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August 06, 2025
 

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The exhibition of Fujimoto’s architecture surveys his career to date, as well as looks ahead as shown in his proposal of a future floating city designed in collaboration with data scientist Hiroaki Miyata.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 4, 2025

The future is bright inside the visionary mind of architect Sou Fujimoto

From a model of the Grand Ring you can walk through to a futuristic city design, the architect’s exhibition at Mori Art Museum is an invitation to engage with architecture.
Farmers spray herbicide at Kazuhachi Hosaka's rice farm in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, on June 19.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2025

In reversal, Japan now wants rice farmers to produce more. Will it work?

The new direction has taken on an unexpected urgency as Japan grapples with a shortage of the all-important staple.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama attends a long-life prayer offering ceremony at the Main Tibetan Temple in McLeod Ganj, near Dharamsala on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 5, 2025

Dalai Lama hopes to live beyond 130 years, much longer than predicted

The Nobel Peace Prize winner was speaking during a ceremony to offer prayers for his long life, ahead of his 90th birthday on Sunday.
A person wears a mask depicting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the back of the head during the Budapest Pride March on June 28.
WORLD / Society
Jul 7, 2025

Inside Budapest Pride: How organizers defied Orban's ban

The team behind the parade in Budapest went offline, meeting in private behind closed doors with everyone leaving their laptops and phones outside.
Lei Jun introduces the Xiaomi YU7 sport utility vehicle during a launch event in Beijing on June 26.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 7, 2025

Xiaomi founder’s bold EV bet is paying off where Apple’s failed

The tech firm's success in the EV space has burnished founder Lei Jun’s reputation, making it one of the most valuable companies in China.
Tobias Bieker settled in Osaka in 2018 and started "Unpacking Japan" as a side project with ZenGroup five years ago.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 11, 2025

Tobias Bieker: ‘A good interviewer helps the guest shine’

The host of the "Unpacking Japan" podcast offers his take on Osaka life, Japanese jazz and writing fiction.
Though Netflix remains the dominant choice globally for anime viewers, Amazon Prime Video has also invested heavily in anime, steadily adding titles to their catalogue.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 9, 2025

Once a niche, anime is now mainstream content for Netflix and other streaming services

Today, more than half of Netflix’s global users watch anime on its service, with shows such as “Sakamoto Days” proving to be massive hits.
A Beijing store selling merchandise based on the "boys’ love" genre of graphic novels on June 16
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2025

China detains female writers of 'boys' love' content in porn crackdown

The detentions since March have triggered debate on social media about the limits of free speech and the apparent sexist nature of the crackdown.
Meta hired Ruoming Pang, who ran Apple’s AI models team, with a pay package in the hundreds of millions over a several-year period, according to sources.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 10, 2025

Meta poached Apple’s Pang with pay package of over $200 million

Apple didn’t try to match Meta's offer to engineer Ruoming Pang as it far exceeded pay at the company for leaders other than CEO Tim Cook.
Police officers stand guard as people take part in a protest against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as part of a corruption investigation, in front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality building in Istanbul on March 26.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 10, 2025

Hundreds of Erdogan opponents detained in claimed corruption crackdown

The probe has targeted only municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People's Party, the party of modern Turkey's secularist founder.
Hyun Bin (center) plays real-life Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun in “Harbin.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 11, 2025

‘Harbin’: Somber historical drama sees act of mercy lead to bloodshed

Hyun Bin portrays real-life Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun as a complex figure shrouded in a sense of doom in Woo Min-ho’s film.
A high school senior (Taisuke Niihara, center), his girlfriend (Yuki Araho, left) and their alcoholic teacher (Yuka Kouri, right) find themselves in a lopsided love triangle in Toshiya Kominami’s “Young & Fine.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 11, 2025

‘Young & Fine’: Teenage horndog tale balances heart and hormones

The oddball sensibility of Toshiya Kominami’s coming-of-age film, paired with Yuka Kouri’s winning performance, elevates a questionable setup into something surprisingly human.
The museum's curators selected a wide array of works from the archives for the milestone exhibitions. Among other photos, Nobuyoshi Araki's work from the series "Winter Journey" (1990) was included in the "Continuity and Change" exhibition that concluded in June.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 11, 2025

Rare vintage shots and first-time shows at TOP’s 30th anniversary

The 2025 schedule includes two exhibitions showcasing the museum’s permanent collection and three solo shows that focus on the work of Takano Ryudai, Luigi Ghirri and Pedro Costa.
Nakagin Capsule Tower architect Kisho Kurokawa in front of the structure two years after its completion in 1972.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 11, 2025

The many lives of Nakagin Capsule Tower on display at New York’s MoMA

“The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower” showcases the 50-year history of the building through nearly 45 pieces of contextual material and one of the capsules on display.
The USS Warrior arrives in the city of Niigata on Saturday as part of moves to enhance bilateral cooperation.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2025

U.S. minesweeper makes port call in Niigata

It is the first time since 2018 that a U.S. warship has visited Niigata.
A Cambodian guide (left) gives an explanation about the exhibit as tourists look at portrait photos of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 13, 2025

Cambodia marks UNESCO recognition of Khmer Rouge sites as places of 'peace and reflection'

The Khmer Rouge sites mark Cambodia's fifth World Heritage listing, and is the country's first modern-era nomination and among the first globally tied to recent conflict.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrives at the Prime Minister's Office in Nagatacho, Tokyo, on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 15, 2025

Ishiba may meet top U.S. tariff negotiator Scott Bessent in Tokyo this week

The prime minister is understood to be aiming for a path to agreement in the ongoing bilateral tariff negotiations by meeting with the U.S. top negotiator in person.
The Sanseito party, led by Sohei Kamiya, is surging in the polls with anti-immigration talk, but its rise is likely just a short-lived protest vote rather than the start of lasting right-wing populism.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 15, 2025

Japan’s right-wing fringe is no MAGA or reform movement

The Sanseito party is surging in polls with anti-immigration talk, but its rise is likely just a short-lived protest vote rather than the start of lasting right-wing populism.
Mod's memoir “Things Become Other Things” chronicles his walking trips across the Kii Peninsula, surveying “a graceful end to a certain life cycle.”
CULTURE / Books
Jul 16, 2025

Craig Mod's life in motion in a disappearing Japan

In “Things Become Other Things,” the longtime resident of Japan captures that grace that lingers in slowly vanishing countryside towns.
A call girl (Kaho Seto) traumatized by the death of her young daughter becomes entangled with a strange client in “New Religion.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 17, 2025

‘New Religion’: Chic debut is low on shivers

Keishi Kondo’s horror film dives deep into dream logic and dread, but its emotional detachment leaves a chill that’s more cold than scary.
Two university students (Sara Minami, left, and Fumika Baba) with grim family lives find camaraderie and warmth in each other in “Love Doesn't Matter to Me.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 17, 2025

‘Love Doesn't Matter to Me’: Romance takes a backseat to female friendship

In Aya Igashi’s unconventional coming-of-age drama, not all people deserve forgiveness and not all women need love to thrive.
At the Asia's 50 Best Bars 2025 awards ceremony, 20 new entries were added to the list, reflecting the increasing diversity and creativity of Asia's bar scene.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 17, 2025

Tokyo nabs four spots on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list

Two of the city’s bars, Bar Benfiddich and Virtu, drop ranks while this year’s list showcases a wider diversity with several new entries from places like Jakarta and Bengaluru.
A board announces that no works were awarded the Akutagawa and Naoki literary prizes on Wednesday evening in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 17, 2025

Akutagawa and Naoki award decision marks rare absence of literary prizewinners

Selection committee members were disappointed by the lack of a majority vote in the second round, insisting that the nominated works moved many readers and were worth reading.
A student leaves the secondary school building built by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kere, in Kere's home village of Gando, Burkina Faso, on June 3, 2022.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 17, 2025

How schools are being built for extreme heat — without air conditioning

With techniques such as cross-ventilation and materials such as clay, architects around the world are adapting schools to climate change without the use of air conditioning.
Pham Thi Bich Hau (fifth from left) began translating and interpreting for the Vietnamese community in Japan in 2013, when she was working for a trainee management organization. She went on to found the Vietnam Women's Union in Japan, organizing activities like the Tet festival pictured here.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Jul 21, 2025

The mothers holding up Japan's Vietnamese community

Online support groups and in-person events are helping Vietnamese women from all walks of life manage motherhood abroad.
One of Leonard Foujita’s biggest muses was himself. He painted self-portraits, often with a cat on his side, looking back at the viewer. He posed for photographers throughout his life, the displayed photos showing he retained his signature bowl cut and round glasses.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 18, 2025

The self as a muse: Leonard Foujita's world in paintings and photos

“Foujita: Painting and Photography” at Tokyo Station Gallery is being billed as the first exploration of the artist as a photographer and has been a decade in the making.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi visits a rice farm in Ibaraki Prefecture on July 9. Inflation is eating into household budgets, and higher prices are causing much concern among the Japanese public.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2025

In Japanese politics, rice is the 'third rail'

If inexperienced politicians inadvertently damage Japan’s food security, voters will send them packing.
Rain gear? Check. Chicken hat? Check
CULTURE / Music
Jul 19, 2025

What to pack if you are heading to the Fuji Rock Festival

For those headed to the Fuji Rock Festival, these essential items will go a long way in making your festival experience a rousing success.
Yukio Iokibe’s “Noto Democracy" centers on Motoyuki Takii, a former junior high school teacher who publishes a handwritten newspaper every month to encourage the residents of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, to engage in local politics.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 20, 2025

‘Noto Democracy’ and the slow work of civic change

As rural towns in Japan decline, Yukio Iokibe’s documentary offers a hopeful reminder that democracy endures through advocacy, persistence and human connection.
An event featuring maiko (young female entertainers) is held at the Hotel Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu in the city of Kyoto.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2025

Experiential tourism key to driving inbound spending in Japan

The consumption patterns of visitors to Japan have been shifting as their enthusiasm for purchasing luxury items appears to be waning.
China’s unbeatable new production model export
China is not merely moving more goods; it is exporting a new, ruthlessly efficient production model powered by automation, AI and state-guided industrial optimization.
Extreme heat in Japan set to peak this week
People shield their eyes from the sun as they walk through a street on a hot day in Tokyo on July 26.
How Pakistan shot down India's cutting-edge fighter using Chinese gear
An Indian Air Force pilot gets out of a Rafale fighter jet during its induction ceremony at an air force station in Ambala, India, September 2020.
Australia announces new warships will come from Japan
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate Niyodo sails at an undisclosed location in this image released Tuesday.
Italy's fast fashion hub becomes Chinese mafia battlefield
Signs for fast-fashion factories in Prato, Italy, on Friday. Chinese crime groups in the district thrive on the "Prato system" rife with corruption in the fast-fashion sector.
Australia announces new warships will come from Japan
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate Niyodo sails at an undisclosed location in this image released Tuesday.
Fuji Rock's weekend of surprises was one of its best yet
Radwimps lead singer Yojiro Noda threw himself into the rock band’s Green Stage performance ahead of headliner Vampire Weekend.
How Trump is gaslighting on climate change — with Japan’s help
The Bishu Maru LNG tanker, owned by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, next to the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas
With a new distillery, Suntory makes a spirited move on gin market
A staff inspects a distillation pot still at Suntory's new Osaka Spirits & Liqueurs Craft Distillery, which will focus on gin production and help Suntory capture a bigger slice of the fast-growing gin market.
Junglia brought dinos back to Okinawa. But will it bring tourists?
At Panorama Dining, one of Junglia’s two proper restaurants that also doubles as the rooftop Inifinity Terrace overlook, guests can pay extra to sit in balcony tables made to look like birds’ nests overlooking the park grounds.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped
By Elizabeth Beattie

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