Search - 2022

 
 
Justin Milano (left) edges out Cosmo Kuranda to win the 84th Satsuki Sho Grade 1 horse race at Nakayama Racecourse in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, on April 14.
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
May 24, 2024

Strong field ready to go in Tokyo Yushun’s 91st edition

It’s that time of year once again for one of the great horse races in Japan, the Group 1 Japanese Derby — or Tokyo Yushun to give its Japanese name — which will be held on May 26 at Fuchu Racecourse, just a short distance from the center of Tokyo.
The Japanese government updated its English education guidelines in 2017 to emphasize communication over grammar and memorization. Public school teachers are incredibly busy, however, which means schools haven’t been able to implement changes uniformly. Private and alternative schools are attempting to remedy this.
LIFE / Language / Longform
May 27, 2024

The language of opportunity: Bilingual education is on the rise in Japan

Stuck with a reputation for poor English, Japan is pushing its next generation to be bilingual. Privately run schools are seeing the benefits.
Makoto Hasebe during a news conference following his retirement, in Tokyo on Friday. Hasebe played in 114 games for Japan's national team and played over 500 professional games between Japan and Germany.
SOCCER
May 24, 2024

Makoto Hasebe at peace with retirement, says body still 'wants to kick the ball'

Hasebe will eventually return to Germany and begin to lay the foundation for his coaching career.
Masanori Katayama, chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, said the association will work with the Japan Auto Parts Industries Association to address the problem of subcontractor bullying.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2024

Japan’s automakers vow to stop squeezing their suppliers

Member companies of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association have agreed to treat subcontractors more fairly when the latter pass on cost increases.
Japan's saury catches fell to roughly 18,000 tons in 2022, hitting a record low for the fourth straight year, before picking up slightly to around 25,000 tons last year.
JAPAN
May 25, 2024

Saury fading from Japan's dining tables amid poor catches

Catches of saury are mired in a prolonged slump with no signs of recovery in sight, and those that are caught are often lean and expensive.
Mourners attend the state funeral for President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and others in Tehran on Wedneday.
WORLD / Politics
May 26, 2024

Calls, search parties, drones: 17 hours to find Iran’s president

As a frenzied quest began for the fallen helicopter of President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran moved to control possible threats from abroad and unrest at home.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets with Chinese Premier Li Qiang for bilateral talks in Seoul on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 26, 2024

Kishida meets China's Li and South Korea's Yoon before trilateral summit

The Japanese leader discussed improving ties with Seoul and how to stabilize Tokyo's relationship with Beijing in separate bilateral talks.
A woman looks on during a protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in front of a U.S. consulate in Barcelona, Spain, on June 1, 2020.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 27, 2024

Four years after George Floyd killing, police reform slow to follow

Despite the initial surge of calls for change, federal attempts at wide-ranging reform have been mostly unsuccessful.
Volunteers from a neighborhood committee stand watch on a street in Beijing on April 3.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 27, 2024

Xi Jinping’s recipe for total control: An army of eyes and ears

The goal is no longer just to address specific threats, but to embed the Chinese Communist Party so deeply in daily life that no trouble can even arise.
A boy walks past a mural painted outside the house where former South African President Nelson Mandela once lived in, in Johannesburg's Alexandra township, on June 9, 2013.
WORLD / Society
May 27, 2024

Mandela's vision for South Africa fades as nation closes door to migrants

Immigration has become a hot issue in the run-up to the country's May 29 national vote, the first in which most people have no memory of decades of apartheid.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has pledged to build three advanced plants in the U.S. state of Arizona with total investments exceeding $65 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 27, 2024

TSMC’s foreign investments are good for Taiwan, official says

TSMC is the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, with Apple and Nvidia relying on it for their most important products.
A wafer on display at the Semicon China expo in Shanghai on March 20
BUSINESS
May 28, 2024

China creates $47.5 billion chip fund to fuel self-resilience

The largest shareholder is China’s Ministry of Finance.
A Starbucks coffee shop in Beijing on May 22
BUSINESS
May 27, 2024

In China, Starbucks tries to avoid price war but gets dragged into discounting

A coffee price war in China has arisen amid persistent deflation, weak consumer sentiment, and stagnant wages.
Carpenters and others in traditional attire perform a ritual in Naha on Monday to mark the completion of the framework of Shuri Castle's main hall.
JAPAN
May 27, 2024

Ceremony held for restoration of Shuri Castle in Okinawa

Carpenters and others dressed in traditional attire performed a ritual to mark the installation of the ridge beam on the roof.
Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma carries teammate Kylian Mbappe after their win over Lyon in the French Cup final in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France, on Saturday.
SOCCER
May 27, 2024

PSG prepares for life without superstar Kylian Mbappe

The France captain brought the curtain down on his seven-year spell at PSG in a 2-1 win over Lyon in the French Cup final.
Red Square in Moscow on Oct. 17, 2022. Russian military intelligence, the G.R.U., is behind arson attacks aimed at undermining support for Ukraine’s war effort, security officials say.
WORLD / Politics
May 27, 2024

Russia steps up a covert sabotage campaign aimed at Europe

British and other European diplomats have been pressing countries to call out Russian covert operations more aggressively.
A peace rally on Constitution Memorial Day in Tokyo on May 3. Japan’s identity as a pacifist nation is shifting as the government strengthens its military, but many don’t agree with the policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 27, 2024

Government and society are at odds on national security

Tokyo posits itself as a mutual defense ally of the U.S., but polls show that while the public wants a stronger military, changes should align with the peace Constitution.
Shipping containers at the port in Ningbo, China, March 27, 2024. The U.S. and Europe are trying to catch up to China’s lead in industrial policy, a rival skilled in using all the levers of government and banking to dominate global manufacturing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 28, 2024

How China pulled so far ahead on industrial policy

In 2022, Beijing accounted for 85% of all clean-energy manufacturing investment in the world, according to the International Energy Agency.
Counterfeit nail products branded with the logo of Louis Vuitton
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 28, 2024

Aichi woman referred to prosecutors for selling counterfeit nail products

She allegedly sold nail products bearing the logos of luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Chanel via social media and flea market apps.
Osaka Metropolitan University
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 28, 2024

Man arrested for stealing sodium cyanide from Osaka lab

The suspect has admitted to the allegations against him, saying that he stole the poisonous compound to kill his father.
Protestors rally against capital punishment in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington in June 2022.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 29, 2024

Number of executions in 2023 highest in nearly a decade, Amnesty says

The 1,153 known executions that took place last year were the most recorded by the global rights monitor since 2015.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda during a news conference in Nagoya in January
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2024

Toyota investors urged to vote against founding family chair

The recommendations come ahead of Toyota’s annual shareholders meeting scheduled for June 18 at its headquarters in the city of Toyota in Aichi Prefecture.
Notwithstanding the increase in EV sales, there are now more cars than ever powered by internal-combustion engines.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2024

Nevermind those EVs — oil demand keeps growing

The oil bulls still have reason to worry: With OPEC+ trying to keep prices as close as possible to $100 a barrel, non-OPEC supply, including from biofuels, keeps surging.
A professional single from Tokyo follows a deaf photographer to rural Hokkaido in Toshihiko Tanaka’s directorial debut, “Rei.”
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2024

'Rei': An imperfect yet compelling directorial debut

Toshihiko Tanaka’s Rotterdam prizewinner is a flawed but oddly engrossing epic.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (right) meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Riyadh on Dec. 8, 2022.
WORLD / Politics
May 30, 2024

Xi lays out vision for greater cooperation with Arab states

China has been stepping up its diplomatic efforts in the Middle East in recent years to win new allies in its global contest for influence with the U.S.
While the recent trilateral summit between Japan, South Korea and China in Seoul was aimed at restarting dialogue, it yielded minimal concrete outcomes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 30, 2024

Lessons from the Japan-South Korea-China summit

The underlying force driving the trilateral summit — which yielded little in substance — is the fact that Beijing needed these talks more than Tokyo and Seoul.
As the world marks World No Tobacco Day on Friday, debate is growing over passive smoking in one crucial space that remains unregulated: private homes.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 30, 2024

In Japan, neighborly debates light up over secondhand smoke

Passive smoking has become a concern because many people live in multiunit apartment buildings or small houses with little space between them.
A bid-rigging case represents the first time the Japan Fair Trade Commission has issued a cease-and-desist order order over a project related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2024

FTC issues cease-and-desist orders to JTB and other travel agencies

It is the first time the antitrust watchdog has issued such an order over a project related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. According to four U.S. officials, Biden has quietly authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons against military targets inside Russia.
WORLD / Politics
May 31, 2024

Biden allows Ukraine limited use of U.S. arms to strike inside Russia

Revelation by U.S. officials marks a policy shift by Biden, who had refused to allow Ukraine to use U.S. weaponry for strikes inside Russia.
U.S. soldiers participate in a joint exercise conducted for South Korean and U.S. soldiers in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi province, South Korea, on March 20.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 31, 2024

China's military drills 'remain underdeveloped' amid regional tensions

Noting the U.S. military may eventually lose its edge over China in the region, a new study says China is challenged by a lack of combat experience.

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