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Marine biologist Teina Rongo on his boat passing the research vessel MV Anuanua Moana in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, on June 12. Mining exploration has left many Cook Islanders such as Rongo fearing deep-sea mining could taint their precious ocean forever.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 23, 2025

The Pacific island nation that wants to mine the ocean floor

Research vessels roam the seas around the Cook Islands in search of deposits of battery metals, rare earths and critical minerals.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission took an administrative step against Visa Worldwide for the first time ever following its investigation into a suspected violation of the antimonopoly law by the firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2025

JFTC gives OK to Visa Worldwide's business improvement plan

After investigating a suspected antimonopoly law violation, the JFTC concluded that swiftly executing proposed measures by Visa Worldwide would restore a competitive environment.
Shintaro Suzuki stands by a stone monument that marks the beginning of the pole-and-line bonito fishing method in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Aug 4, 2025

Miyagi city marks 350 years of bonito fishing method

In 1675, fishermen from what is now called Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, taught a village in present-day Miyagi Prefecture a revolutionary technique to catch bonito.
Japanese passport holders have visa-free access to 190 destinations out of 227 globally.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 24, 2025

Japan ties with South Korea for second most powerful passport

Japan continues to hold the world’s second most powerful passport — tied with South Korea — according to a new global ranking.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick at the White House on April 2.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 23, 2025

Trump’s tariffs undermine America's security, business and credibility

Donald Trump may have given up on free trade, but the American people have not.
Debris from an Angara Airlines An-24 passenger aircraft at the crash site near Tynda, in Russia's Amur Region, on Thursday
WORLD
Jul 25, 2025

Soviet-era passenger plane crashes in Russia's far east, killing all 48 on board

The crash is likely to raise new questions about the viability of continuing to fly such old planes in far-flung corners of Russia.
Hulk Hogan tears his shirt during a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump, at Madison Square Garden, in New York City on Oct. 27, 2024.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 25, 2025

Hulk Hogan, shirt-shredding superstar of pro wrestling, dies at 71

Hogan was the face of pro wrestling for decades, with his blond hair and horseshoe mustache, colorful bandannas and massive biceps, which he referred to as "24-inch pythons.”
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (center) responds to questions during the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, China, on July 17. Nvidia is one of the companies at the heart of the global artificial intelligence movement.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 25, 2025

DeepSeek and Trump’s plan steer agenda at China’s premier AI forum

This year's edition of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference takes place at a critical juncture in the U.S.-Chinese tech rivalry.
Fuji Rock still excites Hitsujibungaku — (from left) bassist Yurika Kasai, lead singer and guitarist Moeka Shiotsuka and drummer Hiroa Fukuda —  even as its flock grows abroad.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 25, 2025

Hitsujibungaku’s pop-fueled rise to stardom

Rock trio Hitsujibungaku is set to make its fourth appearance at Fuji Rock this weekend on its most primetime stage yet — the White Stage right before headliner Haim.
Members of the Sudanese army walk past a destroyed military vehicle and bombed buildings in the state of Khartoum on March 26.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 25, 2025

Sudan's Islamists plot postwar comeback by supporting army

The Islamist movement was toppled in Sudan's uprising in 2019.
Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
BASEBALL / Longform
Jul 26, 2025

With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear

Across his 28 seasons of professional baseball, Ichiro grew to become a superstar — first in Japan and then in North America — and then an icon.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang speaks during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 26, 2025

Chinese Premier Li Qiang takes aim at AI ‘monopoly’ as U.S. effort quickens

China will spearhead the creation of an international organization to jointly develop AI, the country’s No. 2 official said.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jul 26, 2025

Trump tariffs leave costly China supply question unanswered

The U.S. president has threatened to rocket rates up to 40% for products deemed to be transshipped, or re-routed, through Southeast Asia.
Reporters and photographers, including long-time baseball beat writer Keizo Konishi, swarm around Ichiro Suzuki during the World Baseball Classic in San Diego in 2009.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 27, 2025

Three decades and a pile of notebooks: The beat writer who chronicled Ichiro’s career

For nearly three decades, this journalist's job revolved around one man — Ichiro Suzuki. But covering the baseball legend was never boring.
Among elderly people age 65 and over, the share of single-person households jumped from 5.0% to 12.1% between 1995 to 2020.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 27, 2025

Use of deceased's person's savings for cremation allowed without heirs' consent

The move is aimed at reducing the financial burden on municipalities, which have often shouldered burial or cremation costs.
With tariffs at an 80-year high and the U.S. dollar behaving unpredictably, the Fed should hold off on cutting rates until there’s clear evidence that inflation remains under control.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2025

The Fed needs to tread carefully with this strange dollar

Given that range of possibilities, it’s prudent to wait for the data to tell the story, exactly as Fed Chair Jerome Powell is currently planning.
Sheep on the eastern shores of Lake Hawea, near the town of Wanaka on the South Island of New Zealand. New Zealand sheep farmers are fighting to stop the loss of pasture to fast-spreading pine plantations, which earn government subsidies to soak up carbon emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 28, 2025

New Zealand farmers battle pine forests to 'save our sheep'

New Zealand is one of the rare countries to allow 100% of carbon emissions to be offset by forestry.
Paul Weaver, director and head of cannabis at U.S.-based Boston Beer Company, shows the company's weed-themed product catalogs in his office in Toronto in June.
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2025

U.S. alcohol sector prepares to fight back against buzzy cannabis drinks

Alcohol makers are still suffering a hangover following America's pandemic drinking binge, when sales spiked as cash-flush consumers splurged on pricey bottles of liquor.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, on June 30, 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 29, 2025

North Korea says Trump must drop denuclearization policy if he wants to meet Kim

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, called personal ties between Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump "not bad.”
The portal of the Chosei undersea coal mine in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The remains of workers who died in a 1942 submersion accident were left behind in the mine.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2025

Efforts continue to recover undersea mine workers' remains, decades on

Diving surveys have aimed to find the remains of the 183 workers — 136 from the Korean Peninsula and 47 from Japan.
“Yakyu / Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game” is set to remain on display in Cooperstown for at least five to 10 years — and possibly indefinitely.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 29, 2025

Behind the scenes at the Baseball Hall of Fame's new Yakyu/Baseball exhibit

The exhibit tells a sweeping, richly visual story about the deep and evolving connection between Japan and America’s shared national pastime.
A month-old lion cub (center) is seen in front of two 8-day-olds at a breeding facility in Chachoengsao province, Thailand, on July 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 29, 2025

'Absolute madness': Thailand's pet lion problem

Thailand's captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes.
Japan's temperature soared to a record 41.2 degrees Celsius in Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, on Wednesday, surpassing the previous high of 41.1 C.
JAPAN / Breaking
Jul 30, 2025

Japan marks highest-ever temperature of 41.2 C in Hyogo

The mercury hit the above-human temperature of 41.2 C in the city of Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, as authorities urged people to take precautions to avoid heatstroke.
Germany's Laura Dahlmeier died after a mountaineering accident in Pakistan, her management team said Wednesday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 31, 2025

German Olympic champion Laura Dahlmeier dies after mountaineering accident

The accident occurred around noon on Monday, at an altitude of approximately 5,700 meters at Laila Peak, the Alpine Club of Pakistan said on Tuesday.
A Tokyo court has upheld a lower court ruling ordering Dentsu to pay a fine for rigging Olympic-related bids.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 31, 2025

Tokyo court upholds fine of ¥300 million for Dentsu in Olympic bid-rigging case

The high court also upheld a ruling that sentenced the former assistant head of the sports department of Dentsu to two years in prison, suspended for four years.
A shipwreck of a boat, used by refugees in the past, is stranded at a shore in the northern part of Lesbos island, Greece
WORLD
Aug 1, 2025

On Europe's hardened frontier, Greek island keeps migrants at bay

Ten years after it was a hot spot for migrants, Lesbos shows how far government responses have hardened against people seeking refuge in Europe.
Lakers star Luka Doncic speaks during an interview on Saturday in El Segundo, California, after his contract extension was announced.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Aug 3, 2025

Doncic embraces championship hopes after inking $165 million contract extension

Doncic, 26, arrived in Los Angeles in a stunning February trade that sent Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks.
A memorial to two Japanese soldiers killed in combat with anti-Japanese forces in Phrae Province, northern Thailand
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2025

80 years on: Thai man wants to return soldiers' remains to Japan

During the war, Japan was an enemy to the Free Thai group, but the soldiers were victims of the war, which was unnecessary, Puchong said.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks via a video message during the opening of the Helsinki  50 Conference, marking the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act in Helsinki on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 4, 2025

U.N. lays out survival plan as Trump threatens to slash funding

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is slashing more than $700 million in spending and laying plans to overhaul the United Nations as the U.S. pulls back support.
Naomi Osaka hits a return against Anastasija Sevastova during the fourth round of the WTA Canadian Open in Montreal on Sunday.
TENNIS
Aug 4, 2025

Naomi Osaka cruises into quarterfinals at Canadian Open

It is the first time Osaka has reached the last eight of a 1000-level event or Grand Slam since Doha in 2024.

Longform

Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” was released Nov. 23, 1985, and though it wasn’t a hit at the time, it has gained a cult following in the years since.
Eat, slurp, love: 'Tampopo' turns 40