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Covers for paper fans used for oshikatsu activities are sold at a Sanrio shop in Nagoya.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 22, 2024

60% of Japanese moms enjoy supporting their favorites through 'oshikatsu'

68.5% of mothers spend less than ¥50,000 a year on oshikatsu, with those who spend ¥50,000 or more and less than ¥300,000 accounting for 20.7%.
The front facade at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. The stadium, widely regarded as the spiritual home of Japanese baseball, turns 100 on Thursday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 31, 2024

Koshien at 100: 'Sacred' dirt, the Hanshin Tigers and a storied high school tourney

For baseball fans across Japan, Koshien Stadium — which celebrates its 100th anniversary on Thursday — is more than just a ballpark. It's a cathedral.
Children practice tennis at a club in Beijing on Wednesday. Zheng Qinwen's historic tennis gold at the Paris Olympics this month followed a decadeslong surge in the sport's popularity among China's burgeoning middle class.
OLYMPICS
Aug 16, 2024

China's Olympic tennis glory tracks booming middle classes

Zheng Qinwen's tennis gold at the Paris Olympics followed a decadeslong surge in the sport's popularity among China's burgeoning middle class.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 19, 2024

Singapore’s Wong hands out fresh perks ahead of election

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong sought to reassure citizens their voices are being heard during his first and last National Day Rally before Singapore's general election.
Players on Nintendo Switch game consoles. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is reportedly weighing deploying more capital to Nintendo and its sector peers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 7, 2024

Nintendo jumps after Saudi fund expresses interest in bigger stake

The Saudi government is keen to mold the kingdom into a global gaming industry player and diversify its oil-heavy portfolio.
Fighters manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo celebrates his team's defeat of the Marines in the first stage of the Pacific League Climax Series on Monday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Oct 15, 2024

Tsuyoshi Shinjo’s high-stakes gamble pays off in the Climax Series

Not every manager would willingly go into a three-game playoff series without planning for his best pitcher to throw.
INAC Kobe's Megumi Takase (left) battles Hiroshima's Funa Yanase during a match in Hiroshima in 2022.
SOCCER
Oct 20, 2024

Struggling WE League seeks course correction as it aims close gap with world’s top leagues

The top women's soccer league in Japan has struggled to meet its ambitious targets. Officials hope a new vision can right the ship.
The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra on stage during its launch in Beijing on Tuesday. The Chinese tech company made its foray into the EV industry earlier this year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 30, 2024

Xiaomi launches faster version of flagship EV in a challenge to Tesla

Xiaomi entered China's crowded EV market in March with the launch of its hit SU7.
Players gather for a baseball game at an unearthed and restored baseball field that had not seen a competition in 75 years, at the site of a Japanese internment camp in Manzanar, California, on Oct. 28.
JAPAN / History
Nov 4, 2024

In an internment camp, all they had was baseball. They’re back to play.

Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, baseball was a source of connection between Japan and the United States.
Onosato (left) and his stablemaster Nishonoseki celebrate after his victory at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament in September.
SUMO
Nov 8, 2024

New ozeki Onosato tops list of contenders aiming for glory in Kyushu

Onosato could become the first wrestler since Hakuho in 2006 to win a championship in his debut at sumo’s second-highest rank.
The Democrats focused on issues like racial and gender inequality and overlooked the economic and social struggles of the working class, allowing Donald Trump to tap into this resentment.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2024

Voters to elites: Ignore the working class at your own peril

The redistribution of respect saw those who climbed the academic ladder celebrated with accolades, while those who didn’t were rendered invisible.
Actor Sadao Abe accepts the 2024 U-Can New Word and Popular Phrase Award for ふてほど (futehodo), the abbreviated title for his series, “Futekisetsu nimo Hodo ga Aru!” (“Extremely Inappropriate!”).
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 12, 2024

How often do Japan's buzzwords make it into the vernacular?

We crown a new one every year, but trendy terms tend to disappear from public consciousness if they're related to pop culture.
High school soccer teams during the opening ceremony for the national championships on Saturday at National Stadium in Tokyo.
SOCCER
Dec 29, 2024

Drama and dreams: Japan's wildly popular school soccer tourney breeds future stars

The annual tournament kicked off on Saturday, with young players dreaming of playing in the final in front of tens of thousands at National Stadium in Tokyo.
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.
Transparent Display installed at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
JAPAN / Society
Jan 31, 2025

Smoother communication breaking barriers in Tokyo with Transparent Display

The Transparent Display can translate and project the text in 32 different languages.
Hoshoryu (front, second from left) celebrates after being promoted to yokozuna on Wednesday in Tokyo.
SUMO
Jan 29, 2025

Sumo’s newest yokozuna is all smiles — but major challenges await

For all the feel-good energy that has surrounded Hoshoryu the past few days, the Mongolian will need to take his sumo to another level if he is to last in the rank.
The first official government survey of Hokkaido backcountry skiing could spell changes for trails in the northern prefecture.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 1, 2025

First official survey set to change backcountry Hokkaido skiing

From October 2024, the land ministry has been gathering opinions on Hokkaido’s alpine adventurers with an eye toward increased support and safety for off-piste enthusiasts.
Shishi (left) wrestles Tokihayate at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Nov. 10.
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Feb 12, 2025

Could Ukraine be the next nation to produce a yokozuna?

The amateur powerhouse is starting to make its presence felt in professional sumo.
Yankees reliever Devin Williams pitches during a spring training workout at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida, on Feb. 14.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 23, 2025

Yankees amend famous facial hair policy to allow 'well-groomed beards'

The all-clear for beards was announced by Hal Steinbrenner, the team’s managing general partner whose father started the beard ban — and vigorously enforced it for years.
Mourners walk during the funeral procession with the vehicle carrying the coffins of Hezbollah's slain leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine toward their burial place on the outskirts of Beirut on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 24, 2025

Hezbollah chief vows 'resistance' as masses mourn Nasrallah

Naim Qassem, the successor of the slain Hezbollah chief, promised to keep following his "path," and rejected any control by the "tyrant America" over Lebanon.
U.S. President Donald Trump is applauded by Vice President JD Vance (center) and House Speaker Mike Johnson, as Trump arrives to deliver his address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 5, 2025

In speech, Trump warns of tariff ‘disturbance’ as he touts trade plans

Data shows new strains on the economy as factory activity stagnates, inflation simmers, consumer confidence ebbs and stocks lag behind equity markets in other countries.
Globally, women are severely underrepresented among leading roles in cinema, with female directors accounting for just over 10% of the industry in Japan. Achieving gender equality on-set would have far-reaching consequences for the whole of society.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2025

Without women behind the camera, equality stays out of the frame

Cinema isn't only about what stories are told, but who tells them. Overcoming severe underrepresentation, women are reshaping the film industry and cultural narratives.
Tucked away behind the historic Tsuchida sake brewery, Ventinove's location and sleek, angular architecture make for impressive destination dining.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Mar 16, 2025

At Ventinove, Tuscan specialties taken to new heights

A former Italian favorite in Tokyo now enjoys a renaissance in a bucolic village in Gunma Prefecture.
Students in South Korea sit the annual College Scholastic Ability Test. There is huge pressure on this exam, which determines young people's university choices and, in turn, their job and even marital prospects, leading to a heavy mental health burden.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2025

Entrance exam wars: A pressure cooker for South Korean youth

South Korea comes to a standstill on the day of the national university entrance exam. But so does students' possibility to determine their future paths beyond a mere test score.
Beards, once symbols of rebellion and counterculture, are making a comeback among elites, reflecting shifting cultural norms even as biases persist in professional settings.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2025

What does your beard say about you?

During the 19th century, the European monarchies associated beards with dangerous radicals. So did the dangerous radicals.
Bereaved family members of crime victims on the sidelines of National Stadium during the J. League's Levain Cup final on Nov. 2 in Tokyo. A Tokyo police initiative in which children who have lost family to crimes or accidents are invited to sports and entertainment events marks its 10th anniversary this year.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 10, 2025

Tokyo police program for bereaved children marks 10 years

Sponsorship from private companies and nonprofits have helped grow the initiative, and today, other prefectures have also adopted similar support programs.
Then-Canadian Industry Minister Allan Rock (left) talks with bat-maker Sam Holman at the Original Maple Bat manufacturing plant in Ottawa in October 2002. By the early 2000s, Holman had clients with nearly every major league baseball team.
BASEBALL
Apr 22, 2025

He revolutionized bats not with a new shape but a new kind of wood

Sam Holman made use of the fact that maple has a tight grain structure and is a harder wood than ash, giving it the potential to be more durable.
U.S. President Donald Trump's 100th day rally in Warren, Michigan, on April 29
BUSINESS
May 4, 2025

Auto workers welcome Trump tariffs, no matter the fate of Wall Street

According to some autoworkers, the tariffs are their best chance of restoring American manufacturing might.
Workers sew garments along a production line at Thanh Cong Textile Garment in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on April 28.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 12, 2025

Chinese factories are looking for the next China

Tariffs have resulted in the cost of sending products to the United States soaring in recent weeks, forcing companies to find new trade routes.
Novak Djokovic plays a forehand return to Italy's Jannik Sinner during their men's singles semifinal match on day 13 of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on June 6, 2025.
TENNIS
Jun 11, 2025

No rest, no gain: Novak Djokovic’s go-to tools for a mind and body reset

Japan residents with deep pockets now have a chance to replicate Djokovic’s wellness and longevity routines at Aman Tokyo.

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