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Mika and Jesse say their landlady prefers a hands-off style of property management, leaving all matters, including maintenence and repairs, to the renting couple.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 18, 2023

Renting akiya: A backdoor into Japan's abandoned homes

“If the choice is between leaving (an akiya) empty or renting it out, please rent it out.”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida looks on during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Week summit in San Francisco on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 17, 2023

Japan ruling bloc shocked as Kishida's approval keeps falling

A Jiji Press survey for November on Thursday showed the Kishida Cabinet's approval at 21.3%, the lowest level since his inauguration in 2021.
Cooling towers at a coal-fired power plant in Germany. While surface temperatures might stabilize quickly after reaching net-zero, other shifting parts of the climate are harder to slow once set in motion.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Nov 17, 2023

Amid climate efforts, will net-zero emissions be enough?

A new study suggests uncertainty about how climate systems will respond after emissions stabilize is an argument for reducing them as quickly as possible.
Tyson Fury (left) and Oleksandr Usyk will meet for the undisputed heavyweight championship in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 24, 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Nov 17, 2023

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk to meet for undisputed title

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will meet for the undisputed heavyweight championship in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 24, 2024.
A woman sits where her apartment once stood in Lahaina, Hawaii, after the city was devastated by a wildfire, on Aug. 11.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 17, 2023

Nowhere is safe from worsening climate change, new U.S. report warns

The report comes at a time of record-shattering heat, with recent months ranking as the hottest on record across the world.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako greet guests during the autumn garden party at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo on Nov. 2.
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2023

LDP to consider imperial law revision for stable succession

The focus of discussions will be, in part, on whether to allow Japan to have a female emperor.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to face further headwinds at home, despite efforts to highlight his diplomatic achievements.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2023

Kishida focuses on diplomacy amid poor public support rates

Showing off his contribution to the discussions at the APEC summit, the prime minister expressed his eagerness to continue with diplomacy. 
BASEBALL
Nov 19, 2023

Australia gains crucial experience at Asia tourney in Tokyo

For smaller baseball countries like Australia, the opportunity for its young players to play Japan at a packed Tokyo Dome is invaluable.
Eom Dong-hwan, South Korea's minister for its defense acquisition program and administration, speaks at a ceremony marking Poland's receiving of its first delivery of South Korean K2 Black Panther tanks and K9 self-propelled howitzers in Gdynia, Poland, in December 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2023

South Korea’s defense ambitions can be met by tech

Decades of facing down North Korea has forced Seoul to slowly build its own arms-producing capabilities instead of relying heavily on the U.S.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and others place a paper rose on an Liberal Democratic Party candidate's name to indicate a victory in the Upper House election, at the party's headquarters in Tokyo in July 2022.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2023

Criminal complaint filed against LDP factions over political funds

According to the complaint, the five LDP organizations are suspected of failing to list the names of organizations that paid more than ¥200,000 at events.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump in Edinburg, Texas, on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Nov 20, 2023

Not just Biden: 77-year-old Trump also under age scrutiny

Externally, it's unclear if Trump's gaffes indicate fatigue or decline.
Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-te (left), presidential candidate from the Democratic Progressive Party, introduces Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan's de facto envoy to the United States, as his running mate in the 2024 election, during a news conference at Lai's campaign headquarters in Taipei on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 20, 2023

Taiwan presidential front-runner taps U.S. envoy as running mate

Lai Ching-te tapped Hsiao Bi-khim, a fluent English speaker who had been Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the U.S., to join him on the DPP ticket.
Smoke rises during fighting in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on May 3.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 20, 2023

'Libya scenario': war-torn Sudan could break apart, experts warn

By the end of October, fighting had killed over 10,000 and displaced another 6 million.
The labor ministry is planning to review the workers' accident compensation program to cover all freelancers commissioned to work for companies.
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2023

Japan to expand workers' accident compensation for freelancers

The measure is aimed at creating an environment in which freelancers can work with a sense of security.
Children with their parents pray in a temporary church at a camp for internally displaced people in Demoso township in Myanmar's Kayah state.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Nov 20, 2023

Myanmar's displaced pray and teach under deadly skies

The junta has battered Kayah with airstrikes from its Russian and Chinese-built jets, and more than 100,000 people are now displaced in the state.
Japan’s national bar exam was held on Nov. 8 with a pass rate of 45%. Though for decades the pass rate was much lower, this seeming improvement has come on the back of several regulatory blunders.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 20, 2023

The failure behind Japan’s bar exam pass rate

The pass rate for Japan's bar exam has fluctuated, with this year's level coming on the back of several misguided interventions.
BASEBALL
Nov 20, 2023

Hirokazu Ibata passes first test with Samurai Japan

Japan went through the Asia Professional Baseball Championship with a 4-0 record.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol waves as he and his wife, Kim Keon-hee, arrive in London on Monday for a state visit to the U.K.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 21, 2023

South Korea’s Yoon to talk AI in U.K. as trade negotiations begin

South Korea's Yoon Suk-yeol and British leader Rishi Sunak will try to burnish their international credentials ahead of respective general elections.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a family photo during Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in San Francisco on Nov. 16
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 21, 2023

Less than 30% of Japanese firms plan China expansion: survey

Many Japanese businesses have been put off by economic slowdown, increasing competition and geopolitical tension.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. The central bank has yet to step into the real estate investment trusts market this year, after purchases every year since 2010 to help lower risks in the property market.
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2023

BOJ pulls back from risk asset buying in sign of normalization

The lack of buying comes amid simmering speculation that the Bank of Japan will scrap its negative interest rate and control of government bond yields.
The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation's new exhibition lets people experience life with robots.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 22, 2023

Miraikan science museum debuts new permanent exhibition on aging

Visitors will be able to experience various age-related challenges such as blurry vision and heaviness in the legs.
Afghan refugees sit with their belongings near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border on Nov. 20.
WORLD
Nov 22, 2023

Afghans driven from Pakistan rebuilding lives from 'zero'

Many have lived decades, if not their whole lives, outside their country, with no one left in their homeland to return to.
A Houthi military helicopter flies over the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea in this photo released Monday.
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Nov 22, 2023

Houthi ship hijacking stokes fears of escalating Israel-Hamas war

The group warned they would continue to target vessels linked to Israelis until the end of the military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Shareholders arrive to attend Toshiba's extraordinary shareholders meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 22, 2023

Toshiba shareholders approve plan to go private next month

The decision will allow a consortium led by JIP to buy all of Toshiba's remaining shares, marking the end of its decadeslong history as a public firm.
Hamas fighters take part in a military parade in Gaza in July to mark the anniversary of the 2014 war with Israel.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2023

Israel's historical role in the rise of Hamas

The complicated relationship between Israel and Hamas with the the "Frankenstein" Jewish state help create
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 22, 2023

LDP faces scrutiny in parliament over underreporting of funds

Sizable omissions in political funding reports by the ruling party took center stage in parliamentary debate as the opposition questioned the government.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is exploring more investments in mid- and late-stage tech startups, seeing room for expansion into a field that historically was shunned by relatively conservative giant lenders.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 22, 2023

Top Japanese bank builds startup fund as policy push lures lenders

Mars Growth Capital, co-run by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, now has around 40 to 50 potential investment deals for its recently launched equity fund.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo speaks during a news conference in Helsinki on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 23, 2023

Finland to close all but northernmost border crossing with Russia

Since the beginning of the month, more than 600 people without valid travel documents to the European Union have come to Finland via Russia.
Mizuho Financial Group is seeking to establish a securities company in China.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 23, 2023

Japan's Mizuho applies to set up securities company in China

The application comes as the bank is hoping to tap China's lucrative capital markets fee pool, the largest after the United States and Europe.
Children and their parents wait at a hospital in Beijing on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Nov 23, 2023

WHO asks China for more data on respiratory illness outbreak

Northern China has reported an increase in "influenza-like illness" since mid-October when compared to the same period in the previous three years.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami