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The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 13, 2023

BOJ watchers bring forward rate hike forecasts on Ueda’s remarks

Economists moved forward their forecasts for an end to negative interest rates after the BOJ chief touched on that possibility in an interview.
Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo star as Mario and Luigi in 1993’s “Super Mario Bros.,” the first big-budget, big-screen attempt at a video game adaptation.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 13, 2023

The critics were wrong. The ’90s ‘Super Mario’ flick is awesome.

On the film’s 30th anniversary, the box-office bomb is back in Japanese cinemas for a limited time with a new 4K remaster.
New Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa is seen in formal attire to attend an attestation ceremony after a Cabinet reshuffle in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 13, 2023

In Kishida's Cabinet reshuffle, two changes stand out

It will be the first time in 20 years that a woman has been foreign minister, while the new defense chief arrives amid dramatic shifts in defense posture.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at a news conference during the trilateral summit at Camp David, Maryland, on Aug. 18.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 13, 2023

South Korea’s political bifurcation will stifle any trilateral agreement

The South Korean left, which is currently out of power, has a foreign policy agenda that is incompatible with the Camp David Principles.
Ko Wen-je rides a train from Taipei to Taichung, Taiwan.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 14, 2023

Socially awkward outsider is surprise contender to lead Taiwan

64-year-old Ko Wen-je, a former trauma surgeon, entered politics just a decade ago and is running as a third-party candidate.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (front right) exchanging farewell greetings with Russia's President Vladimir Putin (front left) at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Amur region on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 14, 2023

After Russia meeting, Putin accepts Kim's invite to North Korea

Among the results of this week's leaders' summit were Russian promises of help with North Korea's fledgling space program, Russian news agencies said.
Yoji Yamada cast familiar faces in his latest heartwarming family drama “Mom, Is That You?!” including veteran Sayuri Yoshinaga (right), who has appeared in three other Yamada films. Yoshinaga plays the mother of a stressed salaryman (Yo Oizumi, left) in the new film.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 15, 2023

Film veteran Yoji Yamada warms the soul with 'Mom, Is That You?!'

Even after 60 years in the industry, the director continues to make hits. His latest offers a hearty helping of deeply felt human truths.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 14, 2023

Japan's new foreign minister: A change in face, not policy

Yoko Kamikawa's appointment as foreign minister — the first time a women assumed the role in 19 years — is unlikely to bring a change in policy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 14, 2023

New economy minister sees positive signs for end of deflation

Little is known about Yoshitaka Shindo's views on monetary and fiscal policies as he served in an intraparty post for the past eight years.
Delivery trucks at a parking area along the highway in Chiba Prefecture in April
JAPAN / Society
Sep 14, 2023

Japan set to expand visa framework to tackle driver shortage

The planned expansion of the visa framework is to attract foreign nationals to the logistics industries and to address the driver shortage problem.
England defense coach Kevin Sinfield (left) and scrumhalf Danny Care speak with reporters during a news conference in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, France, prior to the Rugby World Cup.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Sep 14, 2023

England assistant coach defends tackling amid flurry of red cards

Sinfield said the team is working on its tackling, but that the players are human and "they make mistakes."
An unveiled woman stands on top of a vehicle on Oct. 26, 2022, as thousands make their way toward Aichi cemetery in Saqez, Mahsa Amini's hometown in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, to mark 40 days since her death.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 14, 2023

Year after protests, Iran even more toxic for U.S.

Amini died on September 16, 2022, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the strict dress code imposed on women by the clerical leadership.
Olive producers check a tree surrounded by a living cover crop in an olive grove in Santiesteban del Puerto, near Jaen, Spain.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Sep 15, 2023

In climate fight, Europe's farmers turn to tech and tradition

Spain and Italy are the world's top producers of olive oil, but the industry is under threat from desertification and drought.
People look on at what remains of Derna, Libya, on Thursday.
WORLD / Society
Sep 15, 2023

Libyans come together for flood aid effort despite conflict

Inside Derna, where a torrent washed away whole districts, volunteers from Misrata, Tripoli and Benghazi were distributing clothes and food packages.
Draft documents show a hole of about €220 million ($235 million) in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s €650 million budget for this year, with the U.S. and China being the biggest debtors.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 15, 2023

Nuke watchdog risks running out of money amid U.S.-China tensions

The last time the IAEA was in such dire financial straits was in the mid-1990s.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 15, 2023

Kyoto Animation arson suspect inspired by 2001 attack

The suspect in a 2019 arson attack on a Kyoto Animation studio used gasoline after using a similar incident as reference, a court has heard.
The strikes involving a combined 12,700 workers will take place at assembly plants operated by Ford in Wayne, Michigan, GM in Wentzville, Missouri and Stellantis' Jeep brand in Toledo, Ohio.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 15, 2023

U.S. auto workers launch first simultaneous strike at Detroit Three

The walkouts at the "Detroit Three" — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — kicks off the most ambitious U.S. industrial labor action in decades.
Many scientists say more research into volcanoes is vital to gauge how far eruptions can briefly affect the long-term trend of global warming, which is primarily driven by burning fossil fuels.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / ANALYSIS
Sep 15, 2023

Why is 2023 so hot? A rare Pacific volcano is among the suspects

Greenhouse gas emissions are overwhelmingly to blame, scientists say, but water vapor from the Tonga eruption last year may have played a role too.
Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu (far left) attends the 20th IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in June.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 15, 2023

Missing Chinese defense chief signals turmoil in Xi's government

Washington has reportedly concluded that Li Shangfu, who took up his post in March, has been stripped of his responsibilities.
In "Dragon Palace," Hiromi Kawakami's new collection of short stories, middle-aged and elderly characters inhabit a world in which sexuality and attractiveness are liberated.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 17, 2023

Hiromi Kawakami's 'Dragon Palace': Delightfully raunchy and funny

In her new collection of short stories, the author returns to a world of fluid transfiguration with dry matter-of-factness and knowing humor.
Edamame are perhaps best known as a beer snack, but they can turn into a versatile topping for desserts and tofu alike.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 17, 2023

Sweet or savory, edamame 'zunda' is a soybean revelation

Today, a whopping 66,000 tons of edamame are domestically grown and consumed annually.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Sep 16, 2023

Rugby turns 200: A history of the sport in Japan

As the sport of rugby turns 200, Japan hopes to celebrate its own success in a game that first arrived in the 1860s.
Ryo Onishi’s debut feature “Feelingscape” tells a slice-of-life story about a blind man struggling to connect to others while affirming his agency.
CULTURE
Sep 16, 2023

‘Feelingscape’: Ordinary lives made poignant

Ryo Onishi’s debut feature about a man living with a visual disability and his relationships goes into close detail that is both rare and revealing.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 16, 2023

Appointment fuels speculation of LDP-Komeito-DPP coalition

On Friday, Wakako Yata, a former lawmaker who previously served as vice president of the DPP, was named special adviser to the prime minister.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Family Research Council and FRC Action annual Pray Vote Stand Summit in Washington on Friday.
NEWS Web
Sep 16, 2023

Trump should limit his comments on election fraud case, U.S. says

Federal prosecutors are arguing that the former president’s public attacks risk prejudicing the pool of potential jurors and intimidating witnesses.
An engineer works on a K-9 self propelled howitzer at Hanwha Aerospace factory in Changwon, South Korea, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 16, 2023

Inside the South Korean factory that could be key for Ukraine

South Korea has ramped up arms exports while traditional behemoths like the United States struggle with production shortages.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi attends a press conference during the International Atomic Energy Agency 's 35-nation Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on Sept. 11.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 17, 2023

IAEA blasts Iran over latest inspector exclusion

Iran's Foreign Ministry said the move was in retaliation for "political abuses" by the U.S., France, Germany and Britain.
Visitors climb the slopes of Mount Fuji on Aug. 31. The mountain has long been a popular destination for both domestic and international travelers.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 17, 2023

Tourists have returned to Mount Fuji. Is that sustainable?

A spike in visitors has created various challenges, including overcrowding, littering, strained infrastructure and a shortage of guides and rescue teams.
A United Auto Workers (UAW) union member holds a sign to mark the beginning of contract negotiations in Sterling Heights, Michigan, in July.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 17, 2023

U.S. auto talks at 'critical phase' as political pressure grows

Workers at all Big Three automakers are coordinating for the first time, with demands such as a 40% pay increase over a four-year contract.
Models of military equipment and a giant screen displaying Chinese leader Xi Jinping are seen at an exhibition at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing last October.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 17, 2023

In risky hunt for secrets, U.S. and China expand global spy operations

The rival nations are taking bold steps in the espionage shadow war to try to collect intelligence on leadership thinking and military capabilities.

Longform

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