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Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Jul 14, 2024

The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'

Great pianists aren't made overnight, it takes years of practice. It can all be undone in a matter of days, however, due to a medical condition called dystonia.
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 15, 2024

Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why

Thomas Matthew Crooks is not known to be political, and the FBI has yet to identify a motive behind the 20-year-old nursing home aide’s actions.
A new rule of having prison officers use honorifics when addressing inmates sparked apprehension when it was introduced in April. Three months later, a prison officer said the rule helps avoid situations where older inmates might not feel comfortable being called by their names without honorifics by officers fresh out of school.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 15, 2024

Prison officers and inmates warm up to rule on use of honorifics

Since April, a new rule requires prison officers to use the honorifics san and kun when addressing inmates by their last names.
Workers assemble a car inside BYD's first electric vehicle factory in Southeast Asia in Rayong, Thailand, on July 4.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 15, 2024

Thai economy faces upheaval due to factory closures

Scores of companies are shuttering in Thailand, which is bearing the brunt of cheap imports from China and factors including rising energy prices and an aging workforce.
ASML's headquarters and factory in Veldhoven, Netherlands
WORLD
Jul 16, 2024

ASML-backed university is caught in the middle of U.S.-China chip war

The Netherlands is facing increasing pressure from Washington to stem Beijing’s chip-making efforts.
An Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. facility in Fujairah, which uses technology developed by 44.01, a startup backed by Sam Altman
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 16, 2024

Sam Altman-backed startup scaling technology to store CO2 in rocks

A type of rock found under every continent holds the potential key to permanently trapping planet-warming carbon dioxide under the Earth’s surface.
Mizuho Securities is starting a fund to create opportunities for third-party investment into Japan's animation film sector that has created globally popular works such as "Demon Slayer."
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024

Mizuho fund to invest in Japan’s popular but cash-needing anime scene

For investors, Mizuho's fund will be an opportunity to park their money in a sector famous for works like "Demon Slayer."
The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association says AI-assisted online search services offered by Google and Microsoft is highly likely to not only infringe news organizations' copyrights but damage their trustworthiness.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2024

Japan news media association demands consent and accuracy from generative AI

Without regulation, generative AI will erode media content, harming democracy and national culture, according to the association.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

U.K.'s Starmer to use forum to advocate EU reset and Ukraine support

A one-day meeting of more than 40 nations provides British Prime Minister Keir Starmer with an opportunity to push for closer defense cooperation.
A pumped energy storage facility and a wind turbine at Kibbutz Maale Gilboa, Israel, on July 9
WORLD
Jul 18, 2024

How 'energy islands' could help Israel build resilience for wartime

Israel's microgrid pilot, which will be complete sometime in the next year or two, will run in parallel to large stockpiles of diesel, coal and generators.
Japan's tradition of offering investors gifts is nice. But with the stock market at record highs, such perks are no longer needed.
COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2024

It’s time Japan's shareholders buy their own wine

The practice by Japanese companies of giving gifts once served as a good way to encourage trading novices to dabble in the stock market.
When it is in season, 'maguro' (tuna) from the Sea of Japan is one of the mainstay menu items at Tokiwa Sushi.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Jul 21, 2024

Tokiwa Sushi: Niigata sushi master with a hometown, locavore focus

"Tuna from Niigata Prefecture is the mainstay of our menu, but it’s only available three months a year," chef Kosuke Kobayashi explains.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump departs after the third night of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 19, 2024

Fearful or cheerful? World leaders mull Trump's potential foreign policy

With Donald Trump polling ahead of Joe Biden to be reelected president in the U.S., some governments are taking concrete steps to prepare for his possible return.
From left: Kan Kikuchi, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Muto Chozo and Nagami Tokutaro
LIFE / Language
Jul 19, 2024

Dive into Akutagawa's world of creepy 'kappa' and prewar kanji

In order to read Japanese works written before the war, you'll need to watch out for the different roles hiragana play in addition to unfamiliar kanji.
The general secretary of Vietnam's Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, in February 2021. Trong died on Friday at age 80, state media said.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 19, 2024

Vietnam's most powerful Communist Party leader dies

For months, Trong had appeared frail at public events or missed them outright and on Thursday his duties as party chief were taken over by President To Lam.
Ukrainian military Leopard 2A4 tanks during a training exercise in Spain.
WORLD
Jul 20, 2024

How a Berlin Cold War outpost offers a window on challenges today

With the West again aligned against Moscow as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine grinds on, it now seems strangely current.
As childish as Ryokan may have been, human suffering wrung his heart. A portrait of the monk and calligraphy by him are shown here. (Ink on paper; early 19th century; replica before 1970)
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jul 21, 2024

Ryokan and us: 'How wide! How boundless!'

The Edo Period monk could see the world through a child's eyes, maybe even those of a child from our modern era.
Secret Service officers surround U.S. former President Donald Trump, the Republican  presidential candidate, as he attends the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2024

Secret Service says it denied earlier Trump requests for more federal resources

The denied requests for additional resources were not specifically for the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president survived an assassination attempt.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump stands with Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance during Trump's first rally with his running mate, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2024

Trump fans yell they want Biden, not Harris, as 2024 opponent

Donald Trump polled supporters at his Michigan rally whether they’d prefer for him to run against President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris. An overwhelming cacophony of voices suggested they want the 81-year-old president as Trump’s opponent.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House in Washington on July 4.
WORLD
Jul 22, 2024

Biden drops out of presidential race, endorsing Kamala Harris

The stunning announcement — just 3½ months before the Nov. 5 election — came as concerns mounted that Biden could not defeat Republican rival Donald Trump.
A person holds a placard as people gather outside the White House after U.S. President Joe Biden announced he is stopping his bid for reelection in Washington on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 22, 2024

Shock — and relief — as Americans digest Biden's election exit

U.S. President Joe Biden's shock decision Sunday to end his re-election bid drew an outpouring of heartfelt reactions from American voters.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff arrive at Kamala's Presidential Campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 23, 2024

Buttigieg to Beshear: Kamala Harris' possible vice president

Potential vice presidential candidates for Kamala Harris include Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Mark Kelly.
Entrepreneurs who participated in the Beyond Japan Zero to X program last year share their experiences in the United States during a meeting in May in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2024

Japanese startups advised to internationalize to get some global mojo

Occupying the No. 1 spot in the Japanese market affords many comforts, but global dominance is unlikely to be one of them.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle enters a House of Representatives Oversight Committee hearing on the security lapses that allowed an attempted assassination of Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2024

Secret Service director resigns following Trump shooting

Kimberly Cheatle is stepping down after taking responsibility for security failures at a campaign rally where the former president was shot.
Hedwig Schreck is a third-generation Tokyoite whose grandfather first arrived in Japan from Germany in 1920 as a submarine engineer.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 24, 2024

Hedwig Schreck: ‘Art has always been part of my life’

A third-generation Tokyoite, the former TV producer has pivoted to teaching others about Japanese culture in her retirement.
Members of the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, attend a plenary session in Moscow on July 10.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2024

Russian MPs vote to broaden 'undesirable organizations' law

One of the bill's authors said that British, German and Japanese organizations could fall under the new legislation.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 25, 2024

What the ‘extreme’ Project 2025 says and who wrote it

Recent polling shows there has been a dramatic uptick in awareness and negative views of Project 2025 since late June, when U.S. Democrats began emphasizing it.
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 25, 2024

Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost

While the sharp increase will be a big boost for workers, smaller firms already struggling financially will be put under further stress.
A construction worker during a heat wave in Folsom, California.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 25, 2024

What the temperature doesn’t tell you about extreme heat’s hazards

After its nationwide rollout in April, the HeatRisk forecasting tool is getting a real-world test as deadly temperatures stress much of the U.S.
A medical technician selects eggs for an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure Paris in 2019.
WORLD / Society
Jul 25, 2024

IVF mistakes are opening a new front in the fight over reproductive rights

The $40 billion U.S. industry is expected to triple in size over the next decade as more people delay having babies until later in life.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb