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The classic Japanese ghost story often features a vengeful female ghost.
PODCAST / deep dive
Oct 12, 2023

[Rebroadcast] Japan’s got ghosts

This week we discuss a few horror movies before “Uncanny Japan” podcast host Thersa Matsuura tells a classic Japanese ghost story.
New Zealand's National Party leader Christopher Luxon addresses his supporters in Auckland after winning the general election on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 15, 2023

New Zealand elects its most conservative government in decades

Former Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon's center-right National Party will lead a coalition with a smaller libertarian party.
Troy Sutton, a virologist at Pennsylvania State University, on July 25, 2023. Sutton says that health officials referred to the public controversy over the lab leak theory in advising him to pursue different experiments.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 18, 2023

Lab leak fight casts chill over virology research

While some believe practices such as gain-of-function research could fend off the next pandemic, others worry that they are more likely to start one.
U.S. Republican Rep. Jim Jordan speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 21, 2023

New field of would-be U.S. House speakers takes shape

The GOP has dispensed with Jim Jordan as their nominee for the U.S. speakership and now several more representatives are preparing to enter the fray.
An assembly engineer works on a lithography system at chipmaker ASML in Veldhoven, Netherlands, on June 16.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Nov 2, 2023

How can the EU strengthen its strategic autonomy regarding chips?

The bloc has felt a sense of crisis over the fact that its growth strategy has been largely dependent on third countries.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, exits federal court in Washington on Oct. 30.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2023

Google's app store strategy bad for everyone, Epic says in court

Moves by Alphabet to thwart competition hurt developers and raise prices for consumers, the games firm said in opening statements.
Voting signs outside a polling location in the city of Toledo in Ohio on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Nov 8, 2023

Abortion rights advocates and Democrats score wins in U.S. votes

A string of electoral victories including in conservative Ohio and Kentucky show reproductive rights remain a potent issue.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin during a committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 10, 2023

Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Manchin will not seek re-election in 2024

The move by the 76-year-old lawmaker will make it very difficult for Democrats to defend the West Virginia seat.
Armando Aroca, environmentalist, former guerrilla and current nursery manager of the Common Community Multi Active Cooperative (COMUCCOM) farm, points to a mural with the image of murdered environmentalist Jorge Santofimio in Puerto Guzman, Colombia, on June 27.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 16, 2023

How the murders of activists hurt Colombian ecological preservation

Conservationists are targeted as their work poses a threat to illegal activities
U.S. President Joe Biden during a meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday
WORLD / Politics
Dec 3, 2023

Muslim Americans face 'Abandon Biden' dilemma — then who?

Opposition from Muslim and Arab American communities could complicate the president's path to an Electoral College victory.
The Euro trophy in front of the drawn groups for the 2024 edition of the tournament, in Hamburg, Germany, on Saturday
SOCCER
Dec 3, 2023

Germany to take on Scotland in Euro 2024 opener as draw set

The Germans, three-time winners, will kick off the one-month tournament in Munich on June 14, with the final on July 14 at Berlin's Olympic stadium.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during an event in Pyongyang. Smuggling efforts could be directly linked to the North's military ambitions, analysts have said.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 8, 2023

North Korean smugglers disguised under Pacific island flags

With strict sanctions limiting Pyongyang's ability to import fuel, smugglers have adopted increasingly creative methods.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 27, 2023

Tokyo court rules executives of spray dryer firm were wrongly indicted

The case involving Ohkawara Kakohki, a Yokohama-based manufacturer, has once again highlighted problems in the nation’s criminal justice system.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump
WORLD / Politics
Dec 29, 2023

Maine elections official disqualifies Trump from presidential primary ballot

Maine became the second state to bar the former U.S. president for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Huawei caused a stir in the U.S. and China last August when it released a smartphone with a 7nm processor made by Shanghai-based SMIC.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 5, 2024

Huawei teardown shows 5nm laptop chip made in Taiwan, not China

The firm caused a stir last August when it released a smartphone with a processor that was only a few years behind the cutting edge.
A Taiwan Air Force Mirage 2000-5 aircraft prepares to land in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Jan. 2. In the event of a conflict with China, Taiwan would face a military that rivals that of the U.S.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2024

Xi, Biden and the $10 trillion cost of war over Taiwan

The price tag — equivalent to about 10% of global GDP — dwarfs the blow from the war in Ukraine, COVID-19 pandemic and 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis.
The yen's exchange rate against the dollar on Wednesday. The yen declined from ¥103 against the dollar in 2020 to as little as ¥151 in late 2023.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 11, 2024

Is a weak yen good for Japan’s economy?

The yen's fast depreciation is boosting overseas investment and sectors like tourism, but could also trigger inflation. In response, the BOJ should raise interest rates.
Business people, diplomats and academics are watching developments in Hong Kong closely, saying the prospect of new laws targeting espionage, state secrets and foreign influence could have a deep impact on the global financial hub.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 30, 2024

Hong Kong leaders start push to tighten national security laws

New legislation could sharpen the 2020 regulations imposed by Beijing on the territory in response to months of pro-democracy protests.
Pita Limjaroenrat at the Thai Parliament complex in Bangkok on Wednesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 31, 2024

Thai court rules against opposition's view of royal insults law

The nine-member court said in a unanimous ruling that Move Forward’s push for changes amounted to an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 1, 2024

Wanted gang member Shigeyuki Kin held by Nagano police

The suspect in a 2020 attempted murder was alone at the time of the arrest and did not resist, admitting to the police that he was indeed the fugitive.
Many young people who feel neglected at home flock to the Toyoko area to find a community where they can fit in.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Feb 5, 2024

Toyoko Kids: The lonely street children of Tokyo

Bound together by shared neglect and marginalization, the group have formed a distinct, social media-linked youth subculture on the streets of Shinjuku.
Chef Natsuki Suzuki opened Naz in the fall of 2020 on the rural fringe of the resort town of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Feb 11, 2024

Naz: Bounty from landlocked Nagano's rivers and pastures

Dining at Naz is like sitting down at a bespoke dinner club for a meal catered exclusively for you. And what a meal it is.
Alexei Navalny speaks with journalists after he was released from a detention center in Moscow in August 2019
WORLD
Feb 16, 2024

Alexei Navalny, corruption fighter who defied Putin, dies at 47

Navalny fell sick during a walk and medical staff were unable to revive him, prison authorities said Friday.
A man stands next to a model of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which was used to launch several Indonesian satellites into orbit, at the office of Pasifik Satelit Nusantara, an Indonesia’s satellite-based telecommunication firm, in Jakarta on Jan. 15.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2024

How a Chinese rocket failure boosted SpaceX's fortunes in Indonesia

Elon Musk seized on the incident to prevail over a state-owned Chinese contractor as Jakarta's company of choice for putting satellites into space.
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, at a House Oversight Committee meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 10.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 21, 2024

FBI informant got false dirt on Bidens from Russia: prosecutors

Alexander Smirnov, 43, a dual U.S. and Israeli national, was arrested last week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 1, 2024

Japan may have lowest per capita GDP among major economies in 2060

The government estimate is likely to materialize if the country's productivity growth remains low as in recent years and the population continues to fall.
Sean Williams' sled dog team participates in the ceremonial start of the 52nd Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 3, 2024

Alaska's 52nd annual Iditarod sled dog race mushes to starting line

The number of competitors this year, 38, represents one of the smallest fields going back to the first year of the race in 1973.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks before a meeting at the White House on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 7, 2024

Biden and Trump woo Haley voters — the 2024 election's new prize

Political strategists believe a significant number of Haley voters were Democrats who crossed over to vote to try to deliver a blow to Trump.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 15, 2024

Biden’s best shot against Trump lies in ‘blue wall’ states

In Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, his campaign sees signs for optimism.
Awang Suang trims weeds from palm trees on his small plantation in Membakut, Malaysia on Feb. 12. He has been cultivating oil palms for more than 50 years after switching from rubber trees. Palms require less labor and produce more frequent harvests — roughly every two weeks, year round — providing a steadier income, he explained.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Mar 18, 2024

Can Europe save forests without killing jobs in Malaysia?

A new regulation aims to rid the palm oil supply chain of imports that come from former forestland.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear