Search - 2016

 
 
A mock-up of Japan's state-of-the-art railgun, which is currently undergoing testing, is displayed at the three-day DSEI Japan defense exhibition in the city of Chiba on Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 21, 2025

Railguns, missiles and lasers: Japan uses massive defense event to highlight shift

The range of products and systems being displayed at DSEI Japan in Chiba is both diverse and sophisticated, and comes amid soaring international tensions.
Boxing great Manny Pacquiao will come out of retirement to face Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight championship in Las Vegas on July 19.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
May 22, 2025

Manny Pacquiao coming out of retirement to face Mario Barrios for WBC title

Pacquiao is the only boxer to win world championships in eight weight divisions.
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander brings the ball up the court against the Nuggets during their Western Conference semifinal series in Denver on May 15.
BASKETBALL / NBA
May 22, 2025

Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins NBA MVP

Gilgeous-Alexander becomes the second player from Canada to earn the honor, joining two-time winner Steve Nash.
NTT Docomo will retire its iconic Docomo Emoji, ending a 26-year run that helped shape the visual language of mobile communication.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 22, 2025

NTT Docomo to retire iconic emoji set after 26 years

Beginning next month, newly released Android smartphones and feature phones sold by Docomo will no longer include the carrier’s original emoji.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't your typical Japanese role-playing game, but that hasn't stopped it from being one of the best to come from the genre in years.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
May 24, 2025

Uh-oh, is the rest of the world making JRPGs better than Japan?

Developed by a French studio, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has pushed the genre forward more than any Japanese-developed title in the past 10 years.
An employee of Kyowa Industrial walks next to the company's factory in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2025

Tariff crossfire hits Toyota, Nissan and Ford suppliers in Japan

Thousands of small and midsize makers of auto parts in Japan, including suppliers for Toyota and Nissan, are facing a crisis as U.S. tariffs threaten their bottom lines.
A Boeing 747 from Qatar at Palm Beach International Airport, following President Donald Trump’s tour of the plane, in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 15. The president and his family have profited from the White House more than any other occupant, normalizing activities that once would have provoked heavy blowback and official investigations.
WORLD / Politics
May 26, 2025

As Trump family monetizes presidency, profits outstrip protests

The scale and the scope of the presidential mercantilism has been breathtaking.
Fighters starter Hiromi Ito pitches against the Hawks in Fukuoka on April 29.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
May 26, 2025

Fighters already showing last season's playoff run was no fluke

Nippon Ham manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo has dialed back his antics lately, and perhaps with good reason — because it looks like the players are ready to take center stage.
Japan Coast Guard on Monday spotted a Chinese maritime survey vessel "extending what appeared to be a wire into the waters in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) 270 kilometers east of Okinotori island," government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
JAPAN
May 27, 2025

Japan says China conducted research near Pacific atoll

The alleged activity took place on Monday near the remote atoll of Okinotori in the Philippine Sea.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (center), locks hands with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (left) and Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah during a group photo at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 27, 2025

As ASEAN touts unity, Philippines seeks consensus on South China Sea

Manila’s call on the 10-member bloc comes as the situation between China and the Philippines has turned particularly tense.
A KJ-500 early warning plane, along with Y-20 transport aircraft, are parked on the tarmac of an airfield on Woody Island, in the disputed Paracel archipelago in the South China Sea, on May 19.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 29, 2025

China's most advanced bombers seen on disputed South China Sea island

Some analysts described the move as Beijing's latest signalling of its growing military capabilities to rivals.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani delivers an address at the Shangri-La Dialogue conference in Singapore on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 31, 2025

Nakatani urges closer defense tie-ups amid erosion of rules-based order

Without directly naming China, the Japanese defense chief had strong words for Beijing and its moves in the South China Sea and near Taiwan.
Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump during a news conference at the White House on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 31, 2025

Musk vows to stay Trump's 'friend' in bizarre black-eyed farewell

As the world's richest person bowed out of his role, Trump hailed Musk's "incredible service" and handed him a golden key to the White House.
A woman walks past a store in Seoul's Daerim neighborhood, home to thousands of ethnic Chinese. China has displaced longtime foe and former colonial power Japan in many South Koreans' minds as the country's most distrusted neighbor in recent years.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 2, 2025

China displaces old foe Japan in South Koreans' minds ahead of vote

Analysts say that a series of clashes between Beijing and Seoul in recent years over history, territory and defense are the root cause of the schism.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen takes part in the third free practice session of the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo, on the outskirts of Barcelona, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 2, 2025

Verstappen one point from a race ban after clash with Russell

The incident, as well as an earlier clash with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, triggered accusations of road rage and a return to the "Mad Max" days of old.
Plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit seeking welfare benefit cuts to be revoked and their lawyers walk to the Supreme Court in Tokyo on May 27.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2025

Welfare benefit reductions totaled about ¥300 billion between 2013 and 2018

The government decided to reduce welfare benefits during that time period based on factors such as the cost-of-living falling.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani meets with his U.S. counterpart, Pete Hegseth, at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 3, 2025

Why Japan isn’t panicking about Trump’s foreign policy

Hegseth’s SLD speech is the first extended statement about U.S. policy and it checked all the boxes.
A mother takes her child to kindergarten in Hanoi on Wednesday. Vietnam's birth rate fell from 2.11 children per woman in 2021 to 1.91 last year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 4, 2025

Vietnam scraps two-child limit as birth rate declines

The birth rate fell from 2.11 children per woman in 2021 to 1.91 last year, below replacement level.
Self-propelled guns are refurbished at a Rheinmetall plant in Unterluess, Germany, in June 2023.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2025

The Europeans are facing an existential choice

U.S. officials are openly stating that they do not intend to devote most of their time or resources to dealing with what they deem European issues such as the war in Ukraine.
Members of a group working for the reconstruction of the Machinomachi district of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, attend training for the opening of a temporary disaster broadcasting station, in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, on May 16.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 4, 2025

Quake-hit residents eyeing reconstruction through power of radio

A group of people, mainly residents of Wajima's Machinomachi district, are preparing to open a full scale emergency broadcasting FM radio station in mid-June.
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
CULTURE / Art
Jun 5, 2025

New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West

The Naoshima New Museum of Art is Tadao Ando’s 10th contribution to the popular art islands.
Lee Sang-il’s “Kokuho,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year, follows the life of an "onnagata," a male kabuki actor who plays female roles, from his childhood as the son of a yakuza boss in 1960s Nagasaki to his official designation as a living national treasure.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2025

'Kokuho' illuminates the high price of becoming a national treasure

Director Lee Sang-il turns a long-held vision into reality with his sumptuously shot film that reveals the dedication, sacrifice — and loneliness — behind kabuki greatness.
A Homeland Security vehicle is parked in front of the Fred D. Thompson Federal Building, housing the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, where Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported from Maryland to El Salvador by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, faces criminal charges, in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 7, 2025

Wrongly deported Salvadoran migrant arrested on return to U.S.

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States from El Salvador and charged with trafficking undocumented migrants, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
Novak Djokovic waves to the crowd after his semifinal defeat at the French Open in Paris on Friday.
TENNIS
Jun 7, 2025

'Honoured' Djokovic hints at possible Roland Garros farewell after semifinal loss

Following his loss to Sinner, Djokovic stopped briefly on his way off Court Philippe Chatrier and took a moment to "show his gratitude" to the Paris crowd.
Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Jan. 28
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 8, 2025

Meta in talks for Scale AI investment that could top $10 billion

The financing could exceed $10 billion in value, some of the people said, making it one of the largest private company funding events of all time.
A woman near the Kremlin in Moscow on May 19
WORLD / Politics
Jun 9, 2025

Russian intelligence says it collects WeChat data. What does that mean?

The disclosure highlights the rising level of concern about Chinese influence in Russia as the two countries deepen their relationship.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks in a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

Japan to release extra 200,000 tons of stockpiled rice as prices fall

The average price of a 5-kilogram bag of rice at supermarkets in the week through June 1 was ¥4,223, down ¥37 from the previous week.
Former Lower House lawmaker Shiori Yamao at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 11, 2025

DPP withdraws election candidacy of scandal-hit Shiori Yamao

The move came in the wake of backlash aimed at the party for fielding Yamao, who has been mired in a series of scandals.
A Chinese J-15 fighter jet flies just to the side of a Maritime Self-Defense Force P-3C surveillance plane over the high seas in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2025

Chinese fighter jets in close encounters with MSDF patrol planes over Pacific

Chinese fighters made “abnormal approaches” to MSDF patrol aircraft over the Pacific Ocean in recent days that risked collisions, the Defense Ministry said.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is one penalty point away from a suspension.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Jun 12, 2025

Max Verstappen heads into Canadian GP hoping to win and stay out of trouble

If Verstappen collects one more penalty point on his racing license he will automatically miss the Austrian Grand Prix later this month.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building