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A Rapidus factory construction site in Chitose, Hokkaido, in December
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 21, 2024

Japan’s chip spree aims to kick economy into high gear

The government’s chip strategy aims to triple domestic chip sales to around ¥15 trillion by 2030.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2024

Chinese 'overseas police station' in Tokyo raided over benefit fraud

According to papers submitted to prosecutors, the raids stemmed from an alleged illegal receipt of COVID-19 subsidies.
Buildings in the business district in Singapore. The city state hosted regional headquarters for 4,200 multinational firms in 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 22, 2024

Even China’s giants are picking Singapore over Hong Kong

The city state hosted regional headquarters for 4,200 multinational firms in 2023.
Though not wild about other cats (nor impressed at all by dogs), Jewel’s love of people has helped her bear the drastic upheaval in her life.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 26, 2024

A purr like a symphony

Jewel's purr rises in a slow crescendo that’s almost lyrical — pure music to a cat lover’s ears.
Yurii, 53, and Tetiana, 51, attend a rally of families of Ukrainian prisoners of war  in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, on Jan. 21.
WORLD
Feb 22, 2024

How life in Ukraine has been shattered by two years of war

Even in remote villages, signs are everywhere of the two-year-old war that has irrevocably changed the face of Ukraine.
An emergency vehicle outside Severance Hospital in Seoul on Thursday. Almost two-thirds of the country's young doctors have walked off the job to protest a government plan to admit more students to medical schools.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 23, 2024

South Korea health alert raised to 'severe' amid doctor walkout

The doctors taking part in the protest say the real issue is pay and working conditions, not the number of physicians.
An adult Natsuki (Manami Goto, center) and her husband (Hiromichi Aramaki, right) enter into a twisted relationship with her cousin (Mittsun, left) in “Earthlings.”
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 24, 2024

Sayaka Murata's 'Earthlings' is a fittingly wild ride on stage

The book’s gore and guts make for a fun, zany stage adaptation.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets with Ukraine's prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, during the Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction in Tokyo on Monday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 23, 2024

Where others dither, Japan delivers on aid to Ukraine

Japan is doing all it can to prove to the Kremlin that it will ultimately be Ukraine, not Russia, that will prosper when the war is over.
A relative of a missing passenger on MH370, in Beijing on the one year anniversary of the aircraft's disappearance.
WORLD
Feb 23, 2024

A decade after MH370, planes still at risk of vanishing off the map

An industrywide push to eliminate the chances of a similar case has been stymied by bureaucracy and financial pressure.
Ukrainian evacuees arrive at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in April 2022.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 24, 2024

90% of Ukrainian evacuees in Japan unwilling to return home

According to the survey of 153 Ukrainian evacuees last month, only 16, or 10.5%, said they would return home immediately if a cease-fire is reached.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Jerusalem on Feb. 18.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 24, 2024

Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu issues first plan for postwar Gaza

The proposal, which calls for indefinite Israeli military control and buffer zones in the territory, was rejected by Palestinians.
Wim Wenders (left) co-wrote the script for “Perfect Days” with top advertising creative Takuma Takasaki. Japanese star Koji Yakusho (right) won best actor at Cannes last year for his performance as the film’s protagonist, a taciturn toilet cleaner in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2024

Oscar-nominated 'Perfect Days' is 'not about toilets,' Wenders says

The director's film about a taciturn cleaner who keeps Tokyo's public toilets spotless prompts reflections on urban solitude, community and growing older.
Visnu CEO Ryosuke Chiba explains an AI-equipped security camera his company is developing for the city of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, on Feb. 22.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 27, 2024

Japan firms look to AI to bolster disaster prevention and mitigation

Tools are being developed to focus on getting timely information to the relevant parties to facilitate evacuation.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei index is on a roll, having broken its bubble-era record last week.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 27, 2024

What explains the recent surge in Japanese stock prices?

Japan needs for increase domestic capital investment, technological innovation and sound risk-taking to improve long-term competitiveness.
Hong Kong has been promised significant autonomy until 2047, but Beijing's actions have undermined fundamental rights essential for its success.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 28, 2024

China says Hong Kong’s ‘one country, two systems’ is permanent

Hong Kong has been promised significant autonomy until 2047, but Beijing's actions have undermined fundamental rights.
The United States has cautioned Pacific Islands nations against assistance from China after reports surfaced that Chinese police are working in Kiribati.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 28, 2024

U.S. cautions after Hawaii neighbor Kiribati gets Chinese police

The news comes as Beijing renews a push to expand security ties in the Pacific Islands in an intensifying rivalry with the United States.
Shipping risks have escalated due to repeated Houthi strikes in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait since November in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians against Israel in the Israel-Hamas war.
WORLD
Feb 28, 2024

Houthis say they can reassess Red Sea attacks if Israeli 'aggression' stops

Shipping risks have escalated due to repeated Houthi strikes since November in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians.
Demonstrators protest inside the Rockefeller Center asking for a cease-fire in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, as U.S. President Joe Biden attends an interview in midtown Manhattan in New York on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 28, 2024

Among key Democratic Party voters Biden faces rebellion over Gaza war

Officials say the depth of Democratic Party anger over U.S. President Joe Biden’s handling of the Gaza war has caught his campaign off guard.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 29, 2024

Politicians betting the earth on climate backlash in election year

Moves to roll back green policies and downplay climate change within the world's top climate polluters follow the hottest year on record.
Christmas lights decorate downtown Brampton, a suburb of Toronto, on Jan. 5. In Canada, a post-COVID explosion in foreign students has resulted in housing shortages and flawed academic programs being taught in strip malls.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 29, 2024

Canada’s welcome for foreign students becomes 'trafficking’ nightmare

An open-door policy has caused rental prices to soar, soured the electorate on new arrivals, and allowed colleges to take advantage of young people.
Maurice Shelton (left) and his lawyer Motoki Taniguchi spoke about alleged racial bias on behalf of the police at a recent press conference.
COMMUNITY / Voices / Black Eye
Feb 29, 2024

Making Japanese history by being Black history

Three individuals have stepped up to try and make a difference in the country we live in. They should be applauded.
“True View of Mount Asama” by Ike Taiga
CULTURE
Mar 1, 2024

Ike Taiga's revolutionary act of capturing natural beauty

Idemitsu Museum of Arts showcases the Edo Period painter's realistic landscapes at the first retrospective of his work in Tokyo in 13 years.
Alex “Rami-chan” Ramirez
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Mar 1, 2024

Baseball star Alex Ramirez’s NPO helps special kids

Founder of Vamos Together, Venezuelan Alex Ramirez played for Yakult Swallows and Yomiuri Giants, then became manager of the Yokohama DeNa BayStars
JAPAN / Society
Mar 1, 2024

More than decade after 2011 quake, Japan still slow to compile evacuation plans

The nation has failed to make progress in crafting plans to help evacuate elderly people and people with disabilities in the event of natural disasters.
The world needs to avoid the mistakes and pitfalls that go with providing debt relief and should craft sustainable solutions for financially distressed nations. 
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2024

Developing countries’ never-ending debt crisis

Creditors have a role in resolving debt crises. This means all eyes are on China, which is the single most important creditor for debt distress.
Elon Musk arrives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington to participate in the A.I. Forum in September of last year.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2024

Elon Musk sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for violating the company’s principles

Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, accusing them of breaching a contract by putting profits ahead of the public good.
Sean Williams' sled dog team participates in the ceremonial start of the 52nd Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 3, 2024

Alaska's 52nd annual Iditarod sled dog race mushes to starting line

The number of competitors this year, 38, represents one of the smallest fields going back to the first year of the race in 1973.
A military delegation arrives for a meeting Monday, ahead the annual session of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 5, 2024

China defense spending to climb 7.2% amid rivalry with U.S.

Beijing's 1.67 trillion yuan ($231.4 billion) budget makes 2024 the ninth straight year to see a single-digit hike in the country’s defense outlays.
Floating solar panels at the Canoe Brook water treatment plant in Short Hills, New Jersey
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 6, 2024

Pressed for space, solar farms are getting creative

There are solar arrays on top of big-box stores, solar arrays on yachts and solar farms that float.
Fisherman Masahiro Ishibashi (center) unloads a haul of tiger puffers in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, in February.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 6, 2024

Fukushima fishers strive to recover catches amid water concerns

The 2022 catch totaled 5,604 metric tons, roughly 20% of the yearly catch before the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight