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JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Oct 6, 2023

Cram school teacher arrests ignite child safety debate

Two cram school teachers in Tokyo were arrested for allegedly taking photos of a female student's underwear and sharing them on a group chat.
The Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo has launched a campaign to promote more salmon eating.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2023

Norway pushes Japan to eat more salmon with creative preparation ideas

Norway started a blitz to sell salmon for sushi to Japan under a national strategy in the 1980s, making it more popular than it already was at the time.
Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto Prefecture hands out "blindfold" stickers that visitors can use to cover up their wishes written on wooden plaques.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 23, 2023

Privacy concerns prompt people to cover up Shinto prayer plaques

The plaques have been used to express wishes for centuries, and now some shrines are allowing them to be covered with stickers for privacy reasons.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 27, 2023

Takashimaya apologizes over damaged Christmas cakes

The pricey ¥5,400 cakes were meant to be delivered frozen, but many arrived melted, lopsided or crumbled.
Aoi Suzuki’s son runs past a home in Taketomi on Iriomote Island (not to be confused with Taketomi Island, which lies to the east of Iriomote). The Suzukis run the Takemori Inn, one of the few hotels on Iriomote.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 29, 2024

[Rebroadcast] Traveling Okinawa with a broken heart

This week on Deep Dive we get contributing writer and photographer Lance Henderstein to read us his article on traveling Okinawa during the rainy season.
SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop it's super heavy booster is launched on its eighth test at the company's Boca Chica launch pad in Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday.
WORLD
Mar 9, 2025

SpaceX scrubs launch of two NASA satellite missions

One rocket’s chief passenger was SPHEREx, a space telescope that will take images of the entire sky in more than a 100 colors that are invisible to the human eye.
High school girls wear rented Chinese dresses for <i>purikura</i> photo stickers on Aug. 20 in Tokyo's Toshima Ward.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2025

'Purikura' photo sticker machines keep offering more 30 years after debut

The first photo sticker machines in 1995 were much simpler than what's offered today, but the novel feature of turning photos into stickers led to their blockbuster popularity.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt takes questions during a briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on Oct. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 1, 2025

White House restricts access for journalists to press secretary's office

The new memorandum from the National Security Council bans journalists from accessing Room 140, also known as "Upper Press," without a prior appointment.
Yasuhiro Otomo and Miku Narisawa during one of Odyssey Nature Japan's educational fishing programs.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 22, 2024

A young 3/11 survivor and her vow to protect the ocean

At 12, Miku Narisawa experienced a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami that destroyed her home. Now she is working to protect it.
Smoke billows as wildfires driven by high winds destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina in Mauii County, Hawaii, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Aug 10, 2023

Hawaii wildfires kill 36 as 'apocalypse' hits resort city

Multiple neighborhoods were burnt to the ground as the western side of the island was nearly cut off.
Cars are pictured with Mount Fuji from a secondhand car dealer in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN
May 9, 2024

Barrier to block view of Mount Fuji delayed

Fujikawaguchiko town is building the screen to deter people from taking pictures of the landmark.
A notice put up in front of a near-finished condominium in the city of Kunitachi in Tokyo on Saturday, saying the complex will be demolished
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2024

Near-finished Japan condo blocking Mount Fuji to be razed

The company Sekisui House said in a statement late Tuesday it had "voluntarily decided to discontinue the project."
Mayumi Kitakata uses "CatsMe!," an AI-driven smartphone app that purports to tell when a cat is feeling pain, near her 14 year-old male pet cat Chi at her home in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2024

Japan's beloved cats get health care help from AI

The CatsMe! app has been used on 6,000 pictures of cats and by more than 230,000 customers since its launch last year.
A blue sheet obscures a stone pillar that bears the name of the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, after graffiti was found on it on Aug. 19.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 22, 2024

Tokyo police obtain warrant for Chinese youth over Yasukuni graffiti

The youth is suspected of writing Chinese words, including one meaning toilet, on a stone pillar and its base at Yasukuni Shrine at around 10 p.m. on Aug. 18.
A supporter of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte holds a placard during a prayer rally in Manila on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 18, 2025

'Bring him home': Philippines migrant workers grapple with Duterte fallout

Despite ICC charges of a systemic attack on civilians in his war on drugs, the ex-Philippine president "understood the everyday life of overseas Filipinos," experts say.
Tourists look at skulls of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime in a stupa at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields Memorial in Phnom Penh on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 18, 2025

