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Paris Saint-Germain players and officials celebrate with the Champions League trophy at the Elysee Palace in Paris in June.
SOCCER
Sep 14, 2025

PSG begins title defense as Champions League kicks off

PSG ended over a decade of disappointment in continental competition when it lifted the trophy in May, tearing Inter Milan apart in the final.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with Mozambique President Daniel Chapo during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in Yokohama on Aug. 22.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 14, 2025

JICA's Africa 'hometown' project may be renamed

The renaming is being considered after false information about the project spread on social media, claiming it would lead to an increase in the number of immigrants.
Jamaica's Oblique Seville celebrates winning the men's 100-meter final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 14, 2025

Seville and Thompson seal Jamaican 1-2 over Lyles in 100-meter final

Seville won the men’s 100-meter crown in a personal-best time of 9.77 seconds in front of a roaring Tokyo crowd of over 60,000, including Jamaican legend Usain Bolt.
Emperor Naruhito delivers his address at the opening ceremony of the 40th National Cultural Festival and the 25th National Arts and Culture Festival for Persons with Disabilities, as Empress Masako looks on, in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, on Sunday.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2025

Emperor and empress attend opening ceremony of national cultural festivals

Emperor Naruhito expressed hopes that the events "will lead to the vitality needed to create new culture."
Fans cheer on the home favorites during the women's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 16, 2025

Japanese athletes inspired by raucous home fans at World Athletics Championships

The atmosphere at National Stadium has been raucous in the opening days of the championships, particularly when hometown heroes are on the track or field.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announces his intention to resign during a news conference at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on Sept. 7. The Japanese leader decided to step down following weeks of calls for his departure in the aftermath of a second national election setback. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 16, 2025

Can anyone save the fracturing Liberal Democratic Party?

This is shaping up to be an even less predictable race than the last one, when Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pulled off a surprise victory.
U.S. soldiers participate in the Freedom Shield joint U.S.-South Korea exercise near the North Korean border in Yeoncheon, South Korea, in March.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Sep 16, 2025

Trump 2.0 and the U.S.-South Korea alliance

Debate in Seoul over the future of the U.S.-South Korea alliance has intensified since Trump returned to the White House
Israeli Border Police stand as Israeli Druze cross the border to check on their family members in Syria, amid the ongoing conflict in the Druze areas in Syria, in Majdal Shams, near the ceasefire line between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria on July 16.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 17, 2025

Under U.S. pressure, Syria and Israel inch toward security deal

Washington is pushing for enough progress to be made by the time of the U.N. General Assembly at the end of this month to allow President Donald Trump to announce a breakthrough.
A scientist looks at scans of grains at the Memory Centre at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital (HUG) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 6, 2023.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Sep 17, 2025

Japan’s front-line researchers see bright path ahead for dementia treatment

Four scientists at the forefront of dementia research speak about what kind of future they envision for people with the condition.
Hoshoryu shoves down Hakuoho to move to 3-0 on Day 3 of the Autumn Basho at Kokugikan in Tokyo.
SUMO
Sep 17, 2025

Onosato and Hoshoryu off to hot starts as other contenders fall

Onosato has been dominant while Hoshoryu, who is returning from injury, has had to work harder for his wins.
A woman passes a graffitied wall outside Nepal's torched Parliament in Kathmandu on Sunday. The country's new leader, Sushila Karki, vowed the same day to follow protesters' demands to "end corruption" as she began work as interim prime minister.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2025

Why Nepal’s new power brokers should worry India and China

If India and China continue treating Nepal primarily as a geopolitical pawn, they risk alienating future leaders.
The Syrian flag is flown in Aleppo on May 14.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 18, 2025

U.S. envoys focused on Syria ousted amid pro-Damascus shift, sources say

The diplomats at the de facto U.S. mission to Syria, based in Istanbul, all reported to the U.S. special envoy for Syria, a longtime friend of U.S. President Donald Trump.
While some American taxpayers assume they are ineligible to participate in Japan’s tax-deferred savings schemes, certified public accountant Rick Gundlach says that this is no longer the case.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Sep 24, 2025

Tax-advantaged investments no lost cause for U.S. residents of Japan

Many U.S. taxpayers believe they should steer clear of Japanese investment vehicles due to stateside regulations — but a Japan-based certified public accountant advises otherwise.
Filled with red bean paste and covered in "kinako" soy flour, green "zunda" soybean mash and black sesame, "o-hagi" sticky rice balls offer a delicious interplay of sweet and savory flavors.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Washoku Essentials
Sep 19, 2025

Celebrating autumn with timeless sticky rice balls

Filled with red bean paste and sheathed in various coatings, the spherical sweets evoke the gentle mood of the season.
People line up to purchase the iPhone 17 at a store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 19, 2025

Apple iPhone 17 launches in Japan

About 30 people lined up at an Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward to get their reserved new phones as soon as possible.
U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles holds up four fingers after winning his fourth straight men's 200-meter title at the world championships at Tokyo's National Stadium on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 19, 2025

Noah Lyles and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden win 200-meter titles on golden night for U.S.

Lyles finished with a time of 19.52 seconds and joined Jamaican great Usain Bolt as the only men to win four straight world titles at the distance.
Nanako Fujii celebrates as she crosses the line to take bronze in the women's 35-kilometer race walk on Saturday at National Stadium in Tokyo.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 20, 2025

Nanako Fujii takes bronze in 20 km race walk for Japan's second medal at worlds

The 26-year-old became the first Japanese woman to capture a medal in a race walk event at the World Athletics Championships or the Olympics.
Paulina “Jedda” Puruntatameri with Antonia Burke and Tiwi fisher Clinton offshore of Melville Island, one of the Tiwi Islands, in Australia's Northern Territory. Together with other Tiwi, Jedda has been campaigning for years to stop Australian company Santos and its backers, including Japanese investors, from drilling for natural gas at the Barossa gas field.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Sep 21, 2025

As Japan keeps buying gas, Aboriginal Australians pay the price

Japan is Australia’s second-largest export market for energy and natural resources, giving Tokyo a certain political weight when it comes to Australian energy matters.
Noah Lyles celebrates as he crosses the finish line to give the United States the victory in the men's 4x100-meter relay at the world championships at Tokyo's National Stadium on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 21, 2025

U.S. men grab gold in 4x100-meter relay on final day of worlds; Japan sixth

The U.S. beat Canada to the gold medal to win the men's relay.
"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / Longform
Sep 22, 2025

The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan

From sugar plantations in Peru to factory floors in Japan, the Nikkei story is one of migration, resilience and identity.
A woman holds a sign during a protest outside Disneyland after Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show was suspended for remarks he made regarding Charlie Kirk's assassination, in Anaheim, California, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 22, 2025

Disney’s Kimmel suspension shows Trump’s increasing grip over media

The suspension has intensified free-speech fears in the U.S. as FCC chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke broadcast licenses from stations that carry what he called "garbage."
U.S. President Donald Trump meets Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2025

Vladimir Putin’s ‘negotiations’ are a trap

Putin wants to destroy Ukraine as a state and Ukrainian as a national identity.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (left) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak in Kyiv on Aug. 24.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 24, 2025

Carney and Zelenskyy put stolen Ukraine children in focus at U.N.

Russia faces accusations of abducting Ukrainian children since 2014 and ramping up the practice after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Apple is reopening its redesigned store in Ginza, Tokyo, on Friday. The location holds special importance for the company — it was its first overseas store, which originally opened in 2003.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 24, 2025

Tim Cook arrives in Tokyo as Apple prepares to reopen Ginza store

The Ginza location holds special importance for Apple — it’s the company’s first overseas store, originally opening in 2003.
Smoke rises from a missile strike after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 25, 2025

Israeli tanks push deeper into Gaza City as Trump talks peace

Urging the population to move south, Israel has pressed on with its military campaign on Gaza City despite repeated calls for it to pull back.
High school girls wear rented Chinese dresses for <i>purikura</i> photo stickers on Aug. 20 in Tokyo's Toshima Ward.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2025

'Purikura' photo sticker machines keep offering more 30 years after debut

The first photo sticker machines in 1995 were much simpler than what's offered today, but the novel feature of turning photos into stickers led to their blockbuster popularity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump speak during a bilateral meeting at the 80th session of the U.N.’s General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 25, 2025

Trump’s new shift on Ukraine leaves Europe feeling on the hook

The U.S president's newly upbeat view of Kyiv’s prospects against Moscow's invasion shows signs of a familiar move — his upping the pressure not on Russia but on Europe.
Law enforcement personnel respond at the scene of a shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Sep 25, 2025

Gunman wrote 'ANTI-ICE' on unused bullet in fatal attack on Dallas immigration office

U.S. President Donald Trump quickly politicized the incident on his Truth Social platform, accusing "Radical Left Democrats" of stoking anti-ICE violence.
Nodoka Okisawa conducts the Saito Kinen Orchestra to perform Benjamin Britten's opera "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Matsumoto Performing Arts Center in August for the 33rd edition of the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 28, 2025

Nodoka Okisawa is carrying the baton for Seiji Ozawa in Matsumoto

Japanese conductor Nodoka Okisawa embraces both tradition and renewal at a festival that still embodies Ozawa’s spirit.
The “Africa Hometown Initiative,” announced by the Japan International Cooperation Agency at an African development conference in Yokohama in August, sought to foster exchanges that would help bridge four municipalities in Japan with four countries in Africa.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 25, 2025

JICA scraps Africa ‘hometown’ agreement after migration mixup

Persistent online misinformation about the plan being a ploy to ease immigration from Africa led to the initiative being canceled.

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