Search - 2023

 
 
Enrique Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys, lights a protective face mask on fire during a rally in support of President Donald Trump in Atlanta, in 2020.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2025

On anniversary of U.S. Capitol attack, Proud Boys ex-leader asks Trump for pardon

1,583 people have been charged with a crime connected to the siege of the Capitol, with about 1,100 of those cases fully adjudicated, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
"We're trying to bring a new demographic to this game of golf, and it's going to be exciting," Tiger Woods has said of the Tomorrow's Golf League competition.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Jan 7, 2025

'Golf reimagined': TGL circuit backed by Woods and McIlroy tees off

"We're trying to bring a new demographic to this game of golf, and it's going to be exciting," Tiger Woods has said.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda talks about the firm's Woven City smart town during the 2025 CES event in Las Vegas on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Toyota aims to open its futuristic city near Mount Fuji this year

The initial residents of Woven City will be composed mostly of the carmaker’s own employees and their families.
A Mitsubishi Electric Lighting LED product, which shortens installation time, in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, November
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2025

Shift from fluorescent lamps to LEDs to accelerate in Japan

Manufacturers and industry groups are calling for the early replacement of fluorescent lamps with LEDs in offices and stores ahead of a 2027 ban.
Many Japanese dating apps have ways to detail specific interests that can be as narrow as one particular TV show, game or an artist.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Swiping in Japan: How Gen Z is changing the dating app game

The once-stigmatized apps are flourishing as a new normal for dating among Gen Z in Japan, albeit with a different approach to before.
An investigation conducted by the antitrust watchdog in 2023 and 2024 found that a post office in the Kanto region collected penalty fees from subcontractors without giving them a sufficient explanation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Japan Post received administrative guidance over poorly explained penalties

Penalty fees for failed deliveries and for complaints about cigarette odors were not explained adequately to subcontractors, the Fair Trade Commission found.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda speaks during the 2025 CES event in Las Vegas on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Toyota invests in Japanese rocket startup as SpaceX races ahead

The investment is the latest sign of progress in the Japanese government’s push to nurture the country’s private space sector.
Nippon Steel CEO Eiji Hashimoto speaks to reporters about its lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Nippon Steel committed to long-shot lawsuit against U.S. government

Eiji Hashimoto, the steelmaker's CEO, says he is convinced that litigation is the “best course of action” in response to the blocking of its acquisition of U.S. Steel.
Some people are questioning the U.S. decision to block Nippon Steel’s takeover of U.S. Steel, citing the lack of clear evidence of any national security risk from Japan — a country that hosts over 50,000 U.S. troops and relies on America for defense.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 7, 2025

Biden's Nippon Steel move: A troubling snub of a key ally

Preventing the takeover of U.S. Steel is bad enough. Declaring Japan a national security risk is worse.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump gestures as he makes remarks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 8, 2025

Trump will not rule out force to take Panama Canal and Greenland

Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, also floated the idea of turning Canada into a U.S. state.
Tokyo led the country's 47 prefectures with 146 traffic-related fatalities in 2024, followed by Aichi with 141 and Chiba with 131.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2025

Japan's traffic death toll falls to third-lowest in 2024

There were 2,663 traffic-related deaths in 2024. The government has a goal of lowering the annual toll below 2,000 by 2025.
Rescue teams work amidst rubble in the aftermath of an earthquake in a location given as Shigatse City, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, in this still image obtained from a handout video released Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 8, 2025

Urgency mounts in search for survivors of Tibet earthquake

Survivors trapped under rubble will have endured a night in subzero temperatures and be at risk of succumbing to hypothermia and dehydration.
Baby Japanese eels are increasingly seen in Hokkaido but the overall number remains low.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Jan 8, 2025

Japanese researchers connect rise in glass eels to climate change

Researchers said the fact that the Kuroshio Current is shifting north is believed to be behind the rising prevalence of glass eels in Hokkaido.
An armed police officer patrols near the Ministry of Defense in London in 2016.
WORLD
Jan 8, 2025

U.K. special forces soldiers tell inquiry of Afghan murder concerns

The investigation is examining a number of nighttime raids carried out by British forces from mid-2010 to mid-2013.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic during the fourth quarter of Denver's game against Atlanta on Jan. 1.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jan 8, 2025

How Nikola Jokic channeled Larry Bird to become even more dominant

Nikola Jokic has won three league MVP awards and spearheaded an NBA title run. But somehow, this season’s effort may be the best version of Jokic yet.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange wants companies to improve governance and performance.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 8, 2025

As standards rise, Tokyo Stock Exchange delistings hit decade high

A total of 94 companies were delisted from the Tokyo exchange in 2024, the highest number since it merged with the Osaka Securities Exchange in 2013.
Prime Minister Shigeru (upper left), along with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders, takes a group photo during the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro in November.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 8, 2025

Japan PM struggles with both U.S. relations and China’s growing threats

Ishiba has to govern under the constant threat of a no-confidence vote that could see the opposition parties pull the rug out from under him if they ever choose to work together.
For store managers in their first or second year at Fast Retailing, the monthly salary is set to increase to ¥410,000 from the current ¥390,000.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2025

Fast Retailing to raise starting monthly salary to ¥330,000

The operator of the Uniqlo casual clothing stores said that it wants to attract talented university graduates in a bid to reinforce the company's global competitiveness.
Taiwanese authorities are investigating a Chinese-owned cargo ship suspected of dragging its anchor over an international subsea telecoms cable northeast of the island.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

China says Taiwan 'hyped' sea cable damage claims

Taiwanese authorities said they were investigating a Chinese-owned ship suspected of dragging its anchor over an international subsea telecoms cable.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 9, 2025

Biden to further limit AI chip exports in final push

The regulations would create three tiers of chip trade restrictions, granting full access to allies, limited access to most of the world and virtually no access to adversaries.
Migrants queue to board a bus that will take them to a shelter after turning themselves in to agents of Mexico's National Institute of Migration to look for a permit which would allow them to cross the country and reach the northern border with the U.S., in Tapachula, Mexico, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

Anxious but undeterred, migrants brace for Trump presidency

Trump has pledged tougher border controls and immigration enforcement and to launch a mass deportation operation.
According to NHK's budget for fiscal 2025, the public broadcaster will post a deficit of ¥40 billion in the year from April.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2025

NHK to be in the red for third straight year after viewing fee cut

The public broadcaster is set to post a deficit of ¥40 billion in the year from April.
Firms in Japan are becoming more proactive to fend off global rivals and activist investors showing renewed interest in the country after decades of stagnant growth.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2025

Japan’s ¥36.4 trillion M&A boom expected to grow as activist investors circle

Firms are becoming more proactive to fend off global rivals and activist investors showing renewed interest in the country after decades of stagnant growth.
Copper cables stolen from a solar power facility and cable cutters used for the theft
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 9, 2025

Japan eyeing mandatory ID check for scrap metal trading

Stolen copper wires are often brought to buyers as scrap metal, but there is no law requiring identity verification, making it easier to cash in stolen items.
Staff from Aomori Bank and Michinoku Bank, along with family members, participate in the Aomori Nebuta Festival in August 2023, with a large float sponsored by Procrea Holdings behind them.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jan 20, 2025

Rival regional Aomori banks merge to survive amid population decline

Aomori Bank and Michinoku Bank, which had long been rivals, merged this month to form Aomori Michinoku Bank.
Prices continue to outpace wage increases in Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 9, 2025

Real wages fall for a fourth month, squeezing Japanese households further

Inflation-adjusted real wages dropped 0.3% from a year earlier in November as some food prices and utility rates increased.
A busy street in Tokyo on Dec. 30. The number of influenza patients per clinic, on average, in the final week of December was the highest since health ministry records began in 1999.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 10, 2025

Japan's health ministry reports record-high flu cases

In the week through Dec. 29, the total number of reported flu cases was nearly three times the number from the same period in 2023.
In November, BlackRock and rivals were sued by Texas and 10 other Republican-led states that claimed their activism cut coal production and boosted energy prices.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2025

BlackRock quits climate group as Wall Street lowers environmental profile

The world's biggest asset manager is the latest Wall Street firm to depart an environmentally focused investor group under pressure from Republican politicians.
A government minister has said the acquisition of 7-Eleven by foreign capital is majorly related to economic security.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 10, 2025

Japan to consider 'economic security' in 7-Eleven takeover

Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa highlighted the role Japan's convenience stores can play in times of crisis, such as after major earthquakes.
Otono Kuboki, a Japanese Canadian hair stylist for salon chain Sozo, is a key figure in the company's mission to elevate the viability of Japan's hairdressing industry to foreign residents.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 11, 2025

Can an international makeover help Tokyo salons meet foreign demand?

Sozo Education aims to train Tokyo’s next crop of stylists not just in English vocabulary related to hairdressing but in the diverse needs of foreign hair types.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.