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The illuminated advertising board of a host club in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district. The bill approved by the government on Friday aims to ban hosts from emotionally manipulating customers into making excessive purchases — a common tactic in the industry.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2025

Japan looks to crack down on host club exploitation with tighter regulations

Police received 2,776 consultations nationwide related to host clubs last year, with many involving women coerced into sex work to cover unpaid bills.
Shizuko Nishio — who will turn 86 on March 10, when Japan will commemorate 80 years after the bombing of Tokyo — gives an explanation in February in front of a map showing the areas that were burned in the air raids.
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2025

'Eerie' sky, charred bodies: 80 years since Tokyo's World War II firestorm

Because of the atomic bombings and Japan's surrender a month later, the firebombing of Tokyo is often overlooked in history.
Nintendo shares sank as much as 9.8% in Tokyo Friday, as U.S. President Donald Trump doubling levies on China means game consoles, mostly made in China, could have higher selling prices in the United States due to heftier import costs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 7, 2025

Nintendo shares plunge on tariff fears as foreign investors retreat

Nintendo sank 9.2% in Tokyo, its biggest intraday drop since the stock market rout on Aug. 5.
Hoshoryu will make his debut at yokozuna during the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament, which begins in Osaka on Sunday.
SUMO
Mar 7, 2025

New yokozuna Hoshoryu and rising star Onosato enter Spring Basho as favorites

Hoshoryu already has a pair of titles to his name, and is coming off perhaps the most impressive eight-bout stretch of his career to date.
US President Donald Trump listens to a reporter as he speaks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 8, 2025

Trump threatens Russia with sanctions until Ukraine peace reached

Trump's threat of banking curbs and tariffs followed a report Monday that the White House was preparing to give Russia possible sanctions relief as part of the push to end the war.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday. Trump said tariffs could be imposed on Canadian dairy and lumber products within days, in a growing trade war with the United States' northern neighbor.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Mar 8, 2025

Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff strategy sows confusion

Hasty announcements have injected chaos into the economy and financial markets, casting doubts about the White House’s trade strategy.
A demonstration by the Polish army at the Bemowo Piskie Land Forces Training Center in Poland in September 2023. As U.S. President Donald Trump casts doubt on his country's alliances, Poland needs to double its military manpower and consider more destructive weapons, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 8, 2025

Alarmed by Trump, Poland must look at nuclear options, premier says

Poland needs to double its military manpower and consider more destructive weapons, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
South Korean impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol reacts outside the Seoul detention center after his release, in Uiwang, South Korea, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 8, 2025

South Korea's impeached President Yoon released from detention

The suspended president walked out of the detention center smiling, before bowing deeply to a small crowd of cheering supporters.
The bridge in the city of Asahikawa where a female high school student died after being pushed off in April last year
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 9, 2025

Woman sentenced to 23 years over Asahikawa girl's murder

Asahikawa District Court in Hokkaido has sentenced a 20-year-old woman to 23 years in prison in a high-profile murder case in which a female high school student died after being pushed off a bridge and into a river in Asahikawa in April last year.
Former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney speaks after he won the race to become leader of Canada's ruling Liberal Party and will succeed Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister, in Ottawa on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2025

Mark Carney wins Canada Liberal contest and will succeed Trudeau in days

Carney takes the reins at a time when the White House is creating upheaval in the global economy — and with U.S. trading partners — with increasingly chaotic tariff announcements.
A solar panel provides electricity in northern Gaza on Feb. 13. Israel’s energy minister said on Sunday that he was immediately cutting off electricity to the Gaza Strip as Israel tries to pressure Hamas amid talks over their fragile truce.
WORLD
Mar 10, 2025

Israel halts Gaza's electricity supply ahead of new truce talks

Israel's decision comes a week after it blocked all aid supplies to Gaza.
People walk past an agency building of the Chinese electric car brand BYD in Mexico City on March 3.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 10, 2025

Tesla is flailing in China and the rapid rise of BYD is to blame

Disappointing shipments in China have been blamed on a narrow and dated lineup, particularly in the face of up-to-date and more exciting offerings from BYD and others.
Excavators to be used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to remove debris from homes destroyed by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / FOCUS
Mar 10, 2025

Cascading extreme weather events unleash billions in damages globally

Compound weather, when two or more concurrent events that collectively yield a result worse than if each had occurred on its own, are occurring more frequently.
A worker collects palm oil fruit in Sepang, outside Kuala Lumpur, in 2014.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 10, 2025

The end of cheap palm oil? Output stalls as biodiesel demand surges

Aging plantations and slow replanting have led to lower yields even as demand for palm oil rises from various sectors.
The Ukedo Elementary School Ruins in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, in January. The Fukushima Prefectural Government offers training sessions for new prefectural government recruits to visit the school, the prefecture's sole preserved disaster-hit structure.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2025

14 years on, prefectural governments work to pass on lessons to new hires

Many prefectural officials who were involved in front-line operations in the immediate aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami are retiring.
Every year, there is heightened interest in commemorating the 3/11 disaster around the time of the anniversary. But memorial facilities and operators are increasingly struggling to keep their activities going all year round and as time passes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 10, 2025

Preserving the memory of 3/11 is becoming more difficult

Despite a peak in interest around the 3/11 anniversary, disaster memorial facilities and operators are facing mounting challenges in keeping their activities going as time passes.
A town hall meeting with residents of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, one of the municipalities evacuated in the aftermath of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. More dialogue is needed to foster truly participatory energy democracy in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 10, 2025

Japan needs collective public support to reach its nuclear goals

Over a decade after 3/11, Japan has the chance to foster truly participatory energy democracy by engaging its civic environmental organizations in nuclear policymaking processes.
A heron flies over the bustling Ver-o-Peso market, in Belem, Para state, Brazil, near the site of the COP30 Summit, which will be held in November.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 10, 2025

BRICS' climate leadership aims hang on healing deep divides

Diverging national interests among BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — may also prove sticking points.
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the opening bell in New York on Monday, when stocks plummeted as investors fretted that uncertainty over President Donald Trump's tariff policy could tip the world's biggest economy into a recession.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 11, 2025

Markets rocked by Trump show economic fear across Wall Street

What had been a steady pullback from the U.S. stock market accelerated sharply Monday as investors retreated from virtually every type of risk.
Smoke and flames rise from a collision between an oil tanker carrying fuel for the U.S. military and a cargo ship off the northeastern coast of England on Monday.
WORLD
Mar 11, 2025

Tanker hired by U.S. military ablaze off U.K. after hit by container ship

There has been no indication of any malicious activity or other actors involved in the incident, security sources say.
Junko Yagi, a professor at Iwate Medical University, speaks during an interview on Jan. 10 in the town of Yahaba, Iwate Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2025

Experts urge ongoing mental health care for families in 3/11 disaster areas

"Parents and children alike are carrying heavy emotional burdens," one expert said.
Fertility rates remain low across much of Asia, with past policies to curb population growth proving difficult to reverse, while governments explore adaptation strategies like immigration and AI.
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2025

It’s time we adapt to low fertility rates

South Korea’s fertility rate saw a slight increase, but experts doubt it signals a long-term reversal. Similar trends are seen in Singapore and Japan.
Displaced residents work in an illegal poppy field for their livelihood during the fighting between Myanmar's military and KNDF (Karenni Nationalities Defense Force) in Pekon Township, on the border of Karen State and southern Shan State, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 11, 2025

Reluctant opium farmers toil for survival in war-ravaged Myanmar

The country's opiate economy — including the value of domestic consumption as well as exports abroad — is estimated to be between $589 million and $1.57 billion.
People observe a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m. on Tuesday in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, when the Great East Japan Earthquake hit 14 years ago. Behind them is a pine tree dubbed "the miracle tree" that survived the tsunami.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 11, 2025

Japan marks 14 years since 3/11 earthquake, with over 27,000 still displaced

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he will pass down the lessons of the disaster to future generations.
Air Canada has collaborated with chef Masaki Hashimoto (center) of Toronto's one-Michelin-starred restaurant Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto to create its new in-flight menu for its Signature Class.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 12, 2025

Air Canada has a new 'kaiseki'-inspired menu

The airline wants to give its customers ‘a real Japanese experience’ before they land in Japan.
The entrance sign of the headquarters of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) is pictured, on the outskirts of Vienna, Austria, on March 5, 2025. While the sports organization has faced accusations of working for Pyongyang, ITF has denied "any wrongdoing," insisting the federation promotes taekwondo worldwide.
MORE SPORTS / Taekwondo
Mar 11, 2025

The North Korea taekwondo supremo that Austria can't kick

Austria is trying to kick out Ri Yong Son, the North Korean head of the International Taekwon-Do Federation, who it suspects of funneling foreign currency to Pyongyang.
A sign featuring the logo of Germany's Federal Ministry For Economic Affairs And Climate Action, at the construction site of the Northvolt Drei EV battery gigafactory in Heide, Germany, on Oct. 15, 2024
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 12, 2025

If Europe builds the gigafactories, will an AI industry come?

The hope is that local firms like France's Mistral will use the factories to create AI models that operate in line with EU safety rules.
Onosato (right) has eased to a 3-0 start in the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka.
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Mar 12, 2025

Sumo in March comes in like a lion

It’s been a rocky start to spring for sumo both in Japan and abroad.
South Korean evangelical preacher Jun Kwang-hoon speaks during a rally to support impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on March 8.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 12, 2025

South Korean pastor vows revolt against Yoon's impeachment

Experts say the pastor has tapped into a far-right constituency that expanded in the wake of Yoon's martial law declaration.
After living a sheltered life with her previous owner, Crispin is just now getting used to being out in the world.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Mar 12, 2025

A shy Shiba mix is ready to bloom

Seven-year-old Crispin is learning to explore the world and receive affection after a sheltered upbringing.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb