Search - 2023

 
 
The Hollywood sign shrouded in smoke from an overnight blaze in the Hollywood Hills on Jan. 9
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2025

The Hollywood fires will cause harm long after they burn out

We’re not going to be able to turn the clock back on this creeping disaster. It will be many centuries before our atmosphere recovers from the damage.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump at the White House in Washington in November last year.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 16, 2025

Biden to hand unfinished agenda to Trump for a chaotic Middle East

Joe Biden's Middle East record is likely to be remembered not so much for how conflicts ended on his watch, but mainly for how they unfolded.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen is one of the leading candidates for the NFL MVP award this season.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 17, 2025

Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson headline high-profile showdown in divisional round

Both players epitomize the modern preference for quarterbacks who can not only throw with pinpoint accuracy but can also be a threat running the ball.
Demonstrators in Rabat, Morocco, on Thursday show support for Palestinians following the news of a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel.
COMMENTARY
Jan 17, 2025

Gaza ceasefire deal is a win for Trump

Donald Trump secured a Gaza ceasefire by pressuring Israel into an agreement, but achieving a lasting peace will depend on resolving deeper regional issues.
Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
BUSINESS / Companies / Longform
Jan 17, 2025

Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go

The CEO and president of Rapidus says the chip venture in Hokkaido is key to Japan's fortunes.
The surge in share buybacks followed a request by the Tokyo Stock Exchange in March 2023 that listed companies put more focus on improving capital efficiency.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 20, 2025

Listed Japanese firms' share buybacks hit record in 2024

The increase has been attributed to accelerated corporate efforts to improve capital efficiency and pressure from activist shareholders.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic hits a return against the Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka during their men's singles match on Day 8 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Sunday.
TENNIS
Jan 21, 2025

Djokovic and Alcaraz square up in Australian Open blockbuster

Djokovic is looking for his 100th tournament title and a record 25th Grand Slam crown.
Items produced under agriculture-welfare partnerships are displayed at an event in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Dec. 2.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2025

Farm-welfare links for disabled employment expand in Japan

Such partnership initiatives, launched by agricultural corporations and employment facilities, reached about 7,100 by fiscal 2023.
Staff members of the Kyoto-based company Mitsufuji stand near a small-scale model of a prototype hangar tent for electromagnetic shielding and wearable gadgets at the Vietnam Defense Expo 2024 in Hanoi on Dec. 19.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2025

Japan hunts for dual-use goods makers to aid military expansion

Cultivating a homegrown defense industry was a key plank of Japan's ¥43 trillion military build-up strategy launched in 2022.
A message welcoming users back and thanking U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on the TikTok app
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 22, 2025

A beauty industry hooked on TikTok braces for an uncertain future

Last year, TikTok was one of the top 10 largest beauty e-commerce platforms in the U.S.
Israeli tanks near the border with Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as seen from Israel, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 22, 2025

Hamas' tight grip on Gaza complicates plan for lasting peace

Hamas remains deeply entrenched in Gaza and its hold on power represents a challenge to implementing a permanent ceasefire.
TV star Masahiro Nakai abruptly announced his retirement Thursday as the fallout from sexual misconduct allegations against him continued to expand.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2025

Ex-SMAP member Masahiro Nakai to retire amid sexual misconduct allegations

The 52-year-old former SMAP member said his contracts had been wound up, and that negotiations with sponsors were in progress.
A Palestinian man searches for the graves and bodies of his father, brother and brother-in-law at Shejaia cemetery, which was flattened by Israeli tanks and bulldozers, in Gaza City, the Gaza Strip, on Monday.
WORLD
Jan 24, 2025

Bereaved Gazans dig out bodies from city ruins and give them graves

Burials are usually carried out within a few hours of death in Muslim and Arab communities, and failure to ensure dignified burials is agonizing for families.
While Japan deals with so-called overtourism, the rest of the world is just getting back to pre-pandemic levels of visits from international travelers.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 24, 2025

Global tourism is back to pre-COVID highs

Global tourism generated nearly $1.6 trillion (about ¥250 trillion) in 2024, about 3% more than the previous year and 4% more than in 2019.
Advertisements on Threads will come from a "handful of brands” and appear only in the U.S. and Japan to start, according to a post Friday from Instagram boss Adam Mosseri, who called the move a "test.”
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 25, 2025

Meta’s Threads to show ads for the first time in U.S. and Japan

It’s not clear what the revenue potential for Threads will be long term, but the service will benefit from Meta’s existing pool of advertisers.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference after a two-day monetary policy meeting at BOJ headquarters in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jan 25, 2025