Khmer Rouge anniversary marked, but without public prayers

The 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge’s march into Phnom Penh passed without survivor-led ceremonies.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of wide-ranging efforts to meet its hard-line immigration agenda.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 29, 2025

South Korean students warned over social media posts amid Trump administration crackdown

South Korean students are the third-largest among international students in the U.S., behind those from India and China.
Fujifilm's X Half digital camera allows users to take film camera-style photos in vertical format.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 18, 2025

Japan's digital camera-makers boost lineups as global shipments of devices rise

Among new products, digital compact cameras with fixed lenses are drawing attention in particular.
An attendee tries out the XR Catch game at the Sony Group booth at CEATEC in Chiba on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 17, 2023

Major Japan tech show opens with focus on sustainability

The major trade show kicked off on Tuesday, with firms keen to showcase how their latest technologies could contribute to creating a sustainable society.
Fujifilm has added the Instax Pal, a new palm-sized model, to its Instax instant camera lineup known as Cheki in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 15, 2023

Japanese camera-makers focusing on Gen-Z

Offerings tout unique features to appeal to those wanting something beyond smartphone photography.
The CrowdStrike offices in Sunnyvale, California, on Friday
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 20, 2024

CrowdStrike update that caused global outage likely skipped checks, experts say

Faulty code resulted in one of the most widespread tech outages in recent years for companies using Microsoft's Windows operating system.
The Japanese version of the U.K.’s Disclosure and Barring Service aims to ensure a safe learning environment for children by facilitating checks for records of sexual offenses for those working in jobs involving contact with children such as education or child care.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 1, 2025

Japan expands scope of background checks amid child safety concerns

The expanded guidelines will apply not only to schools and kindergartens, but also to community spaces such as children’s cafeterias and talent agencies.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (center) chairs a meeting of a Cabinet session to discuss the issue of disarming Hezbollah at the presidential palace of Baabda, east of Beirut, on Aug. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 6, 2025

Lebanon plans to disarm Hezbollah by year-end

The unprecedented move forms part of a November ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hezbollah following months of hostilities.
McDonald's Japan has canceled its plan to bundle "One Piece" trading cards with its Happy Set meals, after a similar Pokemon-themed campaign sparked a frenzy and uproar over uneaten food being discarded.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 21, 2025

McDonald's Japan to skip 'One Piece' Happy Meal promo

The cancellation follows a similar Pokemon-themed campaign that sparked a frenzy and uproar over uneaten food being discarded.
A sign is attached to the exterior fence at the South Lawn of the White House as demolition work is underway on the East Wing to begin construction on U.S. President Donald Trump's planned ballroom in Washington on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 26, 2025

The bulldozer and the ballroom: Trump puts permanent stamp on the White House

To many, the plan symbolizes a presidency that has taken a wrecking ball to national norms, international institutions and the world order itself.
Visual AI allows us to see more than meets the eye when looking at cities like Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2023

AI will show us the future of cities, if we guide the way

Visual AI can help us better see our cities, from crime rates to property values, but only human intelligence can tell the forest from the trees.
A young university grad (Kana Kita, right) is introduced to the world of "shunga" erotic art by an older academic (Seiyo Uchino) in “Picture of Spring.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2023

‘Picture of Spring’: Smart, silly and lots of fun

Akihiko Shiota’s film about the world of Japanese erotic art feels like a crash course in “shunga” before veering into playfully risque territory.
Sony plans to file the termination notice before a Jan. 20 extended deadline for closing the deal with Zee.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2024

Sony plans to call off $10 billion merger with India’s Zee

The plan to cancel the deal is due to a standoff over whether Zee CEO Punit Goenka would lead the merged entity amid a regulatory probe.
Poll workers set up early voting equipment in Seffner, Florida, on Aug. 2.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 24, 2024

Russia produced most AI content to sway election: U.S. intelligence

Russia is seen as being a more sophisticated actor than other nations and having a better understanding of how U.S. elections work.
A Ukrainian serviceman watches an inspection of damage to the radiation containment shield of Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant following a Russian drone strike in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on Friday.
WORLD
Feb 15, 2025

Russian drone attack 'damaged Chernobyl plant's confinement structure'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the International Atomic Energy Agency had earlier reported that radiation levels remained normal at the plant.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes