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A look into what used to be the Koyamacho neighborhood in Tokyo's Minato Ward may reveal what Japan stands to lose from not protecting its recent past.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 25, 2023

Mita facelift paves over another slice of Tokyo history

The death of Koyamacho shows that Japan needs to begin preserving some parts of its modern history for future generations.
A young woman (Hana Sugisaki) slips through the cracks of Japan’s family register system in “Ichiko.”
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2023

‘Ichiko’: Hana Sugisaki transfixes with career-high performance

Akihiro Toda’s impressive drama shows different sides of its slippery protagonist without passing judgment.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2023

In major shift, Japan eases rules on exporting defense gear

The policy change could see Japan make its first export of lethal military equipment as early as next year.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 22, 2023

Japan to expand subsidized college tuition for large families

Free college tuition will be offered to at least one child in a family with three or more children, regardless of its income.
Members of the Ground Self-Defense Force take part in a joint military drill in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, in January.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2023

Japanese major general demoted over power harassment

The punishment was the second heaviest available after dismissal and the first two-rank demotion at the GSDF.
The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington
WORLD / Politics
Dec 23, 2023

Push to disqualify Trump pits democracy against the rule of law

Trump’s status as the Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination has created severe tensions.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks after a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York on Friday.
WORLD
Dec 23, 2023

A world leader on Ukraine, the U.S. is now isolated over Gaza

With the year drawing to a close, the United States finds itself diplomatically isolated and in a defensive crouch over the Israel-Hamas war.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 24, 2023

Embattled LDP's Nikai faction also suspected of logging kickbacks

The faction is suspected of not reporting excess fundraiser revenues as income but reporting the kickbacks as expenditures.
Workers plow a field at the site of an economic land concession outside Praeus K'ak village in Cambodia's Preah Vihear province on Dec. 6.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 24, 2023

'Doom for forests': Fears over new Cambodia land grants

Thousands are affected by economic land concessions (ELCs) — land grants to businesses that experts say have driven deforestation and dispossession.
Unlike his immediate predecessor, new Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi has chosen to speak in words of his own for some matters.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 24, 2023

Hayashi maneuvers through his new Cabinet position carefully

Hayashi has served in many Cabinet posts in the past, including defense minister, agriculture minister and education minister.
Liverpool's Darwin Nunez in action against Burnley on Tuesday. Nunez notched his eighth goal of the season and first since Nov. 1 in the team's 2-0 win.
SOCCER
Dec 27, 2023

Liverpool moves into first as Darwin Nunez ends drought

Elsewhere, Rasmus Hojlund broke his own barren run to cap Manchester United's thrilling fightback to beat Aston Villa 3-2 on Tuesday.
The iconic structure with its shell-shaped roof at Bennelong Point in Sydney is a source of immense pride for many Australians.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 27, 2023

Yuzo Mikami: The unsung hero behind the Sydney Opera House

On the building's 50th anniversary, those with memories and knowledge of the Japanese architect say recognition of his achievements is long-overdue.
Naomi Osaka during a training session ahead of her competitive return, in Brisbane on Wednesday
TENNIS
Dec 27, 2023

Nadal and Osaka set for comebacks in Australia

Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka has not played since the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in 2022.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 27, 2023

Prosecutors raid LDP lawmaker's home and offices over unreported funds

Prosecutors entered Yoshitaka Ikeda's Tokyo and Nagoya offices on suspicion that he violated the Political Funds Control Law.
Reporters gather in front of the Upper House parliamentary building on Thursday in Tokyo. Prosecutors raided LDP lawmaker Yasutada Ono's office, which is located in the building, the same day.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 28, 2023

Second LDP member’s office raided over political funds scandal

Upper House member Yasutada Ono became the second lawmaker to have his offices searched by prosecutors in connection with the scandal.
Japanese model Dulmi, 24, was selected as one of eight models in Vogue Open Casting's class of 2023.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 3, 2024

Dulmi: The biracial model bringing change to modeling in Japan and beyond

In a still-rare recognition of the diversity that exists in Japan, the Osaka native was chosen for the 2023 class of Vogue's Open Casting initiative.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son speaks at the SoftBank World 2023 corporate conference in Tokyo on Oct. 4.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2023

Will generative AI speed up Japan's digital transformation?

An initially cautious attitude has given way to wider acceptance in the public and private sectors, providing a boost to digitalization efforts.
People take shelter in a subway station in Kyiv amid a Russian missile attack on Friday.
WORLD
Dec 30, 2023

Russia pounds Ukrainian cities in one of largest air attacks of war

Russia targeted Ukrainian cities with more than 150 missiles and drones Friday morning, in what Ukrainian officials said was one of the largest air assaults of the war.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting in Hanoi earlier this month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 30, 2023

China plans strategy to challenge America’s global leadership

President Xi Jinping and other senior leaders pledged during a conference this week to raise China’s influence on world events "to a new level."
Firefighters work to extinguish burning cars following what Russian authorities say was a Ukrainian military strike in Belgorod, Russia, on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 31, 2023

Ukrainian missile attack on Russian city kills at least 20: officials

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine had hit Belgorod with two missiles and several rockets.
Naomi Osaka speaks during a news conference in Brisbane, Australia, on Saturday.
TENNIS
Dec 31, 2023

Naomi Osaka's love for tennis rekindled as she makes comeback

Naomi Osaka admitted Saturday she almost retired from tennis, but said her love for the sport is back after becoming a mother earlier this year.
People have their dinner at a restaurant as a screen broadcasts Chinese leader Xi Jinping's New Year's speech in Beijing on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 1, 2024

China's Xi says 'reunification' with Taiwan is inevitable

Chinese leader Xi Jinping's comments come less than two weeks to go before Taiwan elects a new president.
A man dozes while leaning on a crutch as he sits outside a tent where displaced Palestinians are camped in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 2, 2024

Israel army warns Gaza war will continue throughout 2024

Its 300,000 reserve soldiers will be gradually deployed in the battle against Hamas.
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong on June 16, 2020. Lai pleaded not guilty to "sedition" and "collusion" charges on Tuesday in a high-profile national security trial that could see him jailed for life.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 2, 2024

Hong Kong tycoon Lai pleads not guilty in landmark security trial

Jimmy Lai, a leading critic of the Chinese Communist Party, faces two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.
JAPAN
Jan 2, 2024

Five dead after Japan Airlines jet collides with coast guard plane at Haneda Airport

All 379 people on board the JAL plane exited safely but five of the six people on the coast guard plane died, with the captain sustaining serious injuries.
A Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger plane burns on the tarmac at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2024

Runway safety concerns in focus as Japan probes Tokyo crash

The collision of two airplanes at Haneda Airport comes just weeks after the global airline industry heard fresh warnings about runway safety.
A Tokyo toilet cleaner (Koji Yakusho, left) bonds with his teenage niece (Arisa Nakano) in “Perfect Days.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2024

Wim Wenders’ ‘Perfect Days’ finds beauty in small pleasures

Koji Yakusho gives an evocative, multilayered performance as a Tokyo toilet cleaner with a passion for simple joys in this poetic drama.
South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung speaks during a news conference in Seoul on April 11.
WORLD
Jan 3, 2024

South Korean opposition leader 'could have been killed': party

Lee Jae-myung, who suffered a wound to his jugular vein, was first taken to a hospital in Busan, then flown to Seoul.
A man looks out at the burnt wreckage of a Japan Airlines passenger plane on the tarmac at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 4, 2024

Japan Airlines estimates loss of about $105 million from collision

The loss of the aircraft will be covered by insurance, the company said, adding it was assessing the impact on its fiscal 2023 earnings forecast.
Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, left, the pilot responsible for miraculously soft landing in New York's Hudson River in 2009, celebrates on a ferry in Manhattan on Jan. 15, 2010.
WORLD / Society
Jan 4, 2024

Beyond Haneda: Other 'miracle' air crash evacuations

The collision at Haneda Airport killed 5 aboard the coast guard plane, but all 379 people on the JAL passenger jet survived.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan