Search - news

 
 
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida (left), Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe (second from left) and Takao Kato, CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, hold a news conference on merger talks on Monday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 23, 2024

Honda-Nissan megamerger in the works

Both carmakers are facing overcapacity and the need for huge investments related to electric-vehicle and self-driving technologies.
The current focus on autonomous vehicles has obscured something else: AI has already de-skilled driving as a profession.
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Jan 2, 2025

Our AI near-future

We can look forward to many years of instability as AI technology continues to make rapid progress.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 25, 2024

Ishiba aims for agreement on corporate political donations by March

While opposition parties are pushing for a ban on such donations, Ishiba has reiterated his opposition to such a move.
The danger of overreaction and misinformation in the digital age is real, and authorities must provide clear explanations to prevent tragedies while also addressing legitimate concerns about drones.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2024

How to make America's drone panic so very much worse

The weak and ineffective response of government authorities should serve as a lesson in exactly how not to handle such incidents in the digital age.
In this handout picture released by Kazakhstan's emergency situations ministry, emergency specialists work at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet near the western Kazakh city of Aktau on Dec. 25.
WORLD
Dec 26, 2024

Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan, killing 38

A jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people.
The Russian cargo ship Ursa Major during a monitoring operation conducted by the Portuguese Navy along the Continental Exclusive Economic Zone off the coast of Portugal. Two crew members are missing after the ship sank in international waters in the Mediterranean after an explosion on board, Russia's foreign ministry said on Telegram on Tuesday.
WORLD
Dec 26, 2024

Russian state owner calls cargo ship blast a 'terrorist attack'

The cargo ship sank in international waters off Spain in the early hours of Tuesday.
Black American women, who still heavily vote for the Democratic Party, are taking a much-needed break from political engagement after the last election, with the idea that rest and renewal will prepare them for future activism.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2024

Temporarily disconnected from politics? Feel no guilt about it.

Opposition movements are a recurring feature of American politics and predicts a robust, reenergized response when the time comes.
A Nissan dealership and a Honda dealership in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 30, 2024

Nissan shares fall, pressured by Honda deal concerns

The stock fell as much as 6.7% on Monday in Tokyo. The carmaker’s shares had soared more than 60% since Dec. 17, a day before news of the deal broke.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks at a news conference after a policy meeting in Tokyo on Dec. 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 1, 2025

After historic year, the Bank of Japan ambles into 2025

Two or three rate hikes expected this year could take the central bank's benchmark to 1% for the first time in three decades.
An undated photo of a poster in a window promoting shows at Lincoln Center by Shen Yun, which in its 2023-2024 season performed more than 800 times on five continents, in New York. Over the past decade, the dance group Shen Yun Performing Arts has made money at a staggering rate in large part by getting followers of the Falun Gong religious movement to work for free and pay its bills.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 31, 2024

How Shen Yun tapped religious fervor to make $266 million

Shen Yun’s success flows in part from its ability to pack venues worldwide — while exploiting young, low-paid performers with little regard for their health or well-being.
Japan's 2024 Word of the Year, "futehodo," is a phrase tied to a Netflix show and highlights the broader decline in the cultural significance of such awards, with recent selections often seen as superficial or promotional.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 31, 2024

Japan’s 2024 word of the year has no rizz

Some critics wondered why the word of the year award was, essentially, functioning as advertising for a TV show that is still available on streaming.
A policeman stands near where people were killed by a man driving a truck in an attack during New Year's celebrations in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 2, 2025

Trucks in New Orleans attack and Las Vegas explosion were rented using the same app

Renters of both vehicles had used Turo, a peer-to-peer app. Officials are investigating possible connections between the two cases.
A member of the FBI Evidence Response Team searches through trash as federal and local authorities investigate a townhouse in relation to the explosion in Las Vegas of a Tesla Cybertruck, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 3, 2025

Police identify driver of exploded Tesla Cybertruck as U.S. Army soldier

The FBI said it had so far found no definitive link between the New Year's Day New Orleans truck attack that killed 15 people and the Cybertruck explosion.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends a conference organized by the European Jewish Association in Krakow, Poland, in January 2024.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 4, 2025

Musk projects his hard-right influence in Europe

The multibillionaire has demanded new elections in Britain, promoted Germany's far-right, blasted the European Commission — and that's just the start.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is shown around by South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul during a working luncheon at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 6, 2025

Blinken fends off questions over U.S. stance on South Korea turmoil

The United States “has confidence in the resilience of South Korea’s democracy and the strength of its institutions,” the U.S. Secretary of State said in Seoul.
Alice Guo, a fugitive former mayor of Bamban, Philippines, arrives at a regional trial court in Valenzuela City, Metro Manila, in September.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2025

China takes aim at Philippine democracy

China has been stepping up its information operations globally, using the Philippines as a testing ground for tactics designed to propagate anti-American narratives.
A man walks past a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing a ballistic missile, in Seoul on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 6, 2025

North Korea fires off intermediate-range missile in first launch of 2025

The missile, thought to be an IRBM carrying a hypersonic warhead, flew some 1,100 kilometers (683 miles) before splashing down in waters outside Japan's EEZ.
Nippon Steel CEO Eiji Hashimoto speaks to reporters about its lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Nippon Steel committed to long-shot lawsuit against U.S. government

Eiji Hashimoto, the steelmaker's CEO, says he is convinced that litigation is the “best course of action” in response to the blocking of its acquisition of U.S. Steel.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama speaks during a news conference at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2025

LDP to start talks on selective dual surname system soon

Some of the party's members oppose the idea, fearing it will lead to the collapse of the family system.
An apartment building burns during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles county, California, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Jan 9, 2025

Los Angeles under siege as wind-driven wildfires upend city

The fires, which burned more than 26,000 acres by Wednesday afternoon, has upended life in America’s second-largest city.
People remove snow in the city of Aomori on Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2025

Caution urged as heavy snow forecast for Sea of Japan coast

Authorities have warned individuals to consider vehicle safety as well as the risks of traffic disruptions, snow falling from roofs and damage to buildings.
Prices continue to outpace wage increases in Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 9, 2025

Real wages fall for a fourth month, squeezing Japanese households further

Inflation-adjusted real wages dropped 0.3% from a year earlier in November as some food prices and utility rates increased.
On Dec. 31, rock duo B’z appeared on NHK's year-end "Kohaku Uta Gassen" music extravaganza for the first time in a career spanning more than three decades.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jan 10, 2025

An explosive B’z set on ‘Kohaku’ hints at a strategy to win over viewers

Japan’s best selling act delivered one of the biggest moments of the year-end music blowout and reinforced the importance of catering to a more middle-aged market.
U.S. Vice President-elect JD Vance following a meeting with Republican Senators in Washington on Jan. 8
WORLD / Politics
Jan 13, 2025

JD Vance predicts hostage deal before Trump’s return to White House

JD Vance says a hostage deal with Hamas is likely before Trump’s inauguration, crediting tough rhetoric for pushing negotiations forward.
Epidurals during childbirth have long been uncommon in Japan, though they have been growing more popular in recent years.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 14, 2025

Tokyo plans to subsidize epidurals, but are hospitals ready?

If all goes to plan, Tokyo will be the first to offer prefecture-level financial support for epidurals.
A firefighter monitors the spread of the Auto Fire in Oxnard, North West of Los Angeles, California, on Monday.
WORLD
Jan 15, 2025

Fire-hit LA faces new peril as dangerous winds ramp up

A week after blazes erupted and spread uncontained, forecasters predicted "particularly dangerous" Santa Ana winds in Los Angeles would spike the wildfire threat anew.
A screen displays a news report on the arrest of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Wednesday. Investigators arrested Yoon after launching a pre-dawn operation to bring the impeached leader in for questioning over his short-lived martial law declaration.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 15, 2025

South Korean investigators question arrested President Yoon in insurrection probe

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested and questioned by authorities in relation to a criminal insurrection investigation on Wednesday, saying he was only cooperating with what he called an illegal probe to avoid violence.
Shinji Ishimaru announces details of his new regional party at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 15, 2025

With new regional party, Shinji Ishimaru touts rebirth

The former mayor of Akitakata in Hiroshima Prefecture aims to field candidates in July's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election.
If it is banned in the United States, TikTok plans that users attempting to open the app will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2025

TikTok preparing to shut down app in U.S. on Sunday, sources say

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering issuing an executive order to suspend enforcement of a shutdown for 60 to 90 days.
The U.S. Supreme Court has signaled it's likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it isn't sold by its Chinese parent company by Jan. 19. U.S. politicians in both major parties, however, are seeking ways to keep the video-sharing app accessible for Americans.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2025

TikTok allies close to Trump and Biden race to delay ban

The app, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., faces a deadline of Jan. 19 to find a U.S. buyer in order to continue operating in the country.

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