Search - 2021

 
 
A man walks past a gasoline station in Tokyo on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Nov 24, 2024

How Japan can exit the fossil fuel subsidies it can’t seem to quit

While offering relief to low-income households, such measures encourage the continued use of the fossil fuels driving climate change.
Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Nov 25, 2024

Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat

The modern sauna experience is more than just taking a seat in some steam — whisking, aufguss shows and spectacle all play a part.
Special Counsel Jack Smith speaks at a news conference in Washington on Aug. 1, 2023. Smith on Monday asked a federal judge in Washington to formally dismiss the indictment charging President-elect Donald Trump with plotting to subvert the 2020 election.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 26, 2024

Judge tosses Trump 2020 election case after prosecutors' request

The request stems from Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
At the United Nations climate conference in Baku, rich nations found that efforts to reduce their own emissions and fund climate programs elsewhere in the world bought them little favor with developing countries most at risk of global warming.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2024

Clean power must offer more hope to beat fossil fuels

Wealthy nations must treat climate change as a genuine crisis, advocating for bold financing programs to enable poor nations to industrialize with clean energy.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attends a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 27, 2024

Trump names trade envoy and top economic advisor to fill policy team

The U.S. president-elect named Jamieson Greer his trade representative and picked Kevin Hassett as his top economic adviser.
Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s “The Making of a Japanese” is an even-handed portrait of elementary school in Japan, where the citizens of tomorrow are forged.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2024

‘The Making of a Japanese’: A warm and engaging portrait of Japanese schoolchildren

Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s documentary is a candid and heartfelt glimpse of elementary school in Tokyo.
The Oita District Court sentenced a 23-year-old man to eight years in prison Thursday for causing a fatal crash in the city of Oita in 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 28, 2024

Oita court sentences man to eight years in prison for dangerous driving

Initially filed as a case of negligent driving resulting in death, prosecutors later sought a dangerous driving charge, which carries harsher penalties.
The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Dec 2, 2024

Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?

Shrinking funding and limited support spark fears for the country's scientific prowess moving forward.
Nissan Motor vehicles bound for shipment at the Nissan Oppama wharf in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 3, 2024

Nissan is awash in outdated models as car buyers look elsewhere

While Japan’s other major carmakers take six months or more to ship a new vehicle, many of Nissan’s most popular models can be delivered within a month or two.
An anti-regime fighter operates a truck-mounted gun as displaced Syrian Kurds drive vehicles loaded with their belongings along the Aleppo-Raqqa highway.
WORLD / FOCUS
Dec 3, 2024

Who are the former jihadis now holding Syria's Aleppo?

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) says it no longer has any links to al-Qaida, but it remains blacklisted by the United States and the European Union.
An image of active and defunct satellites in low Earth Orbit is seen on a Digantara terminal in Bengaluru, India, on Nov. 22.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 3, 2024

Global push for cooperation as space traffic crowds Earth's orbit

A United Nations panel on space traffic coordination called for a shared database of orbital objects as well as an international framework to track and manage them.
World Anti-Doping Agency Director-General Olivier Niggli speaks during the agency's symposium in Lausanne, Switzerland, in March.
OLYMPICS
Dec 4, 2024

Anti-doping agency froze out investigators who warned about China

The decision by WADA’s leaders to keep its own investigators in the dark raises new questions about WADA's response to possible doping by Chinese athletes.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the CHIPS act in Syracuse, New York, in October 2022. America is still struggling with chip self-sufficiency despite limiting China’s access to key technology.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2024

The chip war turns two

The U.S. struggles with chip self-sufficiency despite limiting China’s access to technology, while China makes strides in NAND and HBM chips despite significant barriers.
Prosecutors said Tamotsu Shiiki, 58, had sex with a 12-year-old girl at a karaoke parlor on Aug. 20 after he approached her on the streets, well aware that she was underage.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 5, 2024

Former Nippon Ishin lawmaker pleads guilty to statutory rape

The lawmaker had approached her on the streets of the Kabukicho entertainment district in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Aug. 20 and was aware she was underage.
While FromSoftware's Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is a strong contender for game of the year, Black Myth: Wukong, the first AAA game made by a Chinese developer, offers some stiff competition.
LIFE / Digital / 2024 in Review
Dec 6, 2024

It’s Japan versus China for 2024’s game of the year

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Black Myth: Wukong both have a claim to the best game of 2024, a year marked by cultural scandals and lawsuits.
South Korea's Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung (center) takes part in a joint news conference with other opposition parties and activists on Friday in Seoul to urge the passage of an impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol after his aborted attempt to impose martial law.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2024

South Korea's impeachment battle is democracy in action

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces an impeachment motion filed by the opposition Democratic Party, which accuses him of insurrectionary behavior.
“Shogun,” created by American channel FX and made by a joint American-Japanese team, utilized the strengths of both Japan and Hollywood to create a bona fide smash that critics adored. 
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / 2024 in Review
Dec 7, 2024

2024 was the year Japanese TV found its prestige

The triumph of “Shogun” at the Emmys served as an exclamation point for an industry taking big swings and opening up to trans-Pacific partnerships.
Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho and Sumitomo Mitsui are enjoying record earnings and they are determined to fund overseas expansion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 10, 2024

Japan's megabanks are flush with cash and hunting overseas deals

The primary focus is on the U.S. and India, respectively the world’s largest economy and the fastest-growing.
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.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s factory (left) in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Feb. 23, the day before it was officially opened
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 22, 2024

Chip cities rise in Japan’s fields of dreams

Injections of cash are transforming once-sleepy areas, lifting stagnant house prices and triggering construction booms.
A vendor sells a box of cigarettes across rolls of barbed wire, separating Thailand and Myanmar, in Mae Sot, Thailand, on Aug. 18, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 17, 2024

Myanmar’s war has forced doctors and nurses into prostitution

The rise in prostitution is another blow to the status of women in Myanmar.
Real Madrid players train in Doha on Tuesday. The Spanish club is closely aligned with A22, which launched the Unify League on Tuesday.
SOCCER
Dec 18, 2024

European Super League promoters launch Unify League, call on UEFA to recognize it

It is the latest attempt by A22 to get the competition off the ground after the original European Super League collapsed in 2021.
The neon lights of a casino are reflected on a bus window as a passenger looks on, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to mark the 25th anniversary of Macao’s handover, in Macao, China, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 18, 2024

Macao's civil society 'falls silent' after 25 years of Chinese rule

Public protests in Macao are just a memory after Beijing launched sweeping measures that ousted opposition lawmakers and chilled free speech.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander-in-Chief Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami reviews military equipment during an IRGC ground forces military drill in the Aras area, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, on Oct. 17, 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 18, 2024

Iran's Revolutionary Guards extend control of oil exports, sources say

All aspects of the oil business have come under the growing influence of the Guards.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe says athlete welfare is at the top of the organization's priority list.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Dec 19, 2024

World Athletics uses AI to protect 25 athletes targeted by cyberbullies

World Athletics recently unveiled findings of a four-year report analyzing online abuse in the sport.
The Dubai skyline on Dec. 15, 2023. For years, Dubai has been an ideal rear base for trafficking and money laundering, with little risk of being extradited for lack of satisfactory judicial cooperation, according to European investigators and magistrates.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 19, 2024

End of the Dubai dream for Europe's drug lords?

The Gulf emirate has been a haven for some of Europe's biggest drug traffickers, but the tide may be turning.
Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of semiconductor company Micron, addresses Semicon India 2023, India’s annual semiconductor conference, held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat state. India is trying to boost domestic chip production, a strategic move for its industrial growth and economic security.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2024

India’s budding chip industry: A cause for cautious optimism

Amid the global "chip war," India has entered the fray as it tries to become a semiconductor leader, a move welcomed by those diversifying supply chains away from China.
The headquarters building for Sony in central Tokyo
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2024

Sony buys 10% of Elden Ring owner for $320 million

The new deal will see Sony pay ¥50 billion ($320 million) for 12 million new Kadokawa shares, making it the company's biggest shareholder.
Singapore's Maersk Taurus container ship transits the expanded canal through Cocoli Locks at the Panama Canal, on the outskirts of Panama City, Panama on Aug. 12.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 24, 2024

Trump previews combative foreign policy with threats to Panama and Greenland

Defenders of Donald Trump's approach say he is merely a forceful advocate of "America First" policies.
Greenpeace activists protest nuclear power in Berlin in April 2023, just as Germany was shutting down its three remaining nuclear power plants. 
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2024

It's time for Germany to admit its mistake on nuclear energy

The main thing standing in the way of Germany rebuilding its nuclear sector is a stubborn insistence that it can’t be done.

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