Search - 2021

 
 
Supporters of candidates put up campaign posters on a bulletin board in Tokyo on Thursday, as the official campaigning for the July 20 Upper House election begins. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 4, 2025

The dilemma facing Japan’s rising (and falling) populist parties

A working relationship with ruling parties is key to achieving their policy goals, but at the risk of losing their populist brand and voters.
A satellite image shows an overview of new rare-earth mines in Myanmar's Shan state on May 6.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 8, 2025

China risks global heavy rare-earth supply to stop Myanmar rebel victory

China has threatened to halt buying the minerals mined in KIA-controlled territory unless the Kachin Independence Army stops trying to seize full control of a key town.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner before a practice session at the Austrian Grand Prix on June 27
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Jul 10, 2025

For Christian Horner, a brutal end to a highly successful reign at Red Bull

With this season's car not competitive with rival McLaren, a discontented Verstappen and the constant hemorrhaging of pivotal backroom talent, Horner's tenure ended brutally.
Lawrence Lau arrives at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts building, ahead of hearing appeals from 13 jailed pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 14, 2025

Twelve Hong Kong activists appeal convictions in landmark '47 democrats' case

The court found 45 of defendants guilty of organizing an unofficial primary election in in 2020 after massive pro-democracy protests brought the city to a standstill.
John Healey, Britain's defense minister, apologized for the 2022 leak that included details about members of Parliament and senior military officers who supported applications to help Afghan soldiers who worked with the British military and their families relocate to the U.K.
WORLD
Jul 16, 2025

Thousands of Afghans secretly moved to Britain after data leak

The data leak ranks among the worst security breaches in modern British history because of the cost and risk posed to the lives of thousands of people.
Dan Serafini pitches for the Pirates during a game in September 2000.
BASEBALL
Jul 16, 2025

Former MLB and NPB pitcher Dan Serafini found guilty of murdering father-in-law

Prosecutors said the fatal incident involved a $1.3 million ranch renovation project and presented text message evidence of the escalation of the disagreement.
Pham Thi Bich Hau (fifth from left) began translating and interpreting for the Vietnamese community in Japan in 2013, when she was working for a trainee management organization. She went on to found the Vietnam Women's Union in Japan, organizing activities like the Tet festival pictured here.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Jul 21, 2025

The mothers holding up Japan's Vietnamese community

Online support groups and in-person events are helping Vietnamese women from all walks of life manage motherhood abroad.
Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya celebrates after winning women's marathon gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games at Sapporo Odori Park in Hokkaido, Japan on Aug. 7, 2021.
OLYMPICS / Athletics
Jul 25, 2025

Tokyo Olympic champion Jepchirchir relishes Japan return

Jepchirchir has been named as one of three Kenyan women in the marathon squad for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on September 13-21.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to punish Brazil with tariffs to protect former President Jair Bolsonaro is just one sign that the far right is shifting from rhetoric to real cross-border solidarity that undermines democratic norms.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2025

Trump is trying to build a far-right international alliance

There has been a lack of concrete solidarity among populist leaders. But Trump is changing that in his second term.
The dashboard screen of a Toyota RAV4 compact crossover vehicle at an event in May
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 28, 2025

Toyota’s internal inertia stifles digital transformation effort

Inside Toyota, a group of employees are worried about the company’s future in an era when a car’s software matters just as much as its sheet metal.
A soldier from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)  and his comrade cross a stream toward the front line in Laiza, Kachin state, in 2013.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 29, 2025

Trump team hears pitches on access to Myanmar's rare earths

If the ideas are ever acted upon, Washington may need to strike a deal with the ethnic rebels controlling most of Myanmar's rich deposits of heavy rare earths.
Gilbert Arena played in the NBA for 11 seasons and was a three-time All-Star
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jul 31, 2025

Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas arrested in connection with illegal poker games

At his arraignment in federal court in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon, Arenas pleaded not guilty and was released on $50,000 bond.
Naomi Osaka reacts after winning a point against Elina Svitolina in quarterfinal play at IGA Stadium in Montreal on Tuesday.
TENNIS
Aug 6, 2025

Sizzling Osaka to face Tauson in WTA Canadian Open semis

Osaka seeks her eighth WTA-level title, and her first since a maternity leave comeback last year.
Former Myanmar leader Myint Swe in 2013
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 7, 2025

Myanmar’s U.S.-sanctioned figurehead leader Myint Swe dies at 74

Myint Swe, a former lieutenant general, became the acting president after the military ousted the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi during a February 2021 coup.
Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing has appeared eager to engage with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration after years of isolation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 8, 2025

Myanmar signs deal with Washington lobbyists to rebuild U.S. relations

Engaging the junta would be a sharp departure for the United States, given U.S. sanctions on the military leaders and the violence committed against the Rohingya.
The World Energy refinery in Paramount, California
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Aug 12, 2025

The airline industry's dirty secret: Clean jet fuel failures

An analysis has found that the airline industry's plans to go green before regulators start penalizing them are little more than a pipe dream.
 A woman walks past a heavily damaged residential building following a Russian strike in the town of Bilozerske, Donetsk region on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2025

Ukraine, sidelined in Trump-Putin summit, fights Russian grab for more territory

Zelenskyy and most of his European counterparts have said a lasting peace cannot be secured without Ukraine at the negotiating table.
Police officers escort Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon after he served a sentence for document forgery, in Podgorica, Montenegro, on March 23, 2024. Kwon was extradited to the U.S. last year and pleaded guilty to charges on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 13, 2025

Do Kwon pleads guilty to U.S. fraud charges in $40 billion crypto collapse

The South Korean entrepreneur faces over a decade in prison for misleading investors.
Masahiro Tanaka walks off the field after the end of the fifth inning during the Giants' game against the Dragons at Tokyo Dome on Wednesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 14, 2025

Masahiro Tanaka still two giant steps away from Meikyukai

The Giants pitcher's pursuit of 200 career victories between NPB and MLB remains stuck at 198.
Chef Kei Kobayashi is France's only Japanese chef with three Michelin stars.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 15, 2025

In Paris, chefs Chizuko Kimura and Kei Kobayashi make their mark

One is the world’s first Michelin-starred female sushi chef, while the other is France’s only three-Michelin-starred Japanese chef.
Sweden's Armand Duplantis celebrates after setting a new pole vault record of 6.29 meters during the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix in Budapest on Aug. 12.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 15, 2025

Record-setting Armand Duplantis expects 'super-sick' worlds in Tokyo

The U.S.-born Swede has been in electric form, setting a 13th world record, of 6.29 meters, in Budapest on Tuesday.
Kenta Torihama, 33, often describes kamikaze pilots as "human beings like us."
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025

Passing on the stories of kamikaze pilots as 'human beings, not heroes'

Kenta Torihama, 33, says the pilots "had people they wanted to protect, and they departed (on their suicide missions) after much agony and anguish."
The Mariners' Cal Raleigh hits a two-run homer against the A's during the first inning in Seattle on Sunday.
BASEBALL
Aug 25, 2025

Mariners’ Cal Raleigh breaks single-season home run record for catchers

Raleigh hit two-run blasts in each of the first two innings off left-hander Jacob Lopez.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook attends the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's 2025 Jackson Hole economic symposium, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 26, 2025

Trump to fire Fed board's first African-American woman over mortgage allegations

The unprecedented step could test the boundaries of presidential power over the independent monetary policy body should it be challenged in court.
Japan's consumer prices rose 3.3% year-on-year in June, with the pace of inflation accelerating from the 3.2% recorded in May.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2023

Japan's price growth accelerates ahead of BOJ inflation update

Prices excluding those for fresh food gained 3.3% from a year ago, accelerating a little from the rise in May as energy prices were less of a drag on inflation.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Jul 21, 2023

Nadeshiko Japan's Women's World Cup glory now distant memory

Japan begins its latest World Cup campaign against Zambia on Saturday, but is ranked 11th now and no longer among the favorites.
Clothes displayed at Shein’s headquarters in Singapore
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2023

Fast fashion report cards show what’s really in your clothes

Consumers’ drive for quantity over quality is transforming the world’s textile industry, sparking an almost doubling in global fiber production over the past two decades.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2023

Government explains radar deployment plan to residents of Okinawan island

The Defense Ministry stressed the need to build a tight surveillance system in the Pacific, where the Chinese military is increasing its activities.
Residential buildings in the Kachidoki area of Tokyo. The average unit price of newly supplied condominiums in the greater Tokyo area in the first six months of this year reached the highest level for the six-month period due to rising material and labor costs and higher land prices.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2023

Tokyo's new condo prices surge 60% to a record in first half of year

The average price of a new apartment in central Tokyo jumped 60% to ¥129.6 million ($930,000) in the January to June period.
Tony Bennett at the Apollo Theater in the Harlem neighborhood of New York in 1997
CULTURE / Music
Jul 21, 2023

Tony Bennett, masterful stylist of American musical standards, dies at 96

Bennett vaulted to fame in the early 1950s with a string of emotional hits, including "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams," "Because of You" and "Blue Velvet."

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past