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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada announces his resignation in Ottawa on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 8, 2025

The race begins to replace Canada's Trudeau as prime minister

Canada's new leader is likely to face elections within weeks of taking over from Justin Trudeau in March.
A man looks at the presidential residence of impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol from a hill in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 8, 2025

South Korea's Yoon faces second arrest attempt in fortified compound

A court has reissued a warrant to arrest President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The film version of “The Solitary Gourmet” is a directorial debut for Yutaka Matsushige, long known for his leading role as salaryman and gourmand Goro Inogashira.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2025

‘The Solitary Gourmet’: Palatable movie adaptation may leave you wanting more

Lead actor Yutaka Matsushige’s film directing debut offers ambient pleasure for fans of the long-running TV series.
Beauty salon Dione, which has over 100 branches nationwide, offers hair removal treatments for children as young as 3 years old. It uses hair removal equipment that emits a special light heated to around 38 degrees Celsius, unlike conventional equipment that involves temperatures of 60 to 80 C.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 9, 2025

Hair removal for kids — boosting confidence or preying on insecurities?

Hair removal treatments are increasingly being extended to children as young as three years old in Japan, raising concerns over the risks.
Former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (right) and Sen. William Hagerty, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, hold talks in Washington on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

Japan to deepen U.S. alliance, former Prime Minister Suga says in Washington

Former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga spoke during a meeting with Sen. William Hagerty, who served as U.S. ambassador to Japan during the first Trump administration.
Staff from Aomori Bank and Michinoku Bank, along with family members, participate in the Aomori Nebuta Festival in August 2023, with a large float sponsored by Procrea Holdings behind them.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jan 20, 2025

Rival regional Aomori banks merge to survive amid population decline

Aomori Bank and Michinoku Bank, which had long been rivals, merged this month to form Aomori Michinoku Bank.
Footage released in December by the Israeli Army shows Israeli soldiers operating in a location given as the Golan Heights. Under new rules, media interviewing soldiers of the rank of colonel and under cannot display their full names or faces.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2025

Israeli military tightens media rules over legal action concern

The full names and faces of soldiers of the rank of colonel and under are not to be displayed by the media under the new rules.
Apollo Global Management is discussing a commitment of as much as ¥1.5 trillion for an equity stake in a bid by Seven & I’s founding Ito family to take the convenience store operator private.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 10, 2025

Apollo weighs $9.5 billion stake in Seven & I management buyout

Under the current proposal, Apollo would join the Ito family and Itochu, the operator of FamilyMart in Japan, as key investors.
Airmen from the U.S. Air Force's 104th Fighter Wing complete post-flight checks on four F-15C fighter jets at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, in October 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 10, 2025

U.S. falling behind on aircraft shelters in Asia as China’s missile arsenal grows

Beijing has also been making substantial investments to defend, expand and fortify its air bases.
The additional sanctions against Russia "are to contribute to international efforts for peace," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Friday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 10, 2025

Japan expands its sanctions against Russia

Japan will also ban the export of 335 more goods, including small motorcycles, to Russia starting on Jan. 23.
Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano in Seoul in October
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 10, 2025

Japan announces new national security adviser

Masataka Okano is a 60-year-old career diplomat with experience in both Washington and Beijing and a former chief of the Foreign Ministry’s Russia division.
“The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic” centers on three teenage protagonists who are transported into a fantasy world where they must grapple with a foreign culture.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 11, 2025

Isekai anime offers a key to understanding globalization

The fantastical genre wherein characters are dropped into unlikely worlds — and sometimes bodies — can be read as an allegory for the structure of the contemporary anime industry.
On Dec. 31, rock duo B’z appeared on NHK's year-end "Kohaku Uta Gassen" music extravaganza for the first time in a career spanning more than three decades.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jan 10, 2025

An explosive B’z set on ‘Kohaku’ hints at a strategy to win over viewers

Japan’s best selling act delivered one of the biggest moments of the year-end music blowout and reinforced the importance of catering to a more middle-aged market.
Head of Presidential Security Service, Park Chong-jun, is surrounded by media in the National Office of Investigation in Seoul on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

President Yoon’s security chief quits as new arrest bid looms

It’s not immediately clear if the vice chief who will take over will cooperate with a probe team’s warrant execution for Yoon.
Pete Hegseth, U.S. secretary of defense nominee for President-elect Donald Trump, arrives for a meeting with Sen. Chuck Grassley, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

With hearings imminent, partisan fight escalates over Trump Cabinet

Democrats are demanding that Republicans slow consideration of picks for the new administration until they can review background checks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives for a meeting in Rome on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 12, 2025

Ukraine questioning two captured North Korean soldiers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would provide media access to the prisoners of war because "the world needs to know what is happening."
Nissan's Oliver Rowland competes at the Portland E-Prix in June 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Jan 12, 2025

Oliver Rowland earns Formula E triumph for Nissan in Mexico City

Starting from fourth, Rowland put in an outstanding performance to secure the Japanese manufacturer's 20th win.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shakes hands with Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya during a working lunch at a hotel in Tokyo last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 13, 2025

'Quad' foreign ministers eye meeting in Washington on Jan. 21

The ministerial meeting will underscore that the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is attaching importance to collaboration among the four nations.
The mascot character of the Osaka Expo promotes the event at Tokyo's Haneda Airport last week.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2025

Osaka Expo kicks off pavilion reservation lottery amid sales concerns

Winning the lottery guarantees entry to popular pavilions, and this benefit is being promoted to help boost ticket sales, which have struggled to gain momentum.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's provocative rhetoric targeting Panama, Greenland and Canada underscores his preference for bold power plays over traditional rules-based diplomacy.
COMMENTARY
Jan 13, 2025

Trump’s trash talk revives the worst of world politics

Trump's provocative rhetoric targeting Panama, Greenland and Canada underscores his preference for bold power plays over traditional rules-based diplomacy.
A mirror reflects a collapsed house in the city of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Dec. 10, nearly one year after a major earthquake struck nearby on New Year's Day in 2024.
JAPAN / Explainer
Jan 14, 2025

Miyazaki quake falls short of triggering Nankai Trough megaquake advisory

Though Monday's temblor struck a similar area to one in August that sparked the first advisory, no such alert was issued.
A soldier stands near the scene where a vehicle drove into a crowd on Jan. 1 in New Orleans.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 15, 2025

Law enforcement prepared for Super Bowl in New Orleans after attack, official says

Tens of thousands of football fans are set to descend on the city next month, with the Super Bowl on Feb. 9, capping a weeklong celebration.
Former MUFG Bank employee Yukari Imamura, a suspect in the theft of gold ingots worth ¥260 million, leaves the Nerima Police Station in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2025

Ex-MUFG Bank employee arrested over theft of 20 kg gold deposits

At least 60 clients have been victims of the safe deposit box thefts, with the total damage expected to exceed ¥1 billion.
Lawson and FamilyMart enjoyed net profit increases in the March-November 2024 period, while Seven & I Holdings suffered a sharp deterioration in its bottom line, according to their latest earnings reports.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2025

Lawson and FamilyMart enjoy net profit growth in March-November

FamilyMart's net profit went up 62.4% to ¥80 billion because of special profit from a realignment of Chinese operations.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump at the White House in Washington in November last year.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 16, 2025

Biden to hand unfinished agenda to Trump for a chaotic Middle East

Joe Biden's Middle East record is likely to be remembered not so much for how conflicts ended on his watch, but mainly for how they unfolded.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 16, 2025

Biden warns U.S. faces oligarchy as Trump looms over legacy

In a final Oval Office speech, Biden urged Americans to join together but quickly warned about a dangerous concentration of wealth in the U.S.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is hoping to lead his team to an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl title.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 16, 2025

Chiefs set to begin quest for three-peat with matchup against Texans

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is 6-0 during the divisional round in his career.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has expressed ambitions to build an "everything app," and adding TikTok to X, formerly Twitter, could bring him closer to that vision.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2025

Elon Musk won’t save TikTok

A Musk takeover of TikTok remains far from a done deal. It would require a wildly complex spinoff and it’s not immediately clear how he would fund a purchase.
People stand as the U.S. Capitol is seen behind the frozen Capitol reflecting pool on Friday after it was announced that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration is being moved indoors due to dangerously cold temperatures expected on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2025

Trump inauguration moved indoors due to extreme cold

The move could undercut the Republican's hopes for a grandiose spectacle to kick off his second term.
Participants gather for unified university entrance examinations Saturday in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward. Exams were being held at 651 venues across the country, with the number of applicants increasing by about 3,200 from the previous year to some 495,100.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 18, 2025

Unified university entrance exams begin in Japan

The number of applicants increased by about 3,200 from the previous year to some 495,100.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes