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Headlining the second day of YouTube Music Weekend is Vocaloid artist Kikuo, who, with 1.46 million YouTube subscribers, is one of the most popular artists in the genre.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 29, 2025

YouTube Music Weekend is where Japan’s internet-born performers go global

YouTube's three-day weekend of online performances features a medley of Vocaloid, hyperpop, rock and pop artists in a supportive, cultural festival atmosphere.
The Lhasa River, a major tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River, flows near the southern part of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. China’s new megadam project could become a geopolitical and ecological time bomb. Getty Images
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2025

The global perils of China’s new ‘superdam’ project

One might have expected the revelation of China's huge dam project to set off alarm bells worldwide. Instead, the reaction has been muted.
Hawaii kicker Kansei Matsuzawa celebrates after making the game-winning field goal against Stanford in Honolulu on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Aug 29, 2025

Hawaii kicker Kansei Matsuzawa walks unique path in college football

The Chiba native picked up the sport just over five years ago as a 20-year-old, learning to kick through YouTube.
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 29, 2025

Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals

The government is set to create a task force to review its immigration plans and prevent social division between foreign nationals and citizens.
Voters look at posters of candidates for an Upper House election outside a polling station in Tokyo on July 20. The young abandoned the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for other conservative and newer parties in the recent poll. REUTERS
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2025

What is a ‘Japanese conservative’ in this day and age?

My view is that younger voters saw the LDP as a group of elderly, self-absorbed elitists who were out of touch with the issues that mattered to them.
Israeli troops stand guard during a weekly settlers' tour in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 1, 2025

Israel mulls West Bank annexation in response Palestine recognition moves

It is unclear where precisely any such measure would be applied and when.
Mariko Kamijo (left) interacts with users of her nursing care facility called Isshoen, in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, in July.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2025

Chinese-language care supports aging Japanese war orphans

Many Japanese war orphans left behind in China at the end of World War II and repatriated decades later struggle to adapt to nursing homes because of language barriers.
Police investigate the scene where a woman was found bleeding on a street in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 1, 2025

Woman dies after possible knife attack in Setagaya

An emergency call was made just after 1:30 p.m. on Monday that the woman, a 40-year-old South Korean native, was bleeding on the ground.
A boy mourns his father, who was killed in a strike in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, on May 15. Israel's military action in Gaza has killed about 63,000 people.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 2, 2025

Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, scholars' association says

Israel's Foreign Ministry called the statement disgraceful and "entirely based on Hamas' campaign of lies."
Police investigate an area around the scene where a woman was killed in a knife attack in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 2, 2025

Korean man arrested in Tokyo on suspicion of killing ex-girlfriend

Police had told the suspect to leave the country after the victim reached out for help, and they saw him go through a security check at Narita Airport days before her death.
An injured boy receives treatment near damaged houses in the Mazar Dara village of Nurgal, a district of the Kunar Province, in Eastern Afghanistan, on Monday.
WORLD
Sep 2, 2025

With aid slashed, Afghanistan's quake comes at 'very worst moment'

The earthquake has killed more than 1,400 people and injured over 3,000, a toll that was still rising.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 3, 2025

Xi — joined by Kim and Putin — delivers stark warning at military parade

Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned in a speech that the world is facing a choice of war or peace, as his country marked 80 years since Japan’s defeat in World War II.
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is seen inside his house in Brasilia while a trial against him and seven main co-defendants is held at the Federal Supreme Court in Brasilia on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 3, 2025

Brazil court shrugs off U.S. 'threats' as it mulls Bolsonaro fate

Jair Bolsonaro risks a prison sentence of 43 years if convicted of conspiring to cling to power after losing the 2022 elections to rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Hampen hails from Tokushima, Shikoku, and is named after the fish paste specialty that the region is known for.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Sep 3, 2025

Smiley, spirited Hampen will run into your arms

This 7-year-old dog from Tokushima is eager for human companionship and loves to go on walks.
A Taliban military helicopter carries medical and food supplies for the victims of a deadly earthquake, in Mazar Dara, Kunar province, Afghanistan, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Sep 3, 2025

Hope dwindles for survivors days after deadly Afghan quake

The earthquake killed more than 1,400 people and injured over 3,300, making it one of the deadliest in decades to hit the impoverished country.
Many Bangladeshis hoped that the overthrow of long-time leader Sheikh Hasina last year would revitalize the country’s democracy after an authoritarian lurch under the “iron lady.” Instead it has led to proliferating human-rights abuses, intensifying repression and widespread Islamist violence.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2025

Bangladesh is a South Asian time bomb

Many had hoped that Hasina’s ouster would open the way for Bangladesh to transition to democracy following an authoritarian lurch under the “iron lady.”
People walk along a hillside, in the aftermath of an earthquake, in the Nurgal district of Kunar province, Afghanistan, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Sep 4, 2025

Days after quake, survivors in Afghanistan still await aid

Fearful of near-constant aftershocks, people have huddled in the open or struggled to unearth those trapped under the heaps of flattened buildings.
Tables and chairs in the White House Rose Garden in Washington on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, are hosting an artificial intelligence event for tech CEOs on Thursday at the newly renovated garden.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 4, 2025

Trump to host Big Tech CEOs in White House's redone rose garden

The U.S. president recently had stone pavers installed in the garden after complaining that the existing grass was unsuitable for hosting large events.
Emma Aalto (left) and Millie Colling train in Helsinki on Sept. 1.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Sep 5, 2025

Same-sex duo to compete in ice dance in Finland following rule change

The Finnish federation's rules now refer to ice dancers as "Skater A" and "Skater B" instead of "man" and "woman." 
Masahiro Sakurai (left), mayor of Kashiwazaki in Niigata Prefecture, and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings President Tomoaki Kobayakawa in the city on Thursday
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2025

Tepco eyes earlier decision on Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear reactors

Tepco had planned to decide whether to decommission the No. 1 to No. 5 reactors "within two years" after reactivating the No. 6 and No. 7 reactors.
“The Summer Hikaru Died” is a slow-burn horror and a coming-of-age narrative, but its thematic layers and queer undertones open conversations about friendship and belonging.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 6, 2025

Dark folklore meets teenage angst in ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’

Slow-burn horror in the countryside coupled with queer undertones makes for a memorable anime adaptation.
East Asia’s fertility plunge is driven not just by financial costs but by perfectionist cultural expectations that burden parents with intense educational and social demands.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 5, 2025

‘Confugenics’ and East Asia's demographic crisis

The numbers are staggering when you dig into them. Parents in Japan covered half of higher education costs in 2024 — more than double the OECD average.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un view a military parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Wednesday, marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2025

Divide the dictators, President Trump — don’t unite them

Xi's objectives here are clear: first, to elevate China's national prestige; second, to strengthen alliances among authoritarian leaders; and third, to rewrite history.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles (left) and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong (second from left) pose with Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya (second from right) and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 5, 2025

After China’s military parade, Japan and Australia agree to elevate defense ties

The countries’ top diplomats and defense chiefs committed to deepening collective deterrence amid shared concerns over the security environment in the Indo-Pacific region.
Palestinians react after an explosion from an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 8, 2025

Israel warns recognizing Palestinian state could trigger 'unilateral' action

Several countries, including France and Britain, have pledged to recognize a Palestinian state during the U.N. General Assembly later this month.
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (left) and South Korean defense chief Ahn Gyu-back inspect an honor guard before their meeting in Seoul on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 8, 2025

Japan and South Korea defense chiefs agree to regular visits and tech cooperation

The agreement emerged during a visit by Defense Minister Gen Nakatani to South Korea, the first by a Japanese defense chief in a decade.
People watch as leaflets dropped by the Israeli military, urging evacuation south to Al-Mawasi, land in Gaza City on Tuesday.
WORLD
Sep 9, 2025

Israeli military evacuation order triggers panic in Gaza City

Residents of the city, home to a million Palestinians before the war, have been expecting an onslaught for weeks.
Doris Aguirre, an immigrant from Honduras, participates virtually in a Sunday service by the immigrant-focused Lincoln United Methodist Church, held online due to the threat of immigration sweeps, in Chicago on Aug. 31.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 9, 2025

Immigrant faithful turn to online sermons and home communion amid Trump crackdown

On Trump's first day in office, his administration scrapped earlier policy of designating places of worship as sensitive locations off limits to immigration enforcement.
A worker sprays Holstein-Friesian cows from Australia with water at a dairy farm managed by Laras Ati milk cooperative in Kuningan, West Java province, Indonesia, on June 25.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 9, 2025

Indonesia presses businesses, their licenses at stake, to import a million cows

Program aims to provide free meals to 83 million children and expectant mothers, calling for the dairy cows to be imported over five years at a cost of nearly $3 billion.
Cymbal is a shy but sweet cat with distinctive markings and a gentle demeanor.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 9, 2025

Gentle care is the key to Cymbal’s heart

A little patience will go a long way with 5-year-old Cymbal, a shy cat with distinctive markings that was rescued earlier this year.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years