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Comedian Takaaki Ishibashi
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2025

Comedian Ishibashi apologizes over sexual harassment dinner incident

The scandal has been compared to the Fuji TV sexual harassment case involving former television star Masahiro Nakai.
Demand for Japanese debt has risen since March as the Trump administration’s higher tariffs sparked a surge in market volatility.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2025

Japan’s superlong bonds draw record foreign inflow on haven bid

Global funds bought a net ¥2.18 trillion of the nation’s debt with original maturities of more than 10 years.
Elon Musk confirmed plans on Tuesday to reduce his government time commitment to one or two days a week to focus on his battered car company Tesla.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 24, 2025

Trump's Cabinet ready to take back power with Musk stepping back, sources say

Elon Musk plans to reduce his government time commitment to one or two days a week to focus on his battered car company, Tesla.
Magokoro Yoshihira (center) is the managing director of Yui Associates, which operates the neighborhood fixtures of Sanya Cafe and Juyoh Hotel. Yusuke Takahashi (left) met Yoshihira during a difficult period in his life and now works as the cafe’s chef. Nancy Anne (right) has worked for over 10 years at Juyoh Hotel and enjoys the multicultural environment.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Apr 28, 2025

Reclaiming Sanya, one meal at a time

Since 2018, Sanya Cafe has been building community in one of Tokyo’s most colorful — and infamous — neighborhoods.
It has been over a month since the government began releasing its stockpiled rice, but retail prices have remained high.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2025

Government-stockpiled rice sold ¥420 cheaper in third auction

Although it has been more than a month since the government began releasing its stockpiled rice, retail prices have remained high.
Indian military personnel stand guard near a border crossing near Amritsar on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 1, 2025

U.S. urges India and Pakistan to de-escalate amid fears of clash

Relations between the longtime adversaries have rapidly deteriorated in the wake of last week's attack in Kashmir.
Although it has been more than a month since the government began releasing its stockpiled rice, retail prices have remained high due to sluggish distribution.
JAPAN
May 1, 2025

Only 1.4% of government-stockpiled rice is reaching retailers in Japan

Wholesalers have not been able to handle the sudden increase in distribution volume.
An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard along a street in Srinagar on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 2, 2025

India renews call for ‘justice’ after U.S. urges de-escalation

Relations between India and Pakistan have rapidly deteriorated in the wake of an attack last week that India and the U.S. have called an act of terrorism.
A Shein pop-up store in New York. Many goods imported from China now face a 145% tariff.
BUSINESS
May 3, 2025

Young Americans sour on Trump’s China tariffs despite election-year bump

For Republicans, the trade war is poised to reverse gains with a demographic that could be key to maintaining control of Congress.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
May 8, 2025

Ishiba faces a fresh money scandal

The supporter said he gave the Ishiba campaign cash multiple times when he ran for the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Kotoba Slam Japan runs regional competitions to select a representative for the annual World Poetry Slam Championship, which will take place in Mexico at the end of the month.
CULTURE / Stage
May 9, 2025

Japan’s slam poetry scene is all about raw vulnerability

Slam poetry is a rarity in Japan, but the scene is full of energy and potential that the poets have been bringing to the world slam poetry stage for 10 years now.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (left) arrives in Muscat, Oman, on Sunday for nuclear talks with the U.S.
WORLD / Politics
May 12, 2025

Iran says nuclear talks 'difficult but useful' while U.S. is 'encouraged'

This was the fourth round of talks that began nearly a month ago, with both sides having reported progress in the previous three rounds.
The headquarters of Fuji Media Holdings, Fuji TV's parent, in Tokyo's Minato Ward
JAPAN / Media
May 13, 2025

Nakai's lawyer refutes third-party report finding 'sexual violence'

The lawyer demanded that the committee disclose the evidence behind its report, which was released in March, by May 26.
Netflix has announced it will start streaming "Hotaru no Haka" (Grave of the Fireflies), an animated film produced by Studio Ghibli, from July 15 in Japan.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
May 16, 2025

Netflix to stream Studio Ghibli's 'Grave of the Fireflies' in Japan

It will be the first work by the Japanese anime powerhouse to be streamed on Netflix in Japan.
Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul talks to the press as he arrives for an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Turkey, in Antalya, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2025

'Paradigm shift': Germany says to meet Trump's NATO spending target

Germany, with its dark World War II history, has long been reluctant to spend big on defense.
Nissan's Oliver Rowland drives during qualifying for Miami E-Prix at Homestead Motor Speedway in Homestead, Florida, on April 12.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
May 16, 2025

Nissan hoping to electrify home crowd as Formula E returns to Tokyo

Nissan heads into the race leading the constructor standings.
Wendy McMahon, CEO of CBS News, speaks during the Axios BFD event in New York on Oct. 12, 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 20, 2025

CBS News boss resigns amid tensions with Trump admin

"The past few months have been challenging," CEO Wendy McMahon wrote in a goodbye letter to staff. "It's become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward."
Former inmates work as trainees in the forestry industry in Nara Prefecture under the prefecture's fully funded rehabilitation program.
JAPAN / Society
May 20, 2025

Nara initiative offers second chances to former prison inmates

Since 2020, nine people have participated in a first-of-its-kind reintegration program, with job training, housing and life skills classes.
Drawn to tea ceremony while volunteering at a Japanese garden in Phoenix, Arizona, Michele Laudig (right) came to learn a “common language of movement and ritual” that brought her into new communities in New York City and Tokyo.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
May 26, 2025

A moving meditation: Finding serenity in tea ceremony across space and time

After an American writer ventured into the world of tea ceremony, its lessons transformed her relationship to Japan and brought her into communities bonded by movement and ritual.
Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan's newly appointed agriculture minister, arrives at the ministry building in Tokyo on Wednesday. He replaced Taku Eto, who quit after saying he’s never needed to buy rice, a comment that angered many people.
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2025

Rice price uproar intensifies ruling party's election fears

When the remarks triggered a predictable and understandable backlash, Eto explained that he was trying to make a joke.
Visitors walk along Nakamise-dori as they visit Sensoji temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district in March.
JAPAN
May 24, 2025

Travelers avoid trips to Japan over viral comic book’s quake prediction

Ryo Tatsuki, whom some claim predicted Japan’s 2011 earthquake, gives July 2025 as the date of the impending event in a 1999 graphic novel.
Women visit a stand during the 23rd international gold and jewellery exhibition in Kuwait City on May 21.
WORLD
May 26, 2025

Stateless overnight: Kuwait strips tens of thousands of citizenship

The mass revocations have been cast as part of a reformist agenda spearheaded by Kuwaiti emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam's unique modern script, in part a legacy of French colonial rule.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 26, 2025

'It's in our blood': How Vietnam adopted the Latin alphabet

The history of romanized Vietnamese links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonization by the French and the rise to power of the Communist Party.
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi said at a news conference Tuesday that the ministry is planning to sign contracts with retailers that have applied by Wednesday for the no-bid procedure and hand them the stockpile rice as early as Thursday.
JAPAN
May 27, 2025

At least 33 retailers applied for no-bid contracts for rice, farm ministry says

The ministry is planning to sign contracts with retailers that have applied by Wednesday and hand them the stockpiled rice as early as Thursday.
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jun 2, 2025

How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic

Labor shortages and shifting mindsets are driving younger Japanese workers to challenge the country’s traditional office culture.
The Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2023 launch event in Seoul in 2023. Studies have shown connections between social media use and eating disorders.
WORLD / Society
Jun 2, 2025

How social media can 'trigger' eating disorders in young people

The glorification of thinness and promotion of fake, dangerous advice about diet and nutrition push the vulnerable toward developing eating disorders.
Zheng Yanxiong, former director of China's Hong Kong Liaison Office, speaks during the National Security Education Day opening ceremony in Hong Kong on April 15, 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Hong Kong leader calls sudden removal of top China official 'normal'

No explanation by Beijing or Chinese state media was given for the change.
At the 2025 Osaka Expo, the Italian pavilion has a weekly rotating menu of regional dishes curated by Italian retail and dining chain Eataly.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 8, 2025

From Belgian waffles to Nordic sushi: What to eat at the 2025 Osaka Expo

With food diplomacy at stake, countries at the Expo are flaunting their culinary chops to win over attendees.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks in a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

Japan to release extra 200,000 tons of stockpiled rice as prices fall

The average price of a 5-kilogram bag of rice at supermarkets in the week through June 1 was ¥4,223, down ¥37 from the previous week.
A rescued baby orangutan rests in a basket in Bangkok on May 14.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jun 11, 2025

Snakes on a plane highlight Thailand-India wildlife trafficking, NGO reports

Many of the animals seized are alive, showing demand for exotic pets is driving the smuggling trade, the nongovernmental organization said.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear