Search - 2022

 
 
At Mount Zine’s gallery in Komazawa, Setagaya Ward, one wall is for exhibiting, while another is for zines for sale.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 21, 2025

A buzzing zine scene across Japan packs passion in multiple formats

In a world now dominated by digital media, small handmade books are a return to analog media and offline connection.
Economic losses in Japan stemming from workers' mental or physical disorders, linked to lower labor productivity, represent about 1% of the country's nominal gross domestic product for 2024.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2025

Annual economic losses from workers' health issues reach ¥7.6 trillion

The losses, linked to lower labor productivity, represent about 1% of the country's nominal gross domestic product for 2024.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach waves to the crowd during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Games in August 2021.
OLYMPICS
Jun 22, 2025

Outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach faced mammoth challenges

From state-sponsored doping by Russia to the COVID-hit Tokyo Games, the 71-year-old German lawyer faced many challenges during his time in power.
Rice paddies in the city of Asahikawa, Hokkaido. Rice is a major crop for Hokkaido, with the region having produced 562,400 tons of it last year.
BUSINESS / Economy / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jun 30, 2025

U.S. import pressure raises concerns for Hokkaido agriculture

The U.S. is nudging Japan to import more rice, soybeans, and maize — vital crops that support Hokkaido's economy.
Arisa Trew understands both sides of the debate around the introduction of a minimum age limit for World Skateboarding Tour events.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 23, 2025

World Skate puts brakes on skateboarding's preteen movement with new age limits

The minimum age of 11 this year will be raised one year each in 2026, 2027 and 2028 so that when the LA Olympics roll around in 2028, the minimum age will be 14.
Bags of food aid are prepared for distribution by the World Food Program, part of the EU- and U.S.-backed "Grain from Ukraine" initiative, at a warehouse in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on Nov. 19, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 26, 2025

Ukraine turns to Africa in its struggle against Russia

By showing countries in Africa that it is a major alternative to Russian food supplies, Ukraine hopes many will begin to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 29, 2025

With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining

Want to be an advocate of Japan’s marine health? Look out for sustainably farmed fish the next time you dine at a restaurant.
Medipal is expanding into areas such as animal health products and drug development as margins from selling pharmaceuticals become squeezed in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2025

Medipal seeks to diversify amid falling drug margins

Japan’s largest drug wholesaler is seeking to boost profit, excluding extraordinary items, to ¥100 billion by March 2027 from ¥65 billion in the latest fiscal year.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore recently announced a hard deadline of June 30 for cryptocurrency firms incorporated in Singapore and offering services offshore to cease activities.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 2, 2025

Binance to keep hundreds of staff in Singapore despite crypto crackdown

More than 400 Binance workers label themselves as based in Singapore on LinkedIn.
Qantas Airlines Boeing 737 planes sit at the Sydney airport domestic terminal on Tuesday. Qantas said on Wednesday that 6 million customer accounts were accessed in a cyber hack.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2025

Australia's Qantas says 6 million customer accounts accessed in cyber hack

The breach, Australia's biggest in years, is a setback for an airline looking to rebuild trust after a reputational crisis.
In adapting Masataka Matsuda’s 1998 play “On Summer Sand” to film, director Shinya Tamada decided to age up the central character, played by Joe Odagiri (left), by 10 years to bring out a deeper sense of despondency and grief.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 1, 2025

From stage to screen, a story of quiet connection in the still heat of Nagasaki

Director Shinya Tamada adapts "On Summer Sand" for film by filling the silences between scenes with heartbreak and slow healing.
Andriy Ilkiv, head of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Department of the National Police in Lviv Oblast, shows his prosthetic leg against the backdrop of the GCS-200 demining complex near the village of Zaliman, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on May 2.
WORLD
Jul 3, 2025

Demining Ukraine: from drones to risking it with a rake

The drones which have revolutionized the way war is fought in Ukraine may also now become a game-changer in demining the country.
People listen to an election campaign speech in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 4, 2025

Maximum vote-value gap rises to 3.126 times for Upper House election

The figure was up from 3.03 times in the previous Upper House election in 2022.
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends the EU-Japan summit in Brussels in July 2023. Economic cooperation between the EU, Japan and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership is showing promise but faces political and structural hurdles that could limit progress.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 8, 2025

EU-CPTPP talks highlight shared goals and stubborn obstacles

EU economic cooperation with Japan and the CPTPP shows promise but could face political and structural hurdles that limit progress.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner before a practice session at the Austrian Grand Prix on June 27
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Jul 10, 2025

For Christian Horner, a brutal end to a highly successful reign at Red Bull

With this season's car not competitive with rival McLaren, a discontented Verstappen and the constant hemorrhaging of pivotal backroom talent, Horner's tenure ended brutally.
Brothers Andrii Tupkalenko, 8, and Maksym Tupkalenko, 6, two of the last children left in their front-line village, pose for a photo with toy guns, their favorite toys, in Kalynove, Kharkiv region, Ukraine.
WORLD / Society
Jul 12, 2025

Childhood shaped by war for two Ukrainian brothers

The war in Ukraine is reshaping the fabric of ravaged frontier communities and leaving unseen as well as visible injuries on their youngest.
Firefighters are seen next to a burnt-out car following mass Russian drone and missile strikes in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday.
WORLD
Jul 13, 2025

Six killed in massive Russian drone and missile attack across Ukraine

Trump called Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week but said afterwards that there had been no progress towards ending the war.
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 15, 2025

With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’

The annual defense white paper says that U.S. actions under Trump will “significantly impact” the Indo-Pacific region and “will require continued attention.”
John Healey, Britain's defense minister, apologized for the 2022 leak that included details about members of Parliament and senior military officers who supported applications to help Afghan soldiers who worked with the British military and their families relocate to the U.K.
WORLD
Jul 16, 2025

Thousands of Afghans secretly moved to Britain after data leak

The data leak ranks among the worst security breaches in modern British history because of the cost and risk posed to the lives of thousands of people.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attends a rally in Sao Paulo on June 29.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 16, 2025

Trump tariffs put Bolsonaro and Brazilian right in a bind 

Three people close to right-wing ex-President Jair Bolsonaro said they were stunned by Trump's latest tariff move and fear it may do more harm than good.
Manny Pacquiao trains at Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles on June 25. Pacquiao will face Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Jul 17, 2025

Manny Pacquiao embraces underdog status ahead of comeback fight against Barrios

The 46-year-old Filipino feels rejuvenated after four years away from the ring and said he was returning for another opportunity to make history.
People watch a campaign speech in Tokyo on July 13.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 20, 2025

Record 26.2 million people vote early in Upper House poll

The figure represents 25.12% of all voters, with many people using the early voting system given the long weekend.
In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jul 21, 2025

The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan

AI chatbots are becoming stand-ins for pets and partners — offering comfort, connection and raising new concerns.
Ayaka Shiomura, running for an Upper House seat on a Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan ticket in the Tokyo district, was one of 42 women elected in Sunday's election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

Japan elects record number of women to Upper House

Female candidates won 42 of the 125 seats contested on Sunday, up from 35 seats in the last election in 2022.
Polymetallic nodules — bulbous lumps of rock that are rich in battery metals such as cobalt and nickel which carpet huge tracts of Pacific Ocean seabed — in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands on June 12.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2025

Trump’s critical minerals obsession reignites deep-sea mining

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order expediting U.S. licensing of seabed mining, departing from international law.
Tomonobu Kojima arrives at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in February 2023 after being deported from the Philippines.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 23, 2025

Senior member of 'Luffy' crime ring gets 20 years in prison

Tomonobu Kojima, 47, was the first of the four indicted members of the group, whose members went by the nickname "Luffy," to receive a court ruling.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri (right) and Lando Norris drive during the Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England, on July 6.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Jul 25, 2025

Formula 1's renewable energy shift drives 26% drop in carbon footprint

F1 said in a statement on Wednesday that it’s halfway toward achieving its minimum 50% reduction target, as set out in its "net zero by 2030” commitment. 
Batam, a duty-free Indonesian enclave a short ferry ride from Singapore, has become a key waypoint in a convoluted global shuffle involving Chinese solar panels and U.S. tariffs.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2025

China’s stealthy solar exports stay one step ahead of U.S. tariffs

Of Indonesia’s 10 biggest exporters of solar cells and panels to the U.S. during the first half of 2025, six in Batam were found to be owned by executives at Chinese companies.
Japan's consumer prices rose 3.3% year-on-year in June, with the pace of inflation accelerating from the 3.2% recorded in May.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2023

Japan's price growth accelerates ahead of BOJ inflation update

Prices excluding those for fresh food gained 3.3% from a year ago, accelerating a little from the rise in May as energy prices were less of a drag on inflation.
Tokyo Gendai is described by fair organizers Art Assembly as Tokyo Bay’s first international contemporary art fair in 30 years.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 22, 2023

Can a new art fair finally put Tokyo on the map?

Tokyo Gendai puts on a good event but still needs to change Japanese opinions on contemporary art.

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