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JAPAN / Society
Aug 30, 2023

Media respond to report on sexual abuse at Johnny and Associates

The committee said Japan's mainstream media chose to ignore Kitagawa’s sexual abuse in order to maintain access to Johnny & Associates' talent pool.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic during his second round match against Spain's Bernabe Zapata Miralles at the U.S. Open in New York on Wednesday.
TENNIS
Aug 31, 2023

Djokovic ramps up U.S. Open bid as Swiatek and Gauff stroll

Djokovic climbed through the gears against 76th-ranked Bernabe Zapata Miralles, winning 13 of the last 15 games to ease through 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.
Taliban security personnel in Kabul on Aug. 15. So far, U.S. President Joe Biden has not decided to restore any U.S. support to Afghanistan, despite the country's worsening humanitarian crisis.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 31, 2023

Two years after exit, Biden resists calls for more Taliban contact

Some analysts and U.S. officials had clung to the hope that the Taliban had moderated since they last controlled Afghanistan in the 1990s.
Singaporean presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian gives speech on Aug. 22 in the lead-up to Friday's election.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2023

Singaporeans should vote in their imperfect elections

While the selection process for presidential candidates and the behavior of some of them may not be perfect, Singaporeans should vote on Friday.
Veteran broadcaster and DJ Peter Barakan has been a fixture in Japanese music media for decades. He is now in his third year as curator and namesake of Peter Barakan’s Music Film Festival, which kicks off in Tokyo today.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 1, 2023

Peter Barakan's Music Film Festival celebrates cinema and song

The three-week event kicks off its third edition with 31 films including documentaries, concert films and narrative films centered on music.
A child stands in front of the Hibiya Music Hall, which collapsed during the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 31, 2023

The earthquake that turned Tokyo to ash

This week we commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake.
Investors in Japan have filed a lawsuit against Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s joint venture brokerage with Morgan Stanley, seeking to recover losses from Credit Suisse's riskiest debt.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 1, 2023

MUFG joint-venture brokerage sued over Credit Suisse AT1 sales

Investors are demanding ¥5.2 billion ($36 million) in compensation from Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 1, 2023

China banned seafood from Japan. Some tourists are eating it in Tokyo.

Travelers from China seem largely unfazed despite the ban, with many local seafood restaurants seeing little impact so far.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2023

3M to pay $6 billion to settle military earplug lawsuits

The company will pay $5 billion in cash and $1 billion in 3M common stock under the terms of the agreement
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is seen on a screen during a video address for the Global Trade in Services Summit, at the media center for the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2023

The U.S., allies see opportunity and risk in slowing China economy

The U.S. and other G7 nations increasingly see evidence of deep-seated structural problems that ultimately will strengthen the West’s hand.
India's ambitious space program blasted off Saturday on a four-month voyage to the center of the solar system, a week after the country's successful unmanned moon landing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Sep 3, 2023

After moon landing, India launches rocket to study the sun

A week after a historic moon landing, India aims to expand its space presence with a solar probe that will study solar winds and their earthly impact.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 3, 2023

Kishida aims to draw 'Global South' support in upcoming trip

Kishida plans to find common ground with emerging economies over the topic of food security, an area of increased attention since the invasion of Ukraine.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrives for the Group of 20 leaders' summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November. Xi is set to skip this year's G20 summit in India, marking a major shift in how he operates.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 4, 2023

Xi’s G20 snub marks shift from statesman to China ‘emperor’

Chinese leader eyes different approach to diplomacy, reinforcing investor concerns that Beijing is becoming increasingly unpredictable.
Barbed wire fences are seen outside a shuttered Great Wall Park compound where Cambodian authorities said they had recovered evidence of human trafficking, kidnapping and torture during raids on suspected cybercrime compounds in the coastal city of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, last September.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 4, 2023

Hit Chinese movie raises fears of travel in Southeast Asia

Offering a look at the workings of cybercrime in Southeast Asia, “No More Bets” has dampened Chinese travelers' desire to go there.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 4, 2023

Japan makes progress on international cyber probe collaboration

Investigative information from the National Cyber Unit was used successfully overseas for the prosecution of a suspect.
Leaders and officials from Southeast Asia pose for a family photo during the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2023

Why Biden's decision to skip the ASEAN summit is a mistake

Though in Asia, Biden won't attend ASEAN this week. The move may be part of Washington's China containment strategy, but it risks alienating key partners.
Actor Nahana says she considers her role as a punk rocker who falls in love with an avenging hero in Takahisa Zeze’s four-hour epic “Heaven’s Story” a turning point in her career.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 6, 2023

Indie film royalty Nahana looks back on 22 years

The Cinema Novecento theater in Yokohama is set to screen 12 of the versatile actor's films as a tribute to her long career.
Part of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System near Delta Junction, Alaska, on May 5
WORLD / Politics
Sep 7, 2023

Biden to cancel oil field leases in Arctic reserve sold by Trump

Territory in northern Alaska long prized for its oil and gas potential, but also as home to waterfowl, caribou, polar bears and other wildlife.
Aziz Umerov looks at a portrait of his sister Leniye Umerova, a Ukrainian from Russian-annexed Crimea arrested in Russia, on August 11.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Sep 7, 2023

Arrest, detain, repeat: Russian war critics in jail 'carousel'

Consecutive jailings aren't illegal, as Russian law allows judges to order "administrative" detentions of up to 30 days for minor infractions.
Cuban American soprano Lisette Oropesa stars as Violetta in a restaging of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata” directed by Sofia Coppola in her opera directing debut in 2016
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 8, 2023

Rome Opera's tragic heroes resonate in modern times

For its Japan tour, the company will perform lavish productions of "La Traviata," directed by Sofia Coppola, and "Tosca," by Franco Zeffirelli.
Kazuki Paul Tsuyukusa with his dog Sunny in Fukuoka
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 9, 2023

Kazuki Paul Tsuyukusa: 'It’s better to live without being noticed everywhere.’

A former rikishi, Kazuki Paul Tsuyukusa has swapped his sumo stable for the life of a salaryman.
A man walks on a bridge over a swollen river on Lantau Island in Hong Kong on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 8, 2023

Hong Kong's heaviest rain since 1884 floods city streets and metro

Videos circulating on social media showed streets turning into raging rivers, with one showing water gushing down an escalator into a subway station.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends what state media report was a launching ceremony for a new tactical nuclear attack submarine in North Korea, in this picture released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 8, 2023

North Korea holds ceremony for new ‘tactical nuclear’ submarine

The country’s state media released photos Friday of a ceremony for the vessel, which appeared to have 10 missile tubes, attended by leader Kim Jong Un.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center), Chinese Premier Li Qiang (back, second right), U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (front right) and Indonesian President Joko Widodo (back right) arrive for the East Asia Summit as part of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Jakarta on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 8, 2023

U.S.-China rivalry dominates ASEAN talks as summits wrap up

The meetings saw the United States, Japan, China and others look to shore up regional partnerships as they vie for influence over the 10-member bloc.
Pedestrians in front of the Shinsei Bank headquarters in Tokyo in October 2021
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 8, 2023

SBI Shinsei Bank to go private to repay public funds

By going private, SBI Shinsei Bank will free itself from the shackles of stock prices and be able to pay back the public funds "at some point."
The threat of Mosquito-borne dengue fever is not restricted to South Asia as infection rates are rising globally with 4.2 million cases reported in 2022.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Sep 8, 2023

Mosquito-borne dengue grows deadlier in South Asia as planet warms

Disease experts say the worsening outbreaks of dengue are linked to the impacts of climate change.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 8, 2023

New COVID variant detected in Japan amid wave of infections

While there’s no evidence so far that it causes more severe illness, experts say it may be more capable of infecting people who have been infected before.
Harvard historian Calder Walton says U.S. leaders have ignored China’s massive, multifront intelligence push.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2023

The vulnerability of open societies to foreign espionage

Are Western nations, with their open societies, making the same mistake with China as they did with the Soviet Union?
Major Japanese food and beverage maker Asahi Group Holdings made the decision not to feature Johnny's talents in its future sales promotion activities "to prevent itself from promoting human rights violations by a business partner."
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 9, 2023

Asahi to end use of Johnny's personalities in ads

The major Japanese food and beverage maker made the decision "to prevent itself from promoting human rights violations by a business partner."
A woman takes a picture as she attends an exhibition displaying destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk as part of the upcoming celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine, amid Russia's invasion, in central Kyiv, on Aug. 21.
WORLD
Sep 9, 2023

Russia ramps up artillery production, but still falling short

Russia may be able to increase production of artillery in the next couple years to about 2 million shells annually, a Western official has said.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan