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"Simit," a Turkish bagel, is one of the Turkish-style breads found at Pide, a small bakery that also specializes in sourdough.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 27, 2025

Communal knead: A Turkish baker in Kamakura draws queues

Encouraged by the warmth of the local community, Burcu Alkurt opened Pide, a bakery that specializes in sourdough and a variety of Turkish and Nordic-style breads.
Among elderly people age 65 and over, the share of single-person households jumped from 5.0% to 12.1% between 1995 to 2020.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 27, 2025

Use of deceased's person's savings for cremation allowed without heirs' consent

The move is aimed at reducing the financial burden on municipalities, which have often shouldered burial or cremation costs.
The National Personnel Authority in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. The authority, , which makes recommendations for wage changes for national public servants, is expected to recommend pay hikes of at least 3% for central government workers next month.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2025

Central government workers to get a pay bump of at least 3%, sources say

The National Personnel Authority is looking to bridge the wage gap between public servants and private-sector workers.
The Atomic Bomb Dome in the city of Hiroshima. This August marks the 80th anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 29, 2025

U.S. public opinion divided over atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

A recent survey, released Monday, was conducted on more than 5,000 U.S. adults ahead of the 80th anniversaries of the bombings.
A fireworks display in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, on Aug. 4 last year. The show has been one of the return gifts for hometown tax donations to the city.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2025

Furusato nо̄zei hometown tax donations hit record ¥1.3 trillion in 2024

Of Japan's 47 prefectures, only Fukuoka, Saga and Kagoshima received lower donations than in fiscal 2023.
Chargers quarterback Trey Lance passes against the Lions during the first quarter of the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Aug 1, 2025

Chargers rout Lions in Hall of Fame Game to kick off NFL preseason

With the star quarterbacks, Los Angeles' Justin Herbert and Detroit's Jared Goff, among the many regulars sitting out, Lance completed 13 of 20 passes for 120 yards.
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 3, 2025

Trump builds $274 million war chest ahead of midterm elections

The fundraising is an unprecedented sum for a second-term president.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff (left) arrives to meet families of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 as they demonstrate in Tel Aviv's "Hostage square" on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 3, 2025

U.S. envoy meets Israeli hostage families in Tel Aviv

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met anguished relatives of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza on Saturday, as fears for the captives' survival mounted.
England's Gus Atkinson is bowled by India's Mohammed Siraj to win the fifth test match for India and draw the series 2-2 at the Oval in London on Monday.
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Aug 5, 2025

England faces searching Ashes questions after India series thriller

One of the most dramatic Test series of recent times ended in a 2-2 draw on Monday as England suffered an agonizing six-run loss to India at the Oval.
Japan's three megabank groups have estimated that the tariffs imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump could cut their fiscal 2025 profits by around ¥80 billion ($544 billion) to ¥110 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 5, 2025

Japan's five largest banking groups post 2.7% profit gains for April-June

The increase is partly due to growth in profits from the banking groups' lending operations reflecting the Bank of Japan's interest rate hikes.
The Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima on July 24. Each year, some 10 million paper cranes are donated for display at the monument in memory of Sadako Sasaki, a girl who died of leukemia following the U.S. atomic bombing of the city 80 years ago.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 6, 2025

Passing on Hiroshima's message of peace, one paper crane at a time

Through recycling, the millions of paper cranes offered at a memorial each year in the city where an atomic bomb was dropped 80 years ago live on.
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 7, 2025

Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable

Under certain circumstances, overseas inheritance can pass tax-free to foreigners who are residents in the country.
The average wage hike rate among major Japanese firms this year hit 5% for the second straight year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 7, 2025

Major Japan firms set record with pay hikes above 5% for second year

This year's average raise of 5.39% was the second biggest since comparable data became available in 1976.
A person holds a Binance cryptocurrencies QR code at a store in La Paz, Bolivia. Binance is favored in the country for its low fees and educational resources for new users.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 8, 2025

In land of 25% inflation, crypto is starting to replace money in Bolivia

From small coffee shops to large corporations, signs of cryptocurrencies being rapidly adoption are everywhere in the landlocked nation of 11 million in South America.
Dalton Henry Stout, a member of the white nationalist group Aryan Freedom Network, conceals his identity during a portrait session in southern Oklahoma on May 5.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 11, 2025

American Nazis: The Aryan Freedom Network is riding high in Trump era

American neo-Nazis point to Trump’s rhetoric as driving a surge in interest and recruitment.
Rescued migrants rest aboard the migrant search and rescue ship Sea-Watch 5, operated by German NGO Sea-Watch, as it makes its way towards the designated port of Salerno, Italy, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Society
Aug 14, 2025

EU security measures cut illegal arrivals, but migrants take riskier routes

Experts say migrants are adapting to stricter borders controls and becoming more reliant on smugglers and newer, often more dangerous paths.
A miner holds a sack of ore as it comes out a the mine shaft at the Rubaya coltan mine, near the town of Rubaya, which is controlled by M23 rebels, in eastern Congo on March 24.
WORLD
Aug 14, 2025

Inside the mine that feeds the tech world — and funds Congo’s rebels

The Congolese town of Rubaya produces around 15% of the world’s coltan, which is shipped thousands of kilometers away to Asia where it’s processed into tantalum.
Wizards guard John Wall during a game against the Suns in Phoenix on Mar. 20, 2013
BASKETBALL / NBA
Aug 20, 2025

Five-time All-Star John Wall announces retirement

Wall, who will turn 35 on Sept. 6, last played in the league with the Los Angeles Clippers during the 2022-23 season.
Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (front) and Sun center Tina Charles contest the ball in the first half at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut on Tuesday.
BASKETBALL
Aug 20, 2025

Fever lose Sophie Cunningham to season-ending knee injury

Cunningham gained national attention earlier this season when she came to Caitlin Clark's defense during an in-game altercation.
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2025

JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing

The train, called Train Suite Shiki-shima, was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, heading for the prefectures of Niigata and Nagano.
The Savannah River Site, an 800-square-kilometer Department of Energy site, located in the sand hills region of South Carolina
WORLD / Politics
Aug 24, 2025

Trump plans to make Cold War-era plutonium available for nuclear power

Plutonium has previously only been converted to fuel for commercial U.S. reactors in short-lived tests.
Palestinian women and girls elbow their way to receive cooked rice from charity kitchen in Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
WORLD
Aug 24, 2025

'Far too late': Palestinians despair after U.N. declares famine in Gaza

The U.N. officially declared a famine in Gaza on Friday, blaming the "systematic obstruction" of aid by Israel during more than 22 months of war.
Argentina's Pablo Matera carries the ball during the Pumas' historic win over the All Blacks in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 24, 2025

Argentina stuns All Blacks with historic 29-23 upset win

The Pumas were outscored three tries to two in Buenos Aires but replacement flyhalf Santiago Carreras landed three second-half penalties to push them clear.
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 Tokyo Electron booth at the Semicon Japan exhibition in Tokyo in December. Tokyo Electron supplier Marumae is seeking out deals to consolidate the chip tool components sector.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 26, 2025

Japan’s niche chip gear makers left out of Nvidia boom, one CEO says

Small companies lack the scale to demand better prices and lower costs, resulting in profit margins of less than 10%, the head of Tokyo Electron supplier Marumae said.
The Finance Ministry in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. The ministry plans to seek a record 32.4 trillion yen in debt-servicing costs in its budget request for fiscal 2026.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 26, 2025

Finance Ministry seeks record budget for debt financing

The ministry’s request would be the highest amount ever budgeted for debt-servicing costs, which already account for about a quarter of Japan’s national budget.
People shop at an accessory store in the Fuyoumen Commercial Building in Shanghai on April 16.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2025

China targeting older consumers for 'silver economy' boost

Beijing flagged "a new age" for the elderly in a 2021 policy guideline, but this year, authorities have gone into overdrive.
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 27, 2025

Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?

Since stepping down, the former prime minister and Liberal Democratic Party president has been raising his public profile and growing his social media presence.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, in Kyiv on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Aug 28, 2025

Ukraine sees 'priceless' digital battlefield data trove as key to West's support

Since Russia launched its 2022 invasion, Ukraine has collected reams of meticulously logged battlefield statistics.
Fuji TV is suing its former president, Koichi Minato, and former executive vice president, Toru Ota, for ¥5 billion ($34 million) over their mishandling of a “sexual violence” scandal involving former TV personality Masahiro Nakai.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 28, 2025

Fuji TV seeks ¥5 billion in lawsuit against former execs over Nakai scandal

The broadcaster claims its former president, Koichi Minato, and former executive vice president, Toru Ota, failed to respond appropriately to the scandal.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?