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The Supreme Court could be called upon in the coming weeks or months to act in a challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, depending on how quickly appeals move through the lower courts.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 8, 2025

As U.S. Supreme Court girds for Trump cases, can it be an 'effective firewall'?

Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump's views of presidential authority appear far less restrained than those of his White House predecessors.
The concept of diversity isn't foreign to Japanese people, but new ways of referring to the practice in society might be.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 9, 2025

DEI, woke and 'forest bathing': When a direct translation just won't cut it

Take a three-step approach that includes context and nuance when describing buzzwords and complicated terminology.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One, en route to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl, on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 10, 2025

Trump says Nippon Steel cannot have a majority stake in U.S. Steel

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also appeared to have discussed a revised plan with Nippon Steel before presenting it to Trump at their recent summit.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump, at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka in 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 10, 2025

Trump's plan for U.S. to own Gaza provokes rebuke from Middle East

Trump's idea to take over and redevelop Gaza faces mounting opposition, with Jordan's King Abdullah calling it a dangerous plan that could destabilize the region.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 10, 2025

Ishiba builds inroads with Trump, but challenges still loom

Ishiba won praise for his deft handling of Trump, squelching critics’ predictions that the president would walk all over the bookish Japanese leader.
Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura hailed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump as successful.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 11, 2025

Japan's business community expresses relief after the Ishiba-Trump summit

Uncertainty about the future remains, however, as Trump mentioned his eagerness to eliminate the U.S. trade deficit with Japan.
Howard Lutnick (right), chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald and U.S. commerce secretary nominee for U.S. President Donald Trump, watches as Trump displays a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 14, 2025

Trump moves to impose reciprocal tariffs as soon as April

Fresh import taxes would be customized for each country, meant to offset not just their own levies on U.S. goods, but also other factors that act to limit U.S. trade.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at the U.S. State Department in Washington on Jan. 21
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Top Japan diplomat to hold first trilateral talks with U.S. and South Korea under Trump

The talks aim to highlight how they will continue to "unite and work together for regional peace and prosperity,” Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said.
Washington plans to renegotiate some aspects of its CHIPS Act after assessing and changing current requirements, according to the sources.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Trump prepares to change U.S. CHIPS Act conditions, sources say

The extent of the possible changes, and how they would affect agreements already finalized, was not immediately clear.
TikTok had more than 52 million downloads in 2024, according to Sensor Tower.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 14, 2025

TikTok returns on Apple and Google U.S. app stores as Trump delays ban

TikTok is back in U.S. app stores after Trump delayed a ban and assured Apple and Google they wouldn’t be penalized.
Demonstrators rally to support the Uyghur community in Istanbul in 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 14, 2025

China rights monitors suspend work and lay off staff amid U.S. aid freeze

The groups are key to documenting a yearslong crackdown by President Xi Jinping on minorities, rights defenders and lawyers.
U.S. Steel workers rally outside the company's headquarters in Pittsburgh in support of the takeover by Japan's Nippon Steel back in September.
EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2025

The Nippon Steel deal’s lessons for the world

Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s stiff opposition to the deal may have created space, if not impetus, for President Donald Trump to resurrect the acquisition.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 15, 2025

Trump says new tariffs on autos coming around April 2

The auto threat offers to put some of the biggest brands in Japan, Germany and South Korea in Trump’s crosshairs.
An F-35B stealth fighter jet loaded in the hangar of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Kaga destroyer
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 17, 2025

SDF's biggest ships are being converted into de facto aircraft carriers

The Izumo and Kaga, each about 248 meters in length and 38 meters in width, are the largest vessels in the MSDF.
Elon Musk speaks next to U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 11.
WORLD
Feb 17, 2025

Musk’s DOGE team seeks access to taxpayer information

The U.S. has strict laws that prohibit the disclosure of taxpayer data, though there are exceptions for law enforcement.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that the situation surrounding Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel has improved under U.S. President Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 18, 2025

Ishiba questions the politics of Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel deal rejection

The "unjust political interference” was difficult to understand, the prime minister said, but he indicated that the situation has improved under Trump.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks to the press following a meeting of the United Nations Security Council at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2025

China moves to seize on U.S. upheaval with appeal to strengthen U.N.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi underlines Beijing's commitment to multilateralism "no matter how the international landscape changes."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Wednesday that the Japanese government has raised the issue of auto tariffs with the U.S. government, given the importance of Japan’s automobile industry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 19, 2025

Japan raises auto tariff issue with U.S. as Trump threatens hike

The U.S. president's threat to impose a 25% levy on car imports would likely deliver a big blow to Japan’s economy.
Polish military vehicles are transported during NATO exercises in Klusy, Poland, in November 2022.
WORLD
Feb 20, 2025

On NATO's eastern flank, U.S. policy shift stokes security fears

Some in Poland fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin will feel emboldened to invade more countries.
While upholding his "America First" policy and transactional diplomacy, U.S. President Donald Trump has been emphasizing the importance of the U.S.-Japan relationship since his first term, from 2017 to 2021.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2025

Marking 80th year since Battle of Iwo Jima, Trump touts U.S.-Japan alliance

The bloody battle fought on the Pacific island between February and March of 1945 claimed some 21,900 lives on the Japanese side and about 6,800 among American forces.
An electric vehicle factory in Rayong, Thailand. Asian countries are among the most vulnerable to President Donald Trump's economic grievances — but also well-placed to make deals to minimize their exposure.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 22, 2025

How Trump’s tariffs could reorder Asia trade and exclude the U.S.

Asian countries are among the most vulnerable to Trump's economic grievances — but also well-placed to make deals to minimize their exposure.
U.S. Marines during training in Okinawa last month.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 22, 2025

U.S. Marines start to leave Japan, decades behind schedule

The U.S. base on Okinawa has relocated 105 Marines. But an agreement to move 9,000 in total is colliding with the perceived threat from a rising China.
U.S. government scientists participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were issued a stop-work order from the Trump administration, according to media reports.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 24, 2025

Trump creates uncertainty for world’s most cited climate report

The U.S. absence comes amid broader cuts to research funding and a retreat from climate diplomacy under the Trump administration.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands as they meet in Helsinki on July 16, 2018.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 24, 2025

After three years of war, Trump hands Russian economy a lifeline

Russia can either stop inflating military spending as it presses to gain territory in Ukraine, or maintain it and pay the price with years of slow growth.
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine (right) with an Iraqi general in Mosul, Iraq, in 2018
WORLD / Politics
Feb 24, 2025

Trump’s frustration with generals resulted in an unconventional pick

Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, a retired three-star Air Force officer, quickly moved up the list of candidates to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Amid rising global defense spending, U.S. President Donald Trump's push for 5% of GDP on military budgets poses a challenge for American allies, including Japan, which is already struggling to meet its 2% target.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 25, 2025

U.S. defense spending demands could transform global security

The level of spending the U.S. is demanding could spark an arms race as adversaries try to match NATO and America's Asian allies.
Elon Musk speaks next to U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 11.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

U.S. lawmakers warn that China could use Musk to influence Trump

Lawmakers fear the CCP will try to use business leaders who have commercial interests in China, to advance its goals in talks with Washington.
Canada's Liberal Party leadership candidates gather for a debate ahead of the March 9 vote to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in Montreal on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

U.S. threats mean Canada must bolster military, candidates say

The four candidates sparred over how fast Canada can realistically roll out the billions of dollars needed to reach the NATO threshold of 2% GDP.
An Apple store in Walnut Creek, California, on Monday. Apple Inc. Apple investors rejected a proposal to end the iPhone maker’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, but CEO Tim Cook some some adjustments may occur.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 26, 2025

Apple to keep DEI efforts, though some adjustments possible

The proposal to abolish DEI efforts came after competitors like Meta and Google have started winding down such programs.
A sample of a wafer is seen at the Semicon Taiwan 2022 exhibition in Taipei in 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

China says Taiwan seeking to give away chip industry to U.S.

U.S. media has said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has been in talks for a stake in Intel.

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