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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%.
Five high school classmates bond and grow over the course of their sophomore to senior years in “I Have a S/e/c/r/e/t.”
CULTURE / Film
May 29, 2025

‘I Have a S/e/c/r/e/t’ gives teen angst a whimsical twist

Shun Nakagawa’s emotionally resonant ensemble drama reveals deep truths about the inner lives of adolescents.
The Hotaruan Royal Garden Suite, a renovated traditional "minka" home, will host the second iteration of the Minka Preservation Society's MinkaMeets event.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 31, 2025

Traditional home experts to gather at MinkaMeets event

Roof thatching expert Haruo Nishio is one of several experts scheduled to speak at the June 7-8 event.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (center) attends a news conference at the Capitol on May 22 after the House narrowly passed a sweeping budget bill that some worry could add trillions to the country's deficit over the next decade.
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2025

The U.S. is about to discover if deficits actually matter

It turns out that this pattern — the bigger the debt, the less likely politicians are to address it — is lurking in the data, and not just in the U.S.
Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi’s push to slash rice prices could either mark a populist gesture or ignite a political revolution that challenges the entrenched agricultural lobby and the foundations of postwar conservative power.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 30, 2025

Can the 'rice man,' Koizumi, save the day?

Late last week, newly appointed farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi announced that he aimed to bring the rice price range down to around ¥2,000 per 5 kilograms.
French President Emmanuel Macron gives the keynote address of the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2025

Macron calls for Europe and Asia to unite and resist ‘spheres of coercion’

The French president used a keynote speech at Asia’s top regional security conference to call on European and Indo-Pacific nations to avoid picking sides between China and the U.S.
Dancers perform ahead of Lee Jae-myung's campaign event in Incheon on May 21.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 31, 2025

K-pop and breakdance power South Korea’s high-stakes presidential race

Both major parties are leaning on Korean pop hits to energize voters, blending choreography and catchy lyrics with political messaging.
An Israeli Druze woman looks over the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria on May 4.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2025

Israel’s Syria policy could fuel more conflict and disorder

Israeli policy, part of a decades-old strategy of undermining Sunni power, risks paving the way for the emergence of a formidable new threat.
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate for South Korea's Democratic Party, gestures outside a polling station after casting an early vote for the upcoming presidential election, in Seoul on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

South Korea's presidential front-runner backs nuclear power — for now

Lee Jae-myung supports extending the life of existing nuclear plants, but opposes new reactors.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki speaks during an event held on Ie Island in Okinawa Prefecture on Sunday to read aloud the names of people killed in fierce battles in the prefecture during World War II.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2025

Event to read aloud names of victims of Okinawa battles begins

"I sincerely hope that Okinawa's wish for peace will spread" through the event, Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki said in an opening speech.
Polish President-elect Karol Nawrocki in Warsaw on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Pro-Trump nationalist wins Poland’s presidential election

Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian and former boxer, won 50.9%, while Rafal Trzaskowski took 49.1%, according to calculations based on electoral commission data.
The Eagle S oil tanker is seen near a Finnish border guard ship and tugboat off the Porkkalanniemi Peninsula in the Gulf of Finland in December. Finland seized the Russian-linked vessel on suspicion it damaged undersea cables amid growing concerns over sanctions evasion and maritime security.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2025

Braving the storm: It’s time to board Russia’s shadow fleet

European sanctions against the Kremlin’s oil vessels are futile without actual enforcement.
Oscar Dolan (center), the founder of the New York Sumo Club, officiates at a match between Josh Ortiz (left) and Daniel Akandu during the Empire Cup competition at Japan Village in New York on May 17.
SUMO
Jun 3, 2025

At this New York City sumo club, ‘Everybody gets thrown’

The New York Sumo Club has about 100 wrestlers, with around 20 regulars.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called for a parliamentary confidence vote in a bid to demonstrate continuing support for his pro-EU government, after nationalist Karol Nawrocki won the Polish presidential election.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Tusk calls confidence vote after nationalist wins Polish presidential election

European far-right leaders welcomed the election of Karol Nawrocki, a fan of U.S. President Donald Trump who has said he will oppose the government's progressive agenda.
Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene speaks at the parliament in Ulaanbaatar on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Mongolia prime minister resigns after losing confidence vote among lawmakers

Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene will remain as caretaker prime minister until his successor is appointed within 30 days.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba offers a flower during a ceremony to pay respects to unidentified war dead from World War II at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo on May 26.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 3, 2025

Ishiba faces political and diplomatic quandary ahead of WWII anniversary

There is fierce opposition among conservatives to any form of official reflection on the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles delivers an address during the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Australian defense chief doubles down on trilateral ties but rules out Asia pact

A key factor behind the trilateralization push has been the speed at which Japan-Australia ties have been expanding.
Zheng Yanxiong, former director of China's Hong Kong Liaison Office, speaks during the National Security Education Day opening ceremony in Hong Kong on April 15, 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Hong Kong leader calls sudden removal of top China official 'normal'

No explanation by Beijing or Chinese state media was given for the change.
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Saturday. Musk has dubbed Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill as a "disgusting abomination."
WORLD / Politics
Jun 4, 2025

Trump's 'big, beautiful bill?' Musk calls it a 'disgusting abomination.'

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO says the U.S. president's sweeping tax and spending bill will increase the federal deficit.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions during a budget committee session of the House of Councilors on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2025

Ishiba eyes dissolving Lower House in wake of possible no-confidence motion

The prime minister is apparently sending a warning to the main opposition at a time when battles between the ruling and opposition camps are intensifying.
The year so far is only proving that Mrs. Green Apple is the biggest band in Japan. Their success also seems to be hinting at a change in the musical landscape more broadly.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 5, 2025

Six months into 2025, J-pop is having a full-on identity crisis (and a great time)

Halfway through 2025, J-pop is in flux — swinging between AI absurdity, idol nostalgia and viral sugar highs.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.