Search - 2023

 
 
Then U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, on June 30, 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 1, 2024

North Korea wants to restart nuclear talks if Trump wins, says ex-diplomat

The former diplomat said North Korea has also set Russia, the U.S. and Japan as its top foreign policy priorities.
The amount of money stolen in fraud cases linked to social media in the first half of 2024 exceeded that of the whole 2023, the National Police Agency said.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2024

¥66 billion stolen in Japan via online scams in first half of 2024

Of the investment fraud cases reported, 51.6% involved advertisements on social media platforms.
Takeshita street in Tokyo's Harajuku shopping district on Wednesday, when temperatures reached 35.6 degrees Celsius.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 1, 2024

New 'most severe' category added to Japan’s heatstroke guidelines

The move is meant to stress the need for urgent medical attention in severe cases as the number of heatstroke cases soars amid record-high temperatures.
People cross a street in Tokyo's Harajuku district on Wednesday. In July, the deviation from the average temperature between 1991 and 2020 — a period when warming was already well underway — was 2.16 degrees Celsius.
JAPAN / Boiling Point
Aug 1, 2024

Japan experienced its hottest July on record

The number of “extremely hot days” — those where the highest temperature hits 35 C and above — was the largest figure for a July.
Passengers exit trains at Hamamatsucho Station in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 1, 2024

Paternity leave uptake in Japan hits record 30%

The new record represents a 13 percentage point increase from the previous year.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida (left) and Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe hold a joint news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

Honda and Nissan to tighten ties on software, batteries and EV knowhow

Honda and Nissan sales fell about 40% and 27%, respectively, in June alone in China following the shutdown of some of their local plants.
Seven Eleven officials receives a Guinness World Records' certificate for its product as the most sold freshly made curry bread in volume in 2023 during a ceremony in Saitama Prefecture on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

7-Eleven's curry bread certified by Guinness World Records

The ¥160 bread, fried in store, logged 76,987,667 pieces sold.
Simone Biles reacts after her balance beam routine during the women's all-around final at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
OLYMPICS / Gymnastics
Aug 2, 2024

Peerless Simone Biles wins second Olympic all-around title

Brazilian Rebeca Andrade earned silver for the second straight Games and defending champion Sunisa Lee of the United States finished with bronze.
Cyberespionage has become a powerful tool in China’s tool set as it pursues its geopolitical aims, cybersecurity experts say.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Aug 2, 2024

Suspected Chinese hackers hit Taiwanese research center

The attackers used a kind of malicious software tool that’s almost entirely used by China-based groups, cybersecurity researchers at Cisco Systems said.
Temperatures are soaring across Japan, making getting to sleep at night a constant battle between your body and the right setting for your air conditioner to help you nod off.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Boiling Point
Aug 2, 2024

An ideal AC temperature for sleep? Science says yes ... and no.

Keeping your room at 26 degrees Celsius can help you sleep through summer’s steamy nights — but how long should you leave the AC on?
Photographer Gaku Lange says Japan's film photography scene is growing, but it still lags behind overseas communities.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Aug 5, 2024

Looking at Japan’s ‘tribal’ photography scene through a new lens

More young people in Tokyo are ditching smartphones for film cameras, but the old guard isn't necessarily pleased about it.
A government white paper stressed the need to pay attention to the impact of interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan on personal consumption.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 2, 2024

Japan warns of weak yen impact on households in government white paper

A weak yen has become a source of concern for policymakers as it has dampened consumption by inflating the cost of importing fuel, food and raw material.
Jailed Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza stands behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants during a court hearing to consider an appeal against his prison sentence, in Moscow on July 31, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 2, 2024

Poisoned and jailed: Kremlin critic Kara-Murza

Convicted in April 2023 of treason and spreading "false information," Kara-Murza was sentenced to one of the longest prison terms ever handed down to a Putin critic.
Algeria's Imane Khelif walks to the ring for her bout against Italy's Angela Carini during the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
OLYMPICS / Boxing
Aug 2, 2024

IOC addresses boxing controversy at Paris Olympics

The IOC says boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting will remain in the competition at the Paris Olympics.
Fuka Nagano (left) and Hinata Miyazawa after Japan was eliminated from the Olympic soccer tournament by the U.S. on Saturday in Paris.
OLYMPICS
Aug 4, 2024

For Nadeshiko Japan, the quarterfinals prove to be a stumbling block — again

The team fell 1-0 to the U.S. after also losing in the last eight at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and at the Women’s World Cup in 2023.
China's Pan Zhanle celebrates after winning Olympic gold and breaking a world record in the men's 100-meter freestyle final on July 31.
OLYMPICS
Aug 5, 2024

China shrugs off doping controversy to win 12 Olympic swimming medals

The team's haul — two gold, three silver and seven bronze — was an improvement on a Tokyo collection of nine.
The entrance gate of the SEG electronics market in Shenzhen, China, on June 27.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 5, 2024

With smugglers and front companies, China is skirting U.S. AI bans

The U.S. worries advanced semiconductors could help China develop superior weaponry, launch cyberattacks and make faster decisions on the battlefield.
Japanese sprinter Abdul Hakim Sani Brown checks his time after the men's 100 meters semifinals on Sunday at the Paris Olympics in Saint-Denis, France.
OLYMPICS / Athletics
Aug 5, 2024

Sani Brown ran under 10 seconds in the men's 100. But in 2024, that’s just not enough.

Sani Brown's near-miss showed the high hurdles sprinters face to compete with an ultracompetitive field.
Yoshifumi Matsumura (second from right), head of the National Public Safety Commission, inspects Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district in June.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 5, 2024

Tokyo host bar worker arrested over kickbacks for brokering prostitution

It is the first time a worker at a host bar has been arrested over receiving kickbacks for brokering prostitution.
Ukrainian Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska (center left) and Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi (center right) sign a memorandum of cooperation on judicial reforms and anti-corruption measures, in Kyiv on Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2024

Japan and Ukraine agree to cooperate on anti-corruption measures

The countries' two justice ministries will cooperate across fields such as judicial reform and the strengthening of judicial institutions via personnel training.
Britain's Keely Hodgkinson crosses the line to win the women's 800-meter final at the Paris Olympics on Monday.
OLYMPICS / Athletics
Aug 6, 2024

In her teens, this British runner struggled to walk. Now she's an Olympic champion.

The 22-year-old buried a reputation for being always the bridesmaid and never the bride as she stormed to victory.
Japan's gasoline imports in June rose 20.4% from the previous month, with the Petroleum Association of Japan attributing it to maintenances and outages at plants owned by top oil refiners.
BUSINESS
Aug 6, 2024

Japan's gasoline imports seen rising through August as refinery outages cut output

Japan's gasoline imports are expected to stay elevated through August after rising 20% in June.
Kagoshima District Court has given a former Kagoshima Prefectural Police officer a suspended sentence for leaking investigative information.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 6, 2024

Former Kagoshima police officer found guilty of leaking investigation details

The judge said that the magnitude of the privacy violation was large as the officer shared information on personal criminal records and details of more than 100 cases.
Kauli Vaast of France competes in the Olympic men's gold-medal match in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, on Monday.
OLYMPICS / Surfing
Aug 6, 2024

Vaast takes men's surfing gold for France and Tahiti

Caroline Marks of the United States added Olympic gold to her 2023 world title with a tight victory over Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb in the women's final.
Children use a mobile shower, provided by the local government, amid extreme heat in metro Manila on May 2.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 6, 2024

From the Philippines to Mali, countries fail to count deaths from extreme heat

A lack of reliable data is undermining efforts to mitigate the risk of extreme heat and provide better protection for the most vulnerable.
The Tsuruga Coast Guard Office in Fukui Prefecture issued warnings about possible attacks by wild dolphins as early as 2022.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 6, 2024

Fukui coast guard warns swimmers of danger posed by wild dolphins

In one case, a 10-year-old who had gone for a swim at a beach in the city of Tsuruga was bitten by a dolphin, suffering a serious injury to their hand.
Despite China’s advocacy for “no first use” as a global standard and its call for inclusion in international law for nuclear weapons, many analysts view it as a political statement rather than a practical strategy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 6, 2024

China’s 'no first use' nuclear policy rings hollow for many

Critics argue that China's NFU policy is less credible due to its expanding nuclear arsenal and the secrecy surrounding
Women's park skateboarding gold medalist Arisa Trew of Australia celebrates with silver winner Kokona Hiraki of Japan and bronze medalist Sky Brown of Britain on the podium in Paris on Tuesday.
OLYMPICS / Skateboarding
Aug 7, 2024

Australia's Trew, 14, wins skateboard park gold ahead of Japan's Hiraki

Japan was represented on every level of the Olympic podium, as Trew and British bronze winner Sky Brown both have Japanese mothers.
Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, speaks during an event at Earth Rider Brewery in Superior, Wisconsin, on Jan. 25.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 7, 2024

How Tim Walz pushed Minnesota toward aggressive climate policies

Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor tapped to become the Democratic vice presidential nominee, has accelerated his state’s embrace of clean energy and electric vehicles.
A lot of female fans of Japan's men's team caught volleyball fever at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where Japan qualified for the quarterfinals for the first time in 29 years.
OLYMPICS / Volleyball
Aug 7, 2024

Tears and broken hearts: Japan's female volleyball fans react to tough Olympic loss

Japan’s fierce love for volleyball has been on display for all the world to see in Paris, but it was not meant to be for the men's team in 2024.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami