Search - 2023

 
 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces the launch of a targeted military operation against Iran in a video statement on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 13, 2025

After years of waiting, Israel's Netanyahu finally makes his move on Iran

Iran once ridiculed Netanyahu as the boy who cried wolf for his constant warnings about Tehran's nuclear program, and his repeated threats to shut it down.
Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda’s reelection garnered almost 97% of voted shares during the carmaker’s annual meeting, the company said in a statement Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 13, 2025

Toyota chair reclaims support after scandals that hurt last vote

The rebound in Toyoda’s popularity suggest tacit shareholder approval of how he handled the certification issues.
Part of Osaka Art and Design 2025, Maki Takato’s “Yokai Unity” is a collaboration with a Zen-Buddhist monk from Nara, whose hands in prayer were 3D-scanned for an inflatable sculpture.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 14, 2025

Osaka wants to show off its artistic talents

With the expo underway, the city is buzzing with people. The art scene is trying to catch some of that attention with a variety of events and initiatives this summer.
A screenshot of a submarine cable map on TeleGeography’s website shows a network of cables connecting with Japan.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 16, 2025

The underlying risks to Japan’s undersea cables

What exactly are undersea cables, and how real is the threat of disruption in Japan?
The skyline of Astana, Kazakhstan. Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Kazakhstan for the third time since 2020, making the country of 20 million people one of his favorite destinations in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed his global travels.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 16, 2025

Xi visits Kazakhstan for talks with Central Asian leaders

The summit in the Kazakh capital Astana is taking place in parallel to the Group of Seven's event in Canada.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani runs after hitting a solo home run during the sixth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium on Saturday.
BASEBALL
Jun 16, 2025

Shohei Ohtani to make Dodgers pitching debut Monday

It will be Ohtani's first big league pitching appearance since Aug. 23, 2023, and his first with the Dodgers.
Urawa's Samuel Gustafson (center) celebrates scoring the winning goal against Yokohama FC at Saitama Stadium 2002 on June 1.
SOCCER / J. League
Jun 16, 2025

Urawa Reds ready to take on the Club World Cup's bigger stage

Urawa goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa has no doubt that this year’s Club World Cup will offer a much bigger stage.
Japan faces a growing crisis of social isolation, with over 1.4 million people — many middle-aged — living reclusive lifestyles, and experts say only long-term, trust-based community support can reverse the trend.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 16, 2025

Japan needs to rethink how it helps hikikomori

While hikikomori, the Japanese term for acute social withdrawal, often brings to mind young recluses in dark bedrooms, the reality is broader.
With people growing increasingly wary of unknown callers and not answering their doors, more and more agencies and pollsters tasked with collecting data are using online surveys, though that comes with its own set of challenges.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jun 17, 2025

Faced with dwindling response rates, pollsters turn to online surveys for data

Problems with the new wave of online surveys include fresh biases in the data, confusion over questions that a computer cannot address and gaining trust.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (left) and Indian leader Narendra Modi shake hands before posing for a photo during the Group of Seven leaders' summit in Kananaskis, in Alberta, Canada, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 18, 2025

India and Canada return ambassadors as Carney and Modi look past spat

Carney's predecessor last year accused India of involvement in the assassination of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil and expelled the Indian envoy.
Israeli military vehicles maneuver in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jun 18, 2025

Israeli tanks kill 59 people in Gaza crowd trying to get food aid, medics say

Palestinian medics said at least 59 people were killed and 221 wounded in the incident, at least 20 of them in critical condition.
Eddie Jones began his second stint as Japan coach in 2023.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Jun 19, 2025

Wales' Josh Macleod expects stiff challenge from Eddie Jones' Brave Blossoms

Wales travels to Japan having lost 17 straight tests — a record for a major nation — since it last enjoyed a victory.
KG Motors CEO Kazunari Kusunoki with the ultra compact electric vehicle Mibot
BUSINESS
Jun 19, 2025

This $7,000 single-seat electric car has become a hit in Japan

In the rural suburbs of Hiroshima, a Japanese startup is trying to kick-start the nation’s electric vehicle market with the smallest, cheapest car it can possibly make.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thailand's prime minister, holds a news conference in Bangkok on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 19, 2025

Youngest Thai prime minister faces swift end to her short career

After her largest backer pulled support, Paetongtarn Shinawatra has barely enough votes for a parliamentary majority and other key allies are holding urgent talks today.
Kirsty Coventry, who will formally take over as the president of the International Olympic Committe on Monday, speaks during a news conference in Costa Navarino, Greece, in March.
OLYMPICS
Jun 21, 2025

As sports embrace gender tests, Coventry and IOC may follow

Such testing has its share of critics and the Olympics have already tried it once only to abandon it in 1996.
A school and surrounding soy fields in an area of the Amazon where soybean farming is expanding, in Belterra, Brazil, in October.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 22, 2025

