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JAPAN / Politics
Jul 28, 2023

Kishida seeks reset as My Number woes hit approval ratings

The prime minister has embarked on a nationwide tour to listen to the concerns of local communities in an effort to expand his political reach and prop up his popular support.
Yevgeny Prigozhin
WORLD
Jul 29, 2023

Wagner chief’s exile is anything but as he visits St. Petersburg

As Vladimir Putin was welcoming African heads of state to a summit in St. Petersburg, renegade warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin stole the limelight in the president’s home city.
A woman walks on the bottom of a dried pond on a hot day in Mauharia, India, in May 2022.
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 29, 2023

Warming world 'brutalizes' women as heat waves deepen gender divide

The impacts of rising heat are disproportionately dangerous and costly to women — be it at home or on the job — according to a new report.
As artificial intelligence grows more sophisticated, transparency has taken a back seat and could harm its quality and safety.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2023

Secretive chatbot developers are making a big mistake

Before we can ponder existential threats of the new technology, Silicon Valley must be forced to disclose more about how their tools are created.
Many of the entrepreneurs who’ve become superwealthy are now seeking to manage and transfer riches to their descendants in Asia. That’s resulting in a surge in family office demand.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 31, 2023

Asia’s richest families fuel race for lucrative finance jobs

Many of Asia's superwealthy are now seeking help managing their estates just as old-money families in the West have done for decades.
Wall Street in New York. While survey participants are likely riding the AI-fueled market melt-up thanks to their broad equity exposure, they aren’t going all-in on the technology just yet.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 31, 2023

Investors are happy to pay premium for tech, but not for AI

Even as AI floods the workplace, many still doubt that it will dramatically affect their job within the next three years.
Pedestrians outside a Seibu department store in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district in April
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2023

Seven & I struggles to sell slumping Sogo & Seibu department stores

The holdup is centered around the flagship Seibu department store in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district, with the local government expressing rare opposition.
Then-Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang attends a news conference in Beijing on May 23.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 1, 2023

China's ex-foreign minister is gone but wait for explanation goes on

A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Thursday said Beijing will release information in a timely matter regarding Qin Gang and opposes "malicious hype."
Chikako Utsumi holds bottles of Rose Mind at Tenpoichi sake brewer in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Aug 7, 2023

Local Hiroshima sake and beef grow in popularity due to G7

Popular sake Rose Mind has seen its popularity surge since it was served during the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima.
Vivian Tung eats her first meal since the egg retrieval surgery. Tung is one of a rising number of women in Taiwan opting to freeze their eggs to give them the option to have a child later in life.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Aug 2, 2023

A rising number of women in Taiwan are freezing their eggs

Demand for egg freezing has surged, with the number of women opting for the technology up 86% over the past three years.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 2, 2023

Football players at Japan university allegedly caught with cannabis

Club activities for the team have been suspended and the college has conducted interviews with coaches, club members and former club members.
The protagonist of Yu Miri’s “The End of August” is a fictionalized version of the author’s maternal grandfather, a long-distance runner who lived in Japanese-occupied Korea.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 6, 2023

Yu Miri’s new book is a bleak, dizzying epic in colonized Korea

In “The End of August,” the Akutagawa Prize-winning author excavates her own family history and traces multiple generations living under Japanese rule.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Aug 7, 2023

Surprising Japan emerges as team to beat at Women's World Cup

Wins over Costa Rica and Zambia were expected, but it was the 4-0 thrashing of Spain that made the rest of the tournament sit up and take notice.
Members of a military council that staged a coup attend a rally at a stadium in Niamey, Niger, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 8, 2023

West African leaders to meet on Niger after junta defies deadline

The European Union and United States have welcomed the move, saying it allows more time for mediation.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visit an exhibition of military equipment on July 27.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 8, 2023

North Korean hackers breached top Russian missile-maker

Experts say the incident shows how the isolated country will even target its allies in a bid to acquire critical technologies.
France players celebrate midfielder Kenza Dali's (right) goal against Morocco in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup round of 16 in Adelaide, Australia, on Tuesday.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Aug 9, 2023

Rampant France sets up Australia clash; Colombia also into quarters

A rampant France scored three times in eight minutes to bring Morocco's fairytale run to a brutal end.
A bulk carrier transits through Cocoli Locks at the Panama Canal, on the outskirts of Panama City, Panama, on April 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 11, 2023

Drought-hit Panama Canal lets more unbooked ships pass

Around 70% of canal traffic comes from or goes to the U.S., where retailers like Walmart, Amazon and Target prep for winter holiday sales.
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2023

Nuclear threats grow stronger and more immediate

In this world, unilateral disarmament and the hope that setting an example will inspire other nations to follow suit is fantasy.
Technical trainees from Vietnam work at a knitwear factory in the city of Mitsuke, Niigata Prefecture, in February 2019.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 6, 2023

Japan is bringing in more foreign nationals than you think

Japan isn’t an outlier when it comes to low fertility rates, merely a front-runner.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last month.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2023

Saudi Arabia seeks to join fighter jet project involving Japan

Riyadh’s push to partner in the program is creating strains within the alliance, as the U.K. and Italy are open to the prospect while Japan is resistant.
Annette and Peter O’Malley, joined by their daughter Katherine, welcome NPB great Shigeo Nagashima to their Los Angeles home on Dec. 1, 1974.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 13, 2023

Annette O'Malley helped forge connection between Dodgers and Japan

She traveled with her husband, former Dodgers president Peter O'Malley, to help grow the game internationally, including making over 25 visits to Japan.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump campaigns at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 14, 2023

Trump heading for Republican 'coronation' as 2024 rivals struggle

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the rest of the field have so far been at a loss over how to narrow the gap.
Prachi Gupta (left) after the birth of her first child in 2018
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Aug 14, 2023

For foreign expecting mothers in Japan, a struggle over maternity norms

Different expectations over things like natural births and weight gain can cause anxieties for non-Japanese.
Lahaina resident Annelise Cochran poses for a portrait on Monday, after speaking about her harrowing escape from the flames of the fires in Maui.
WORLD
Aug 16, 2023

'The ocean saved my life': How one Hawaii survivor escaped the flames

Surrounded by flames on Hawaii's scenic Lahaina boardwalk, jumping into the sea was her only choice.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2023

Scores injured as Typhoon Lan passes through Japan

At least 64 people in eight prefectures in central to western Japan were reported to have sustained injuries, and 34 houses were damaged by the storm.
Chinese leaders seem to believe the country has a narrow window of opportunity to achieve global preeminence before unfavorable demographic and geopolitical trends catch up with it.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2023

China’s dangerous secrets

China's secretive approach to projects and activities, including its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, should be a significant concern.
Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, in Atlanta in 2022. For Donald Trump, the possibility of a second criminal indictment in Georgia underscores the blizzard of legal challenges he is facing.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 16, 2023

In Trump case, Georgia prosecutor aims to ‘tell the whole story’

Another potential pitfall for a big RICO case is that it may become too complex for jurors to follow the actions of 19 defendants.
Creativeman President Naoki Shimizu says Summer Sonic has been featuring an increasing number of Asian acts in recent years, a change that reflects the growing number of Asian visitors attending the music festival. This year’s standouts include K-pop group NewJeans, whose Summer Sonic performance will be its first Japan show ever.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 18, 2023

NewJeans, Blur and Kendrick Lamar head to Summer Sonic

While Summer Sonic’s reputation as an international showcase holds strong, the event has become an important launchpad for homegrown performers.
Jake Murdoch has recently begun performing songs in Japanese, including new single "Every1 Loves U."
CULTURE / Music
Aug 18, 2023

Teenage music prodigy brings feel-good pop to Tokyo

With 16 instruments under his belt at the young age of 13, Jake Murdoch sets his sights on learning the ropes of Japan's music scene.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during Round 3 at the LIV Golf-Bedminster 2023 at the Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Aug. 13.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 19, 2023

Trump center stage despite threat to skip Republican debate

The 77-year-old former president, who is rarely out of the headlines, has been vocal about possibly skipping the event in the city of Milwaukee.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.