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Staff members of the Kyoto-based company Mitsufuji stand near a small-scale model of a prototype hangar tent for electromagnetic shielding and wearable gadgets at the Vietnam Defense Expo 2024 in Hanoi on Dec. 19.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2025

Japan hunts for dual-use goods makers to aid military expansion

Cultivating a homegrown defense industry was a key plank of Japan's ¥43 trillion military build-up strategy launched in 2022.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 23, 2025

As Trump threatens tariffs, his orders kick off more extensive trade overhaul

The U.S. president's executive order on trade touched on sweeping changes to rules that have governed U.S. trade policy for decades.
At several high-end restaurants in Tokyo, tatami is becoming a part of the dining experience — not underfoot but as a tabletop place mat for phones.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 25, 2025

Why tatami is going from the floor to the dining table

As smartphones have become integral to daily life, they are being incorporated into traditional Japanese hospitality.
New Yorker Kenny Colvin opened Sanita, an Italian American-style cocktail bar, in Tokyo’s Hatagaya neighborhood in 2020.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 24, 2025

Kenny Colvin: ‘Work hard, drink hard, eat hard … relax hard’

The owner of Sanita, a cozy cocktail bar in Hatagaya, shares his journey and inspirations.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage with Vice President JD Vance after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States during the presidential inauguration in Washington on Monday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2025

Japan should prioritize free trade as it adapts to Trump’s policies

It is difficult, if not impossible, to know what Trump and his administration will do in specific situations. Words and documents are one thing, actions another.
Mark Zuckerberg’s push to loosen moderation policies at Meta puts the company on a collision course with regulations in Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2025

Zuckerberg's newfound libertarianism is worrying Brazil

Meta's loosened moderation policy puts it on a collision course with regulations in Latin America’s largest economy.
A pipe for transporting carbon dioxide to removal equipment at a carbon capture and storage (CCS) test site in Tomakomai, Hokkaido.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jan 26, 2025

How Japan is looking deep underground to solve its carbon problem

Japan is investing billions of yen to get carbon capture and storage off the ground, but the technology is dogged by high costs and uncertainty.
Members of the popular Japanese pop group SMAP, including scandal-plagued Masahiro Nakai (right), perform in Beijing in September 2011.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 29, 2025

A pop-star sex scandal shows the death throes of old Japan

As the leader of a now-defunct boy band SMAP, the 52-year-old Nakai has been a ubiquitous mainstay in Japanese life for decades.
Nippon Ishin no Kai leaders Hirofumi Yoshimura (left) and Seiji Maehara attend the party's executive meeting in the city of Osaka in December.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 30, 2025

Shared concerns could bring LDP and Nippon Ishin together on 2025 budget

Nippon Ishin's challenge is to get the LDP to secure free high school education and ensure support for the financially troubled Osaka Kansai Expo.
The koji room at Fukuwagura brewery in Mie Prefecture, where metals such as stainless steel, which are easy to manage for hygiene, are widely used
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 30, 2025

Japanese food makers step in to preserve sake breweries' legacy

The initiatives by food companies coincide with a growing recognition of traditional sake-making techniques.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and members of the Liberal Democratic Party take a group photo at the party's headquarters in Tokyo during the Oct. 27 Lower House elections.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 30, 2025

Adjusting to the new normal in Japanese politics

The upheaval of the past year has forced a fundamental rethinking of how political watchers must observe things in Tokyo
China-backed hackers are increasingly targeting critical U.S. infrastructure, including energy grids, telecom networks and government agencies.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2025

Trump’s bigger China cyber threat isn’t TikTok

China-backed hackers are infiltrating U.S. critical infrastructure, telecom networks and government systems, exposing vulnerabilities that demand stronger cybersecurity measures.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a letter to the U.N. stating the U.S.' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, on Jan. 20.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 31, 2025

The global climate order teeters under a second assault from Trump

Inflation and threats to energy security have eroded the political strength of climate-forward leaders and emboldened Trumpian populists around the world.
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as his defense chief, Pete Hegseth, speaks about the midair crash between a passenger jet and U.S. Army helicopter on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 1, 2025

Trump’s Pentagon sheds no-politics image in a major reversal

In a break with his predecessors, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has become a major driver in Trump’s agenda.
The Japanese government is considering allowing foreign workers under its specified skilled worker program to take orders and serve and cook food at restaurants within inns and hotels.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2025

Japan to ease foreign worker rules for hotel restaurants

The government is considering allowing foreign workers under the program to take orders and serve and cook food at restaurants at inns and hotels.
An H-3 rocket, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima on Feb. 17, 2024.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 2, 2025

Fifth H-3 rocket with Michibiki No. 6 satellite successfully launched

The rocket blasted off at 5:30 p.m. from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture. The satellite was placed into its target orbit.
A farm laborer stands next to sacks filled with harvested potatoes at a field in Subhri village, in the northern state of Haryana, India, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 3, 2025

In first budget of third term, Modi puts short-term tax cuts above deep reforms

But the year's top economic policy event passed up a chance to go big on reforms needed to reignite rapid growth — once the envy of the world at more than 8%.
Mizuho’s sustainability report for 2024
ESG CONSORTIUM
Feb 4, 2025

Mizuho report aims to spur action to move into alternative energy

To achieve carbon neutrality in an increasingly uncertain world, Japanese companies should focus on innovations for alternative energy and shift their business models toward building a carbon-neutral economy, Mizuho Financial Group says in a recent report.
Despite numerous past meetings between U.S. and Japanese leaders, Shigeru Ishiba's relationship with Donald Trump is expected to be awkward, lacking the rapport the U.S. president had with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2025

Ishiba will finally meet Trump, but expectations need to be kept low

His long-time rival Shinzo Abe's relationship with Trump is the ideal but an unfair comparison.
Toshikazu Shiba (right), 71, works full-time along with younger staff at sofa manufacturer Eucas in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Feb 17, 2025

More older people choosing to work for social connection and survival

Older residents are exploring ways to navigate the later stages of their lives, whether continuing their careers or with new ventures.
Misako Yoshimura looks for a photograph of her father from among several kept in a closet at her home in the town of Yonabaru, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Feb 24, 2025

Remembering a father who stopped smiling after the war

Misako Yoshimura hated her stern-faced father, but when she learned of what he lost during the Pacific War, the resentment disappeared.
Michael Jordan watches during the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Feb 14, 2025

NASCAR appeals injunction for Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing

NASCAR appealed the injunction that granted 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports permission to operate as chartered members despite not signing a charter.
Created by a Hokkaido workshop, this Camembert represents the vanguard of Japanese cheeses no longer content with a reputation as low-quality, processed slices.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 16, 2025

Fresh off awards, Japanese cheese seeks a taste ‘unique to this land’

A growing number of Japanese cheesemakers are gaining international recognition, and some are aiming for a new frontier of flavor.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a video conference with the Sevastopol governor in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 15, 2025

Putin assembles team of heavyweights to negotiate Ukraine deal

U.S. President Donald Trump’s team by contrast lacks the same depth of background on Ukraine and has little experience negotiating directly with Russia.
Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider (53) battle along the boards for a loose puck during a game in  Edmonton, Alberta, on Jan. 30.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2025

The NHL could’ve had a good year if not for tariffs

In 2016, the league denied an expansion franchise to Quebec, citing the "state and volatility of the Canadian dollar.”
Co-leader and main candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel is seen on a screen as she takes part in a TV debate in Berlin on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2025

Anger, fear, nostalgia: Why German voters back far-right AfD

All other parties have pledged to isolate it behind a "firewall" of noncooperation.
Karlheinz Rabas, an 87-year-old historian, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on Jan. 16
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2025

German voters demand change as Europe's biggest economy stalls

A constitutional debt brake has prevented successive governments from making vital investments needed to overhaul Germany's ailing economic model.
A banner belonging to the "Alley of Angels" project displays images of children purportedly killed in conflict, at a demonstration of far-right groups in Frankfurt, Germany, on May 25, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2025

How a Moscow-linked exhibit tried to erode German support for Ukraine

Publicly, the exhibit’s organizers say they aren’t affiliated with any government and are driven by a desire to end the suffering.
The Chip Mong Insee cement factory in Kampot province, Cambodia, on Jan. 9. An investigation has shown that the plastic credits sector relies heavily on the polluting cement industry to burn collected waste, despite concerns about health risks and carbon emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Feb 20, 2025

'What would you have us do?': The plastic credits problem

Credits place no obligations on buyers to stop producing or using unrecyclable plastic that ends up in the environment.
Once a boon to tea farmers' bottom lines, the global matcha craze is now pushing producers and distributors to their limits with few options to adequately meet demand.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 23, 2025

Japan struggles to fend off a world without enough matcha

Production methods and economic risks keep the domestic tea industry from ramping up supply.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami