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The Japan Boxing Commission's safety protocols have been thrust into the spotlight following the deaths of Shigetoshi Kotari and Hiromasa Urakawa, who suffered fatal brain injuries while fighting on the same card on Aug. 2.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Aug 15, 2025

Recent deaths of Japanese boxers underline importance of emergency action plans

Such plans are crucial to minimize delays and increase a fighter’s chances of survival after sustaining a serious injury in the ring.
U.S. National Guard members patrol at Union Station in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 16, 2025

Washington, D.C., police chief remains in command under White House deal

Trump administration lawyers conceded that Pamela Smith would remain in command of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 16, 2025

On anniversary of WWII's end, China urges Japan to make the 'right choice'

"Only by remembering the past can straying onto the wrong path again be avoided," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was quoted as saying.
Protesters shout slogans and hold photos of hostages during a demonstration calling for a hostages deal on Sunday in Tel Aviv.
WORLD
Aug 18, 2025

Anti-war protests erupt in Israel ahead of Gaza City operation

Organizers said that as many as half a million people attended the main rally at Tel Aviv’s "hostage square” in the evening, a massive turnout by Israeli standards.
An aerial view shows houses partially submerged in sludge along a riverbed in the aftermath of flash floods at the Buner district of mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 18, 2025

Flash floods kill hundreds in northwest Pakistan district after rare cloudburst

Officials say global warming has changed the pattern of the annual monsoon, pushing it around 100 kilometers west of its normal path.
A Pertamina fuel storage facility at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta in 2022
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2025

Indonesia’s ‘gasoline godfather’ targeted in $18 billion graft probe

Mohammad Riza Chalid is the most audacious target to date for the current administration, as it reshuffles its energy procurement and attempts to supercharge growth.
Female students are given a tour of U.S. chip giant Nvidia's office in Tokyo in July.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2025

Firms host female high school students to tout science and technology

Through company tours, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government hopes to encourage female students to pick science and technology when pursuing higher education.
The sun sets over Gaza on Tuesday, as seen from the Israeli side of the border between Gaza and Israel. Mediators Egypt and Qatar have been pushing proposals to restart indirect talks between the sides on a U.S.-backed ceasefire plan.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025

Israel weighs Hamas offer of 60-day Gaza truce and hostage release

Efforts to pause the fighting gained new momentum over the past week after Israel announced plans to seize control of Gaza City at the heart of the Palestinian enclave.
Tomifumi Godai, an engineer who played a central role in the development of Japan's first domestically produced rockets, has died. He was 92.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025

Famed Japanese rocket engineer Tomifumi Godai dies at 92

Godai was known as the creator of the country's domestically produced H-2 and H-2A rockets.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani takes part in a welcome ceremony with his Turkish counterpart, Yasar Guler, at Turkey's Defense Ministry in Ankara on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 20, 2025

Japan and Turkey defense chiefs pledge industry tie-ups as Tokyo eyes drones

While drones were not explicitly mentioned by either side in readouts of the meeting, they were believed to have featured prominently in discussions.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about the economy in the Oval Office on Aug. 7. From immigration to the Fed, Trump is making risky moves that could undo his wins while Democrats double down on policies that so far are not working.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2025

On economic policy, the White House is its own worst enemy

The White House needs to calm down and choose consolidation over controversy and chaos while the Democratic Party must dump, not just downplay, its plainly unpopular positions.
An Israeli tank on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2025

With moves on West Bank and Gaza City, Israel defies global outcry

The developments raised questions about whether the new ceasefire proposal could move forward.
Hiroyoshi Takizawa looks at pictures from his days in wartime Manchuria as a child during an interview in Nagano in June.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2025

A life upended by wartime mass suicides

Hiroyoshi Takizawa's life in Manchuria was comfortable at first. But when the Soviet Union invaded, his father, fearing the worst, chose mass suicide.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni shake hands during a joint news conference following their meeting at the Chigi Palace in Rome on May 13.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2025

Meloni offers plan to aid Ukraine in a day if Russia resumes war

The Italian prime minister is pushing for a proposal that amounts to a NATO-like collective defense clause, but doesn’t come with actual membership in the alliance.
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 22, 2025

Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it

Summer Sonic 2025 showcased Japan’s pop power: Mrs. Green Apple, Hikaru Utada and rising stars outshone the festival’s headliners.
A girl uses her smartphone as she walks her dog in Moscow on July 30.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2025

Online behavior under scrutiny as Russia hunts 'extremists'

Internet users who search for web pages, books, artwork or music albums that the authorities deem extremist will be fined under new legislation.
Workers carry solar panels to install them at a solar farm in the desert in Lingwu, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, in April.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2025

The world’s biggest polluter is cleaning up its act

Coal output is still climbing, but China’s clean power surge means much of it now sits in stockpiles rather than fueling growth.
Musical act Petalhead, comprised of Jaime Alise (left) and Riku Ogura, performs at More Than Music’s beachside event in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Aug 25, 2025

More Than Music makes space for creative communion

Since 2018, Tokyo-based duo Justin Sachs and Atsuko Sunaga have been organizing live shows and curating a community with shared passions.
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.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Aug 22, 2025

From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past

One man’s experience traces the capital's arc from wartime devastation to modern megacity in a story of resilience and reinvention.
The World Health Organization's funding squeeze was sparked by the U.S. decision to leave the agency, announced on day one of Donald Trump’s presidency in January this year.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 22, 2025

WHO plans to relocate units and cease some work in wake of U.S. withdrawal

The organization cut its 2026-27 budget by 21% in May, has already halved its management team, and has seen over 400 staff depart since January.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with the media at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, in May.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 22, 2025

In huge win for Trump, court throws out half-billion-dollar fraud penalty

The deeply divided decision by the Appellate Division in Manhattan is also a defeat for New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of Trump's biggest foes.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a news conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 23, 2025

With no Ukraine peace deal, Trump again threatens Russia sanctions

U.S. President Donald Trump renewed the threat, if there is no progress toward a peaceful settlement in Ukraine in two weeks, amid frustration with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
A billboard displays an ad for the German armed forces in Berlin on Wednesday. The advertising slogan reads: "Standing up for our democracy. Every morning."
WORLD / FOCUS
Aug 24, 2025

Germany is one step closer to reviving military conscription

A law headed for Cabinet approval on Wednesday seeks to boost Bundeswehr recruitment to help deter Russia and defend European allies.
Brazilian lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro discusses his efforts to put U.S. pressure on Brazil to halt the trial of his father, right-wing former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in Washington, on Aug. 14.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 24, 2025

Bolsonaro’s family dynasty creaks under pressure of Brazil coup trial

The tariff fight has also given Lula a shot in the arm, allowing the leftist to seize a nationalistic mantle and paint himself as a defender of Brazil.
A man walks past a drilling machine damaged by protesters opposing the proposed 11,500 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Dam Project, in Parong, Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh, India, on Aug. 1.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 25, 2025

China's new mega-dam triggers fears of water war in India

Delhi estimates the Chinese dam will allow Beijing to divert as much as 40 billion cubic meters of water, or just over a third of what is received annually at a key border point.
Mercedes-Benz Japan opens its first 150-kilowatt fast-charging station in a park in Chiba in July.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Aug 25, 2025

Foreign EVs hit Japan alongside fast-charging network push

As Japanese automakers remain reluctant to shift away from popular hybrids, foreign rivals are challenging the status quo.
The Ground Self-Defense Force's Camp Yonaguni in Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 25, 2025

Okinawa town elects independent mayor cautious about defense expansion

Independent candidate Tsuneo Uechi has been elected mayor of the town of Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture, a result that could influence the central government's defense policy.
An employee at a wholesaler puts a price tag on a package of sea urchins from Hokkaido at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 26, 2025

Warming seas add to food inflation woes as urchin rice bowls hit ¥18,000

Policymakers have mostly blamed rising food prices on the weak yen's upward pressure on import costs, but the effects of global warming now also loom as a risk.
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.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a family photo ceremony prior to the BRICS Summit plenary session in Kazan, Russia, in October 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 26, 2025

China's Xi to welcome Putin and Modi in grand display of Global South solidarity

This year's summit will be the largest since 2001, China has said, calling the bloc an "important force in building a new type of international relations."

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.