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SOCCER
Mar 25, 2025

Partey time for Ghana as World Cup dream draws nearer

The team has 15 points from six games in Group I, five ahead of second-placed Madagascar.
Masamichi Koike, head of global markets business at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, says the Bank of Japan is likely to increase the policy rate to 1% this year as long as the U.S. economy doesn’t falter.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2025

Sumitomo Mitsui markets head sees BOJ rate at 30-year high

The Bank of Japan is likely to increase the policy rate to 1% this year from the current 0.5% as long as the U.S. economy doesn’t falter, said Masamichi Koike.
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2025

New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says

The framework will enable direct communication with counterparts in partner nations and speed up coordination, the Australian Defence Force's chief of joint operations says.
Hamdan Ballal (center right) with colleagues after winning the Oscar for best documentary feature for "No Other Land" on March 2
WORLD
Mar 26, 2025

Oscar-winning Palestinian director injured in attack by Israeli settlers released after arrest

Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the award-winning "No Other Land," was released from detention on Tuesday.
Ispace's Resilience lunar lander at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Tsukuba Space Center in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, in September
JAPAN / FOCUS
Mar 26, 2025

Japanese startups driving space development

Not only large companies but also emerging businesses are hurrying to conduct lunar exploration and commercialize transportation services using rockets.
At No. 4, three-Michelin-starred Sezanne took home the title of best restaurant in Japan in this year's Asia's 50 Best Restaurants rankings.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 26, 2025

11 in Japan win Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant honors, but Gaggan is tops

The modern French cuisine of Sezanne was good enough for best in Japan and No. 4 in all of Asia.
A member of a medical team takes a patient's blood pressure during an HIV clinic day in Kampala, Uganda, on Feb. 17.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Trump’s foreign aid retreat guts funding for HIV treatments

The withdrawal is risking lives globally and threatening to unravel decades of progress made toward ending AIDS as a public health threat.
Masuo Fukuda, head of Citigroup’s investment banking business in Tokyo, says the hiring in Tokyo started in December targeting various levels of bankers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2025

Citigroup hiring dealmakers in Japan with fee pool seen reviving

The Wall Street firm is expanding its investment banking team in Japan as it bets the country’s deal fee pool will finally rebound.
While car production helped transform Germany, Italy and France after World War II, its influence in East Asia has been even more profound.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Mar 28, 2025

U.S. auto tariffs take aim at pillar of East Asian economies

Automakers form the nucleus of vast networks of group companies that impact almost every facet of working life in Japan and South Korea.
U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Jack Reed (left) and co-chair Roger Wicker at Capitol Hill in Washington in April 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 28, 2025

U.S. senators from both parties urge formal probe of Signal chat attack plan

The Pentagon was asked to investigate the Trump administration's use of the Signal messaging app to discuss sensitive attack plans.
Kazuki Morohashi showcases rice "kōji" at a Japanese sake fair held in Chongqing, China, in November.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2025

Data science helps sake break into wine-dominated market

To preserve the environment for sake production, some breweries are endeavoring to expand their sales channels overseas.
A screenshot of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Ghibli-style profile picture on X
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2025

Copyright questions loom as ChatGPT's Ghibli-style images go viral

The images raised questions about copyright infringement by OpenAI, which already faces lawsuits regarding the use of source material without permission.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the Upper House of the Diet on Friday. The clock is ticking for Ishiba's administration to get the budget for fiscal 2025 passed in parliament.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Mar 28, 2025

Is it a big problem if the budget fails to clear parliament by the end of March?

Government functions won't be significantly hindered, but the Ishiba administration's reputation will take another beating.
A guard tower at Manzanar Internment Camp in Independence, California, in July 2013. Nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were removed from their homes on the West Coast by the U.S. Army and sent to Manzanar and nine other internment camps between March 1942 and November 1945.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 26, 2025

Use of wartime powers revives internment camp memories

It took more than 40 years for the U.S. government to officially set the record straight that abusing the Alien Enemies Act during World War II was both illegal and immoral.
Oil pipelines in Alaska. U.S. President Donald Trump wants Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to join a $44 billion natural gas export project.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2025

Alaska governor to brief Trump on Asia gas push as tariffs bite

Gov. Mike Dunleavy is winding up a trip through Asia where he has been seeking investors and long-term buyers.
Rescue teams work to save residents trapped under the rubble of the destroyed Sky Villa Condominium development building in Mandalay on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 30, 2025

Aid rushes into Myanmar after earthquake kills over 1,700

Critical infrastructure — including bridges, highways, airports and railways — across the country of 55 million lay damaged, slowing humanitarian efforts.
Aryna Sabalenka celebrates with the trophy after her triumph at the Miami Open on Saturday.
TENNIS
Mar 30, 2025

Powerful Sabalenka subdues Pegula to claim Miami Open crown

Sabalenka, who was runner-up in Indian Wells earlier this month and at January's Australian Open, refused to accept the consolation trophy this time.
A worker restores an anti-U.S. mural in Tehran on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 31, 2025

Trump threatens bombing if Iran does not make nuclear deal

Tehran has so far rebuffed Trump's warning to make a deal or face military consequences.
Many families with financial difficulties are cutting down on their living expenses to secure money to buy school uniforms, computers and tablet devices for their children entering school.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 31, 2025

Needy parents eye living expense cuts to fund kids' new school life

They are finding it especially difficult to secure money to buy school uniforms, computers and tablet devices, a survey shows.
Sam Kerr was found not guilty of racially aggravated abuse last month in a case stemming from a 2023 incident.
SOCCER
Mar 31, 2025

Australia open door for Kerr's return as Matildas captain

Kerr has not played soccer in over a year after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 1, 2025

As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products

A dramatic reshuffling of Canada's retail shelves illustrates the impact of patriotic consumerism in the country.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera said on Tuesday that tariffs announced by the U.S. could result in a big economic crisis for Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 1, 2025

Trump tariffs may spell economic crisis for Japan, Onodera says

Auto tariffs in particular would have a huge impact given the breadth of the sector's supply chain in the country, the Liberal Democratic Party's policy chief says.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 1, 2025

No rest for weary Ishiba as challenges await in parliament

After finally securing passage of the country's budget earlier this week, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba now faces an uphill battle to win back the public's trust.
A fire caused by a gas pipeline leak rages in Puchong, Selangor on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 2, 2025

Scores hospitalized after huge fire at gas pipeline in Malaysia

Authorities said the blaze in the town of Puchong, on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur, had been extinguished by midafternoon.
U.S. Health and Human Services employee Julie Siegel stands outside the Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building on Tuesday as she is denied access and her badge taken away as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration reportedly begins mass layoffs of 10,000 staffers at U.S. health agencies.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2025

Trump begins mass layoffs at FDA, CDC and other U.S. health agencies

The job cuts are part of a broad plan by the U.S. president and billionaire ally Elon Musk to shrink the federal government and slash spending.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2025

Ghibli effect: ChatGPT usage hits record after rollout of viral feature

The viral trend saw users from across the globe flood social media with images based on the hand-drawn style of the famed Japanese animation outfit.
The stakes are high for the unveiling of the Switch 2 console on Wednesday, with the stock trading near its priciest level in seven years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2025

Stakes are high for Switch 2 after Nintendo’s stock valuation surges

The company's stock is trading near its priciest level in seven years ahead of a reveal of the new console's details.
The bus stop sign for the Ghibli Museum at Mitaka Station. The viral trend of AI-generated Ghibli-style images reflects both a longing for comfort in uncertain times and the ongoing debate over AI’s impact on art.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 2, 2025

For a brief moment, everything was Ghibli

ChatGPT will make almost anything Ghibli-ish, but it won’t draw Totoro.
Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing (center) arrives to meet earthquake survivors gathered in the compound of a hospital in Naypyitaw last Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 2, 2025

Myanmar's deadly earthquake brings diplomatic payoff for junta chief

The disaster opens up diplomatic channels closed to the junta for four years after it ousted an elected government in 2021 to unleash a brutal civil war.
Goro Miyazaki joined Studio Ghibli in 1998 and directed films including 2006's "Tales from Earthsea" and 2011's "From Up on Poppy Hill."
CULTURE / Film
Apr 2, 2025

AI may be coming for anime, but Hayao Miyazaki is irreplaceable, son says

Goro Miyazaki says that though nothing can replicate the depth of his father's work, new technology brings "great potential for unexpected talent to emerge."

Longform

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