Search - 2023

 
 
Lawson plans to sell 1-kilogram and 2-kg bags of rice it bought from the government's stockpile at ¥360 ($2.50) and ¥700 respectively.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025

Aging rice? Lawson prefers to call it 'vintage.'

As convenience stores prepare to sell government stockpiled rice from older harvests to consumers, Lawson says it will offer rice balls made of "vintage rice."
Bangladesh hoped to celebrate progress towards eradicating tuberculosis this year. Instead, it is reeling from a $48 million snap aid cut by U.S. President Donald Trump's government, which health workers say could rapidly unravel years of hard work and cause huge numbers of preventable deaths.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 4, 2025

From Nigeria to Pakistan, TB testing 'in a coma' after U.S. aid cuts

Moves by U.S. President Donald Trump have stalled vital research in South Africa and left TB survivors lacking support in India.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2025

Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation

Prison labor is no longer mandatory, which allows more time for educational and rehabilitative programs aimed at reducing recidivism.
Toyota Industries' Nagakusa plant in Obu, Aichi Prefecture. Toyota group's tender offer to privatize Toyota Industries represents an 11.4% discount to its closing price before the plan was announced.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 5, 2025

Toyota Industries buyout hinges on squeezing minority investors

In order for the buyout to work, the ¥16,300 per share tender offer will need to attract enough minority shareholders to cross a 42% threshold.
Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph speaks during a rally held by U.S. President Donald Trump (right) at U.S. Steel Corporation-Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, on May 30.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jun 5, 2025

Steelers respond to fans after QB Mason Rudolph attends Trump rally

The team reminded fans that the opinions of individual players "do not necessarily represent the view of the entire Pittsburgh Steelers organization."
Oilers center Leon Draisaitl celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final in Edmonton, Alberta, on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS / Ice Hockey
Jun 5, 2025

Leon Draisaitl scores in overtime to lift Oilers in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final

Draisaitl's NHL record-tying third overtime goal of the playoffs gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven championship series.
National Police Agency data showed a 24.1% increase in stalking-related arrests last year, with 1,341 individuals detained for violating the anti-stalking law, marking the highest figure since its revision in 2016.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 5, 2025

Stalking-related arrests surge by 24% in 2024 to record high

Restraining orders issued under the anti-stalking law also climbed 23% last year, according to the National Police Agency.
United Nations Security Council members vote on a resolution calling for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access in Gaza, at U.N. headquarters in New York on June Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2025

Anger as U.S. blocks Gaza ceasefire resolution at U.N. Security Council

It was the 15-member body's first vote on the situation since November, when the United States also blocked a text calling for an end to fighting.
Hideo Nakata, deputy mayor of Nagoya, waves the Olympic Council of Asia flag as Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura watches during the closing ceremony of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, on Oct. 8, 2023.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 5, 2025

Organizers to house athletes on 'floating village' during 2026 Asian Games

Organizers will lease a luxury cruise liner that will be docked at Nagoya's port.
From left: CTO for Ispace Ryo Ujiie, founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada, CFO and director Jumpei Nozaki speak at a news conference in Tokyo. The company said it had aborted a mission to the moon after losing contact with its lander Resilience during a daunting final descent.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 6, 2025

Japanese space startup Ispace fails in second moon-landing mission

The firm had been aiming to become the first private company outside the United States to achieve a soft landing on the moon.
The highly anticipated call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping came in the middle of a dispute over "rare earths" minerals that threatened to tear up a fragile truce in the trade war.
WORLD
Jun 6, 2025

Trump and Xi pledge more talks as trade disputes brew

In a rare call, Trump and Xi pledged to resume trade talks, but tensions over rare earth minerals and Taiwan remained unresolved.
Venezuelan migrants arrive after being deported from the United States, at Simon Bolivar International Airport, in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on April 23.
WORLD
Jun 6, 2025

Dismay and disbelief as Trump bans visitors from a dozen countries

Trump said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a "large-scale presence of terrorists."
A Tokyo bride (Mai Fukagawa, centers) finds that marrying the heir to a traditional folding-fan shop and navigating the subtleties of Kyoto’s social etiquette isn’t as easy as she expected.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2025

‘Strangers in Kyoto’: Tea, tradition and passive-aggressive politeness

Masanori Tominaga’s comedy of manners — and missteps — centers on a newcomer from Tokyo who tests the limits of the city's social etiquette.
The BOJ holds its next policy meeting on June 16-17, when the board is widely expected to keep the benchmark rate unchanged.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025

Pressure mounts for Japan to adjust bond sales as soon as July

The BOJ holds its next policy meeting on June 16-17, when the board is widely expected to keep the benchmark rate unchanged.
A police car in Manila. Philippines authorities have detained the suspected leader of the "JP Dragon" crime ring based in the Southeast Asian country.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 6, 2025

Philippines detains leader of 'JP Dragon' crime ring

The criminal organization, which includes former Japanese gang members, allegedly worked with another Philippines-based fraud group led by a suspect known as "Luffy."
Vice president of events and exhibitions for Studio Ghibli, Kenichi Yoda (right), and director and Ghibli Park creative development manager, Goro Miyazaki (left), pose at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival before receiving an Honorary Palme d'Or.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2025

Studio Ghibli marks 40 years, but future looks uncertain

A look into the legacy of the beloved anime studio.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic