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A scientist looks at scans of grains at the Memory Centre at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital (HUG) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 6, 2023.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Sep 17, 2025

Japan’s front-line researchers see bright path ahead for dementia treatment

Four scientists at the forefront of dementia research speak about what kind of future they envision for people with the condition.
Jimmy Kimmel arrives at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sept. 12, 2022. Kimmel's late-night show has been taken off the air by ABC.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 18, 2025

Disney's ABC yanks 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' off air after remarks about Kirk

The move is the latest taken against media figures, academic workers, teachers and corporate employees over their remarks about Kirk following his assassination.
The Syrian flag is flown in Aleppo on May 14.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 18, 2025

U.S. envoys focused on Syria ousted amid pro-Damascus shift, sources say

The diplomats at the de facto U.S. mission to Syria, based in Istanbul, all reported to the U.S. special envoy for Syria, a longtime friend of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Polls suggest a head-to-head contest in the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential race, but powerbrokers may sideline veteran contenders to engineer a youth-versus-youth showdown that could reshape both the party and Japan’s political landscape.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 18, 2025

Whiteboarding the LDP election

As I whiteboard the election scenarios, Koizumi vs. Takaichi is the most obvious race.
U.S. President Donald Trump insisted he was committed to ending the war in Ukraine and repeatedly expressed his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 19, 2025

Trump says Putin ‘let me down’ and allies must stop buying Russian oil

While Trump said he’d be willing to consider other efforts to punish Putin, he signaled such moves would be contingent on allies ending purchases of Russian energy.
Staff of United Nations agencies gather to denounce the killing of their colleagues in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, outside the global organization's European headquarters in Geneva on Thursday.
WORLD
Sep 19, 2025

U.S. and Israel criticize U.N. staff over Gaza war stance amid protests

Hundreds of U.N. staff protested outside the global organization's European headquarters on Thursday.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is unlikely to spend more than a fraction of his 27-year sentence behind bars, legal experts say.
WORLD / Crime & Legal / ANALYSIS
Sep 19, 2025

Brazil's Bolsonaro is going to prison, but he might not stay long

The former president was sentenced to 27 years behind bars after the Brazilian Supreme Court found him guilty of plotting a coup to overturn the 2022 election he lost.
U.S. deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus raises her hand to veto a draft resolution during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Gaza Strip, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 19, 2025

U.S. vetoes U.N. demand for ceasefire and aid access in Gaza

The U.N. resolution would also have demanded the immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups.
Candidates take part in the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership race in September 2024 at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, including many of the contenders for next month’s contest. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 19, 2025

LDP candidates through a 'Japanese conservative' lens

The three key elements of Japanese conservatism are preserving national identity and traditions, sustaining the imperial succession and affirming the Self-Defense Forces’ role.
Then-Taiwanese Vice Foreign Minister Alexander Yui — who is currently the island's de facto ambassador to the U.S. — speaks during a news conference in Taipei in July 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 20, 2025

Trump intelligence advisers met with Taiwanese official

The meeting with Alexander Yui, Taiwan's de facto U.S. ambassador, amounted to one of the higher-level Taiwan-U.S. contacts to date during Trump's second term.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to reporters alongside President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Sept. 15.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 21, 2025

Trump publicly urges U.S. Justice Department to charge his enemies

The U.S. president is demanding action against two Democrats who have been accused by Trump ally of mortgage fraud.
The Plaza Hotel in New York, where finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of Five countries met and struck the Plaza Accord on Sept. 22, 1985.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 21, 2025

40 years after Plaza Accord, Japan still at mercy of forex swings

Monday marks the 40th anniversary of the accord, struck between Japan, the U.S., the U.K., France and what was then West Germany.
Paulina “Jedda” Puruntatameri with Antonia Burke and Tiwi fisher Clinton offshore of Melville Island, one of the Tiwi Islands, in Australia's Northern Territory. Together with other Tiwi, Jedda has been campaigning for years to stop Australian company Santos and its backers, including Japanese investors, from drilling for natural gas at the Barossa gas field.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Sep 21, 2025

As Japan keeps buying gas, Aboriginal Australians pay the price

Japan is Australia’s second-largest export market for energy and natural resources, giving Tokyo a certain political weight when it comes to Australian energy matters.
A group of U.S. foreign policy veterans has warned Congress that Donald Trump’s erratic and hostile approach to allies is eroding America’s global credibility.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2025

America’s friends will never trust the U.S. again

A group of U.S. foreign policy veterans has warned Congress that Donald Trump’s erratic and hostile approach to allies is eroding America’s global credibility.
Japan's Mebuki Suzuki in action with Uganda's Oscar Chelimo in the men's 10,000 meter final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sept. 14
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 22, 2025

