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University students attend a job fair. If Japanese companies continue hiring people based on the university they graduated from, acquiring extra qualifications or reskilling won't impact candidates' job prospects.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 29, 2023

Kishida’s stimulus package needs rethinking, not reskilling

The government aims to promote reskilling for nonregular workers to boost their job prospects, but this won't matter if hiring practices don't change.
The Galaxy Leader cargo ship is escorted by Houthi boats in the Red Sea in this photo released on Nov. 20.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Nov 30, 2023

Red Sea attacks on ships spark safety concerns for sailors

Commercial ships face increasing dangers after armed groups have attacked and seized vessels in waters around the Red Sea and off the coast of Yemen.
Elon Musk waits backstage before being interviewed at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2023

Elon Musk says advertiser boycott may kill X

Earlier this month, Musk agreed with a post that said Jewish people hold a "dialectical hatred” of white people.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, speaks during a news conference in Kyiv in Nov. 21.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2023

Zelenskyy faces manpower dilemma in Ukraine’s stalled offensive

Both sides have recruitment issues almost two years into the war
Vintage bicycle enthusiast and property manager Eric Knight shipped his high-wheeler from his home in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, to Japan for the cross-country trip.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 4, 2023

32 days, one big wheel: Duo re-creates historic trans-Japan trip

The pair were inspired by pioneering cyclist Thomas Stevens (1854-1935), who traveled the same route through Japan in 1886 on a high-wheeler.
One of Qatar’s lead negotiators Abdullah Al Sulaiti (right) works inside an operation room set up to coordinate the truce and release of hostages between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Doha on Sunday.
WORLD
Dec 1, 2023

How Qatar swayed Israel and Hamas to make a temporary truce work

After seven days of truce, Israel confirmed Friday it was resuming hostilities.
Ethnic Ta'ang National Liberation Army fighters stand guard at a check point in the town of Namhkam in Myanmar's northern Shan state on Nov. 10.
EDITORIALS
Dec 1, 2023

We must stop Myanmar’s descent into a failed state

Myanmar is at a crossroads and needs international support to prevent a collapse amid increased fighting.
Damaged houses following the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas gunmen in southern Israel.
WORLD
Dec 2, 2023

Israel's most wanted: The three Hamas leaders it aims to kill

Sources familiar with Israel's thinking have said that the offensive in Gaza was unlikely to stop until three top Hamas commanders are dead or captured.
A coworking space at Tokyo Venture Capital Hub
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 3, 2023

Tokyo’s new venture capital hub aims to boost ties among investors

Mori Building hopes that the large-scale hub for venture capital firms will ratchet up investment for startups and strengthen cooperation among investors.
A Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. semiconductor wafer. Osaka-based Fuso Chemical, which has gone into debt rather than raise prices, counts TSMC as one of its clients.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 4, 2023

Key maker of chip materials goes into debt rather than raise prices

Osaka-based Fuso Chemical is bearing the cost to help churn out bigger volumes of sophisticated chips without asking customers for more.
Shein, a Chinese-founded online fast fashion platform, has filed to go public in the U.S. in what could be one of the world’s biggest IPOs.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2023

Chinese are making a killing everywhere but in China

China's companies are racing to reap the benefits of entering the U.S., while also running away from a crowded and competitive local market.
A container ship is seen near the Panama Canal, in Panama City on Saturday.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2023

Panama canal jam sends ships sailing continents out of way

The canal is being squeezed shut by drought, and the bottleneck will only worsen in the coming months as Panama enters its annual dry season.
The building at 245 Park Avenue, which housed the headquarters of Bear Stearns in the 1980s, in New York. Mori Trust bought a 49.9% stake in the building from SL Green Realty in June.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2023

Japanese buyers snap up New York and London buildings in spree

Investors see attractive prices stemming from the real estate downturn, even as the yen’s weakness reduces purchasing power.
A girl walks among bags and mattresses as Eastern European migrants wait to temporarily settle in a locale in Decines, France, in 2015. Some of the world's richest countries saw a sharp rise in child poverty from 2014 to 2021, according to a UNICEF report.
WORLD / Society
Dec 6, 2023

1 in 5 children in rich countries lives in poverty, UNICEF says

Report shows that the biggest setbacks since 2012 were in some of the wealthier nations, including Britain and France where rates increased.
Sogo & Seibu labor union members strike in front of the flagship Seibu Ikebukuro store in Tokyo's Toshima Ward on Aug. 31.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2023

After troubled sale, prospects for Sogo & Seibu uncertain

Department store operator must develop a new template for survival under the management of an investment fund.
Members-only Japanese sushi restaurant Sushi Namba and jazz bar lounge Listening Room will open in Miami next summer.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 7, 2023

Top Tokyo sushi chef brings unique flavors to Miami, members only

A $10,000 fee will give members access to monthly seats at the sushi counter, as well as the bar and jazz lounge.
Chinese fast-fashion upstart Shein has excelled with its offering of $9 hoodies and other bargain-basement apparel.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 7, 2023

Amazon targets Shein with fee cuts for cheap apparel sellers

Rare move by U.S. e-commerce giant shows its intent of muscling into Chinese fast-fashion upstart's territory.
Traffic along a highway amid heavy smog and pollution in New Delhi in November
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 7, 2023

As China enjoys cleaner air, India's pollution struggle continues

Huge swaths of northern India choke on clouds of polluted air during winter as temperatures drop, winds disappear and farmers set fields ablaze.
After becoming a TikTok trend in Japan in 2022, artist imase’s song “Night Dancer” found popularity abroad in 2023, particularly in South Korea, where it became the first Japanese song to ever enter the nation’s Melon Top 100 Song Chart.
CULTURE / Music / 2023 in Review
Dec 8, 2023

J-pop's global ambitions came closer to reality in 2023

Duo Yoasobi's "Idol" was a true international breakout, while a viral trend turned imase into a pop ambassador between Japan and South Korea.
Drag queens (from left) Trinity the Tuck, Manila Luzon and Kylie Sonique Love headlined the most recent edition of Opulence, Tokyo's fast-growing drag performance extravaganza.
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 10, 2023

The opulence of Manila Luzon

The Asian American drag queen who rose to stardom after a stint on "RuPaul's Drag Race" pays things forward with her Philippines-based show "Drag Den."
A China Coast Guard vessel uses a water cannon against a Philippine supply boat as it carries out a mission to deliver provisions to the Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

Manila summons Chinese envoy after tense weekend in South China Sea

The moves came after the Philippines said one of its vessels was rammed and others "directly targeted” by a China Coast Guard ship with a water cannon.
Parents take their children for infusion treatment at a hospital in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 12, 2023

China’s battle with child pneumonia shows risks of drug resistance

In China nearly 80% of child cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae are resistant to macrolides, compared with under 10% elsewhere.
Israeli military vehicles maneuver inside the central Gaza strip on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2023

Alarm over possibility of Palestinian displacement in Gaza war

Comments by some Israeli politicians — including some close to the government — have stoked Palestinian and Arab fears of a new Nakba.
Hamas leader Yehia Sinwar addresses an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City in May 2021.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2023

Can the governments that grew Hamas destroy it?

This is a war in which Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and E.U., need only survive to win.
The problems afflicting Afghan society today, such as the repression of women’s rights and conflict, are also global issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2023

Neglecting Afghanistan could have global repercussions

The problems afflicting Afghan society today, such as the repression of women's rights and conflict, are a reflection of those facing the wider world.
Sareee holds Konami by the limbs during a Sukeban event in Miami on Dec. 6. A unique form of Japanese wrestling that mixes fashion and theatrics has arrived in the United States.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 14, 2023

Can Sukeban make Japan-style female wrestling fashionable with Americans?

In Japanese women’s wrestling, athletes perform theatrical, hard-hitting punches and clever defenses while telling a story with their moves and costumes.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2023

It’s time to kick our addiction to fossil fuels

The COP28 deal is historic in that it calls for a transition away from fossil fuels for the first time, but it's too weak to tackle the climate emergency.
A man walks past a pollution pod designed to mimic the air quality in New Delhi, during the COP28 summit in Dubai, on Dec 4.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 15, 2023

How the world agreed to move away from fossil fuels at COP28

This year's climate conference marked the first time in history countries expressed a unified desire to end the oil age.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holding his year-end news conference at Gostiny Dvor exhibition hall in central Moscow on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 15, 2023

Vladimir Putin exudes confidence that war in Ukraine is going his way

Russian president referenced Kyiv's struggle in securing more aid from allies in his first year-end news conference after the invasion.
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaks at a IRGC Aerospace Force achievements exhibition in Tehran on Nov. 19.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2023

Holding Iran accountable for Hamas' attacks

From Holocaust lessons to present danger, why Iran must be stopped not only for Israel but for the world.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes