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Stadium workers paint the World Series logo on the field at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, a day ahead of the start of the Fall Classic.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 25, 2024

Baseball’s biggest stars and biggest markets align for MLB broadcaster

As much as the history of the two franchises, the teams’ star players and league-leading records this season should help attract more casual baseball fans.
Nomura Holdings CEO Kentaro Okuda. In addition to the financial penalties for market manipulation, Nomura is suffering a fresh blow to its reputation following various scandals over recent years including several data leaks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 30, 2024

Trader's $10,000 spoofing profit haunts Nomura as the fallout widens

The firm’s problems are deepening as Nomura's rivals double down on efforts to poach clients.
Operators respond to telephone directory inquiries from Tokyo at a call center in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, in October 1997.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Nov 11, 2024

As NTT ends its Dial 104 service, Okinawa's call centers look elsewhere

Naha and Nago were home to Japan's biggest call center operations, receiving around 125,000 calls a day at their peak in 1999.
The topics nominated for this year’s buzzwords of the year ranged from new banknotes and Olympian quips to political scandals and rice shortages.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 5, 2024

From cat memes to Olympians with too much rizz, these are Japan's 2024 buzzword nominations

The buzzword of the year, along with the top 10 picks, will be decided from the 30 nominated terms on Dec. 2.
Don Kenny leaves behind a wealth of English translations of kyogen as well as work on other aspects of Japanese culture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 14, 2024

A bridge between kyogen and the world, Don Kenny dies at 88

He came here a soldier, stationed at Atsugi air base after the war, and soon fell in love with the world of Japanese theater.
A Kamala Harris supporter listens as the Democratic presidential nominee concedes the 2024 U.S. presidential election to President-elect Donald Trump at Howard University in Washington on Nov 6. 2024.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2024

What progressives must learn from Trump’s campaign

Progressives face a dilemma: prioritize every cause they deem right or adopt centrist positions on less critical issues to win over key voters.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Britain's Andy Murray shake hands at the net after Djokovic won the French Open final in June 2016.
TENNIS
Nov 24, 2024

Djokovic hires old rival and fellow 'game-changer' Murray as coach

Djokovic and Murray faced each other 36 times in their careers with the Serb winning 25 times.
Rachel Accurso, in character as the internet personality Ms. Rachel, in New York on Nov. 4.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 30, 2024

Ms. Rachel’s improbable journey from toddler whisperer to holiday toy sensation

A series of toys depicting children’s YouTube sensation Ms. Rachel is quickly becoming one of the hottest holiday gifts.
Rupert Murdoch arrives for a probate court hearing in Reno, Nevada on Sept. 16.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 10, 2024

Murdoch loses 'Succession' battle for son's control of media empire

The media mogul sought to make Lachlan, his eldest son who is understood to share his worldview, as the controlling player in the family empire after his death.
A satellite image shows an An-124 heavy transport aircraft with its nose cone lifted, at Russia's Khmeimim airbase, near Latakia, Syria, on Friday.
WORLD
Dec 14, 2024

Russian military appears to be packing up equipment in Syria, satellite imagery shows

The moves could be a prelude to Moscow’s military withdrawal from the country in the wake of President Bashar Assad’s fall.
People cover themselves with umbrellas during a hot summer day in Tokyo's Ginza district in August. Temperatures shot up in early July, even before the official end of the rainy season, and the high temperatures persisted well into the fall.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Dec 29, 2024

Japan’s weather in 2024: Record temperatures hurt people’s health and wallets

Average temperatures across the nation and surrounding seas exceeded last year’s record-breaking levels "by a significant margin," affecting everything from well-being to farming.
Justin Thomas hits a shot during a practice round ahead of the British Open in Troon, Scotland, on July 15, 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Jan 2, 2025

Justin Thomas 'fully capable' of year like Scottie Scheffler had in 2024

The 31-year-old University of Alabama alumnus enters the season-opening event, The Sentry at Kapalua, Hawaii, this week, looking to have the best year of his career.
Burned-out homes reduced to rubble by the Eaton Fire are seen in Altadena, California, on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 11, 2025

Los Angeles faces more wildfire evacuations even as fierce winds ease

Fierce winds that have supercharged wildfires sweeping parts of Los Angeles eased Friday, but the largest blaze shifted direction, triggering new evacuation orders.
Olaf Scholz, Germany's chancellor, during the SPD party congress in Berlin on Saturday
WORLD / Politics
Jan 12, 2025

Scholz steps up criticism of Trump’s expansionist rhetoric

In power since 2021, Scholz’s SPD party has slumped as an early election looms for Europe’s largest economy on Feb. 23.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump greet each other at a campaign event sponsored by conservative group Turning Point USA, in Duluth, Georgia, in October.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2025

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought to stop COVID-19 shots six months after rollout

Donald Trump's pick to lead U.S. health agencies, petitioned the FDA to revoke authorization of the shots at a time when they were in high demand and considered life-saving.
Schoolchildren in El Bosque, Mexico. Education is one of the services most frequently disrupted by climate hazards, UNICEF's executive director Catherine Russell said.
WORLD / Society
Jan 24, 2025

Climate shocks in 2024 disrupted 242 million children's schooling: UNICEF

Heat waves had the biggest impact, with at least 171 million children affected by them last year.
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.
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.
Demonstrators rally in support of USAID in Boston on Feb 17. Women and children are the main beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance, so they are the biggest victims of what is unfolding with the agency’s closure.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2025

Mr. President, foreign aid does put America first

Women and children are the main beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance, so they are the biggest victims of what is unfolding with USAID's closure .
Jose Ando purposefully wrote his Akutagawa Prize-winning novel “Dtopia” to be accessible to an audience beyond Japan and to spark conversations about race, gender and the effects of modern entertainment.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 27, 2025

Jose Ando's rapid rise from first pages to the Akutagawa Prize

Just three years after dedicating himself to writing, the author won Japan's top literary award for his novel "Dtopia," which offers a fresh perspective on identity and diversity.
Japan is grappling with a budget shortfall, and while raising the tax-free threshold has sparked political debate, the country's booming tourism industry presents an untapped revenue source.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2025

Japan has a revenue hole. Plug it with tourists

More than 35 years after sales tax was first introduced, it remains incredibly unpopular and reducing it is a regular promise of opposition parties.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, marked by betrayal and disregard for relationships, has weakened America’s global alliances, prompting countries to consider alternative allies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2025

America is surrounded by enemies — that it created

This is not just a Trump problem; America’s whole reputation is shot.
Rieko Tamaki (left) tells her story about the Battle of Okinawa to university student Hinata Kinjo at a park in Yaese, Okinawa Prefecture, near the area where Tamaki’s brother was killed during the conflict.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Mar 24, 2025

Battle of Okinawa survivor passes down memories of war

The 90-year-old woman still remembers the final moments of her then-14-year-old brother's life during the 1945 battle.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waits for a session of the House of Councillors Budget Committee to begin in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Mar 19, 2025

What's the fuss over Ishiba's gift vouchers?

The prime minister's standing has worsened following reports that he handed out gift vouchers worth ¥100,000 ($668) each to rookie lawmakers from his party.
Outgoing International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach delivers a speech during the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece, ahead of an election to determine his successor.
OLYMPICS
Mar 20, 2025

Strange race to lead Olympic sports gets stranger

Smear campaigns have targeted some of the leading contenders in the final days before the vote, scheduled for Thursday in Greece.
Damar Hamlin poses with students at The American School in Japan in Chofu, western Tokyo, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Apr 1, 2025

NFL comeback star Damar Hamlin shares life-saving message in Tokyo

Hamlin’s comeback is bigger than football. It is also a vehicle for him to do something he has done his entire life — help others.
Yuki Tsunoda wears his special kabuki-themed helmet on Thursday ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 3, 2025

Five drivers to watch at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix

From Lewis Hamilton to Yuki Tsunoda, here are five of the drivers to keep an extra close eye at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.
A man recycles electronic waste from computer power supplies at a scrap yard in Ahmedabad, India
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2025

From Daikin to Samsung, companies fight Modi over e-waste policy

India wants to tackle its mounting e-waste problem. Global electronics companies say the cost is too high.
Keith Kellogg
WORLD / Politics
Apr 12, 2025

Trump envoy suggests allied zones of control in Ukraine

The proposal focused on areas of responsibility west of the Dnipro River, with a demilitarized zone separating them from Russian-occupied areas in the east.
Ride-sharing vehicles in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, in March
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Apr 15, 2025

One year in, ride-hailing in Japan has room for improvement

Japan has lagged in adopting ride-hailing services, largely due to opposition from the country's powerful taxi industry.

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