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 England's fly-half and captain Owen Farrell helped lead the team to a third-place finish at the Rugby World Cup.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Nov 30, 2023

England's Farrell to skip Six Nations to prioritize mental health

Farrell has won 112 caps since making his international debut in 2012 and is England's all-time leading points scorer with 1,237.
Vintage bicycle enthusiast and property manager Eric Knight shipped his high-wheeler from his home in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, to Japan for the cross-country trip.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 4, 2023

32 days, one big wheel: Duo re-creates historic trans-Japan trip

The pair were inspired by pioneering cyclist Thomas Stevens (1854-1935), who traveled the same route through Japan in 1886 on a high-wheeler.
Big Japanese banks are now training a generation of professional front-line staff who have little experience with rising interest rates.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2023

Staff at Japan's banks scramble to adjust to rising interest rates

Many younger employees have no expertise in dealing with the vagaries of a traditional inflationary environment.
Janos Cegledy sits in a park in Tokyo's Nerima Ward. The pianist says Japan suits him, “There is a certain civility and politeness here which you don’t find anywhere else.”
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / Longform
Dec 11, 2023

The extraordinary life of a Holocaust survivor living in Japan

Janos Cegledy tours schools, telling his story. If the students ever meet a Holocaust denier, he says, they can reply, "I met someone who was there."
Sunday's turnout of 27.5% is even lower than in 1999, when only 35.8% of voters cast their vote.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

Hong Kong 'patriots only' election falls flat with record low turnout

The slide comes after Beijing imposed a national security law used to clamp down on dissent and overhauled the system to shut out democrats.
Parents take their children for infusion treatment at a hospital in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 12, 2023

China’s battle with child pneumonia shows risks of drug resistance

In China nearly 80% of child cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae are resistant to macrolides, compared with under 10% elsewhere.
Seihan Mori, chief priest of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, writes "zei" (taxes), which was chosen on Tuesday as the kanji of the year.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2023

Talk of taxes spurs choice for Japan’s kanji of the year

The choice came as tax hikes and cuts were heavily covered in the news and discussed among policymakers.
Mena Kato, Microsoft's new director of Japan partnerships for Xbox, during an interview in Tokyo on Nov. 29
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 13, 2023

Microsoft taps PlayStation veteran to champion Xbox in Japan

Mena Kato is counting on her dealmaking skills, Microsoft’s global reach and local connections to make the Xbox a relevant player.
Since starting out as a venue for short, silly lip-syncing videos, TikTok has emerged as an incubator for consumer trends, with millions of people trying on clothes and reviewing products.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 13, 2023

TikTok Shop sees early success, taking aim at giant Amazon

In a sign of how seriously Amazon is taking TikTok, the company cut deals with Pinterest, Meta and Snapchat to let users shop without leaving those apps.
Palestinian children hold pots as they queue to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid shortages in food supplies, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD / Society
Dec 15, 2023

Desperation grows among families in Gaza as aid deliveries falter

The Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip has made it almost impossible for aid convoys to move around.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel during an EU summit in Kyiv on Feb. 3.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 15, 2023

EU grants Ukraine membership talks but can't agree on financial aid

The move comes at a critical time for Ukraine, with its counteroffensive against Russian forces having failed to make major gains.
One Japanese idiom goes, "the drawn dragon is missing an eye." It means that something lacks that crucial finishing touch.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 4, 2024

The Year of the Dragon has arrived along with a slew of idioms

Japanese sayings that involve dragons tend to invoke the powerful characteristics of the mythical creature.
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.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji