Search - 2016

 
 
Kyoko Watanabe made a home for herself in Ishinomaki after moving there to participate in disaster relief efforts following 3/11, and now operates a business focused on the creative reuse of <i>akiya</i> (abandoned houses).
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 17, 2025

From abandoned houses to ‘creative communities’: An Ishinomaki entrepreneur's vision for rural Japan

Kyoko Watanabe moved to Miyagi Prefecture to help with disaster relief efforts following 3/11. She ended up building a company and a vision for revitalizing rural Japan.
A woman clutches an urn containing the ashes of a loved one during a funeral ceremony for victims of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, at a cemetery in Manila on Wednesday, the day after his arrest.
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2025

Duterte may yet pay for his lawless war on drugs

According to the Philippine government, at least 6,252 people died “during anti-drug operations” since July 2016.
Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear plant in the town of Takahama, Fukui Prefecture
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2025

Nagoya court upholds NRA approvals extending use of reactors in Fukui Prefecture

The district court decision clears the operation of reactors at Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear plant and Mihama plant for up to 20 more years, beyond the 40 year maximum.
NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 members Takuya Onishi, of Japan, and Kirill Peskov, of Russia, depart from the Operations & Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center for transport to Launch Complex 39-A ahead of their launch to the International Space Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 15, 2025

NASA launches ISS-bound SpaceX rocket with Japanese astronaut aboard

Japan's Takuya Onishi is scheduled to command a fresh crew after it relieves a mission that includes two astronauts who have been aboard the station for nine months.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month establishing the 'Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.'
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Mar 16, 2025

Trump's bitcoin reserve to be a 'digital Fort Knox'

The reserve is funded by about 200,000 bitcoins — worth nearly $17 billion — that have been seized in the U.S. as a result of civil and criminal cases.
JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi greets members of the International Space Station crew shortly after docking on Sunday.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2025

Japanese astronaut Onishi arrives at the International Space Station

Ahead of the launch, Onishi said: "I believe this will be my last trip to the ISS. It will be a culmination of the experience, insights and knowledge I have gained so far."
The Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto during training at Tokyo Dome on Monday
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 17, 2025

How Yoshinobu Yamamoto rebounded after his disastrous MLB debut

Yamamoto is a different pitcher than he was a year ago when he was still adjusting to the transition from NPB to MLB.
Saul Luciano Lliuya in his home in Huaraz, Peru, on March 2. Lliuya is pursuing a lawsuit against German energy utility RWE, whose emissions he says have contributed to the melting of Andean glaciers, swelling a lake above his hometown to dangerous levels.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 18, 2025

Facing glacial melt-water flood risk, Peruvian farmer tests global climate law

Lawyers in the case say German energy firm RWE is responsible for 0.5% of global emissions, so should pay 0.5% of the costs for a local $3.5 million flood defense project.
The Voice of America building in Washington on Sunday, a day after more than 1,300 of the employees of the media broadcaster, which operates in almost 50 languages, were placed on leave
WORLD / Politics
Mar 18, 2025

China and Russia eager to fill void as Trump axes U.S.-funded media

Trumps moves come after years of efforts by Beijing and Moscow to promote their own worldview on the global media landscape.
A supporter of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte holds a placard during a prayer rally in Manila on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 18, 2025

'Bring him home': Philippines migrant workers grapple with Duterte fallout

Despite ICC charges of a systemic attack on civilians in his war on drugs, the ex-Philippine president "understood the everyday life of overseas Filipinos," experts say.
Protesters demonstrate against the Dakota Access Pipeline near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in 2016.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 20, 2025

Jury finds Greenpeace liable for more than $660 million in damages

The verdict was a major blow to the environmental organization.
Hong Kong's Secretary for Security Chris Tang
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2025

Hong Kong aims to safeguard key facilities with new cybersecurity law

The law, set to take effect in 2026, aims to safeguard the security of computer systems vital to the functioning of critical infrastructure.
Orix Buffaloes pitcher Taisuke Yamaoka speaks to reporters in the city of Osaka on Friday for the first time since he was reported to have participated in a poker tournament run by a foreign casino website.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2025

Cabinet approves strategy to battle illegal online casinos

A National Policy Agency survey released earlier this month showed that nearly 3.37 million Japanese are estimated to have used overseas online casinos to illegally gamble.
Yuki Tsunoda after qualifying in ninth position for the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday in Shanghai.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Mar 22, 2025

Tsunoda shines again as Lawson's struggles continue

While New Zealander Lawson qualified last, Tsunoda reached the top 10 for the second race in a row and starts ninth in Shanghai on Sunday.
Protesters take cover as Turkish riot police use tear gas amid clashes in Istanbul on Saturday over the arrest of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2025

Vast crowds rally in Istanbul in support of arrested mayor

The demonstrations, which began in Istanbul on Wednesday, have since spread to more than 55 of Turkey's 81 provinces.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to Royal Navy soldiers outside a BAE Systems factory in Barrow-in-Furness, England, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 23, 2025

Keir Starmer on Putin, Trump and Europe’s challenge: ‘We’ve known this moment was coming’

Behind a whirlwind of diplomacy is Starmer's true goal: Persuading Trump of the value of NATO.
At No. 4, three-Michelin-starred Sezanne took home the title of best restaurant in Japan in this year's Asia's 50 Best Restaurants rankings.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 26, 2025

11 in Japan win Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant honors, but Gaggan is tops

The modern French cuisine of Sezanne was good enough for best in Japan and No. 4 in all of Asia.
A member of a medical team takes a patient's blood pressure during an HIV clinic day in Kampala, Uganda, on Feb. 17.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Trump’s foreign aid retreat guts funding for HIV treatments

The withdrawal is risking lives globally and threatening to unravel decades of progress made toward ending AIDS as a public health threat.
A screenshot of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Ghibli-style profile picture on X
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2025

Copyright questions loom as ChatGPT's Ghibli-style images go viral

The images raised questions about copyright infringement by OpenAI, which already faces lawsuits regarding the use of source material without permission.
Medical workers treat a earthquake survivor on a bed in the compound of a hospital in Naypyitaw on Friday, after an earthquake in central Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 29, 2025

Massive quake kills at least 150 in Myanmar and Thailand

The quake flattened buildings, downed bridges and cracked roads across swathes of Myanmar, and even demolished a 30-story skyscraper under construction in Bangkok.
A Chinese H-6 bomber flies east of the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 29, 2025

Satellite images show fresh Chinese bomber deployment in South China Sea

The move was Beijing's latest to assert sovereignty over the hotly disputed atoll in the South China Sea.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2025

Ghibli effect: ChatGPT usage hits record after rollout of viral feature

The viral trend saw users from across the globe flood social media with images based on the hand-drawn style of the famed Japanese animation outfit.
Declining birth rates in China are driven by a myriad of causes, such as a shrinking childbearing-age population, lifestyle changes, the one-child policy’s lasting effects, an oversupply of men and high youth unemployment.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2025

Why China’s marriage crisis matters

According to China’s 2020 census, 61% of babies are born to women aged 20 to 30. But the number of women in this cohort dropped from 111 million in 2012 to 73 million in 2024.
Goro Miyazaki joined Studio Ghibli in 1998 and directed films including 2006's "Tales from Earthsea" and 2011's "From Up on Poppy Hill."
CULTURE / Film
Apr 2, 2025

AI may be coming for anime, but Hayao Miyazaki is irreplaceable, son says

Goro Miyazaki says that though nothing can replicate the depth of his father's work, new technology brings "great potential for unexpected talent to emerge."
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is splashed with water after hitting a walk-off home run against the Braves at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
BASEBALL
Apr 3, 2025

Shohei Ohtani hits walk-off homer as unbeaten Dodgers make history

The Dodgers became the first defending champion to open a season 8-0.
Tokyo Humanities Cafe was launched in 2017 by Laurence Williams (left) and Alex Watson, professors at Sophia and Meiji Universities, respectively.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Apr 7, 2025

Tokyo Humanities Cafe feeds hungry minds

A free quarterly event invites everyone to explore what it means to be human.
UConn guard Paige Bueckers celebrates with her teammates after defeating South Carolina to win the NCAA women's title in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday.
BASKETBALL
Apr 7, 2025

UConn crushes South Carolina for record-extending 12th NCAA women's title

A dream showdown between two of the sport's marquee programs quickly turned sour for defending champion South Carolina against a suffocating UConn defense
Wall Street banks, under political pressure and tempted by short-term gains, are abandoning climate commitments and pouring billions into fossil fuels, risking both environmental catastrophe and massive future economic losses.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2025

Wall Street will regret helping the world burn

For an industry in the business of money, it sure has a funny way of ensuring its destruction. 
A Haas F1 car on display in the fan zone at Suzuka Circuit on Saturday as Toyota marks a soft return to Formula One.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 7, 2025

Toyota's synergy with Haas fuels automaker's modest return to Formula One

Toyota’s decision to partner with the American team immediately left observers wondering if it might have its eyes on more, such as an engine deal or a full-blown Toyota team.
Men look at the Taipei 101 building from Elephant Mountain in Taipei in 2011. Buildings in Taiwan's capital shook on Wednesday morning after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan's rural northeastern county of Yilan.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 9, 2025

Taiwan rattled by 5.8 magnitude earthquake

There were no immediate reports of damage after the quake struck Taiwan's rural northeastern county of Yilan.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan