Search - 2025

 
 
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote at Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference (GTC) at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, on March 18.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 29, 2025

Nvidia eases concerns about China with upbeat sales forecast

"Every nation now sees AI as core to the next industrial revolution,” CEO Jensen Huang said on a conference call with analysts.
Products affected by the U.S. order to stop shipping goods to China without a license include design software and chemicals for semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 29, 2025

U.S. curbs chip design software, chemicals and other shipments to China

The new restrictions appear aimed at choke points to prevent China from getting products necessary for key sectors.
Silversea Cruises' culinary program takes guests on a rich gourmet experience at wellness retreat Zenbo Seinei, where the local produce is presented in an eight-course meal.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 1, 2025

Waves of umami: Awaji Island's culinary trove

Silver Nova, one of Silversea Cruises’ newest vessels, takes guests on a food excursion on the largest island of the Seto Inland Sea with an immersive gourmet program.
Anime director Shunsuke Nakashige accepts the anime of the year award for “Solo Leveling” at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2025

Anime's big night out is getting bigger — and more surreal

The soft-power spectacle at Crunchyroll's awards ceremony in Tokyo underscores anime's expanding global influence.
A notice sent from the Sendai Municipal Government to those denied entry to an after-school care facility
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jun 16, 2025

Sendai faces growing waitlist at after-school care facilities

The Sendai government has been working to expand the capacity of such programs, but many of them are still full.
A rice shop owner listens to an online briefing by the farm ministry on the no-bid contract method of purchase for small retailers looking to buy stockpiled rice from the government, on Thursday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
May 30, 2025

Farm ministry starts accepting applications for older rice from small buyers

Smaller retailers and rice shops can buy rice stockpiled from the 2021 harvest from the government via no-bid contracts.
Artists offer their own interpretations of Japan's most famous monster at "Godzilla The Art Exhibition."
CULTURE / Art
May 31, 2025

'Godzilla The Art Exhibition' reimagines film icon as monstrous muse for modern art

The Mori Arts Center Gallery exhibition takes Japan's most famous monster beyond the world of filmmaking and asks nine artists to interpret the beast from their own point of view.
An Israeli Druze woman looks over the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria on May 4.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2025

Israel’s Syria policy could fuel more conflict and disorder

Israeli policy, part of a decades-old strategy of undermining Sunni power, risks paving the way for the emergence of a formidable new threat.
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jun 2, 2025

How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic

Labor shortages and shifting mindsets are driving younger Japanese workers to challenge the country’s traditional office culture.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his report to delegates at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 19.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2025

Trump’s WHO withdrawal could cost the U.S. dearly

Despite progress since COVID-19, the U.S. remains vulnerable to pandemics like H5N1, and withdrawing from the WHO would weaken its ability to respond to global health threats.
The Fighters' Franmil Reyes celebrates after hitting a walk-off home run against the Marines on Sunday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 3, 2025

What you need to know ahead of NPB interleague play resuming

Since 2005, one constant has been Pa League dominance.
The LGBTQ  community in the U.S. has expressed shock and dismay regarding government plans to slash the Health and Human Services Department's budget, which includes the elimination of specialised mental health services for LGBTQ  youth.
WORLD / Society
Jun 3, 2025

LGBTQ+ suicide risk rises as Trump cuts mental health services

Since returning to office in January, Trump has signed executive orders to curb LGBTQ+ rights, many of which directly impact young people.
Japanese trading companies' shares gained following comments from Warren Buffett at the Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting that he expects his company to hold the shares for 50 years or more.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025

Buffett inspires retail investors to bet on Japan trading houses

Japanese trading companies shares gained following comments from Warren Buffett that he expects his company to hold the shares for 50 years or more.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba  addresses a meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday to discuss enhancing Japan's international competitiveness in the field of intellectual property.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2025

Government adopts new intellectual property program to enhance competitiveness

The government aims to raise the country's ranking in the World Intellectual Property Organization's annual Global Innovation Index to fourth or higher by 2035.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2025

Komeito to propose sales tax cut on food, Yomiuri reports

A Komeito official confirmed the report, saying the tax cut idea will be among proposals in the campaign pledge due on Friday.
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2025

Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push

The new low underscores the immense challenge facing the government as it attempts to reverse the trend in one of the world’s most aged societies.
Self-propelled guns are refurbished at a Rheinmetall plant in Unterluess, Germany, in June 2023.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2025

The Europeans are facing an existential choice

U.S. officials are openly stating that they do not intend to devote most of their time or resources to dealing with what they deem European issues such as the war in Ukraine.
Travel advisories, declining visitor numbers from key countries and stricter border enforcement by the Trump administration have cast doubt on tourism gains for Los Angeles, which is hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup and also the 2028 Olympics.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2025

Is LA throwing a world cup party no one will attend?

At a time when the U.S. should be preparing to roll out the welcome mat to the world, President Trump’s erratic immigration policies and rhetoric are scaring tourists away.
A group of media companies have launched a fact-checking initiative for election-related online information, beginning with this month's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2025

Media firms launch election fact-checking initiative

The collaboration between Jiji Press, the Yomiuri Shimbun group, Saga Shimbun and Nippon Television Network aims to enhance the fairness and credibility of fact-checking work.
Novak Djokovic celebrates after defeating Alexander Zverev in the French Open quarterfinals in Paris on Wednesday.
TENNIS
Jun 5, 2025

Novak Djokovic silences doubters again on way French Open semifinals

The 24-time Grand Slam winner moves on to face world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the semifinals
A man cycles past a mural calling for the conviction of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, Metro Manila, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 5, 2025

Philippines' Sara Duterte questions impeachment trial under new congress

The Philippine vice president said procedural issues may arise for her trial in the Senate due to the current body adjourning next week.
Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph speaks during a rally held by U.S. President Donald Trump (right) at U.S. Steel Corporation-Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, on May 30.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jun 5, 2025

Steelers respond to fans after QB Mason Rudolph attends Trump rally

The team reminded fans that the opinions of individual players "do not necessarily represent the view of the entire Pittsburgh Steelers organization."
From January to May, a total of 5,958 illegal online financial transactions were made via hijacked securities accounts, according to the Financial Services Agency.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 6, 2025

Financial transactions via hijacked accounts top ¥500B in January-May

A total of 16 securities companies are affected by the hijackings.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 6, 2025

From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight

The lawmaker, sometimes said to be long on image and short on substance, has won praise for bringing down the price of rice.
The IMF and World Bank's Spring Meetings 2025 in Washington on April 25. At this year's meetings, central bankers expressed alarm over the Trump administration's push toward privatizing money through dollar-pegged stablecoins.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2025

Trump wants big tech to own the dollar

At this year’s IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, central bankers were alarmed by the U.S. push toward privatizing money through dollar-pegged stablecoins.
Lee Jae-myung’s election as South Korea’s president marks a dramatic political turn after Yoon Suk Yeol’s ouster, putting a seasoned progressive in charge as the country faces economic strain, tense U.S. ties and the challenge of improving relations with Japan.
EDITORIALS
Jun 6, 2025

A return to normalcy in South Korea, but hard work lies ahead

Lee's victory in a ballot to replace Yoon Suk Yeol, impeached after trying to launch a coup, caps an extraordinary life that took him from the slums to the nation’s highest office.
Japan is the world's biggest market for Iqos, a heat-not-burn tobacco product marketed by its maker Philip Morris as a less harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes — a claim not backed by independent scientific research.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 6, 2025

Smoke and mirrors: How big tobacco manipulates science in Japan

In Japan, not only does the tobacco industry have close ties to government, but universities are also vulnerable to its influence. In this equation, public health loses out.
Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Jan. 28
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 8, 2025

Meta in talks for Scale AI investment that could top $10 billion

The financing could exceed $10 billion in value, some of the people said, making it one of the largest private company funding events of all time.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management Japan is expanding its business as Japanese institutional investors are increasingly willing to hire third parties to help oversee their trillions of dollars in assets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2025

Goldman CIO service suddenly catches on in Japan after 10 years

The return of inflation after two decades has added pressure on Japan’s pensions and insurance companies to seek higher returns.
Alexandr Wang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Scale AI, has emerged as an influential force in the artificial intelligence industry. His company's army of contractors label the data that tech firms use to train and improve their AI models.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 9, 2025

Meta set to throw billions at startup that leads AI data market

Scale AI uses an army of contractors to label the data that tech firms use to train and improve their AI models

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji