Search - 2018

 
 
Lower House Budget Committee Chairman Jun Azumi (third from left) and other members of the panel wait for Junichiro Matsumoto to turn up for his testimony in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 27, 2025

LDP accountant's testimony on slush funds scandal leaves much in the dark

Junichiro Matsumoto, the ex-accountant of a faction previously led by Shinzo Abe, did not name the person who reinstated the kickback scheme.
The Shiga Prefecture police station where suspect Tomoyoshi Yuzuriha was transferred to
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2025

Imprisoned man arrested over dismembered body in Shiga Prefecture

Tomoyoshi Yuzuriha was a colleague of the victim at the same construction company, according to the prefectural police.
A screen shows news footage of plane debris at the site where a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane crashed in the Chinese city of Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in March 2022.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Feb 28, 2025

Air safety reporting under scrutiny as crashes lie unresolved

Almost half of 268 accidents involving fatalities or major damage between 2018 and the end of 2023 lack a final report.
Chef Kentaro Mura’s favorite way of serving snow crab is as shabu-shabu: The legs are lightly blanched in dashi, then the meat is removed and served with a generous scoop of crab tomalley.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Mar 2, 2025

Toyama’s finest seafood underpins Ebitei Bekkan’s return to greatness

This "kaiseki" restaurant has been making up for lost time with a culinary flair that presents Toyama’s seafood tradition in a contemporary guise.
Taiwanese comic artist Rishiazao and interpreter Yun-wen Huang greet an attendee at the 2025 Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2025

Taiwan comics on the rise: Local storytellers, global aspirations

A supportive ecosystem and eager audiences — both domestic and global — are boosting the soft power of illustrated narratives from Taiwan.
The logo of Deepseek is seen during the Global Developer Conference, organized by the Shanghai AI Industry Association on Feb. 21. A simple handshake between President Xi Jinping and once-shunned entrepreneur Jack Ma sent Chinese tech stocks booming in recent weeks as it was interpreted as the latest sign the sector is being brought in from the cold — though experts advise caution.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 2, 2025

China signals renewed tech sector support, but concerns linger

Analysts increasingly see signs that Beijing is warming to its tech sector again, as domestic economic woes and a trade war with the U.S. loom larger.
A woman checks her phone at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, in 2020. Passengers on South Korean airlines must now keep power banks and e-cigarettes on their person and not in overhead cabin bins.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 3, 2025

Seoul's lithium battery rules on planes highlight growing risk for aviation

Passengers on South Korean airlines must now keep power banks and e-cigarettes on their person and not in overhead cabin compartments.
Ukrainian servicewomen Natalia (right), 53, and her daughter Veronika, 26, from the 100th mechanized brigade, pose for a photo at an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region in Ukraine on Feb. 15.
WORLD / Society
Mar 3, 2025

'Under my wing': Mothers and daughters serving together in Ukraine

Ukrainian servicewomen Natalia, 53, and her daughter Veronika, 26, serve in the 100th mechanized brigade.
JX Advanced Metals' shares will be offered at ¥810 to ¥820 each after feedback from investors, the firm said in a filing in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 3, 2025

JX Metals cuts price of Japan’s biggest IPO since SoftBank

The shares will be offered at ¥810 to ¥820 each after feedback from investors, JX Metals said in a filing in Tokyo on Monday.
Yuji Iwasawa is the second Japanese to assume the ICJ's presidency, behind Hisashi Owada, the father of Empress Masako.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 4, 2025

Japan's Iwasawa elected as head of International Court of Justice

He is the second Japanese to assume the ICJ's presidency, behind Hisashi Owada, the father of Empress Masako.
A Prada sign sits at an entrance to one of its stores in central Milan, Italy, in 2017. Prada and Capri could finalize a deal for Versace this month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025

Versace owner Capri jumps on Prada moving closer to purchase

A purchase would run counter to a decadeslong trend of Italian fashion groups being taken over by foreign firms.
Keiko Honda (center) poses with her teammates before an NFL game in London in October 2023.
SPORTS
Mar 4, 2025

In battling cancer, Keiko Honda channeled her cheerleading strength

The former NFL cheerleader is now making a return to professional cheerleading after overcoming breast cancer.
Netflix reality show “K-foodie meets J-foodie” follows South Korean YouTuber Sung Si-kyung and Japanese actor Yutaka Matsushige as they share meals in their respective countries.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Mar 6, 2025

Can a meal make you besties? ‘K-foodie meets J-foodie’ says yes.

The new Netflix show pairs a Korean crooner and a Japanese food icon for a cross-cultural food rally.
A group of talentless noiseniks are sent away on a year-long retreat to the countryside to write a hit song in “The Gesuidouz.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2025

‘The Gesuidouz’ flips the bird at viewers

Kenichi Ugana’s horror-fixated punk-rock slacker comedy is one of the director’s laziest films to date.
Maki Kanazawa (left) and Misaki Soejima repair a net in Owase, Mie Prefecture, on Jan. 27.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2025

Fisherwomen shining in male-dominant industry in Japan

In Owase, women had been banned from boarding fishing boats because a deity of ships was believed to be a jealous goddess.
Hiroko Nagano, a former member of the assembly of Tokyo's Toshima Ward, speaks during an interview in Tokyo in January.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 7, 2025

Female assembly members with children seeing better work conditions

As of July 2024, there were 5,187 female municipal assembly members in the country, or only 17.9% of the total, however.
Balboa Port, operated by Panama Ports Company, at the Panama Canal. Conglomerate CK Hutchison, controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, has agreed to sell its ports network, including assets along the Panama Canal, to a U.S. consortium led by BlackRock.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 7, 2025

As Trump hails taking back of Panama Canal, Hong Kong Inc. walks tightrope

Firms in the former British colony are increasingly under pressure to shake off any connection with China amid tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Chinese teacher Shuaib Ma (right) gives a Mandarin language lesson at a school in Riyadh.
WORLD
Mar 7, 2025

Mandarin lessons in Saudi schools show growing ties with China

Mandarin's entry into public schools is the latest sign of growing ties between Saudi Arabia and China.
Ai Narabayashi, a member of the editorial department of Iwanami Shoten, the publisher of dictionary "Kojien," speaks during an interview in Tokyo in February.  Narabayashi said the dictionary has the duty to record the Japanese language without hiding anything and accurately explain the meaning behind words and phrases.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 7, 2025

Why an iconic Japanese dictionary chooses to retain misogynistic words

Publisher Iwanami Shoten considers it a duty for its "Kojien" dictionary to record and accurately explain the meaning and background of words and phrases.
Iran's Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant in the south of the country
WORLD
Mar 9, 2025

Trump administration ends Iraq's waiver to buy Iranian electricity

Trump restored "maximum pressure" on Iran in one of his first acts after returning to office in January.
Jewish settlers pray in the Evyatar settler outpost in the northern West Bank last July
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2025

Christians press Trump to clear path for Israel to annex West Bank

Some 80% of white, evangelical Christians voted for President Trump. Now, some want a policy change that could undermine a future Palestinian state.
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 government's stockpile of rice in Saitama Prefecture in February
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2025

For first time ever, government begins auction of rice stockpile

Rice from the stockpile is expected to hit shelves from around the end of the month.
Concept art for the renewed National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2025

Japan's territory museum to reopen in April following renovations

The museum in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward is designed to publicize Japan's position on disputed territories.
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold against the Los Angeles Rams during an NFC wild card game at State Farm Stadium on Jan. 13. Darnold reportedly plans to sign with the Seahawks.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Mar 11, 2025

QB Sam Darnold to sign $100 million contract with Seahawks: reports

Darnold parlayed a career season with the Minnesota Vikings into the largest contract of his career.
Bookshelves storing disaster-related documents at the Sendai City Archives in Sendai in February
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2025

Local governments struggle to preserve records of March 2011 disaster

Fourteen years later, securing storage space has become a growing obstacle as the volume of records continues to increase.
A worker adjusts an anti-smog dust suppression sprayer installed at a construction site in Lahore on Feb. 17. Tens of millions of Pakistanis spent at least four months breathing toxic air pollution 20 times above safe levels, in the worst winter smog season for several years.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 12, 2025

'Really suffocating': Pakistan emerges from record smog season

Pakistan regularly ranks among the world's most polluted countries, with Lahore often the most polluted megacity between November and February.
A worker inspects a steel coil on the factory floor before Canada's Prime Minister-designate Mark Carney visits the ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel mill in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 13, 2025

Trump threatens further tariffs as EU and Canada retaliate against U.S. levies

The U.S. tariffs have rattled investor, consumer and business confidence and raised recession fears.
The Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art is just one of many hidden art and architectural gems across the Kagawa coast.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 15, 2025

‘Resorts for the spirit’: Touring Kagawa’s art and architecture

The seaside cities of Takamatsu and Marugame are home to a heritage of beauty, from the monolithic to the modern.
Artist Adrian Steckeweh 3-D prints otherworldly clothes and accessories for himself, in a way augmenting his reality with tangible objects.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 16, 2025

Augmented reality artist Omega C navigates a precarious scene for XR art

Just this year, XR art featured heavily in the digital art festival Dig Shibuya and is the focus of the ongoing “Machine Love” exhibition at Mori Art Museum.

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