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Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring a goal during a match in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in July.
SOCCER
Dec 16, 2023

Inter Miami adds Tokyo stop to Messi tour next February

The Argentine superstar will lead Inter Miami into a match against reigning champions Vissel Kobe at the 60,000-seat National Stadium on Feb. 7.
From left: Masashi Matsuyama, vice president of Nissan and president of Nissan (China) Investment, Takao Asami, senior vice president of Nissan, and Rika Kiritake, vice president of Nissan, hold a news conference at Tsinghua University in Beijing on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 17, 2023

Nissan to export China-developed EVs to global markets

The firm is considering exporting internal combustion engine vehicles and upcoming electric cars manufactured and developed in China to overseas markets
Fighters quaterback Shuta Hoshino scores a touchdown against the Orange during the Koshien Bowl on Sunday in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Dec 17, 2023

Kwansei Gakuin crushes Hosei University for sixth straight title

The win continued the Kansai region's dominant run in the national football title game.
A 2023 Toyota Prius vehicle during an auto show in New York in April
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2023

In the birthplace of Toyota’s Prius, hybrids now reign supreme

Japan’s biggest carmakers have only recently promised to roll out a wider slate of battery-only models in the next two to three years.
The Shimbashi area of Tokyo's Minato Ward is crowded with office workers on Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2023

Pubs in Japan thriving again as year-end parties return

On Friday night, many drinking places in the Shimbashi district of Tokyo's Minato Ward were packed with customers.
People's Liberation Army forces walk near the Sagaing Region of Myanmar on Nov. 23.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 21, 2023

China is using Myanmar civil war to destroy cyber scam networks

The ruling Communist Party is cracking down on criminal gangs that have scammed, kidnapped and tortured its citizens
A look into what used to be the Koyamacho neighborhood in Tokyo's Minato Ward may reveal what Japan stands to lose from not protecting its recent past.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 25, 2023

Mita facelift paves over another slice of Tokyo history

The death of Koyamacho shows that Japan needs to begin preserving some parts of its modern history for future generations.
Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe
SOCCER
Dec 25, 2023

Billionaire Ratcliffe agrees deal to buy 25% of Manchester United

United also said that Ratcliffe's INEOS company would take control of football operations after years of under-achievement under the Glazer family.
While harsh comments from older generations can sometimes be seen as rude, consider instead that they’re often trying to teach us something they hold on to.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 26, 2023

A survival guide for your first Japanese-style at-home New Year’s

Meeting your partner’s Japanese family for the New Year’s holidays? Here are some do’s and don’ts for an ‘oshōgatsu’ success story.
Netanyahu said Israel would not succeed in freeing the remaining hostages held by Hamas without applying military pressure.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 27, 2023

Israel launches more Gaza strikes as Netanyahu says Hamas must be destroyed

Israeli military said its air force carried out a strike against 100 Hamas targets, including tunnel shafts, to assist ground forces in Gazan suburb.
Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min celebrates a goal during a match in January. The Premier League standout will be among the stars on South Korea's squad for the upcoming Asian Cup.
SOCCER
Dec 29, 2023

Son Heung-min to lead South Korea squad 'ready' to win Asian Cup

Son will captain a squad that also includes Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae and 22-year-old Paris Saint-Germain attacking midfielder Lee Kang-in.
Demonstrators march as they protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in London on Dec. 9. Huge demonstrations against the Israeli military’s attacks on Gaza have been taking place in the U.K. and elsewhere.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jan 9, 2024

Europe rattled by Israel-Hamas war

Attempts to establish a peaceful international order after two world wars have been greatly shaken by recent conflicts.
A man dozes while leaning on a crutch as he sits outside a tent where displaced Palestinians are camped in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 2, 2024

Israel army warns Gaza war will continue throughout 2024

Its 300,000 reserve soldiers will be gradually deployed in the battle against Hamas.
From left: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida walk to a flower wreath laying ceremony at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima in May during the G7 Summit.
JAPAN
Jan 2, 2024

World leaders show readiness to support Japan after massive quake

Leaders of several countries, including the U.S., U.K., Canada and France, have expressed solidarity with Japan and are ready to offer assistance if needed.
China has cast Taiwan's Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary elections as a choice between war and peace, warning that an attempt to push for the island's formal independence means conflict.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 3, 2024

'Hawkish' China likely to squeeze Taiwan militarily after poll

With both the DPP and KMT pledging to bolster the island's defenses, Beijing is expected to continue its saber-rattling regardless who emerges victorious in the polls.
January may be the month of new diets, but it doesn't have to be a month of short tempers as a result.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 6, 2024

Your 2024 diet isn't a blank check to be hangry

The neologism combining "hungry” and "angry” has been around since at least 1956 and made it into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2018.
Tsumugi-nen is artificial intelligence talent agency Pictoria's most popular AI Vtuber that has garnered thousands of fans through her content, including streaming for five days straight — something a human can not do.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 5, 2024

Is AI a friend or foe of the Japanese entertainment industry?

While proponents tap the technology's potential, others are worried about the possibility of losing their jobs.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends an event with students to celebrate the new year in Pyongyang in this undated picture released Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 6, 2024

North Korea's Kim sends rare sympathy message to Japan over Ishikawa quake

The rare communication between the two countries’ leaders delivered Friday is believed to be Kim's first direct message to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
New study questions the trend of scientific breakthroughs and examines the changing landscape of innovation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2024

Have scientific breakthroughs declined?

From curing disease to reducing global warming, there’s no shortage of hard scientific problems crying out for solutions.
Shu Kokaji (center) speaks with fellow volunteers on Saturday at Sunlife Plaza, an evacuation center in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture. At the facility, he aims to bring people joy in some aspects of evacuee life.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2024

Noto quake: 'In times of crisis, all we have is each other'

A team from Iwate Prefecture is just one of many grassroots campaigns mobilizing to support quake victims.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jan 15, 2024

All ¥500 coins that glitter are not gold

Twenty years on and the ¥2,000 note can almost certainly still be described as a “novelty" — what if the new ¥500 coin is destined for the same fate?
Clara Kumagai’s young adult debut, “Catfish Rolling,” follows a teenager who lost her mother during a major earthquake caused by the movements of a powerful catfish, which fractured Japan into different “time zones.”
CULTURE / Books
Jan 13, 2024

Genre-defying novel 'Catfish Rolling' navigates grief in a fractured land

Mixing folklore, science and philosophy with magical realism, Clara Kumagai’s impressive young adult debut explores the emotional aftermath of a powerful earthquake.
Qatar players celebrate after defeating Lebanon in the opening match of the Asian Cup on Friday in Lusail, Qatar.
SOCCER
Jan 13, 2024

Qatar puts World Cup heartache behind it to win Asian Cup opener

The hosts beat Lebanon 3-0 at the 88,000-capacity Lusail Stadium, where a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina beat France on penalties in the World Cup final 13 months ago.
Migrants picked up at sea attempting to cross the English Channel from France disembark from a U.K. border force cutter in Dover, England, on Saturday.
WORLD
Jan 14, 2024

Four die trying to cross Channel to U.K. in freezing cold

The fatalities were the first reported migrant deaths on the Channel in 2024.
A worker carries a tray containing steamed kamaboko at a factory in Ise, Mie Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 22, 2024

As costs rise, kamaboko producers struggle to stay afloat

Many have little choice but to raise the prices of their own products after having exhausted other measures.
Around 100 YouTube channels actively deny climate change, while also spreading videos attacking solutions such as wind and solar.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 17, 2024

Attacks on renewable energy are proliferating on YouTube

While videos espousing climate denial are declining across nearly 100 YouTube channels, videos attacking solutions such as wind and solar are growing.
While global sumo took its first steps toward becoming an organized sport under Hidetoshi Tanaka, it would be an exaggeration to say that everything was plain sailing internationally while the former president was in power.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jan 17, 2024

Scandal-hit giant of sumo Hidetoshi Tanaka leaves a complicated legacy

For Tanaka, a terse International Sumo Federation statement marked an ignominious end to the life of one of sumo’s most influential figures.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced his resignation after eight years in office on New Year’s Eve, 1999. His chosen successor was then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who succeeded him.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2024

Putin’s search for a usable past

Money was the one thing that would animate his reign. It was clear from the start that the businessman took precedence over the politician in Putin’s personality.
People gather on top of Tata Consultancy Services pavilion on which a slogan related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) is displayed, during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 18, 2024

Philippines to propose ASEAN AI regulatory framework

The move will be a challenge in ASEAN, a region comprised of 10 countries with widely differing views on censorship, intellectual property, misinformation and social media.
A volunteer stirs food to be distributed to people in Omdurman, Sudan, in September 2023.
WORLD
Jan 18, 2024

War pushes Sudan to brink of first famine in decades

A nine-month war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has cut off huge swaths of Sudan to aid groups.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?