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Who will buy the cars, SUVs, and trucks like the F-150 Donald Trump has promised to sell in Japan? Who will purchase 100 Boeing jets? And what will the $550 billion Tokyo-backed fund actually look like?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 29, 2025

Who buys the F-150s, and more Japan deal mysteries

The long-awaited trade deal between the U.S. and Japan has investors celebrating after months of uncertainty. But as the song goes, nagging questions always remain.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun (left) is escorted by Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya at the start of their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 30, 2025

Japan-South Korea top diplomats’ meeting shows ties on solid footing

In an unusual move, Seoul’s foreign minister visited Tokyo before Washington, as the Asian neighbors emphasized the importance of maintaining stable relations.
Katie Ledecky competes in the final of the women's 1500m freestyle swimming event during the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Monday.
MORE SPORTS / Swimming
Jul 30, 2025

Ledecky wins 22nd world title as Popovici savours 'scary' gold

The masterful win in Singapore moved Ledecky four short of the retired Phelps' career tally of 26 world gold medals.
Aoi Ito returns the ball against Jasmine Paolini at IGA Stadium in Montreal on Monday.
TENNIS
Jul 30, 2025

Japanese qualifier Aoi Ito ousts seventh seed Paolini in Montreal

Ito reached the semifinals last October at Osaka in her WTA debut, but until this week had not won a tour-level match.
Amid global uncertainty and U.S. trade tensions, ASEAN+3 must deepen regional integration and reform to sustain growth and resilience against rising protectionism, demographic pressures and climate risks.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2025

ASEAN+3 in an age of global uncertainty

As the international economic order continues to fragment, ASEAN+3 countries must build collective resilience by fostering regional integration.
Mika Horii (left) and Jane Su record an episode of “Over the Sun” at TBS Broadcasting Center in Tokyo’s Akasaka area. The show draws 1.5 million monthly plays.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 31, 2025

'Over the Sun': A podcast for Japanese women who’ve lived a little

In their hit podcast “Over the Sun,” hosts Jane Su and Mika Horii turn everyday chats into a cultural phenomenon.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the White House in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 1, 2025

Trump embraces economic coercion with tariffs as his big stick

The U.S. president road-tested the hardball tactic in his first term. Now he’s taken it to new levels.
Emissions rise from a smokestack at the Conesville Power Plant in Conesville, Ohio.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 1, 2025

How Trump-vetted scientists are trying to shred the climate consensus

A new report is part of an effort by the Trump administration to try to end the U.S. government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases.
At Panorama Dining, one of Junglia’s two proper restaurants that also doubles as the rooftop Inifinity Terrace overlook, guests can pay extra to sit in balcony tables made to look like birds’ nests overlooking the park grounds.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 1, 2025

Junglia brought dinos back to Okinawa. But will it bring tourists?

If you’re set on visiting Okinawa’s newest theme park, the biggest threat isn’t dinosaurs — it’s long lines and a remote location.
Meguro Hiiragi's fish-shaped "taiyaki" pastry comes with a thin and crisp batter that sheaths a piquant adzuki bean paste.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Top 5
Aug 1, 2025

In Tokyo, fish-shaped ‘taiyaki’ treats offer a sea of options

Part waffle, part pancake, the iconic pastries showcase the creativity of their bakers by flaunting a variety of fillings that range from adzuki bean paste to cream cheese.
A notice board at a station in Tokyo announces suspended shinkansen services due to a tsunami warning after a strong quake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday. 
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2025

A troubling reminder of Japan's vulnerability to natural disasters

There is considerable work to be done. Multiple studies and surveys of municipalities show that they are not prepared for a big incident.
Naomi Osaka pumps her first after winning a point against Jelena Ostapenko in their third round of the WTA Canadian Open in Montreal on Friday.
TENNIS
Aug 2, 2025

Sevastova topples Pegula as Osaka advances to fourth round in Montreal

Osaka is one match away from her first quarterfinal run at either a Grand Slam or WTA 1000 event since she returned from maternity leave at the start of 2024.
Troops from the Ground Self-Defense Force launch a Type 12 surface-to-ship missile at Beecroft Weapons Range in Australia's New South Wales state during Exercise Talisman Sabre on July 14.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Aug 3, 2025

'Firsts’ abound in latest Talisman Sabre joint military drills

The multinational military drills saw over 80 "firsts" in which participants either tested new systems or performed certain combined activities for the first time.
Miyu Yamashita poses with the trophy after winning the Women's British Open in Porthcawl, Wales, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Aug 4, 2025

Miyu Yamashita shows nerves of steel to win Women's British Open

Yamashita's previous best performance in a major was a tie for second place at last year's Women's PGA Championship.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he addresses a public gathering during the inauguration of various projects on the outskirts of the city of Varanasi, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 4, 2025

India to keep buying Russian oil despite Trump's 25% tariff blow

India has become one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s top targets as he looks to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war in Ukraine.
On Monday, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba offered his views of U.S. President Donald Trump and the American leader’s negotiating tactics — colorful comments that were unusual for their candor but not widely reported in Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 5, 2025

'Not a normal person’: Ishiba shoots from the hip when it comes to Trump

It is extremely unusual for a sitting prime minister to publicly speak about the leader of the U.S. in a manner that could be construed as criticism.
The author’s photo of his son, Max, at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on Aug. 6, 2022, standing before a photo of 10-year-old Yukiko Fujii taken by Mainichi Shimbun photographer Yukio Kunihira in Hiroshima on Aug. 9, 1945, three days after the U.S. atomic bombing of her city and the day of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 5, 2025

Nuclear destruction through the eyes of a 10-year-old

Still, I wasn’t sure how Max would react to the enormity of the human suffering that took place in Hiroshima.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's determination to keep fighting in Ukraine is prompted by his belief that Russia is winning and by skepticism that yet more U.S. sanctions will have much of an impact on his country.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 6, 2025

Putin doubts potency of Trump's ultimatum to end the war, sources say

The Russian leader is unlikely to bow to a sanctions ultimatum expiring this Friday from U.S. President Donald Trump, sources close to the Kremlin said.
Taiwan has arrested six people on suspicions of stealing trade secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. after the chipmaker reported a number of former and current staff to authorities.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 6, 2025

Taiwan arrests six in probe of TSMC chip technology leak

The chipmaker had reported a number of former and current staff to authorities on suspicion they illegally obtained core technology.
A tour group on the Cornell University campus. About a quarter of Cornell’s student body is international.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 6, 2025

Trump’s visa havoc strands students weeks before classes start

International students are struggling to secure visas as the Trump administration aggressively moves to curtail immigration.
A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Aug 6, 2025

80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped

As a 7-year-old boy in Hiroshima, Howard Kakita was hoping to catch the vapor trail of a B-29 bomber. A sudden blast knocked him out.
National flags line a street to mark Swiss national day in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced he will impose a 39% tariff on imports from Switzerland, one of the steepest levies globally that threatens to leave the country’s key exports reeling.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 6, 2025

Switzerland’s go-it-alone approach tested by Trump tariff shock

For the pro-EU voices in Switzerland, the chaotic back and forth with the U.S. on trade will give them fresh reason to push the benefits of ties with the bloc.
A video on Bayraktar's Instagram account of the Belgian photographer approaching an elderly worker in Tokyo's Shibuya has gone viral, garnering almost 9 million views.
LIFE / Digital
Aug 6, 2025

Photographer Bleg Bayraktar is winning social media with politeness

Japan holds a special place in the heart of the Belgian photographer, who has shot portraits in various countries and cultivated a reputation for being incredibly respectful.
A carrier-based Type 52 Zero fighter marks the entrance foyer of Yasukuni Shrine's Yushukan, a museum that tells a more nuanced story of Japan's experience in World War II than the controversies around the shrine might suggest.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 8, 2025

Tokyo’s WWII museums hold diverse views on war and peace

From detainees in Soviet labor camps to last-ditch efforts to develop miracle weapons, the capital’s war museums tell a multitude of stories of a country in crisis.
Palestinians sit on a hill looking out over the Mediterranean Sea and a camp for displaced people in Gaza City on June 2.
WORLD
Aug 8, 2025

'How much worse could it get?' Gazans fear full Israeli occupation

Fear and despair have spread in the enclave amid rumors that Israel might decide on a full occupation of Gaza.
A model of the upgraded Mogami-class frigate is displayed at the Defense Security Equipment International Japan exhibition at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on May 21.
EDITORIALS
Aug 8, 2025

The Japan-Australia frigate deal is more than a weapons pact

The scale of the agreement is sweeping. Japan has never before won a bid this size.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires in December 2018. Xi is blending Maoist resolve with pragmatic diplomacy in his foreign policy.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 8, 2025

Xi steals a page from Mao’s foreign-policy playbook

Xi foreign policy blends Maoist ideology, pragmatic statecraft and strategic patience as he advances anti-corruption efforts and selectively cooperates with the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump looks at Russian leader Vladimir Putin before posing for a family photo during the Group of 20 leaders' summit in Buenos Aires in November 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 9, 2025

Trump and Putin to meet in Alaska on Aug. 15 to discuss Ukraine peace deal

U.S. and Russian officials are working toward an agreement on territories for the two leaders' meeting, but Ukraine has rejected any agreement that cedes territory.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Aug. 1.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 9, 2025

Trump rattles Latin America by eyeing military force against drug cartels

The approach discards the previous administration's preference for carrots over sticks to coax countries into alignment with U.S. interests.
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah prior to a friendly on Aug. 4.
SOCCER
Aug 10, 2025

'Tell us how he died': Salah criticizes UEFA tribute to 'Palestinian Pele'

The Palestine Football Association said that al-Obeid, 41, was killed by an Israeli strike targeting civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell