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A banner announcing the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election is displayed at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 23, 2025

Koike-backed party gains seats as LDP dealt setback in Tokyo assembly poll

Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First), supported by Koike as a special adviser, remained the biggest party, taking 31 seats, up from 26.
People pray during a visit to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, the 79th anniversary of Japan's surrender during World War II.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 20, 2025

Why only Japan is criticized for honoring its war dead

Other countries honor the ultimate sacrifice regardless of whether the war was just, later judged a mistake or involved actions that could be seen as war crimes.
Arisa Trew competes in the women's vert event at X Games Osaka on Saturday. Trew won the title for her first of two gold medals over the weekend.
MORE SPORTS / Action sports
Jun 22, 2025

Australian Arisa Trew sets new mark at X Games Osaka as Japan athletes shine

Trew, whose mother is Japanese, electrified the crowd at Kyocera Dome with two monster runs in the park final to put her ahead of Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Sakura Yosozumi.
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.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at a ceremony in the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN / History
Jun 23, 2025

Okinawa marks 80th anniversary of end of ferocious ground battle

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba spoke of the horrific ground war involving Okinawan residents, noting that 200,000 lives were lost, or about one in four Okinawans.
Tottori Gov. Shinji Hirai (right) with Executive Chef Shinsuke Nakajima and Executive Chef Sommelier Nobuhide Tani
ESG CONSORTIUM
Jun 23, 2025

Tottori Wagyu and other delights offered at Hotel New Otani Tokyo

A special event featuring the rich sweetness and umami of juicy Tottori Wagyu-brand beef in a variety of dishes has kicked off once again at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo. Held annually since 2018, this promotion consistently highlights the charm of Tottori’s viands through innovative ideas and cooking...
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's grandson Hassan Khomeini stands next to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the 36th anniversary of the death of the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, at Khomeini's shrine in southern Tehran on June 4.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2025

Search for successor to Iran's Khamenei hastens as tensions erupt into conflict

Israel attacked Iran and threatened to assassinate its veteran leader.
A woman wipes away tears as she walks down a row of displays in Tehran on Monday featuring people killed in Israeli strikes.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 24, 2025

Big questions loom over Trump's announcement of Israel-Iran ceasefire deal

U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of an Israel-Iran ceasefire suggests he may have bombed Tehran’s rulers back to the negotiating table. But will the deal hold?
Indiana Pacers guard attends a training session in Paris in January.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jun 25, 2025

Pacers star Haliburton says 'frustration unfathomable' after Achilles surgery

Haliburton played with a calf strain for the Pacers in Sunday's winner-take-all Game 7, but fell to the court with in pain about seven minutes into the contest.
Trucks parked at Japan Post's post office in Tokyo's Koto Ward earlier this month
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2025

Japan Post stripped of truck transport business license

The company will not be allowed to operate its approximately 2,500 trucks and other vehicles for five years.
Many recent video games, including Breath of the Wild and Planet of Lana, have borrowed from the pastoral aesthetic of Studio Ghibli films like “Princess Mononoke.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 25, 2025

Studio Ghibli’s majestic sensibility is drawing imitators

Forty years after the Japanese animation studio was founded, game creators are embracing its legacy of moral integrity.
Mexican designer Italia Segovia, 26, known as "Kumiko," poses for a picture wearing clothes from her brand Chicanjuku.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 26, 2025

Mexican designer blends Chicano and Harajuku styles

Designer Italia "Kumiko" Segovia says experimentation is great as long as it's from a place of knowledge and respect.
Britain's Competition and Markets Authority spent years setting up a regime to intervene in the operations of tech giants such as Google, only for the Labour government to say its need to grow the economy meant tough regulation was now out.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 26, 2025

U.K. politics blunts antitrust action against Google

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority spent years setting up a regime to intervene in tech giants' operations, only for the Labour government to say tough regulation was out.
Urawa's Yusuke Matsuo (right) and Monterrey's Ricardo Chavez vie for the ball during their match at the Club World Cup in Pasadena, California, on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Jun 26, 2025

Urawa allows three first-half goals in loss to Monterrey at Club World Cup

The J. League team lost all three of its matches at the Club World Cup.
Following domestic economic instability after the real estate market’s 2020 collapse, and global geopolitical uncertainty, wealthy Chinese have sought to establish bases in other countries, including Japan.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2025

Japan among most attractive Asian nations for uber-wealthy

The standard of living, health care, and safety and security make Japan attractive to wealthy Chinese expatriates, with Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe their main destinations.
Japan is mad about pets, and the Interpets trade fair showed to what lengths some owners will go for their furry friends.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 28, 2025

Cats, dogs, meerkats, goats: Interpets trade fair draws furry hordes

From June 19 to 21, a veritable animal kingdom (and their owners) descended on the Intex Osaka convention center to try new foods and meet new friends.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra goes on trial for lese-majeste next week, while his daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, faces being sacked as prime minister while activists threaten mass protests.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 27, 2025

Thailand braces for crisis as trials and protests loom

Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy looks set for a new round of the turmoil that has periodically gripped it over the last two decades.
Pat Gelsinger (left), former Intel CEO and general partner at Playground Global, and Peter Barrett, co-founder and general partner of Playground, in Tokyo on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2025

Former Intel CEO Gelsinger has some advice for Japan's Rapidus

He encourages the chipmaker to distinguish itself in some way from TSMC.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda speaks during an interview at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 27, 2025

Ahead of election, CDP chief vows 'responsible' tax cut

"Measures to cope with rising prices will be the biggest focus (of the July 20 House of Councilors election)," Yoshihiko Noda said.
U.S. President Donald Trump receives a gold helmet with his name on it during a visit to U.S. Steel in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2025

Trump himself will wield U.S. Steel ‘golden share’ superpowers

After the U.S. president leaves office, the authority will move to executive branch departments.
President of Aix Marseille University Eric Berton (right) takes part in a news conference to welcome American scientists to the "Safe Place for Science" program at the Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory in Marseille, southeastern France, on Thursday.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jun 28, 2025

'Science refugees': French university welcomes first U.S. researchers

The University of Aix-Marseille welcomed the scholars on Thursday, following the March launch of its "Safe Place for Science" initiative.
A mock-up of Japan's upgraded Mogami-class frigate is displayed during the DSEI exhibition at Makuhari Messe in the city of Chiba on May 21.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 29, 2025

Top Japanese official visits Australia as bid to build new frigate heats up

The trip by Akihisa Nagashima, special adviser to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, was seen as another move by Tokyo to secure the multibillion dollar contract.
Kazuhiro Asano (center left) receives a commemorative gift with his family as the 10 millionth visitor to the Osaka Expo on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2025

Osaka Expo visitors top 10 million

"The number of customers is increasing more and more, at a faster pace than we thought," Secretary-General Hiroyuki Ishige said during the event in the Expo venue.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy
WORLD / Politics
Jun 30, 2025

U.K. considers envoy for Britons held abroad

Cases like jailed Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and imprisoned Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai have highlighted the issue.
Barbora Krejcikova enters Wimbledon as the defending women's champion.
TENNIS
Jun 30, 2025

Barbora Krejcikova ready for Wimbledon title defense after difficult year

Krejcikova's Wimbledon participation was plunged into doubt when she pulled out of the warm-up event at Eastbourne on Thursday.
China is preparing to counter the rising threat of U.S.-backed digital dollars by leveraging its powerful e-commerce firms and Hong Kong’s crypto-friendly financial system to promote stablecoins tied to local currencies.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2025

China is more than ready for U.S. stablecoins

E-commerce prowess and Hong Kong’s financial chops can ward off the threat from digital dollars.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh on May 14.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 1, 2025

Trump lifts U.S. sanctions on Syria in bid to boost new government

The order removes various sanctions on Syria, effective July 1, while keeping those on former President Bashar Assad.
Ginza Onodera's frozen sushi can be thawed with running water.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2025

Freezing tech allows luxury sushi to reach anywhere in Japan

Ginza Onodera has been working on the freezing method for about three years in cooperation with DayBreak, a special freezing technique developer in Tokyo.
A Buddhist monk performs a ceremony for lost souls at a property which is classified as a <i>jiko bukken</i>, or a "misfortunate property" where deaths have occurred, in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on May 8.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 1, 2025

As property prices soar in Japan, the taint of death may not deter some buyers

Investors attracted by potential high yields increasingly do not care about a property's grim history, mostly because they are unlikely to live there themselves.
This screen shot from Korean Central Television taken Friday shows a screen displaying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looking at coffins during a performance attended by Kim and Russian Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova in Pyongyang.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 1, 2025

North Korea's Kim shown honoring troops killed in Russia-Ukraine war

Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, according to South Korea's spy agency.

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