A corporate deal that protected the Amazon from soy farming starts to show cracks 

Many are taking advantage of a loophole in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a voluntary agreement signed by the world's top grain traders in 2006.
A person who contracted HIV after losing access to Pre-exposure Prophylaxis, works out at a gym in Awka, Nigeria, on June 1.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 22, 2025

Trump aid cuts deal a blow to HIV prevention in Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic.
Dodgers starter Shohei Ohtani pitches against the Nationals at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 23, 2025

Shohei Ohtani pitches and homers as Dodgers rout Nationals

Ohtani, making just his second appearance on the mound since undergoing elbow ligament surgery in 2023, recorded two strikeouts in an 18-pitch appearance at Dodger Stadium.
Rice paddies in the city of Asahikawa, Hokkaido. Rice is a major crop for Hokkaido, with the region having produced 562,400 tons of it last year.
BUSINESS / Economy / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jun 30, 2025

U.S. import pressure raises concerns for Hokkaido agriculture

The U.S. is nudging Japan to import more rice, soybeans, and maize — vital crops that support Hokkaido's economy.
Malaysian military personnel take part in a seven-day training program in Japan focused on the operation and maintenance of drones, which are set to be provided to Malaysia through Japan's official security assistance program.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2025

Japan aims to double number of military aid recipients this year

Tokyo is looking to add five new countries to its official security assistance (OSA) program, which is intended to help maintain stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's earthquake website shows numerous seismic activities in the 24 hours through 11:18 a.m. on Monday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 23, 2025

Over 200 earthquakes have shaken Tokara islands since Saturday

As of 2 p.m. on Monday, more than 200 earthquakes registering shindo 1 or higher on the Japanese seismic intensity scale had been observed.
A Japanese AI researcher says that instead of fearing superintelligent machines, the world should focus on building a symbiotic relationship with them — a shift in perspective that could reshape the global AI safety debate.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2025

Make the robot your colleague, not overlord

An argument is emerging for an AI future less like "The Terminator" and more like "Astro Boy."
Chinese President Xi Jinping described relations with Iran as "strategic" in a 2023 meeting with then-president Ebrahim Raisi, and backed Tehran in its fight against "bullying."
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 24, 2025

China helpless as Middle East war craters regional leverage

Analysts say Beijing's ties with Tehran are central to its efforts to ensure a regional counterbalance against both the U.S. and Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement during a visit to the site of the Weizmann Institute of Science, which was hit by an Iranian missile barrage in the central city of Rehovot, Israel, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 25, 2025

Netanyahu sees redemption in Iran war, but Gaza looms large

After months of political turmoil, war and plummeting popularity, Israel's powerful strike on Iran is likely to reframe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's legacy, allies and analysts say.
Foreign investors bought a net ¥88.4 billion of Japanese equities in the week that ended on June 20, data has shown.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 26, 2025

Foreign buying of Japanese stocks marks 12-week streak, TSE data shows

According to data, foreign investors bought ¥88.4 billion of Japanese equities in the week that ended on June 20.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani joined Yankees slugger Aaron Judge as being the first two players to earn nods for next month’s All-Star Game in Atlanta.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 27, 2025

Shohei Ohtani selected for All-Star Game after leading fan vote in NL

The Yankees' Aaron Judge led all MLB players in the voting and earned a starting spot in the American League.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's P-1 aircraft, Japan's first domestic patrol
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2025

SDF's P-1 patrol aircraft underused due to engine and electronics issues

The issue was mainly due to engine corrosion and problems with electronic devices, a probe has found.
Novak Djokovic takes part in an exhibition in London on Friday ahead of the start of Wimbledon.
TENNIS
Jun 29, 2025

Wimbledon offers Djokovic 'best chance' to make Grand Slam history

Djokovic is dreaming of putting an exclamation point on his incredible career by becoming the most successful singles player in tennis history.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani throws during the first inning of his team's game against the Royals in Kansas City on Saturday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 29, 2025

Ohtani throws two scoreless innings and fires 101.7 mph fastball in Dodgers loss

Ohtani pitched two innings for the first time since he returned to the mound earlier this month after a near two-year absence from pitching.
Pro-democracy activist Jimmy Sham (center) speaks at a League of Social Democrats press conference at their headquarters in Hong Kong on Sunday. The League of Social Democrats, one of the city's last remaining opposition parties, said it will disband after a five-year political crackdown by Beijing, a year ahead of its 20th anniversary.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 30, 2025

Hong Kong opposition party disbands, citing 'immense' pressure

The League of Social Democrats is the latest opposition party to cease operating after Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 to end democracy protests.

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