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Graduation ceremonies in Japan will usually include a performance of the Japanese national anthem, “Kimigayo.”
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 28, 2025

Attempting the classics: The world of waka poetry

The origins of this poetry style stretch back to at least the seventh century, when one of the emperor's wives composed it at court ceremonies.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions are rekindling long-simmering discussions about whether overseas governments will accelerate efforts to rely less on the dollar.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Mar 29, 2025

Trump is eroding the dollar’s dominance in world markets

The U.S. president's escalating fusillade of tariffs and bid to roll back decades of globalization is shaking confidence in the U.S. currency.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (left) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo ahead of their talks Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 30, 2025

In Tokyo, Pentagon chief provides assurances that Japan-U.S. alliance remains robust

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth described Japan as an “indispensable partner” in confronting China and sought to dispel lingering unease in Tokyo.
A pagoda that was damaged after a strong earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 30, 2025

A question in quake-wracked Myanmar: Does this augur the end of the junta?

The earthquake, known to have killed at least 1,000 and probably many more than that, struck a day after Myanmar’s military regime celebrated the country’s 80th Armed Forces Day.
Fishermen unload Pacific bluefin tuna off Miyakejima island in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2025

Tokyo aiming to establish brand power of fish caught off its islands

Tuna hauls around the islands of Hachijojima and Miyakejima are on the rise, as catch quotas have been expanded thanks to the growing tuna population in the Pacific Ocean.
A whirling dervish stands in front of Turkish anti-riot police officers during a rally in support of Istanbul's arrested mayor in the city on March 23.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 31, 2025

In Turkey, new technologies reinforce repression

People have been arrested in predawn raids at their homes after being identified from footage or photos taken by the police during demonstrations.
Imabari Mayor Shigeki Tokunaga announces the containment of a wildfire that started more than a week ago during a news conference on Monday.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 31, 2025

Wildfire in Ehime Prefecture has been contained, mayor declares

The wildfire razed a total area of 442 hectares in the city of Imabari and the neighboring city of Saijo.
Japanese stocks declined on Monday as auto and electronics shares were hit hard.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 31, 2025

Japanese stocks fall about 4% ahead of Trump's 'Liberation Day'

Traders and analysts are expecting a week of volatility as the U.S. tariff situation becomes clearer and waivers, if any, are granted.
Anxieties about inflation, debt and the U.S. dollar’s stability — combined with high gold prices — are fueling renewed skepticism, raising the possibility of a Fort Knox audit to confirm if America's gold is still there.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2025

What’s fueling America's gold bar conspiracy

The U.S. is right where it needs to be for Trump and Musk to tap into a decades-old fear about the country’s precious bullion stored in Fort Knox.
Palestinians mourn medics, who came under Israeli fire while on a rescue mission, after their bodies were recovered, according to the Red Crescent, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD
Apr 1, 2025

Bodies of 15 rescue workers recovered from Gaza grave, U.N. officials say

U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said on X that the bodies were buried near "wrecked & well-marked vehicles."
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, in June 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 1, 2025

Trump says his administration is in 'communication' with North Korea's Kim

“There is communication,” the U.S. president told reporters at the White House when asked if he would once again engage with the North Korean strongman.
Metropolitan Police Department Superintendent-General Yuji Sakoda delivers a speech at the inauguration of a section specializing in the investigaton of lone offender terrorism on Tuesday in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 1, 2025

Tokyo police launch section for lone-offender terrorism

The move followed a series of attacks in recent years, including the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.
A worker cuts Inada granite, which is used in various buildings in Tokyo.
ESG CONSORTIUM
Apr 1, 2025

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

In 2024, the Tsukuba massif granite of the Mt. Tsukuba Area Geopark was certified by the International Union of Geological Sciences as one of the first 55 IUGS Heritage Stones, which have been “used in significant architecture and monuments” and “recognized as integral aspects of human culture.”...
Lindsey Vonn of the United States celebrates on the podium after her second place finish in the Super G alpine skiing race in the 2025 FIS Ski World Cup at Sun Valley on March 23.
OLYMPICS / Alpine skiing
Apr 1, 2025

Vonn and Shiffrin fuel U.S. 2026 Winter Olympics hopes

Shiffrin wrapped up her injury-marred season by winning the slalom on Thursday for a record-extending 101st career World Cup victory.
A tank containing liquid hydrogen in Kobe, where a special shipping terminal has been built in order to import liquid hydrogen from Australia.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2025

Japan-Australia flagship hydrogen project stumbles

The blockbuster project is hanging in the balance over questions about its climate credentials.
The Bank of Japan's tankan survey indicates that large business are still positive on their prospects.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 1, 2025

Japanese businesses maintain optimism ahead of looming tariff storm

In the BOJ's latest tankan survey, the headline index for big manufacturers was 12, which indicates confidence in the business outlook.
Lt. Col. Suguru Ejiri, the head of Air Self-Defense Force's Blue Impulse aerobatics team, at the ASDF base in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, in March. Ejiri has revealed little about the upcoming Osaka Expo performance apart from it being based on the event's theme.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2025

ASDF's Blue Impulse set for Osaka Expo performance

The aerobatics team flew for the 1970 World Expo in Osaka Prefecture as well, during which the team drew "EXPO 70" in the sky.
A drone view shows a coffee plantation in Guaxupe, Brazil, on Feb. 17.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 1, 2025

Brazil's coffee farmers turn to costly irrigation to quench global demand for the brew

Most farms in the western part of Bahia — a new frontier for coffee growing in Brazil — are now irrigated.
Takashi Murata, head of Japan at Warburg Pincus in Tokyo, says the private-equity firm is confident about market growth in Tokyo despite the overall depopulation of Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2025

Warburg purchases Tokyo rental houses and plans Japan office

The New York-based private equity firm said it acquired a portfolio of 1,195 shared rental houses in the greater Tokyo area.
Rozan Al-Khazendar (second from left), an entrepreneur from the Gaza Strip, speaks to Kiyomi Kitamura (left), her Japanese partner in a T-shirt venture to raise funds for the Palestinian enclave, during a meeting at her office in the outskirts of Cairo, last December.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 2, 2025

Gaza woman launches clothing brand with Japanese partner

Entrepreneur Rozan Al-Khazendar is collaborating with a mail-order business operator out of Shiga Prefecture to launch a website selling T-shirts to fund aid to the region.
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2025

A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers

Syndicates are increasingly targeting middle- to upper-class individuals from across the world through something as harmless as online video games.
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%

The higher "reciprocal” rates are based on a government tally of levies and nontariff barriers that countries impose on U.S. goods.
Mitsuko Kusabue plays the feisty proprietor of a ramshackle drinking establishment in “Let’s Meet at Angie’s Bar.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 31, 2025

‘Let’s Meet at Angie’s Bar’: A granny like none other

Acting veteran Mitsuko Kusabue brings wisdom and wit to Yurugu Matsumoto’s lighter-than-air comedy.
A trio of former schoolmates (from left: Hana Sugisaki, Kaya Kiyohara and Suzu Hirose) share a mysterious bond in “Unreachable.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 3, 2025

‘Unreachable’: An attractive but half-baked fantasy

The combined talents of Suzu Hirose, Hana Sugisaki and Kaya Kiyohara can’t save this flimsy fantasy drama.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2025

At summit, NATO eyes growing industrial collaboration with Asian partners

The summit comes as the military alliance seeks to step up ties with its Indo-Pacific partners.
Containers are loaded onto a ship at the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, on Wednesday ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of new tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

Trump tariffs pile stress on ailing world economy

They will sap yet more vigor from a world economy barely recovered from the post-pandemic inflation surge.
Seiji Adachi, a former member of the Bank of Japan's Policy Board, says there is a chance of a May rate hike.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

Ex-board member who just left BOJ sees chance of May rate hike

Seiji Adachi, whose five-year term ended last week, said he would probably vote for a rate hike in the central bank's May meeting if one was proposed.
Among those arrested, 1,011 were ringleaders or individuals who gave instructions. About 90% were perpetrators, including people who received defrauded money, and around 40% became involved in the crimes through recruitment via social media.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2025

New ‘tokuryū’ crime groups outpace yakuza in arrests

The term was coined by the National Police Agency to describe a new form of criminal group that has emerged as an alternative to traditional yakuza organizations.
Suntory President Nobuhiro Torii says the company has the option of simply changing the target market if prices of Hibiki and Yamazaki become up too high for U.S. consumers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 3, 2025

Suntory may shift focus to Japan, Asian markets to counter U.S. tariffs

Its president, Nobuhiro Torii, says it has the option of simply changing the target market if prices for its whiskys become too high for American consumers.
Lawyer Shoichi Ibuski (right) speaks during a news conference in Tokyo along with Wayomi, younger sister of Wishma Sandamali who died in 2021 while in detention.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 4, 2025

Family of Sri Lankan woman who died in custody to sue Japan for footage

Attorney Shoichi Ibuski, representing the family, told reporters that the government's refusal suggests there may be “inconvenient information for immigration authorities.”

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami