Search - 2023

 
 
The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2025

Trump aims at Chinese students and tech in threat to truce with Xi

Just weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump declared a "total reset” with China following a trade truce in Geneva, tensions are rising again between the world’s biggest economies.
Prices of more than 1,900 food items, including precooked rice products, will be raised next month, three times the year-before level, according to research company Teikoku Databank.
JAPAN
May 30, 2025

Prices to rise for 1,932 food products in Japan in June

The number marked the sixth consecutive month of increase, boosted by rising prices of rice.
Nippon Steel’s pursuit of U.S. Steel may succeed thanks to a U.S. veto-wielding golden share, but the high costs, political concessions and strategic risks suggest the deal could end up being a costly misstep.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 30, 2025

Stop the steel! Japan’s giving too much away in this deal.

Nippon Steel risks handcuffing itself giving Trump a golden share.
The Trump administration's escalating campaign against Harvard — cutting billions in funding, blocking foreign students, and threatening its independence — marks an unprecedented attack on U.S. higher education.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2025

U.S. soft power is a casualty in Trump’s war on Harvard

The fight against Harvard will do extensive and potentially irreparable injury. It is an extraordinary act of self-harm.
Tokyo-listed Dai-ichi Life has been aggressively expanding beyond traditional life insurance in Japan and focusing on asset management as one of its growth areas.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2025

Dai-ichi Life to buy $1.1 billion M&G stake in partnership

Tokyo-listed Dai-ichi Life has been aggressively expanding beyond traditional life insurance in Japan and focusing on asset management as one of its growth areas.
Rice from government stockpiles is sold at a store in Sendai on Saturday.
JAPAN
May 31, 2025

41% of Japanese rice farmers expect price drop in 2026

A share of 72.3% of farmers, however, expect prices for 2025 rice to be higher than for 2024 rice.
The defense chiefs of “the Squad” grouping, which brings together Japan, Australia, the U.S. and the Philippines, meet Saturday in Singapore for talks on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue regional security summit.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 31, 2025

‘Squad’ defense chiefs meet with eye on countering China

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the grouping the most “strategically positioned to manifest deterrence" amid “an unprecedented military buildup by China.”
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has said he will not compete in flag football at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
OLYMPICS
Jun 1, 2025

Mahomes says he will not participate in Olympic flag football

NFL teams approved a resolution last month allowing their players to compete in flag football at the LA Games.
U.S. President Donald Trump smiles before speaking in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jun 1, 2025

Trump tariffs face threat at top court — over rulings that blocked Biden

The court’s conservative majority ruled that federal agencies can’t decide sweeping political and economic matters without clear congressional authorization.
Otakukon, an anime, manga and cosplay meet in Harare, Zimbabwe, last August. Japan should take advantage of decades worth of hugely popular cultural content by taking the big swings in bringing its own stories to global audiences.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 1, 2025

Japan can ride the anime wave to become the new soft superpower

It's time for Japan to better leverage anime's global popularity, reaching international audiences via streaming platforms while opening the door to other cultural exports.
Displaced Palestinians return from a food distribution center in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
WORLD
Jun 2, 2025

Israel denies Gaza ministry claim soldiers killed more than 30 aid seekers

Israel's military said that an initial inquiry found soldiers had not fired on civilians while they were near or within the distribution site.
A woman walks past posters of South Korea's presidential candidates on Saturday, ahead of the upcoming June 3 election in Seoul.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Misinformation hits South Korea's upcoming election

Many of the claims focus on foreign interference, tapping into local fears of meddling by China, or fabricating support.
A screen shows the Muchu College metaverse school, with avatars and the face of Hiroaki Tsujita, CEO of operator Wowfull.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jun 16, 2025

Metaverse and local subsidies help children in alternative learning

Municipalities are subsidizing the use of alternative educational institutions to help families with children who are not attending regular schools.
People watch the sunset in Ronda, southern Spain, on Thursday as the country faces its first heatwave of the season.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 2, 2025

Half the world has faced an extra month of extreme heat, study finds

The island of Aruba was the worst affected, recording 187 extreme heat days in a one-year period — 45 more than expected in a world without climate change.
Philippines Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro speaks at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Philippines vague on U.S. missile deployments, but clear on one thing

Manila has already secured the funds to buy its own midrange missiles, according to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.
Displaced Palestinians carrying relief supplies return from an aid distribution center in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Trump vowed to remake aid. Is Gaza the future?

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is distributing food through several hubs in the war-ravaged territory, with contracted U.S. security and Israeli troops.
Polish President-elect Karol Nawrocki in Warsaw on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Pro-Trump nationalist wins Poland’s presidential election

Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian and former boxer, won 50.9%, while Rafal Trzaskowski took 49.1%, according to calculations based on electoral commission data.
A woman attends the World AI Conference in Shanghai in July 2023. Although AI models are showing more deceptive and self-protective behavior, some governments are scaling back safety efforts just as oversight is becoming most critical.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2025

AI sometimes deceives to survive. But is there anybody who cares?

AI is showing some bright red flags: behavior described by researchers as self-preserving and deceptive.
Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of Ispace. The Resilience lunar lander could become the company's first to touch down on the moon on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 2, 2025

Japanese startup Ispace prepares for lunar lander to touch down on the moon

The goal is to achieve a soft landing near the Mare Frigoris, or Sea of Cold, in the moon’s northern hemisphere.
Cranes at the Port of Los Angeles on May 13. U.S. President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs will kick in on July 8 after 90-day pause.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

U.S. pushes countries for best offers as tariff deadline looms

It will evaluate the responses, to be submitted by Wednesday, within days and offer "a possible landing zone."
A mining machine at the Bayan Obo mine containing rare earth minerals in Inner Mongolia, China, in 2011
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

China’s rare earths grip gives Xi leverage in U.S. trade duel

For years, Washington was believed to have the advantage over China in the fight for technological dominance thanks to its grip on semiconductor supply chains.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called for a parliamentary confidence vote in a bid to demonstrate continuing support for his pro-EU government, after nationalist Karol Nawrocki won the Polish presidential election.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Tusk calls confidence vote after nationalist wins Polish presidential election

European far-right leaders welcomed the election of Karol Nawrocki, a fan of U.S. President Donald Trump who has said he will oppose the government's progressive agenda.
Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, speaks at the press briefing in New Delhi on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 3, 2025

Trade barriers and plane delivery delays challenge global airline growth

More people are flying than ever before after a post-pandemic passenger market recovery, but airline growth is being hampered.
The Fighters' Franmil Reyes celebrates after hitting a walk-off home run against the Marines on Sunday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 3, 2025

What you need to know ahead of NPB interleague play resuming

Since 2005, one constant has been Pa League dominance.
A case in which two Japanese nationals were killed in China’s northeastern city of Dalian last month is still being investigated, with local police saying the incident arose from a business dispute between acquaintances.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 3, 2025

Two Japanese nationals killed in Dalian, China

Local police have told the Japanese consulate that the incident arose from a business dispute between acquaintances, and a Chinese national has been taken into custody.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles delivers an address during the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Australian defense chief doubles down on trilateral ties but rules out Asia pact

A key factor behind the trilateralization push has been the speed at which Japan-Australia ties have been expanding.
Zheng Yanxiong, former director of China's Hong Kong Liaison Office, speaks during the National Security Education Day opening ceremony in Hong Kong on April 15, 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Hong Kong leader calls sudden removal of top China official 'normal'

No explanation by Beijing or Chinese state media was given for the change.
Zico, Brazilian soccer legend and current technical director for Kashima Antlers, poses following an interview at the Antlers's training ground in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, on May 28.
SOCCER
Jun 3, 2025

Zico warns Japanese players not to follow Brazilians into transfer trap

The 72-year-old says Japanese players looking beyond the J. League is a "positive" development — as long as they move at the right time.
The number of "zombie companies" in Japan, which do not make enough to cover their interest payments, was estimated to have grown some 228,000 in fiscal 2023, one of the highest in a decade.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jun 3, 2025

'Zombie company' apocalypse might be the point of Japan's minimum wage push

Government efforts to accelerate the pace of pay increases could lead to poorly performing companies going out of business.
Japanese trading companies' shares gained following comments from Warren Buffett at the Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting that he expects his company to hold the shares for 50 years or more.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025

Buffett inspires retail investors to bet on Japan trading houses

Japanese trading companies shares gained following comments from Warren Buffett that he expects his company to hold the shares for 50 years or more.

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