The Japanese face and body patches that have had the world wondering

Some athletes at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo swear by the products.
U.S. President Donald Trump with Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk and the new CEO of Turning Point USA, onstage during the memorial for her late husband at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Sep 22, 2025

At Charlie Kirk memorial, Trump rallies MAGA against political opponents

U.S. President Donald Trump's speech at the event was the most openly divisive, repeatedly attacking the "radical left" and leaning into campaign-style grievances.
Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh in action during the final of the women's high jump event at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday
MORE SPORTS
Sep 22, 2025

Ukraine must invest in young sporting talent, athletics chief says

Olha Saladukha, a former triple jumper who won world gold in 2011, said despite the war with Russia, Ukraine was looking to the future.
Activists hold a two-day protest vigil in solidarity with the victims in Gaza outside the Auberge de Castille, the office of Malta Prime Minister Robert Abela after he announced that Malta will formally recognize the State of Palestine in the coming days, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Valletta, Malta, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 22, 2025

What would wider recognition of Palestine mean for Palestinians and Israel?

Britain, Canada and Australia all recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday, with other countries expected to follow suit this week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
A family of displaced Sudanese at a displacement camp in Al Dabba, Sudan, on Sept. 6
WORLD / Politics
Sep 22, 2025

In Sudan, 'never again' has proved untrue, UNHCR chief says

After the bloody civil war in Sudan's Darfur region 20 years ago, the world said "never again." And yet it is happening again, U.N. refugees chief Filippo Grandi says.
French President Emmanuel Macron (center) arrives for a United Nations Summit on Palestinian statehood at U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 23, 2025

World leaders rally behind Palestinian statehood at U.N., defying U.S. and Israel

The United States has warned of possible consequences for those who take measures against Israel, including France as host of the summit.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya makes a speech at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 23, 2025

Japan's recognition of Palestine state is a matter of 'when,' Iwaya says

The foreign minister says Japan will continue to play a realistic and proactive role toward achieving a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel.
A U.S. Secret Service agent near a security checkpoint outside the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday.
WORLD
Sep 23, 2025

Secret Service breaks up ‘imminent’ telecom threat in New York

Agents discovered more than 300 SIM card servers and 100,000 SIM cards at several locations within a 35-mile radius of New York City.
Han Hak-ja, the leader of the Unification Church, arrives at a court to attend a hearing to review her arrest warrant requested by special prosecutors in Seoul on Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2025

Japanese victims react to Unification Church head's arrest in South Korea

A lawyer group has urged Japan's parliament to set up an independent third-party panel to thoroughly investigate the Unification Church's ties with Japanese politicians.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks as he meets with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines during the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 24, 2025

Trump says Ukraine can win back all territory, in sudden shift

The suggestion that Kyiv could win marks an extraordinary shift after months of saying Ukraine would likely have to cede land to its larger neighbor.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 24, 2025

At U.N., South Korean leader vows to reduce tensions with North Korea

In a speech, President Lee Jae Myung emphasized his vision is "based on a cool-headed perception that denuclearization cannot be achieved in the short term."
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 24, 2025

Trump switches gears on Ukraine war, but fears of disengagement rise

Ukraine and its supporters are concerned the U.S. president could be pivoting to distance himself from the war that he had vowed to end in days.
Filmmakers Chloe Zhao and Lee Sang-il will receive the Kurosawa Akira Award, given to filmmakers who have “left their marks in cinema and will be entrusted with the film industry's future,” at this year's edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 24, 2025

Tokyo film festival to open with Everest and close with some Shakespeare

Japan’s main movie event kicks off Oct. 27 with the true story of the first woman to summit Mount Everest. It closes Nov. 5 with Chloe Zhao’s "Hamnet."
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2025

Japan to provide ¥861 million in grant aid to Palestinian territories

Although the Japanese government is not recognizing a Palestinian state for now, it plans to continue and strengthen its support based on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (left), former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi (right) and agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi arrive to attend the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election candidates joint press conference at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 25, 2025

Newcomer or veteran? LDP faces two choices for new party chief

Whoever wins the Oct. 4 leadership race must be able to work with senior members while also showing the public that the LDP is serious about reform.
Nodoka Okisawa conducts the Saito Kinen Orchestra to perform Benjamin Britten's opera "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Matsumoto Performing Arts Center in August for the 33rd edition of the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 28, 2025

Nodoka Okisawa is carrying the baton for Seiji Ozawa in Matsumoto

Japanese conductor Nodoka Okisawa embraces both tradition and renewal at a festival that still embodies Ozawa’s spirit.

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.