BOJ’s clear guidance on rate hike calms markets but may backfire

For some economists, the latest move was too completely priced in, begging the question of how explicitly the BOJ intends to signal its plans in the future.
Palestinian fighters from the armed wing of Hamas take part in a military parade in the central Gaza Strip in July 2023.
WORLD
Jan 25, 2025

Hamas has added up to 15,000 fighters since start of war, U.S. figures show

The intelligence suggests the Iran-backed fighters could remain a persistent threat to Israel.
Naoya Inoue throws a punch against Kim Ye-joon during their world super bantamweight title bout in Tokyo on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Jan 25, 2025

After racking up another KO, 'Monster' Inoue set for bright lights of Las Vegas

There may also be a big payday in Saudi Arabia on the horizon as Inoue takes his thrilling style overseas after a long run of bouts on home soil.
Released Israeli hostage Liri Albag, a soldier who was seized from her army base in southern Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, gestures to make a heart shape in an Israeli military helicopter transporting her and other hostages, released as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, to the Beilinson Schneider medical complex in Petah Tikva, Israel, on Saturday.
WORLD
Jan 26, 2025

Fragile Gaza truce enters second week

A last-minute dispute blocked the expected return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to the Gaza Strip's devastated north.
A coal terminal in China's Hebei province in February 2023. Electricity use in the country grew 6.8% last year, outpacing overall economic growth at the highest clip in at least 15 years.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jan 26, 2025

China’s surging power demand creates a climate conundrum

As the world’s largest polluter, China holds outsized sway over whether emissions can be reduced fast enough to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.
A pipe for transporting carbon dioxide to removal equipment at a carbon capture and storage (CCS) test site in Tomakomai, Hokkaido.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jan 26, 2025

How Japan is looking deep underground to solve its carbon problem

Japan is investing billions of yen to get carbon capture and storage off the ground, but the technology is dogged by high costs and uncertainty.
The Middle East is at a pivotal moment and U.S. President Donald Trump has the chance to reshape the region, with potential solutions for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Lebanon's civil war, Syria's restoration and Iran's nuclear ambitions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2025

U.S. President Trump, you can remake the Middle East if you dare

U.S. policy must be to ensure that all three stages of this ceasefire agreement are carried out and followed by a real diplomatic process for a wider settlement.
Demonstrators raise placards bearing the names of hostages held captive in Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian militants, during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure their release, in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 27, 2025

Israel’s ceasefire deals face test with Gaza refugee impasse

Israel’s agreements in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip came under strain from deadly violence and a dispute with Hamas over the fate of an Israeli hostage.
Fuji TV President Koichi Minato (left) and Chairman Shuji Kanoh, also chairman of the broadcaster's parent company Fuji Media Holdings, bow during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday. The two have announced their resignations.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 28, 2025

Fuji TV president resigns over handling of Masahiro Nakai scandal

Koichi Minato has been the target of criticism following the revelation that he became aware of the incident involving Nakai right after it occurred in June 2023.
People line up to use an ATM  in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, days after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. Western financial sanctions have weighed on the Russian ruble, which has sunk from 34 to the dollar in 2013 to around 100 today.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2025

Putin’s war is fueling Russian stagflation

For a normal country, a budget deficit of 2% of GDP would be of no concern. But Russia is not a normal country.
China's DeepSeek carries far-reaching implications for the global tech industry and supply chain.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 27, 2025

Why is the AI world freaking out over China's DeepSeek?

DeepSeek has far-reaching implications for the global tech industry, upending the widespread belief that the future of AI will require ever-increasing amounts of power.
Palestinians collect food aid packages from a UNRWA warehouse in Deir Al-balah, Gaza, on Jan. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 29, 2025

Israel defies U.N. and vows to cut ties with UNRWA, with U.S.' blessing

UNRWA's offices and staff in Israel play a major role in the provision of health care and education to Palestinians, including those living in Gaza.
Flue gas and steam rise out of chimneys and smokestacks of an oil refinery in the Siberian city of Omsk, Russia, in 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 29, 2025

Russia set to test New Delhi by sending sanctioned oil and tankers to India

At stake is Moscow's ability to keep barrels flowing following the U.S. sanctions, something that could ultimately dictate the country's ability to maintain output levels.
Though vegan restaurants have been on the upswing since 2017, Japanese vegans still lack a wide variety of options.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jan 29, 2025

In meat- and fish-loving Japan, veganism is making a comeback

Tourism, climate goals and animal rights concerns are sparking a plant-based renaissance in a country famous for sushi and pork ramen.
Trump started his term on Jan. 20 by issuing an executive order "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism," which declared the government will only recognize two sexes — male and female.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2025

LGBTQ+ Americans in crisis as Trump rolls back rights

Nine organizations supporting LGBTQ+ people said they had a surge in use of their crisis services and calls to their helplines on Trump's first day in office.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan