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The exhibition of Fujimoto’s architecture surveys his career to date, as well as looks ahead as shown in his proposal of a future floating city designed in collaboration with data scientist Hiroaki Miyata.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 4, 2025

The future is bright inside the visionary mind of architect Sou Fujimoto

From a model of the Grand Ring you can walk through to a futuristic city design, the architect’s exhibition at Mori Art Museum is an invitation to engage with architecture.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila in February.
WORLD / FOCUS
Jul 5, 2025

Under pressure, Hezbollah weighs scaling back its arsenal

The internal discussions, which aren't yet finalized, reflect the formidable pressures the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group has faced since a truce was reached in late November.
Debris is piled up following flash flooding in Kerrville, Texas, on Saturday.
WORLD
Jul 6, 2025

Search for missing girls continues as Texas flood toll rises to at least 50

The flooding began Friday — the start of the fourth of July holiday weekend — as months' worth of rain fell in a matter of hours.
A street in Suttsu, Hokkaido, with a sign put up by an anti-nuclear organization. The small community is considering hosting a facility that would hold nuclear waste.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jul 6, 2025

Ainu land rights in crosshairs as Hokkaido communities debate nuclear waste

Some scholars and activists are raising concerns that Indigenous voices are not being heard amid the debate over whether to host nuclear waste storage facilities.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s unilateral tariffs mark a shift toward centralized control, eroding checks and balances and raising risks of corruption and unpredictability.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 7, 2025

Unchecked and unbalanced: The future of U.S. economic policymaking

The U.S. government is defined by its separation of powers, where authority is not concentrated in a single actor but divided between the different branches.
A drone view shows part of a fence, put in place by Israeli authorities, in Sinjil, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on May 5.
WORLD
Jul 7, 2025

West Bank town becomes 'big prison' as Israel fences it in

The fence around Sinjil, a Palestinian town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is a stark example of barriers that have become an overwhelming feature of daily life.
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.
Maria Tyabut shows off the food stored in her new Chinese-made refrigerator while her husband Sergei Duzhikov holds their 8-month-old daughter, Yekaterina, at their apartment in the Moscow suburb of Mytishchi on June 17.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 7, 2025

Sanctions? No big deal, say middle-class Russian couple

They drive a Chinese car, vacation in Venezuela and buy "Camembert" cheese made in Russia.
Palestinians collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 8, 2025

Proposal outlines large-scale 'Humanitarian Transit Areas' for Palestinians in Gaza

One source said the plan, which calls the camps "large-scale" and "voluntary" places for the Gazan population, was recently discussed in the White House.
Yamanashi Chuo Bank's Tokyo office. The regional bank has set up an "investment advisory firm” to get around internal salary limits and attract talent.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2025

Rural bank in Japan finds novel way to attract talent with higher pay

Yamanashi Chuo Bank has set up an "investment advisory firm” to get around internal salary limits, showing the lengths it's willing to go to bolster its ranks.
Vast improvements in AI-generated video is shaking the foundations of the creative industry.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 8, 2025

AI video becomes more convincing, rattling creative industry

To measure the progress of AI video, you need only look at Will Smith eating spaghetti.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand shakes hands with Japan's top diplomat, Takeshi Iwaya, at the end of a signing ceremony for an information security agreement, after bilateral talks in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 9, 2025

Japan and Canada ink key intel-sharing deal

The agreement is another important step toward deepening ties with individual members of the Five Eyes intelligence grouping.
A high school senior (Taisuke Niihara, center), his girlfriend (Yuki Araho, left) and their alcoholic teacher (Yuka Kouri, right) find themselves in a lopsided love triangle in Toshiya Kominami’s “Young & Fine.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 11, 2025

‘Young & Fine’: Teenage horndog tale balances heart and hormones

The oddball sensibility of Toshiya Kominami’s coming-of-age film, paired with Yuka Kouri’s winning performance, elevates a questionable setup into something surprisingly human.
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 12, 2025

‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’

The Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society almost shuttered earlier this year, but a flood of support has buoyed efforts to save games on extinct media.
Apple’s Craig Federighi shows off 
a set of emoji at 
a conference on June 13, 2016. While the small pictures have proved helpful in conveying nuance in our texts, younger people are using them less often.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 11, 2025

An emoji used to say it all. Now it might say too much.

With World Emoji Day approaching, it's a good opportunity to recognize how important these digital pictures have become.
Canada will face a 35% tariff on exports to the United States starting Aug. 1, U.S. President Donald Trump said on July 9 in a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 11, 2025

Trump puts 35% tariff on Canada and eyes 15% to 20% tariffs for others

U.S. President Donald Trump told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney the new rate would go into effect on Aug. 1 and would go up if Canada retaliated.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (center) waves to attendees as he departs after delivering a campaign speech in Yokohama on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 11, 2025

What Japanese politics could look like after Upper House election

Growing uncertainty over whether the ruling coalition can retain its majority in the Upper House has given strength to a number of possible outcomes of the election.
Nakagin Capsule Tower architect Kisho Kurokawa in front of the structure two years after its completion in 1972.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 11, 2025

The many lives of Nakagin Capsule Tower on display at New York’s MoMA

“The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower” showcases the 50-year history of the building through nearly 45 pieces of contextual material and one of the capsules on display.
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.
Residential buildings in Cairo. The Japan Foundation will begin distributing Japanese movies online for free in all 54 countries in Africa on Tuesday, with many users in north African countries such as Egypt.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2025

Japan Foundation to distribute Japanese movies in Africa

The move comes ahead of the ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD 9, to be held in the city of Yokohama Aug. 20-22.
Moomin characters take part in a ceremony for Finland’s National Day event at the World Expo in Osaka last month.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2025

Moomins enjoy enduring popularity in Japan on their 80th anniversary

The charming characters along with their diverse cast of companions from the series have captivated Japanese audiences for generations.
Britain’s abolition of the "nondom" tax regime has triggered an exodus of wealthy residents to tax-friendlier countries like Italy, sparking warnings of lost revenue, diminished appeal and a missed chance to reform the system more effectively.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2025

The ultrarich move in herds. Just ask London.

The beneficiaries are countries such as Italy, which is attracting wealthy foreign residents with an annual flat fee of €200,000.
Only two months into his role as agriculture minister, Shinjiro Koizumi has become the face of a risky political bet by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2025

Japan’s ‘rice minister’ is ruling party’s biggest election gamble

Shinjiro Koizumi’s reformist drive is testing the loyalty of Japan's rural population — the LDP’s most dependable voter bloc.
Shizuku Urata, a fixed-net fishery worker in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2025

Women in Japan's fishery sector on the rise

Efforts to attract women into the industry reflect the struggles of many fishery businesses in finding young workers who can continue operations in the future.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping attends a meeting during the the Shanghai Cooperation Organization forum in Beijing on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 16, 2025

China’s growth momentum offers Xi rare window to fight deflation

Gross domestic product beat expectations to grow 5.2% between April and June, bringing the official 5% expansion goal for the year within reach.
Tokyo police arrested Yuga Matsuoka, an employee at a leasing company, Wednesday on suspicion of attempted arson after he allegedly tried to set fire to a tourist go-kart company’s property.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 16, 2025

Tokyo police arrest man for attempted arson at tourist go-kart company

Yuga Matsuoka, the 28-year-old suspect, confessed to the crime, calling the sound from the karts’ engines "noisy" and "stressful.”
Misa Kimura is the main producer for Kawaii Lab, a project by entertainment agency Asobisystem whose groups have found success by pairing a social media-first strategy with a fresh perspective on traditional idol-pop tropes.
CULTURE
Jul 17, 2025

Kawaii Lab redefines idol pop for the TikTok generation

The idol-pop project's main producer, Misa Kimura — a former idol herself — is giving her performers more control over their image and sound.
One of the entrances to Pao Compound, a nine-story Silk Road-inspired complex in Tokyo's Higashinakano neighborhood
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 19, 2025

Touring the Silk Road — without leaving Tokyo

Located near Higashinakano Station, Pao Compound is an eclectic mix of restaurants, event spaces and an affinity for cultural exploration.
Visitors play Hades 2, an upcoming independent game for Nintendo's Switch 2, during the BitSummit indie gaming expo in the city of Kyoto on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jul 19, 2025

Indie game studios battle for piece of Switch 2 success

With Nintendo game sales long dominated by in-house franchises, it can be hard for outsiders to break through.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan