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“Junk World” is Takahide Hori’s second entry in his stop-motion “Junk” series, which is populated by cyborgs, monsters and artificial lifeforms called “Mulligans.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 13, 2025

Stop-motion sci-fi saga ‘Junk World’ expands its bizarre universe

The monsters are cute, the war is weird and interior designer turned director Takahide Hori’s creativity stretches far beyond his budget.
At modern French restaurant Crony, sommelier Kazutaka Ozawa impresses guests with his thoughtful wine pairings.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Jun 15, 2025

Kazutaka Ozawa: ‘The best wine is the one that brings you joy'

The oenophile, who recently earned the title of Asia’s Best Sommelier, shares his thoughts on domestic sips and Tokyo’s vino trends.
People lay flowers and candles at a makeshift memorial site in front of a school in Graz, southeastern Austria, on Thursday, a day after 11 people died in a school shooting.
WORLD / Crime & Legal / ANALYSIS
Jun 16, 2025

Killings at European schools fan concern U.S. problem is spreading

The spate of school shootings is increasing momentum for tougher gun and security laws as well as more policing of social media.
A public clash between Donald Trump and Elon Musk exposed the national security risks of the U.S. government's heavy reliance on SpaceX, a private company controlled by a single individual.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2025

Washington divorcing SpaceX just isn’t possible right now

The U.S. government depends on SpaceX for low-cost space launches while competitors lag behind.
The Lakers' LeBron James stands on the team's logo during a game against the Mavericks in January 2024.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jun 19, 2025

Buss family to sell Lakers to Dodgers owner in record-shattering deal

The Buss family is selling its controlling interest in the team to billionaire Mark Walter, who already owns a minority stake in the franchise.
The Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran scored a tactical win and prompted a tentative ceasefire, but they failed to eliminate the threat posed by Tehran’s nuclear ambitions or shift the long-term strategic calculus.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2025

There is no 'one-and-done' on Iran's nuclear ambitions

Trump still faces tough calls that will decide the future of non-proliferation.
A banner calling for the resolution of the issue of abductions by North Korea is displayed near the Diet building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on June 10.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2025

Families of Japanese abductees race against time

Negotiations between Japan and North Korea have remained at a standstill since October 2002, when five victims were repatriated.
Australian singer Donna Burke in Tokyo on May 29. People comment on how familiar her voice is when footage of Burke performing shinkansen announcements go viral online.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 27, 2025

A trained star: The Australian singer who became the voice of the shinkansen

The “JR voice” has built a career that encompasses voice work for prominent game franchises including Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy.
Coco Gauff takes part in a practice session on Friday ahead of Wimbledon.
TENNIS
Jun 29, 2025

Cautious Gauff targets 'Channel Slam' at Wimbledon

The last woman to win Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year was Serena Williams, who accomplished the feat in 2002 and again in 2015.
Simon Wang and his mother, Willa, arrive at the NHL draft in Los Angeles on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Ice Hockey
Jun 29, 2025

Simon Wang becomes highest drafted Chinese-born player in NHL history

"Coming from China, I hope I can inspire a lot of kids coming over," Wang said.
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 30.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 6, 2025

Elon Musk says he has created a new U.S. political party

It is not clear how much impact the new party would have on the 2026 midterm elections, or on the presidential vote two years after that.
Olympic judoka Uta Abe (second from left) and Hifumi Abe (second from right) with their brother Yuichiro (center) and their parents. “I’m always consciously trying to be a good older brother,” Yuichiro said.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 8, 2025

From the Abes to the Ohtanis: How siblings shape athletic development

Sibling dynamics — whether it’s rivalry, support, or a mix of both — can have a profound impact on an athlete’s development and success.
Author Minae Mizumura strolls through the garden of her cottage in Oiwake, Karuizawa, in a photograph taken by her friend and collaborator Toyota Horiguchi.
CULTURE / Books / Perspectives
Jul 8, 2025

Between reality and fiction: A summer’s day in Karuizawa with Minae Mizumura

The author speaks on the Nagano Prefecture town's unique positioning between Japan and the West, literary tradition and artificial intelligence.
Police officers stand guard as people take part in a protest against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as part of a corruption investigation, in front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality building in Istanbul on March 26.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 10, 2025

Hundreds of Erdogan opponents detained in claimed corruption crackdown

The probe has targeted only municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People's Party, the party of modern Turkey's secularist founder.
A cargo ship is seen at Rio de Janeiro's port in Brazil on Thursday. Unlike most countries in the world, Brazil actually has a trade deficit with the U.S.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jul 11, 2025

Brazil has few exit routes from Trump tariff but feels less pain

The U.S. takes in some 12% of Brazil's exports, less than half what China buys, and worth only around 1% of gross domestic product.
Tokyo’s skyline keeps evolving, but the country’s drab, outdated government district, long hours, low pay and poor work conditions are driving young bureaucratic talent away just when it needs them most.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 11, 2025

Tokyo is missing 'Blade Runner' where it needs it most

Until the 1960s, Japan had strict prohibitions on developments higher than 31 meters (around 100 feet), a provision that kept cities dense but low.
Evgeniya Mayboroda sits in the defendant's dock during the announcement of the verdict in her case at the municipal court of Shakhty, Rostov Oblast, Russia, on Jan. 29, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 8, 2025

The strange case of Evgeniya Mayboroda, Russia's rebel retiree

The 72-year-old's transformation from fan to critic says much about the state of today's Russia under Vladimir Putin.
Poland's Iga Swiatek kisses with the winner's trophy, the Venus Rosewater Dish, on the thirteenth day of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships on Saturday.
TENNIS
Jul 13, 2025

Unforgiving Swiatek crushes Anisimova 6-0 6-0 to win maiden Wimbledon crown

Already a U.S. Open champion and a four-times French Open winner, Swiatek becomes the youngest woman since Serena Williams in 2002 to lift major titles on all three surfaces.
After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
COMMUNITY / Issues / Longform
Jul 14, 2025

How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan

Remote work is reshaping how Indian professionals navigate life, family and identity in a post-pandemic Japan.
Ichiro Kanai, founder and president of Tokyobike, is developing a niche but a new customer base who want to cycle as part of a lifestyle.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 15, 2025

Tokyobike founder believes in taking in sights of dynamic cities slowly

There's no use having a wonderful bike if you don’t have a thrilling city to explore, with Tokyobike's founder believing stylish products can only complement a compelling city.
Firefighters work to tackle a wildfire spread at Les Pennes-Mirabeau, near Marseille, southern France, on July 8
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / EXPLAINER
Jul 15, 2025

How climate change is fueling wildfires in Europe

Wildfires have burnt 227,000 hectares of land since the beginning of the year — more than double the average for this time of year over the past two decades.
The house of the wife of the late Chizuo Matsumoto, the now-defunct Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult's founder, in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture, in July
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 16, 2025

Tens of millions of yen found at home of Aum Shinrikyo founder's wife

Chizuo Matsumoto was executed in 2018 over a series of incidents involving the cult, including the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subway system.
Muneo Suzuki speaks in Sapporo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2025

Prodigal Hokkaido son returns to campaign trail for last run in Upper House election

Muneo Suzuki's personality and past actions make him a divisive political figure, but he's teaming up with the Liberal Democratic Party for one final run.
Mod's memoir “Things Become Other Things” chronicles his walking trips across the Kii Peninsula, surveying “a graceful end to a certain life cycle.”
CULTURE / Books
Jul 16, 2025

Craig Mod's life in motion in a disappearing Japan

In “Things Become Other Things,” the longtime resident of Japan captures that grace that lingers in slowly vanishing countryside towns.
Since the Sino-U.S. trade conflict began in 2018, China has used it to strengthen self-reliance, sharpen its strategies and turn Donald Trump’s tariffs into fuel for its long-term global resilience. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2025

China is winning Donald Trump’s trade war

While China does not want a trade war or to decouple, it is willing to risk a trade war that the United States may lose — and it would rather decouple than kowtow to Trump.
The Japan Football Association aims to be part of a joint bid to host the 2046 FIFA World Cup.
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 18, 2025

Japan Football Association planning to join Asia bid for 2046 World Cup

The JFA aims to be part of a joint bid including other East Asian countries as well as ASEAN members.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference with President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on June 27.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 19, 2025

Trump sues Wall Street Journal over Epstein report, seeking $10 billion

The newspaper said that Trump in 2003 sent Jeffrey Epstein a birthday greeting that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared.
Hulk Hogan tears his shirt during a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump, at Madison Square Garden, in New York City on Oct. 27, 2024.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 25, 2025

Hulk Hogan, shirt-shredding superstar of pro wrestling, dies at 71

Hogan was the face of pro wrestling for decades, with his blond hair and horseshoe mustache, colorful bandannas and massive biceps, which he referred to as "24-inch pythons.”
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters on Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 25, 2025

Various tactics to force Ishiba out of power emerge within the LDP

The LDP has been thrown into a political power game between those who want Ishiba ousted immediately and those supporting him staying on.
Athletics designated hitter Nick Kurtz celebrates after hitting his fourth home run of the game on Friday in Houston.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 26, 2025

Nick Kurtz ties MLB record with four homers as A's pound Astros

Kurtz, who was 6-for-6 in the game, tallied 19 total bases, also equaling an MLB record.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past