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August 11, 2025
 

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The World Trade Center's South Tower (left) and the North Tower burn after al-Qaida terrorists flew hijacked airliners into the buildings in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly 3,000 people died in the incident, including 24 Japanese nationals. REUTERS
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 18, 2024

The forgotten impact of 9/11 on Japan

Though an ocean away, 9/11 was a wake up call to the Japanese people that the 21st century would not be an era of everlasting peace.
Health ministry officials inspect the Wakayama factory of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical in March after reports of health damage surfaced among people who took the firm's red yeast rice supplements.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 18, 2024

Puberulic acid confirmed as source of beni kōji health issues

The substance produced by blue mold was the cause of kidney problems suffered by consumers of the Kobayashi Pharma supplements, the health ministry said.
Ryo Yoshizawa plays a young man with deaf parents in Mipo O’s decade-spanning drama, “Living in Two Worlds.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2024

‘Living in Two Worlds’ raises the bar for depictions of deafness

Mipo O’s film about a child of deaf adults is best when it doesn’t try to educate viewers.
Marina Tsukada’s “Mitsuki, Sekai” features young nonprofessional actors in the director’s native Nagano Prefecture as their characters mature from childhood to adulthood.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2024

Intimate and revelatory, ‘Mitsuki, Sekai’ explores the quiet trials of girlhood

Marina Tsukada’s anthology feature containing two unconnected short films lays bare the inner lives of young Japanese women in unexpected ways.
Comedian Yuriyan Retriever takes on the role of Japan’s most hated heel, Kaoru “Dump” Matsumoto, in “The Queen of Villains.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 20, 2024

Yuriyan Retriever is Japan's biggest heel — and proud of it

The comedian takes on the role of Kaoru “Dump” Matsumoto, a real-life rule-breaking brawler in women’s professional wrestling, in Netflix's “The Queen of Villains.”
“Patlabor: The Movie” keeps the fun and irreverence of the small-screen series while adding a more contemplative touch.
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 20, 2024

At 35, ‘Patlabor’ now looks awfully prescient

The robot-centric film is back in theaters across Japan in celebration of its 35th anniversary, and the future it paints looks mighty familiar.
The percentage of South Korean respondents with a good impression of Japan jumped from the previous year to 41.7%, the highest level since the survey began in 2013.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2024

Survey shows record number of South Koreans view Japan positively

Nearly 42% of South Koreans have a favorable impression of Japan, according to the East Asia Institute.
Toyota Gazoo Racing fans cheer on the team at the start of the 6 Hours of Fuji race on Sunday at Fuji Speedway in Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Sep 20, 2024

For Toyota and its rivals, WEC becomes important arena amid major industry shift

Carmakers' involvement in endurance racing has taken on a new level of importance as the auto industry faces a once-a-generation sea change.
Decades after Bhutan introduced its Gross National Happiness index, the idea that gross domestic product is an inadequate indicator of human well-being and social progress is gaining ground.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2024

Is gross national happiness the way forward?

The World Happiness Report's top-ranked countries tended to be smaller Western countries, led by Finland. Larger Western economies tend to perform worse.
Visitors taste sake from Fukushima Prefecture at a Japan-South Korea exchange festival held in Seoul on Sunday.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2024

Japan-South Korea exchange festival held in Seoul

The event comes at a time where more and more South Koreans are visiting Japan as relations improve and the yen remains weak.
Yurin Fujii was among the Japanese athletes to compete at X Games Chiba over the weekend at Makuhari Messe.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 23, 2024

Japan to remain in X Games mix for ‘foreseeable future’

Japanese athletes likely hope the X Games continue to come to Japan, as the event has become special for many.
Kimberly Guilfoyle speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17. More than two decades ago, the future vice president Kamala Harris and the conservative firebrand Guilfoyle were rising legal stars in San Francisco when Guilfoyle accused Harris of trying to deny her a job.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 24, 2024

The long, strange saga of Kamala Harris and Kimberly Guilfoyle

More than two decades ago, the future vice president Harris and the conservative firebrand Guilfoyle were rising legal stars in San Francisco.
Fluminense and Al Ahly players line up prior to a FIFA Club World Cup match in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last year
SOCCER
Sep 25, 2024

LGBTQ fans welcome in Saudi Arabia, 2034 World Cup bid chief says

In August, Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia failed to meet FIFA’s own human rights requirements in their bid for the World Cup.
A woman walks in front of the Kremlin's Spasskaya tower (left) and St. Basil's cathedral in downtown Moscow on Monday.
WORLD / Society
Sep 25, 2024

Russia takes aim at those without children — while sending young men to war

Proposals to ban "the ideology of childlessness" resemble legislation passed more than a decade ago that banned "propaganda" about LGBTQ relationships.
Digital minister Taro Kono, who is contesting the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election, shows a board saying "accomplishment of reformation" during a debate in Tokyo on Sept. 14.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 25, 2024

How Taro Kono lost his mojo

Recent polls have shown the digital minister trailing behind his eight other rivals in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race.
A small-time online hustler (Masaki Suda) moves to the countryside after a big score but soon finds his enemies closing in in “Cloud.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2024

‘Cloud’: Dangers of the internet deliver full-throttle action

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's masterful psychological thriller features the director's signature creepy vibe as well as blazing guns and falling bodies.
A husband and wife living in domestic bliss — in space — are not quite as perfect as they seem in “Previously Saved Version.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2024

‘Previously Saved Version’: An intriguing premise gets lost in space

Kei Ishikawa’s psychodrama about an affluent couple that has left a supposedly uninhabitable Earth is attractive to look at but never more than mildly engaging.
“A Whisper in the Eye of the Storm,” by Canadian artists Caitlind R. C. Brown and Wayne Garrett is an outdoor installation of around 14,000 recycled lenses of varied prescriptions.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 27, 2024

Weather makes for an unpredictable artist at Nagano art festival

Fram Kitagawa’s Northern Alps Art Festival embraces its inconvenient location and the natural elements.
Members of the K-pop group NewJeans are embroiled in a dispute with their corporate backers over their creative relationship with an executive producer.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 28, 2024

NewJeans’ ultimatum casts K-pop’s displays of labor in a new light

A YouTube live broadcast from the girl group raises age-old questions about labor practices in the Korean pop industry.
Adriana Torres performs her monologue during the closing of a stand-up comedy workshop at the El Buen Pastor women's prison in Asuncion.
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 29, 2024

Comedy offers new routine for women prisoners in Paraguay

Inmates took part in a two-month workshop run by the Corazon Libre NGO, which uses comedy to help convicts prepare for life on the outside.
Musician Koshi Inaba is the latest artist to be featured on national broadcaster NHK’s Tiny Desk Concerts Japan. Based on a series from America’s National Public Radio, Japan’s version has spotlighted acts that you likely wouldn’t see stateside, like veteran rockers Kirinji and upstart pop artist yama.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 28, 2024

NHK furthers global reach with Tiny Desk Concerts Japan

Musician Koshi Inaba delivered a rollicking set for the stripped-down music series that brings cherry-picked Japanese acts you likely wouldn’t see stateside to new ears.
Dame Maggie Smith, a star of the stage, film and television, died Sept. 27 in London. She was 89. The actor is pictured here in 2015.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Sep 27, 2024

'National treasure' U.K. actor Maggie Smith dies aged 89

Over the course of her long career, Dame Maggie Smith won a Tony, two Oscars, three Golden Globes and five Bafta Awards.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris visits the U.S.-Mexico border with Border Patrol Tucson Sector Chief John Modlin (right) in Douglas, Arizona, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 28, 2024

Harris calls for more immigration controls at border and tougher fentanyl measures

Immigration is a top issue for voters. Arizona is a closely contested election state, with a high population of Latino voters sought by both parties.
Masayoshi Fujita moved to a quiet mountain village in Hyogo Prefecture after 13 years of living in Berlin, the hub of uber cool. His homecoming inspired his latest album, “Migratory.”
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2024

Masayoshi Fujita’s ‘Migratory’ is an ode to nature and nurture

The musician’s new environmental music album, created after his return to Japan after 13 years in Berlin, represents more than a physical homecoming.
The conduct and business of love in Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1867) was rough, and nowhere was it rougher than in the pleasure quarters of the capital city.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Sep 29, 2024

Good or bad, both or neither: Edo Japan and the moral conscience

The era's warrior class and its martial virtues were redundant but lived on — overshadowed by the pursuit of pleasure.
Shareholder support for Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda slid after government probes uncovered fraudulent vehicle certifications at Toyota and its group companies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 30, 2024

Opposition to Toyota’s chairman spreads among big shareholders

Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company’s founder, saw shareholder support drop to 85% last year, a record low at the time, and then a further decline to 72% in June.
A woman walks past a Samsung store in Seoul on June 28. Sources have said that the firm is planning overseas layoffs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 2, 2024

Samsung to cut thousands of jobs amid struggles in AI market

Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10% in certain markets, a source said.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on Aug. 1. In a matter of three months, Vietnam's leadership engaged India, Russia and China while securing billions in U.S. and Western investments by positioning itself as a manufacturing alternative to China.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2024

Vietnam’s bamboo diplomacy has lessons for the Global South

In just months, Vietnam engaged India, Russia and China, securing billions in U.S. and Western investments by positioning itself as a manufacturing alternative to China.
“Super Happy Forever” tells the story of a couple (Hiroki Sano, left, and Nairu Yamamoto) who met at a seaside hotel.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2024

‘Super Happy Forever’: Melancholy romance makes most of fleeting happiness

Kohei Igarashi’s nonlinear romantic drama is an understated but emotionally resonant tale of love and loss.
A talented photographer (Makoto Tanaka, left) can’t help outshining her tight-knit circle of art school friends in “See You Tomorrow.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2024

‘See You Tomorrow’: A pursuit of passion grounded in reality

Saki Michimoto's stylish and accomplished debut feature centers on a gifted photographer, her art school friends and their uncertainty about what comes next in life.
Tokyo’s WWII museums hold diverse views on war and peace
A carrier-based Type 52 Zero fighter marks the entrance foyer of Yasukuni Shrine's Yushukan, a museum that tells a more nuanced story of Japan's experience in World War II than the controversies around the shrine might suggest.
Japan starts survey on foreign nationals' unpaid resident taxes
In the most recent regular session of parliament, problems were highlighted regarding some foreign workers leaving Japan without paying outstanding taxes.
Summer bonuses at major Japan firms hit record
The fourth consecutive year of increase came after many firms raised their monthly wages this spring and as a result of solid earnings mainly among manufacturers.
Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
Weather agency warns of landslides and flooding in Kyushu as heavy rain continues
An embankment on the Amikake River that collapsed due to heavy rain in Aira, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Friday. Downpours continued in the Kyushu region over the weekend.
At Himawari Shokudo 2, Italian food with a Japanese soul
At Himawari Shokudo 2, chef Hozumi Tanaka serves Italian-inspired fare with a focus on Toyama produce, such as this appetizer of lightly blanched "hotaru ika" (firefly squid) served atop mixed wild plants and a crepe prepared from "yamato-imo" yam.
Cheer with caution: Expert advises sports fans have game plan for extreme heat
A Cardinals fan fans himself during the seventh inning of a game against the Pirates in St. Louis, Missouri, in June 2022.
Australia's warship selection signals Japanese defense industry's arrival
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate. Australia's selection of an upgraded version of the Mogami-class warship for its next frigate class could prove to be a watershed moment for Japan’s defense industry.
Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
Will the movement seeking Ishiba’s resignation succeed?
Liberal Democratic Party youth division head Yasutaka Nakasone (center) and other members speak to reporters in Tokyo on July 25.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person
By Naoko Abe

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