for the world’s richest people.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jul 28, 2025

World’s rich ignore Middle East strife to bet on Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Europeans have turned to the United Arab Emirates to seek respite from economic uncertainties, while some Chinese have begun looking beyond long-favored hubs like Singapore.
This year, Fuji Rock Festival's ticket sales were the strongest they have been since the COVID-19 pandemic, with overseas ticket buyers accounting for roughly 10% of all sales.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 4, 2025

From far and wide, overseas visitors flock to Fuji Rock

From Singapore to Greece to Michigan, fans came to Japan not just for the music, but for the nature, the relaxed atmosphere and the freedom to dance into the early hours.
Francisco Villarreal moved to Japan in 2014 to attend a teacher training program and has forged deep ties to the kindergarten in Tokyo's Asakusa district where he has worked since 2018.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Aug 11, 2025

Kindred spirits, kindergarten connections: From Buenos Aires to east Tokyo

An Argentinian teacher finds echoes of his hometown in the working-class neighborhoods of eastern Tokyo.
People huddle near a large fan blowing icy-cold mist at the Osaka Expo on July 12. Amid Japan's relentless summer heat, organizes have put myriad measures in place in order to keep guests safe.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Aug 10, 2025

Osaka Expo highlights the challenge of holding events in Japan's scorching summer

Giant umbrellas, mist fans and human-sized ice boxes are some of the many ways organizers are offering respite to visitors.
Shinto priests holding traditional umbrellas walk to the main shrine for a ritual to cleanse themselves during the annual Spring Festival at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo in April 2016.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 13, 2025

Dispelling the myth of Yasukuni Shrine

The shrine has been a lightning rod — especially as it has been used by some of Japan's neighbors as a convenient means to shift attention away from their domestic issues.
Nipponia Hotel Ise Kawasaki Merchant Town in Ise, Mie Prefecture
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Sep 8, 2025

Why more hotels in Japan are offering room-only service

Hotels hit by labor shortage hope to reduce their burden, while restaurants and the local community aim to attract more visitors.
Smoke billows from a makeshift displacement camp at the Yarmuk Sports Stadium during Israeli strikes on Gaza City on Thursday.
WORLD
Sep 5, 2025

Israeli military says it controls 40% of Gaza City, with plans to expand operation

Gaza health authorities said Israeli fire across the enclave had killed at least 53 people, mostly in Gaza City, where Israeli forces are now a few kilometers from the city center.
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military offensive shelter in a UNRWA school, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Aug. 19.
WORLD
Sep 5, 2025

Coffee and cash: How Hamas pays its civil servants in secret

The Hamas-run government in Gaza is still paying some salaries to employees, at least in part and with delays.
England's Sarah Bern holds the Women's World Cup trophy as she celebrates with teammates after winning the final in London on Saturday. England's women's rugby team extended its unbeaten run to 33 matches with the win.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Sep 30, 2025

World Rugby unfazed over England's dominance of women's game

England has not lost since a 34-31 defeat by New Zealand in the COVID-delayed 2022 World Cup final in Auckland.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 8, 2025

Trump says U.S. and Canada working on formula for tariff deal

The U.S. president described the two North American nations as being in "natural conflict” because they’re competing for the same business.
John Clarke, an emeritus professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, is interviewed on campus on Tuesday after being named one of the winners of this year's Nobel Prize in physics.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 10, 2025

Nobel Prizes this year offer three cheers for slow science

In an age when government efficiency has been used to justify sharp cuts to scientific funding, the science Nobels offer a case for plodding curiosity.
A health worker administers HPV vaccine to a student in Islamabad on Sept. 24.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 14, 2025

Spread of drug-resistant superbugs surging, WHO warns

The United Nations' health agency warned that one in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections worldwide in 2023 showed resistance to antibiotic treatments.
Global birth rates are declining, raising concerns about the impact on society, particularly women, as it exacerbates isolation while creating a need for structural and cultural changes to support motherhood.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025

Can the world handle having fewer moms?

Fewer women are having children. Those who do are having smaller families than previous generations. This trend transcends the norms of any one culture or place.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.