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An image of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange released on social media on Tuesday. Assange pleaded guilty to a single charge of disseminating classified documents in a plea bargain that leaves him a free man.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2024

Julian Assange’s saga will forever exist in a legal gray area

WikiLeaks founder Assange’s case lies on the boundary between espionage and protected speech. Its outcome has done nothing to shed light on this gray zone.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki speaks to reporters on Tuesday at the prefectural government office.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 26, 2024

Foreign Ministry delayed telling Okinawa about U.S. airman's alleged sex crime

The delay in informing the prefectural government could further strain the relationship between Okinawa and Tokyo.
Yuta Orisaka strips things back on his latest album, “Jumon,” though it still features a few explosive moments.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 28, 2024

Yuta Orisaka's folk style is far more than a throwback

The singer-songwriter wanted to make songs his grandmother could enjoy, but that doesn't mean he'll skimp on the electronic touches.
In the future, more tour operators and sites of interest may start marketing themselves based on travelers' preferences to set their own schedules.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 29, 2024

When Japan travels, it doesn’t mind going it alone

Regardless of the destination, more tour operators and regions are leaning on “travel as a form of self-care.”
The University of Tokyo, the only Japanese institution in the Times university rankings’ top 50, is considering raising tuition fees.
EDITORIALS
Jun 28, 2024

Japan’s universities must prepare for tough changes

Higher education institutions in Japan rarely rank among the world's top universities. To rise, they should tackle long-term issues like growing costs and fewer students.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike speaks during an interview at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo on June 3.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 28, 2024

Koike’s governorship shaped by slogans and questions over follow-through

The Tokyo gubernatorial election is seen as hers to lose, but how did she become Japan's most famous female politician and what has she actually achieved?
Health ministry officials enter Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's plant in the city of Osaka on March 30.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 28, 2024

Dozens more deaths may be linked to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's supplements

The ministry has instructed Kobayashi Pharmaceutical to create a plan to carry out a probe into the causal relationships between the deaths and their products.
An image of U.S. President Joe Biden is displayed as his Republican challenger, former U.S. President Donald Trump, holds a campaign event, in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 29, 2024

Fearful and doubting Biden, Democrats face an uncertain path forward

Some began to reconsider their support after his rough debate showing, but there was no agreement on how, or whether, to urge him to step off the ticket.
German and Japanese fighter jets take part in an exercise over Japan in September 2022.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 29, 2024

Russia protests to Japan about joint exercises with NATO countries

Moscow accused Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of placing his country "on a path to dangerous escalation" in response to the planned exercises with Germany and Spain.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida eats tomatoes in Hokuto, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 29, 2024

Kishida kicks off nationwide tour ahead of LDP election

During a meeting in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Kishida vowed to restore confidence in the LDP following the party's political funds scandal.
Iranian presidential candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist, waves at supporters during a campaign event at a stadium in Tehran on June 23.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 30, 2024

Reformist to face ultraconservative in Iran presidency runoff

The poll had been scheduled to take place in 2025 but was brought forward by the death of ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month.
Hyundai Wia robotic arms on the production line at the Kia plant in Gwangmyeong, South Korea, on Jan. 3
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2024

How one of the world's strongest car unions is dealing with EV job losses

Hyundai Motor and Kia’s moves toward electrification are provoking anxiety in South Korea’s highly active and organized labor movement.
Hanako and Taro Nomura, who are suing the government over forced sterilization, show their late daughter's birth register issued by a temple, in their living room in a city in Osaka Prefecture. For years, the couple wondered why they could not conceive after the death of their firstborn.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 2, 2024

Seeking justice, deaf couple confronts issue of forced sterilization

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will rule on lawsuits against the government filed by the Nomuras and others who were sterilized under a now-defunct eugenics law.
While the health ministry has been distributing educational material on blood donation to high school students since fiscal 1990, this will be the first time the campaign is extended to middle school students.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 2, 2024

Health ministry aims to educate middle schoolers in bid to raise blood donation rate

The ministry aims to have educational material on blood donation ready for middle schoolers in fiscal 2025 to encourage students to be future donors.
U.S. President Joe Biden in the Oval Office in Washington. The idea that the U.S.-China hotline can bridge communication gaps during crises rings hollow.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2024

If a phone rings in a forest and no one answers, is it a hotline?

Hotlines allow states to talk in crisis situations. But China often doesn't pick up when the U.S. calls, raising doubts about the utility of the communications link.
No matter the outcome of the snap parliamentary elections in France, President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist project has failed to convince voters.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2024

Why Macronism failed

With a second round of voting in the French parliamentary election this week, no matter the outcome, Macron hasn't convinced voters that centrism is the way forward.
Comedian Daisuke Muramoto has been shunned by the Japanese media for taking his act into political territory. Filmmaker Fumiari Hyuga traces his post-pandemic search for a place in show business in "I Am a Comedian."
CULTURE / Film
Jul 3, 2024

‘I Am a Comedian’: A documentary following Daisuke Muramoto’s rocky comedy journey

Documentarian Fumiari Hyuga captures the story of an uncouth Japanese comedian’s efforts to say what can’t be said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2024

Putin meets Xi again as leaders hail ties

Since their last meeting in May, the Russian president has been strengthening his partnerships around Asia.
A nursing home in Ishikawa Prefecture. Wage increases in other industries have made the nursing care sector less attractive.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 4, 2024

Over 80 nursing homes in Japan went bankrupt in first half

Rising costs and a severe manpower shortage are the main reasons driving care providers out of business.
A humanoid robot to be used by West Japan Railway for maintenance operations
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 5, 2024

Japan deploys humanoid robot for railway maintenance

The machine can use various attachments for its arms to carry objects, hold a brush to paint or use a chainsaw.
Municipalities across the country have been devising various ways to keep track of the whereabouts of individuals with dementia.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 5, 2024

Record 19,000 people with dementia reported missing in Japan in 2023

The figure is nearly twice that of a decade earlier, according to the National Police Agency.
Baseballs fans wear jerseys of the South Korean-born San Diego Padres player Kim Ha-Seong and the Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani in Seoul. Many South Koreans have embraced Ohtani, who is Japanese, despite the countries' historic rivalry.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 5, 2024

How long do the memories of a generation last?

The dominant culture of an era can be passed on to the next generation, but struggles to reach the one after that. This has implications for Japan-South Korea relations.
Although air travel in Asia has picked up since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is still below 2019 levels, with many passengers preferring to travel shorter distances.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2024

Asian airlines face a cold summer

Despite seemingly positive results, air travel in Asia hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels, with many of the continent's travelers preferring to stay closer to home.
New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses the nation on Friday in London.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jul 5, 2024

U.K.’s election is a rare win against anti-climate campaigns

Keir Starmer’s Labour has a manifesto that puts climate and clean energy front and center, unlike some parties in Europe and the U.S.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 6, 2024

Crisis? What crisis? Biden rejects Democratic pessimism.

After last week’s devastating debate performance, the president’s prime-time interview with ABC News was an exercise in not just damage control but reality control.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers the first speech of his premiership outside No. 10 Downing St. in London on Friday, following his Labour Party's win in the general election.
WORLD
Jul 6, 2024

New U.K. PM Keir Starmer speaks to world leaders and names top team

Starmer named Rachel Reeves the U.K.'s first female finance minister and appointed David Lammy as foreign secretary, among other Cabinet choices.
According to an annual survey, among all respondents who answered that their living conditions were difficult, 26.5% chose "very difficult" and 33.1% "somewhat difficult."
JAPAN / Society
Jul 6, 2024

60% of households in Japan face 'difficult' living conditions, survey finds

Among all respondents who answered that their living conditions were difficult, 26.5% chose "very difficult" and 33.1% "somewhat difficult."
Ryo Sakai, the chief of staff of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, is expected to quit his post following reports that several MSDF vessels allowed unvetted personnel to handle top secret information related to national security.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2024

MSDF chief may quit over widespread mishandling of secret info

The latest revelation comes just months after the ministry punished five SDF members over leaks of secret information to unvetted personnel.
Newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks in Tehran on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 7, 2024

Iran vote winner could ease, but won't end, nuclear tensions

Masoud Pezeshkian's victory in Iran's presidential elections has given a rare boost to efforts for scaling down Tehran's row with the West.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 7, 2024

As Biden digs in, more supporters look to push him out

Interviews with dozens of Democrats illustrated an imminent clash between a defiant president and those who question his ability to win.

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