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Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato (right) and Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda wait for a group photograph to be taken at a meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors’ in Banff, Canada, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 22, 2025

Japan and U.S. reaffirm commitment to letting markets set currency rates

Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have made a point of not discussing a target yen-dollar rate.
Bank of Japan policy board member Asahi Noguchi says there’s no need to make major changes to the bank’s Japanese government bond purchase plan.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 22, 2025

BOJ dove Noguchi sees no need to change JGB tapering plan

The BOJ is currently trimming its purchases by ¥400 billion ($2.8 billion) a quarter and is on course to reach monthly buying of around ¥2.9 trillion by the spring of 2026.
Tottenham's Son Heung-min celebrates with the trophy after the Europa League final in Bilbao, Spain, on Thursday.
SOCCER
May 22, 2025

Tottenham captain Son Heung-min realizes dream as club wins Europa League

Son joined the club 10 years ago but had not won any silverware.
Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department headquarters. Along with the National Police Agency, the MPD will carry out a major reorganization to beef up investigations into tokuryū groups.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2025

Japan police to launch team targeting tokuryū masterminds

The new police office is set to gather and assess information on tokuryū leaders around the country and identify targets for crackdowns.
The entrance to a cave on Okinawa’s main island where a former Japanese soldier confessed to having killed a mother and child during World War II
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jun 2, 2025

How the scars of war in Okinawa are being healed by a psychologist

A clinical psychologist has formed grief care groups for survivors of war across Okinawa to help try to heal their emotional scars.
Ushers replace a European Union flag with a Ukrainian flag on the day of an EU leaders' special summit to discuss Ukraine and European defense in Brussels on March 6.
WORLD / Politics
May 22, 2025

'Massive sanctions': Can the EU do much more to punish Russia?

Diplomats say it is becoming increasingly difficult to agree on areas to hit Moscow, a task made even tougher by Russia-friendly Hungary.
The Hokkaido East Trail links some of the northern prefecture's most striking national parks and landscapes.
LIFE / Travel
May 24, 2025

In search of untouched Japan? Meet Hokkaido’s newest hiking trail.

The 410-kilometer Hokkaido East Trail links three national parks as it winds through marshland, calderas and more.
Yoshinobu Tsutsui (left), who is expected to become the new Keidanren chairman, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on March 25, as the current chairman, Masakazu Tokura, looks on.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
May 23, 2025

Keidanren to install first leader from financial sector

The post of Keidanren chairman has traditionally been held by leaders from the manufacturing sector.
Institutional Shareholder Services backed the reappointment of Chairman Akio Toyoda to Toyota’s board, reversing its position from a year ago.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025

ISS reverses stance and backs Toyota chief's reappointment

"There are no particular concerns about the nominee,” Institutional Shareholder Services said of Akio Toyoda in a report Thursday.
Masato Morihiro
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 23, 2025

Seven 'JP Dragon' crime ring members detained in Philippines

The seven members, including Hikari Ishikawa, 45, and Masato Morihiro, 37, were wanted by Japanese police on allegations of theft.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. on Wednesday submitted a recommendation to President Donald Trump on Nippon Steel's fraught $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel, a person familiar with the matter said, without providing further detail on its contents.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025

U.S. panel submits view on Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel deal to Trump

Trump will now have 15 days to decide the fate of the transaction, although the timeline could slip.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025

Trump re-escalates trade threats, aiming at Apple and European Union

The tech giant has become a frequent Trump target in his push to force companies to bring more manufacturing jobs to the U.S.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations attend a meeting in Istanbul on May 16.
WORLD
May 23, 2025

Major Russia-Ukraine POW exchange begins

Russia and Ukraine each agreed after two hours of talks in Istanbul last week to swap 1,000 prisoners, but failed to agree to a ceasefire.
Boeing 737 MAX fuselages atop rail cars at a train yard in Seattle last December
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2025

Boeing agrees to resolve U.S. criminal case over 737 crashes

The settlement was disclosed in a federal court filing Friday, just weeks before a trial was set to start June 23 in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Harvard University shield "VERITAS" sits above a campus entrance gate at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
May 24, 2025

Long advantageous, Harvard's China ties become a political liability

The ties have yielded major financial gifts, influence in international affairs and global prestige for the school.
LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama speaks during an event in Nakatane, Kagoshima Prefecture, earlier this month.
JAPAN / Politics
May 24, 2025

LDP holds meeting to let proponents of tax cut blow off steam

The LDP leadership has decided not to include a consumption tax reduction in its campaign pledges for the upcoming Upper House election.
Director Koji Fukada and actor Kyoko Saito pose during a photocall for Fukada's new film, "Love on Trial," in Cannes, France.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
May 25, 2025

At Cannes, Fukada spotlights J-pop’s ban on idol romance

Director Koji Fukada’s new film, "Love on Trial," explores Japan’s idol industry and the contracts that ban young women from dating.
American actor and Cannes jury member Jeremy Strong has been turning heads on the red carpet at this year's film festival in southern France.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 25, 2025

Jeremy Strong brings male power-dressing to Cannes

A member of the film festival's jury, the "Succession" star believes at a moment when truth is under assault, film matters more than ever.
Sakie Yokota (center) and other family members of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea held a national rally in Tokyo on Saturday to demand the immediate return of all abductees.
JAPAN
May 25, 2025

Families demand North Korea return all Japanese abductees

The rally, organized mainly by the family group and an organization supporting such families, brought together about 800 people, including lawmakers.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new plan to restrict updated COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk groups has sparked confusion and criticism, with experts warning it could limit public access and bypass established advisory channels.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2025

The FDA’s new COVID-19 vaccine policy is clear as mud

The U.S. health agency's promises of transparency and choice for COVID-19 vaccines fall short in its first big test. 
Children in Gaza City on May 21
WORLD
May 27, 2025

Israel-backed Gaza food plan starts amid dissent and delay

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it has begun distributing food to Palestinians in the war-ravaged territory and appointed a new executive director
Mika Sasaki (center) checks a scene of her film "Bougainvillea no Yume" ("Bougainvillea Dream") while shooting it in Kolkata, India, in February.
JAPAN
May 27, 2025

Japanese student in India reflects on her grandfather while filming World War II movie

The filmmaker's late grandfather is believed to have survived one of the fiercest battles during the war in India, though he never spoke of it.
The World Health Organization is struggling financially due to the departure of its biggest donor, the United States.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 28, 2025

WHO restructures and cuts budget after U.S. withdrawal

Hit by the withdrawal of its biggest donor, the United States, the WHO trimmed its already smaller 2026-2027 budget from $5.3 billion to $4.2 billion.
Members of the Kyoto Prefectural Police department's bicycle patrol unit, known as the Be-Unit, in the city of Kyoto in April
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 28, 2025

Kyoto police deploy bicycle squad to crack down on reckless riding

The unit, launched in April last year under the traffic police force, has proven to be agile and effective.
Workers ride motorbikes into Weda Bay Industrial Park (WBIP), a major nickel processing and smelting hub, in Lelilef Sawai, Central Halmahera, North Maluku, Indonesia, on April 18.
ENVIRONMENT
May 28, 2025

Nickel rush for stainless steel guts Indonesia tribe's forest home

The plight of the Indigenous people there started gaining attention last year after a video online showed emaciated members emerging from their homes to beg for food.
Rock band Mrs. Green Apple performed an emotional rendition of hit song “Darling” on the final night of the Music Awards Japan.
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2025

Songs, stars and strategy: Japan debuts its newest awards ceremony

From viral hits to legacy tributes, Japan's 'answer to the Grammys' delivers a celebration of J-pop's past and present at its inaugural event in Kyoto.
German and U.S. soldiers participate in Allied Spirit 24, a multinational training exercise, in Hohenfels, Germany, in March 2024. Reforger, NATO’s massive Cold War-era exercise to rush U.S. troops to Europe, was shelved after the Soviet collapse. But with Vladimir Putin attacking neighbors, maybe it’s time to revive it.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 28, 2025

How can Europe deter Putin? Revive the ‘Reforger.’

The massive Cold War military exercise put a stop to Soviet aggression then, and it could do the same with Russia now.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walk to attend a press conference, following their talks at the Chancellery in Berlin on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 29, 2025

Putin's demands for peace include an end to NATO enlargement, sources say

Kyiv and European governments have accused Moscow of stalling while its troops advance in eastern Ukraine.
Displaced Palestinians carry bags of food aid after storming a World Food Program warehouse in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD
May 29, 2025

Deadly break-in at U.N. warehouse as aid trickles into Gaza

The World Food Program appealed for an immediate scale-up of food aid "to reassure people that they will not starve."
A lab at Kyoto University Hospital. A team comprising members from Kyoto University and elsewhere has discovered a way to predict whether someone will develop esophageal cancer.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 29, 2025

Team develops esophageal cancer prediction method using the inside of the cheek

The team managed to make cancer probability predictions with an accuracy of over 70%.

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