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A body disposal expert for criminals (Yuya Endo, right) tries to protect a defiant teen (Kokoro Morita) from a ruthless gangster in “Tatsumi.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 18, 2024

'Tatsumi’: Gang life drama goes for violence overkill

Hiroshi Shoji’s blood-soaked feature presents a sympathetic and layered protagonist fighting to make amends.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election campaign rally in Agartala, India, on Wednesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 19, 2024

As India's election kicks off, extreme heat poses threat to voters

Polling stations are bracing for blazing temperatures following warnings from the nation's meteorological service.
Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Apr 21, 2024

Hearing the impact of climate change in Okinawa, one bird call at a time

From Okinawa to Australia, “passive acoustic monitoring” projects are feeding scientists with data about changes to ecosystems and biodiversity.
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 22, 2024

Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins

This year’s installment of the photography festival highlights underrepresented groups from around the world — while avoiding anything too challenging.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 28, 2024

Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.

As with for any single parent, life can present challenges. For those times, you'll need to learn resilience, perseverance and attention to detail.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida rides on a forestry processor during an inspection of afforestation in Hitachiomiya, Ibaraki Prefecture, in October.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2024

Japan groups eye online market to promote use of domestic lumber

The process of reforestation has faced obstacles, primarily stemming from the considerable burdens placed on forest owners.
An electric screen displaying the Nikkei share average and yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar outside a brokerage in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 1, 2024

For Japan Inc., the weak yen may be too much of a good thing

The currency's weakness has pushed up costs of raw materials, food and fuel.
Jiro Suzuki, head of Kosaka Railroad Railpark in Kosaka, Akita Prefecture, stands next to a retired Akebono sleeper train that is now being used as a lodging facility, on April 22.
JAPAN / Society
May 3, 2024

Lodging in 'blue train' to resume in Japan after five-year hiatus

Services using the retired sleeper train are set to restart Saturday after five years of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
People are rescued after flooding in Canoas, at the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul on Sunday.
WORLD / Society
May 6, 2024

Death toll from southern Brazil rainfall rises to 78, with many still missing

Floods from several days of storms have affected more than two-thirds of some 500 cities in Rio Grande do Sul, leaving more than 115,000 people displaced.
Jordan Bardella, President of the French far-right National Rally party, gestures he attends a political rally during the party's campaign for the European elections in Perpignan, France, on May 1.
WORLD / Politics
May 6, 2024

Just how dangerous is Europe’s rising far right?

Anti-immigration parties with fascist roots — and an uncertain commitment to democracy — are now mainstream.
McLaren's British driver Lando Norris celebrates on the podium after winning the 2024 Miami Formula One Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS
May 6, 2024

McLaren's Norris wins Miami Grand Prix for maiden F1 win

Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished sixth and eighth with RB's Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda ending seventh.
The Kioke Summit on Shodoshima has seen a steady rise in participants from dozens in its early days 12 years ago and about 100 in 2019 to more than 600 this past February.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 8, 2024

On Japan’s island of olives, age-old shoyu secrets survive

Each Kioke Summit features many activities including a "kioke" auction — shoyu fermentation barrels that fetch anywhere from ¥60,000 to ¥450,000.
A skeptical reporter (Yukichi Tanaka, right) about the existence of extraterrestrials travels to a self-proclaimed UFO city for a story in “Alien’s Daydream.”
CULTURE / Film
May 9, 2024

'Alien’s Daydream': Micro budget film delivers fresh takes

Yoshiki Matsumoto’s debut feature is an ambitious, multilayered essay on the UFO phenomenon with tongue firmly in cheek.
Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
May 11, 2024

How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan

Five years into the Reiwa Era and the challenges Japan's moms face are unique, though the qualities that help them persevere haven't changed a bit.
Kendrick Lamar has long been cast as the authentic and artistic representative of modern rap.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
May 10, 2024

Japanese MCs jump in on the Kendrick Lamar-Drake rap beef — and pick a favorite

The way artists here have joined the feud between two of rap's biggest names says more about hip-hop beefs in Japan than you realize.
Ippei Mizuhara interprets for Shohei Ohtani during the baseball star's introductory news conference with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Dec. 14.
BASEBALL
May 10, 2024

Gambling scandal involving Shohei Ohtani's interpreter being turned into TV series

The shocking gambling scandal surrounding Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, which made headlines across the world earlier this year, is already heading to television.
Boxer Mike Tyson calls out his opponent Jake Paul ahead of a bout, set to take place in Texas in July, at a news conference in New York City on Monday.
MORE SPORTS
May 14, 2024

Mike Tyson gives warning to Jake Paul ahead of July fight

The 57-year-old Tyson says he wants to show the world he is still a great fighter.
Boys watch smoke billowing during Israeli strikes east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 14, 2024

Celebrities face digital backlash over Gaza silence

For months, activists have flooded the comments sections of social media sites, urging stars to join calls for a cease-fire in the war.
A white flag residents displayed to express their intention to peacefully keep watch over the neighborhood, is seen on a temporary roadblock residents set up in the Magenta district of Noumea, New Caledonia, on Thursday.
WORLD
May 16, 2024

Four dead in New Caledonia riots; France declares state of emergency

Rioting broke out over a new bill lawmakers adopted in Paris that will let French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years vote there.
Projections consistently show that low-lying Bangkok risks being inundated by the ocean before the end of the century.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 16, 2024

Climate change could force Thailand to relocate its capital, official warns

Projections consistently show that low-lying Bangkok risks being inundated by the ocean before the end of the century.
Vendors protect themselves from the scorching heat and sun by using big shades and umbrellas in the Kalighat Temple area of Kolkata, India. The city is facing multiple extreme heat days this summer and citizens are trying to find ways to cope with the weather.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 16, 2024

Heat waves are testing India's ability to protect 1.4 billion people

Attempts to improve resilience to extreme heat have often been ill-conceived.
A scene following an Israeli strike on Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on April 22. Israel has carpet-bombed Gaza, obliterating neighborhoods and targeting hospitals, mosques, schools and camps for displaced people, according to a U.N. report.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2024

Impunity in Gaza is a threat to the international order

Israel's disregard for human rights and international law in Gaza, and the lack of consequences for such actions, are eroding the liberal international order that Japan relies on.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (left) and then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in the Kremlin on May 7. While President Vladimir Putin has no real challengers, powerful actors within his government are vying against each other.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2024

The battle of ministries in Putin’s Russia

Historical parallels suggest that Putin’s top-down approach, like Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization and Gorbachev’s perestroika, risks sparking opposition by causing intra-elite infighting.
Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video on Sunday.
WORLD
May 27, 2024

Scores killed as Israel strikes tent city in assault on Rafah

The Israeli military said it carried out the strike based on "precise intelligence” and that it killed two "senior” Hamas officials.
A SAIC Motor MG EXE181 concept EV during the Beijing Auto Show earlier this year.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 27, 2024

Xi’s China EV dream came true, but 10 years on, walls are going up.

China also overtook Japan as the largest auto exporter, but such achievements are also adding to tensions with the West.
A boy walks past a mural painted outside the house where former South African President Nelson Mandela once lived in, in Johannesburg's Alexandra township, on June 9, 2013.
WORLD / Society
May 27, 2024

Mandela's vision for South Africa fades as nation closes door to migrants

Immigration has become a hot issue in the run-up to the country's May 29 national vote, the first in which most people have no memory of decades of apartheid.
French President Emmanuel Macron gives a speech during the European Youth Festival "Fete de l'Europe" (Festival of Europe) in front of the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) in Dresden, eastern Germany, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 28, 2024

Macron calls far-right rise an 'ill wind' for Europe

French President Emmanuel Macron's trip comes two weeks ahead of European Union elections, in which polls are indicating his centrist coalition is trailing the far right.
The African National Congress’ manifesto launch at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Feb. 24
WORLD / Politics
May 28, 2024

Where South Africa’s crunch election will be won and lost

As the country heads into its tightest election since apartheid ended in 1994, the ANC is facing competition like never before.
A giant screen showing news footage of military drills conducted in areas around the island of Taiwan by the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), in Beijing on May 24
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2024

Taiwan says China is 'nibbling away' at its space, trying to create a new normal

Chinese pressure keeps Taiwan out of most international bodies, causing it to face a huge amount of obstruction in its attempts to take part in international organizations.
Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's president, during the election result announcement at the Independent Electoral Commission national results center in Midrand, South Africa, on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2024

South Africa’s ANC courts rivals after election humiliation

The African National Congress' slump comes after years of economic mismanagement and corruption saddled the country with high unemployment and weak growth.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji