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U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in July 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 14, 2025

Americans worry Trump is too closely aligned with Russia, poll finds

The two-day poll also found little appetite among Americans for Trump's expansionist agenda.
Japanese dentist Yusuke Kamimura poses for a photograph in front of a private collection dedicated to MLB player Shohei Ohtani, inside his dental clinic in Koshigaya, north of Tokyo, on Feb. 28, 2025.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 14, 2025

Japanese superfans turn dental clinic into Ohtani mini-museum

Lining the walls of the waiting room are glass-encased displays of gloves, helmets, autographed balls and jerseys, countless bobblehead dolls and much more.
Artist Adrian Steckeweh 3-D prints otherworldly clothes and accessories for himself, in a way augmenting his reality with tangible objects.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 16, 2025

Augmented reality artist Omega C navigates a precarious scene for XR art

Just this year, XR art featured heavily in the digital art festival Dig Shibuya and is the focus of the ongoing “Machine Love” exhibition at Mori Art Museum.
Flowers placed near the scene where a woman was stabbed on Tuesday in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2025

Tokyo murder suspect stabbed woman for more than a minute

The Metropolitan Police Department believes that the suspect, Kenichi Takano, 42, had developed a grudge against the victim, Airi Sato, 22.
Jalen Brunson of the Knicks during an NBA All-Star Game event in San Francisco on Feb. 16.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Mar 16, 2025

To get big in China, NBA stars enlist social media surrogates

The trend comes as recently fraught ties between the NBA and China thaw.
Tourists gather at the Fuji Subaru Line 5th station, which leads to the popular Yoshida Trail for hikers climbing Mount Fuji, ahead of its reopening for the season in Narusawa, Yamanashi Prefecture in June 2024.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 17, 2025

Mount Fuji hikers to be charged ¥4,000 on all trails

Yamanashi Prefecture is doubling its ¥2,000 ($14) entry fee for the Yoshida Trail, while Shizuoka Prefecture will charge the same amount for its three trails.
According to changes made to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' business plan, approved by the government on Monday, the restart of the reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture is expected to boost its earnings by around ¥100 billion per year.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2025

Tepco aims to restart Niigata reactor in fiscal 2025

The restart of the reactor is expected to boost power utility' earnings by around ¥100 billion ($672 million) per year.
On Jan. 22 last year, the education ministry called on prefectural boards of education across the country to instruct schools to conduct annual checkups by, in principle, having students wear gym clothes or underwear during examinations and holding them separately for boys and girls under the supervision of teachers of the same gender.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2025

School doctors still risk complaints from parents over health checkups

A survey shows many physicians do not want to be involved in schools' annual checkups out of concern that parents do not want their children's bodies to be shown to doctors.
Myanmar from Thailand's side of the border, in the Mae Sot district on Feb. 5. Osaka police plan to arrest a Japanese man — who is being detained in Thailand for allegedly forcing a Japanese high school student to participate in a fraud scheme in Myanmar — on suspicion he imprisoned an acquaintance in Osaka last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 18, 2025

Osaka police to arrest Japanese man detained in Thailand

The arrest could happen as early as March 25, after he is transferred to Japan from Thailand.
Releasing on March 20, Assassin's Creed Shadows excels in atmosphere and open-world gameplay but falls short of narrative expectations.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 19, 2025

Assassin’s Creed Shadows puts samurai style over substance

Ubisoft’s latest game is a gorgeous jaunt through feudal Japan entirely unworthy of the controversy surrounding it.
Megan Garcia
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 18, 2025

Teen’s suicide turns mother against Google and AI chatbot startup

Megan Garcia says her son would still be alive today if it weren’t for a chatbot urging the 14-year-old to take his own life.
Outgoing International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach delivers a speech during the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece, ahead of an election to determine his successor.
OLYMPICS
Mar 20, 2025

Strange race to lead Olympic sports gets stranger

Smear campaigns have targeted some of the leading contenders in the final days before the vote, scheduled for Thursday in Greece.
A college student (Mizuki Yamashita, right) falls hopelessly in love with a stoic yet kindhearted high school student (Ryuto Sakuma) in “My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 21, 2025

‘My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999’ shows that even stoic gamers can fall in love

Yuka Yasukawa’s sweet rom-com with feather-light comedy offers more than a pastel-hued romantic fantasy.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order to shut down the Department of Education.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2025

Trump signs order aimed at dismantling U.S. Department of Education

With a new executive order, Trump weakens federal oversight of education, taking the first step toward shutting down the department.
Megumi Koiwai (left) found refuge in writing and storytelling that allowed her to reconcile with her heritage and upbringing.
COMMUNITY / Voices
Mar 24, 2025

A community of stories: Making space for reflection and dialogue in Tokyo and beyond

Through conversations with an international writing workshop, a writer of mixed heritage finds steadier footing and a sense of self.
U.S. President Donald Trump with Elon Musk and his son at the White House this month. The Pentagon is scheduled on Friday to brief Musk on the U.S. military’s plan for any war that might break out with China, two U.S. officials said Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2025

Musk set to get access to top-secret U.S. plan for potential war with China

Providing Musk with access to some of the nation’s most closely guarded military secrets would bring into sharp relief questions about his conflicts of interest.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani was the most popular player during MLB's Tokyo Series.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 21, 2025

Tokyo Series generates company-record $40 million in sales for Fanatics

According to the company, over 200,000 fans shopped at the official MLB stores operated by Fanatics
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney gestures as he boards an aircraft, after calling for an election, in Ottawa on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 24, 2025

Carney calls snap election, saying Trump wants to break Canada

In calling the election now, Carney is hoping to capitalize on a remarkable recovery by his Liberal Party in the polls since January.
A U.S. flag flies in front of the consulate of the United States in Nuuk, Greenland, on Monday. A U.S. delegation led by Usha Vance, wife of Vice President JD Vance, is visiting Greenland this week.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 25, 2025

Trump doubles down on U.S. claims to Greenland

Outgoing Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede dubs plans by a U.S. delegation to visit an American military base and attend a dog sled race in the territory a "provocation."
Fukui Gov. Tatsuji Sugimoto has approved Kansai Electric Power's revised road map for shipping spent nuclear fuel from aging reactors in the prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2025

Fukui's governor allows three aging reactors to continue operations

All three reactors have been in operation for more than 40 years.
Tomu Fujinuma, suspect in a fraud case, is taken to Kansai International Airport from Thailand on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2025

Osaka police arrest Japanese man linked to fraud group in Myanmar

Tomu Fujinuma is believed to have been involved in a fraud group targeting Japanese nationals that was operating from a Chinese-affiliated crime group's base.
Increased reliance on AI and digital technology is weakening cognitive skills, such as critical thinking and problem-solving, as people depend more on machines for tasks that once required mental effort.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2025

‘Use it or lose it’ — a grim mantra for the AI age

In sum, “excessive dependence on AI without concurrent cultivation of fundamental cognitive skills may lead to underutilization and subsequent loss of cognitive abilities.”
Max Lesser, a senior analyst on emerging threats at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has uncovered a network of companies operated by a secretive Chinese tech firm that has been trying to recruit recently laid-off U.S. government workers.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

Secretive Chinese network tries to lure fired federal workers in U.S.

Max Lesser, a researcher who uncovered the network, said the campaign follows "well-established" techniques used by previous Chinese intelligence operations.
Students attend a job fair at Makuhari Messe in the city of Chiba on March 1.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2025

About 30% of major Japanese companies using AI for recruiting, poll says

The results show that companies are looking to AI to increase the efficiency of recruitment efforts as competition for human resources heats up.
While mobile games such as Pokemon Go are at the core of Scopely’s business, the company is developing or considering acquiring PC and console titles.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2025

Behind the $3.5 billion Pokemon deal lies a consolidation strategy

While mobile games such as Pokemon Go are at the core of Scopely’s business, the company is looking into PC and console titles.
An advertisement featuring Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 26, 2025

Tokyo Series proves to be big business for MLB — and Japanese companies

The weeklong festival of all things baseball highlights how Shohei Ohtani has created myriad business opportunities on both sides of the Pacific.
Elon Musk listens to U.S. President Donald Trump speak in the White House in Washington on Feb. 11.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Member of Elon Musk's DOGE team provided tech service to cybercrime ring

Edward Coristine, 19, is among the most visible members of the DOGE effort that has been given sweeping access to U.S. government networks.
Osamu Murata (left), the acting chairman of nonprofit Ashinaga, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Wednesday. Ashinaga, which provides financial aid to children, conducted a survey among parents and guardians of recipients to determine the challenges they face.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 27, 2025

Japan’s single parents struggle to raise children, survey finds

Such households grapple with economic hardship, "time poverty" and social isolation, according to a nonprofit that provides financial aid to children.
Shogo Yamaguchi shares his love of traditional Japanese culture with an audience of nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 29, 2025

Shogo Yamaguchi: ‘Traditional culture thrives in a peaceful society’

The Kyoto-based content creator shares travel tips and reminisces on the path that led him to where he is today.
A conceptual image of the official YouTube channel screen to be operated by the Imperial Household Agency starting April 1
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2025

Japan's imperial family to start YouTube account

The channel, which goes live on Tuesday, follows the imperial family's social media debut last year on Instagram, which now has nearly 2 million followers.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear