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Masanori Katayama, chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, said the association will work with the Japan Auto Parts Industries Association to address the problem of subcontractor bullying.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2024

Japan’s automakers vow to stop squeezing their suppliers

Member companies of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association have agreed to treat subcontractors more fairly when the latter pass on cost increases.
A protester holds a placard stating "Sunak Supports Genocide" in support of Palestinians as police stand guard during a visit from Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak to Cannock College, in Cannock, Staffordshire, England, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 25, 2024

Sometimes U.S. and U.K. politics seem in lock step. Not this year.

In 2016, Britain voted for Brexit and America for Trump, heralding a populist wave. Both countries face pivotal elections this year — but their paths appear to have diverged.
Grayson Murray tees off on the second hole during the second round of the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois, on July 7, 2023.
MORE SPORTS
May 26, 2024

PGA golfer Grayson Murray dies at 30

Murray died one day after withdrawing from the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
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.
Official data indicates at least 17,000 South Korean residents have been hit by real estate fraud in recent years, and around 70% of victims are in their 20s and 30s.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 27, 2024

Debt, suicide, fraud: South Koreans hit by real estate scams

Authorities draw flak for not doing enough to help victims or punish fraudsters who capitalize on the country's unique jeonse system in which tenants pay huge deposits.
Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture will host one of three ryokan Hyatt is set to launch with Kyoto-based developer Kiraku in 2026.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 2, 2024

Hyatt doubles down on Japan with line of luxury ryokan

The first three locations are scheduled to start opening in 2026 in Kanagawa, Oita and Kagoshima prefectures.
President of China Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa attend the China-Africa Leaders' Roundtable Dialogue on the last day of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Aug. 24, 2023.
WORLD
May 28, 2024

Post-COVID, China is back in Africa and doubling down on minerals

While new Chinese investment in Africa increased 114% last year, it was centered on minerals essential to the global energy transition and China's plans to revive its economy.
Members of the New Zealand team huddle before the Rugby World Cup 2023 final against South Africa in Saint-Denis, France, on Oct. 28.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
May 28, 2024

New Zealand Rugby set for pivotal vote after breakaway threat

Powerbrokers will vote for one of two proposals about a new leadership structure for the national governing body for rugby.
A government panel in charge of promoting women's active engagement in professional life has said gender wage gaps may be behind the outflows of young women from rural areas in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
May 28, 2024

Gender wage gaps seen behind outflows of women from rural areas

Experts have said that local governments need to make wage gap rectification part of regional revitalization efforts in order to stem outflows of women.
Those who will be employed as teachers in Japan after completing graduate school will be exempt from repaying scholarship loans.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2024

Japan to waive graduate scholarship loan repayments for teachers

The policy will apply to those who pass the recruitment examinations in the current fiscal year ending in March 2025.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Keisuke Suzuki responds to questions by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on Friday at a meeting of a Lower House committee discussing revisions to the political funds control law.
JAPAN / Politics
May 29, 2024

LDP proposes party subsidy halts for fund law violations

The draft was shown at a meeting of executives from the special political reform committee of the Lower House.
A professional single from Tokyo follows a deaf photographer to rural Hokkaido in Toshihiko Tanaka’s directorial debut, “Rei.”
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2024

'Rei': An imperfect yet compelling directorial debut

Toshihiko Tanaka’s Rotterdam prizewinner is a flawed but oddly engrossing epic.
The No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture
JAPAN
May 30, 2024

Two more Takahama reactors allowed to operate for 20 more years

The Takahama No. 3 and No. 4 reactors are the seventh and eighth to receive such approval in the country.
A soldier from the rebel Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) carries an RPG launcher near a Myanmar military base at Thingyan Nyi Naung village on the outskirts of Myawaddy, the Thailand-Myanmar border town, on April 15.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 30, 2024

Myanmar's ethnic armies consolidate strongholds as junta weakens, reports say

The military's mounting losses and growing dismay among the elite in the capital Naypyidaw has left junta chief Min Aung Hlaing's future in serious doubt.
As the world marks World No Tobacco Day on Friday, debate is growing over passive smoking in one crucial space that remains unregulated: private homes.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 30, 2024

In Japan, neighborly debates light up over secondhand smoke

Passive smoking has become a concern because many people live in multiunit apartment buildings or small houses with little space between them.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government is implementing a tax cut of ¥40,000 per person from June to ensure income growth that outpaces inflation.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2024

Kishida government's much-touted tax cut to start in June

The prime minister has stressed that the tax cut is designed to ensure income growth that outpaces inflation.
A residential development under construction in Shanghai in February. Problems in the property sector have had a negative impact across broad areas of China's economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 31, 2024

China's factory activity unexpectedly dips as property pain persists

The disappointing number adds to a series of recent indicators showing the $18.6 trillion economy is struggling to get back on its feet.
Completed in 1889, the original Yebisu brewery finally has a worthy successor in the neighborhood that still bears the beer's name.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 1, 2024

A new brew for Ebisu, the town that beer made

Ebisu and its beer are unique among communities with drinking histories. Here, the beer named the town.
Ashwani Gupta, then-chief operating officer of Nissan, in April 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
May 31, 2024

Nissan paid ex-COO $3.7 million to quit after sexual harassment claims

Ashwani Gupta's compensation figure for leaving the company is now public in a notice of the annual shareholders’ meeting, which showed he will also receive allowances.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 2, 2024

Zelenskyy pillories China over reluctance to use sway to end Ukraine war

The Ukrainian president also implored Asian leaders to attend a peace conference slated for later this month in Switzerland.
James McDonald rides Romantic Warrior to victory in the Yasuda Kinen on Sunday at Tokyo Racecourse.
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
Jun 2, 2024

Hong Kong’s Romantic Warrior battles to Yasuda Kinen win in Tokyo

Romantic Warrior became the third horse from the financial hub to top the field in the prestigious race.
Satoshi Harada, an official at the Meteorological Agency, speaks at a news conference on Monday morning in Tokyo. The agency asked people in the area to remain vigilant for quakes of a similar level for a week.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2024

Strong quake shakes Japan's hard-hit Noto Peninsula area

The magnitude 6 earthquake hit the peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture Monday, just over five months after a powerful temblor rocked the area.
Real Madrid fans crowd Cibeles square in Madrid on Sunday to celebrate their team's 15th Champions League trophy, a day after the side beat Borussia Dortmund in London.
SOCCER
Jun 3, 2024

Tens of thousands paint Madrid white after Real's Champions League win

Since Saturday afternoon, white jerseys could be spotted in almost every corner of the city.
Fans cheer after Japan's men's volleyball team qualified for the Paris Olympics on Oct. 7 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo.
MORE SPORTS / Volleyball
Jun 4, 2024

Japanese volleyball’s fastest growing fan base — female superfans

More than 80% of the fans at men’s domestic competitions are said to be women in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Friday. Kishida said Tuesday that he was not planning to call a snap election during the current parliamentary session that ends June 23.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2024

Kishida says he won't call snap election before parliament closes

Kishida's Cabinet has been saddled with record-low approval ratings, as the LDP grapples with a recent political funds scandal within his party.
Israeli soldiers ready a tank near the border with Gaza on Thursday. The Jewish state's victory in the Gaza conflict will depend on addressing Palestinian despair.
COMMENTARY
Jun 4, 2024

Israel will always be held to a different standard

Arrest warrants, campus protests and genocide accusations were not inevitable. These were the direct results of Netanyahu’s choices.
"Paris" is projected onto the Arc de Triomphe to celebrate the entry into the Olympic year, during the New Year's celebrations on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris on Jan. 1, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 4, 2024

Russian bots use fake Tom Cruise for Olympic disinformation

The video also included falsified endorsements from media outlets including The New York Times and the BBC.
Nippon Television Network in Tokyo.The publisher of manga series "Sexy Tanaka-san" has criticized Nippon Television Network for its alleged "insincere" attitude over the television drama adaptation of the manga.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jun 4, 2024

Publisher raps Nippon TV over 'Sexy Tanaka-san' adaptation

Distrustful of the scriptwriter on the Nippon TV side via Shogakukan, Ashihara wrote the last two episodes of the series herself.
The annual white paper on forests and forestry includes a special section on pollen allergies for the first time.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2024

Government white paper includes goal of halving cedar pollen in 30 years

The annual report on forests and forestry, adopted at a Cabinet meeting on the day, includes a special section on hay fever for the first time.
Al Shifa Hospital after Israeli forces withdrew from the hospital and the area around it following a two-week operation, in Gaza City on April 2
WORLD
Jun 5, 2024

Gaza's doctors were building a health care system. Then came war.

Before the war, specialist doctors were part of a strategic effort by Hamas to build a self-sufficient health care system for Gaza.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan