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Sony's potential acquisition of Kadokawa, the publisher behind Elden Ring, represents an opportunity to expand its intellectual property across gaming, anime and other media provided it learns from past failures.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 22, 2024

Like in Elden Ring, Sony must learn from its mistakes

The Japanese firm’s proposed deal for Kadokawa has great potential — if it can avoid getting stuck in the same mazes as before.
Retired pro-boxer Mike Tyson and YouTuber/boxer Jake Paul fight during the heavyweight boxing bout in Arlington, Texas, on Nov. 15. The fight highlights the need for a national boxing commission to enforce uniform safety standards and prevent exploitative matchups.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2024

Mike Tyson and Jake Paul's fight should have been illegal

Among major American sports, boxing is unique for its decentralized structure. There’s no annual schedule, season, commissioner or mandatory rulemaking body.
Motohiko Saito talks to reporters on Monday after his reelection as Hyogo governor. His surprising comeback highlights rising populism in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 22, 2024

Has the age of populism finally reached Japan?

Motohiko Saito's reelection in Hyogo sparks concerns over populist trends in Japan's politics.
Scott Bessent speaks at a campaign event for Donald Trump in Asheville in North Carolina in August.
WORLD
Nov 23, 2024

Trump taps Scott Bessent for U.S. Treasury

Bessent has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production.
While the ETH Zurich is an outlier for now in Switzerland, the decision has shone a spotlight on how universities in the German-speaking world are attempting to balance national security concerns with academia’s imperative to pursue open scholarship and collaboration across borders.
WORLD / Society
Nov 23, 2024

Swiss university applies stricter measures to Chinese students

Switzerland’s top technical university justified the move as complying with laws to counter international espionage.
Emerging Gen Z J-pop group ME:I will perform on this year's "Kohaku Uta Gassen," national broadcaster NHK’s New Year's Eve spectacle.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Nov 24, 2024

'Kohaku' still matters for J-pop bragging rights

The recently announced 2024 lineup underlines how capturing a year of J-pop in one broadcast bonanza is impossible these days.
Randy's Donuts in Inglewood, California. Replicas of the giant doughnut sculpture will be installed, where possible, at shops in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 24, 2024

An iconic 32-foot doughnut might give Randy’s an edge in Japan

The doughnut had a cameo in “2012,” where it is seen rolling down the street as an enduring symbol of end-time. Now the brand looks to tackle the tough Japanese market.
The Keikyu Line in Yokohama
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 25, 2024

Japan’s rail stocks soar on Keisei Electric activist stake news

Keisei’s stock jumped over 18%, its sharpest intraday rise since October 2008, with Keikyu climbing more than 16%.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba addresses a meeting at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters on Thursday to discuss political reform.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 25, 2024

Corporate donations remain sticky point in political reform talks

The opposition wants such donations banned but the ruling coalition maintains that a ban would curtail the political freedom of the private sector.
Kozo Iizuka (center) takes part in an investigation of the site of an April 2019 car crash in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district that he was involved in, in June the same year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 25, 2024

93-year-old inmate imprisoned over fatal Tokyo car crash dies

Kozo Iizuka died while serving a five-year term for negligent driving that caused the deaths of a woman and her young daughter in Ikebukuro in April 2019.
Chung Suet-ying poses with the Best Leading Actress award for "The Way We Talk" at the 61st Golden Horse Awards in Taipei on Nov. 23.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 26, 2024

Chinese films about COVID-19 and gay romance win big at Taiwan awards

The Golden Horse awards are the Chinese-speaking world's version of the Oscars.
Tiger Woods in action during the 152nd Open Championship at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland, on July 19
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Nov 26, 2024

Tiger Woods to skip Hero World Challenge after back surgery

Woods hosts the annual event but has played just once in the last three years due to health concerns.
Former F1 world champion Mario Andretti will serve as a director on the board of a new General Motors Formula One team set to debut in 2026.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Nov 26, 2024

GM agrees deal to enter F1 with Cadillac in 2026

The firm said it had also registered with FIA as a power unit manufacturer to become a full works outfit by the end of the decade.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito, speaking to reporters in Tokyo on Monday, denies alleged election law violations.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 26, 2024

Embattled Hyogo governor denies alleged election law violation

Embattled Gov. Motohiko Saito admitted Monday that he paid a PR agency to produce campaign posters, but he denied violating election law.
"Les Gouttes de Dieu" ("Drops of God") took home the award for best drama at the 52nd International Emmy Awards in New York on Monday. Starring Fleur Geffrier (left) and Tomohisa Yamashita, it's available on Hulu Japan, France Televisions and Apple+.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 26, 2024

French-Japanese series takes best drama at International Emmys

The joint French-Japanese-American production “Les Gouttes de Dieu” (“Drops of God”) is set in the world of wine and fine dining.
Fukuoka Prefectural Police Headquarters in Fukuoka. Police took a 37-year-old man into custody on Monday on suspicion of trespassing on a property in Dazaifu City.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 27, 2024

Japanese man broke into 1,000 homes to 'relieve stress'

'Breaking into other people's homes is a hobby of mine, and I have done it more than 1,000 times,' the man was quoted as saying.
An Iranian woman, in her house in Tehran while the electricity is cut off due to energy savings in 2021
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2024

Iran's businesses bear brunt of daily power blackouts

Iran, despite holding some of the world's largest natural gas and oil reserves, has grappled with massive energy shortages in recent months.
A man stands near a damaged house in Avivim, a community in northern Israel, on Wednesday, after a ceasefire was agreed to by Israel and Hezbollah.
WORLD
Nov 28, 2024

Northern Israel residents fume at ceasefire, still feel vulnerable to attack

Many residents of northern Israel fear Hezbollah may try to launch a ground assault, similar to the Hamas attack on Israel's south on Oct. 7, 2023.
In the United States, Temu has bid on keywords including "Walmart Black Friday deals," "Kohls Black Friday," and "Bed Bath Beyond." Shein has bid on keywords including "Walmart clothes," "Zara jeans," and "Mango dresses."
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 28, 2024

Online marketing costs jump amid bidding war by Temu and Shein

Both platforms' aggressive bids on search keywords used by competitors make it more costly for other retailers and brands to reach shoppers on Black Friday.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen celebrates with his team after clinching the Formula One world drivers' title on Saturday in Las Vegas.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Nov 28, 2024

Verstappen switches focus to reboot defense of F1 teams' title

Just days after clinching the title with a measured drive to fifth in Las Vegas, the 27-year-old will return to the track hoping he can repeat his triumph from last year.
In last month’s Lower House election, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who also serves as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, excluded members implicated in a slush funds scandal who refused to attend a Lower House ethics hearing earlier this year from the party’s proportional representation candidates list.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 28, 2024

More scandal-hit LDP lawmakers to attend Upper House ethics hearing

The lawmakers could be at a disadvantage in next summer's Upper House election if they do not attend the hearing.
According to a recent survey by Child Fund Japan, a nonprofit, one in eight minors in Japan have experienced online requests from strangers to meet or for sexual photos. Despite the potential harms of social media, strong regulations are lacking.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 28, 2024

Japan doesn't need a social media ban, but it must protect children

Short of stopping minors from using social media, Japan needs to beef up its response to an evermore perilous online environment. One that adults often struggle to grasp.
Fentanyl pills found by officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration in New York on Oct. 4, 2022
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2024

Trump places high-risk, high-reward bet on tariffs to stem fentanyl

The U.S. president-elect has vowed to impose tariffs on China and Mexico unless they stem the flow of fentanyl and migrants across the U.S. border.
The Oita District Court sentenced a 23-year-old man to eight years in prison Thursday for causing a fatal crash in the city of Oita in 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 28, 2024

Oita court sentences man to eight years in prison for dangerous driving

Initially filed as a case of negligent driving resulting in death, prosecutors later sought a dangerous driving charge, which carries harsher penalties.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the U.S. Treasury market as it sets global stock and bond prices and shapes U.S. deficit financing costs.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2024

Bessent will have to fix America's finances. Good luck with that.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of the U.S. Treasury market as it sets global stock and bond prices and shapes U.S. deficit financing costs.
Members of the Self-Defense Forces march at the GSDF Camp Asaka, which straddles Tokyo and Saitama, on Nov. 9. As part of a five-year defense buildup launched in 2022, the government has said it will raise personal income, corporate and tobacco taxes to cover the added costs.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2024

Japan wobbles on tax hikes to pay for historic defense buildup

A decision on raising taxes to help cover rising defense spending may be delayed again, a senior ruling coalition official has said.
Takahiro Imanishi (center), who was acquitted in an appeal trial, smiles during a news conference in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 29, 2024

Osaka court acquits man of fatally injuring 2-year-old daughter

Takahiro Imanishi was originally charged in 2018 with assaulting his adopted daughter in 2017, leading to her death from an acute subdural hematoma.
Despite a range of backgrounds and culinary traditions, food served as the ultimate lingua franca for chefs touring Nagano Prefecture.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 1, 2024

Putting mountainous Nagano on a plate

Nagano’s natural bounty became the star attraction as chefs from Europe, Southeast Asia and Oceania showed off their chops with local ingredients.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his policy speech at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 29, 2024

Ishiba sticks to the basics in second policy speech

Rather than expand on his broader vision, Ishiba chose to focus on less-contentious individual policy matters.
An observation deck at a Starbucks store with views of North Korea in Gimpo, South Korea, on Friday
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 29, 2024

Starbucks serves South Koreans coffee and a glimpse into the North

Hundreds showed up on Friday for the opening of the U.S. coffeehouse chain's newest store in an observatory near the city of Gimpo.

Longform

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