Search - 2021

 
 
Liberal Democratic Party presidential election candidates after a campaign event in Nagoya on Saturday
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 18, 2024

LDP leader candidates split on separate surnames for married couples

While party conservatives worry about damaging family unity, others say it’s time to push through a legislative change.
Komeito Secretary-General Keiichi Ishii
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 18, 2024

Ishii to head Komeito in first leadership change in 15 years

Keiichi Ishii will be appointed the new Komeito leader at a party convention on Sept. 28.
Ryo Yoshizawa plays a young man with deaf parents in Mipo O’s decade-spanning drama, “Living in Two Worlds.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2024

‘Living in Two Worlds’ raises the bar for depictions of deafness

Mipo O’s film about a child of deaf adults is best when it doesn’t try to educate viewers.
The street where a 10-year-old boy is said to have been stabbed with a knife, on Thursday in Shenzhen in southern China.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 19, 2024

Japanese school student stabbed in Shenzhen dies

The assault echoes an earlier incident of violence in June, when a man attacked a bus used by a Japanese school in Suzhou, China.
A drone view of damages caused by flooding in Stronie Slaskie, Poland, on Tuesday
WORLD
Sep 19, 2024

European cities brace for peak of floods as cleanup starts

Europe is the fastest warming continent, with temperatures rising at around twice the global rate, making it particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events.
Typhoon Yagi approaches Huizhou, China, on Sept. 5.
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 19, 2024

Historic rainfall inflicts chaotic floods across four continents

Though different meteorological phenomena are behind the series of storms, climate scientists agree an underlying factor is global warming writ large.
Visitors take pictures of Tokyo's National Stadium before the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games on Aug. 8, 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 19, 2024

¥300 million fine sought for Dentsu over Olympics bid rigging

The Tokyo District Court is slated to issue a ruling on Jan. 30 next year.
Shiretoko Yuransen President Seiichi Katsurada (center) in Shari, Hokkaido, in May 2022. Katsurada admitted to having little knowledge of ships in an interview before his arrest on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 19, 2024

Hokkaido boat operator in 2022 fatal sinking had little knowledge of ships

He made himself the company's safety and operational manager despite lacking the necessary qualifications after dismissing key employees during the pandemic.
Comedian Yuriyan Retriever takes on the role of Japan’s most hated heel, Kaoru “Dump” Matsumoto, in “The Queen of Villains.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 20, 2024

Yuriyan Retriever is Japan's biggest heel — and proud of it

The comedian takes on the role of Kaoru “Dump” Matsumoto, a real-life rule-breaking brawler in women’s professional wrestling, in Netflix's “The Queen of Villains.”
Marina Tsukada got the idea for her anthology “Mitsuki, Sekai” from her acquaintance with the two young lead actors, whom she first met at a video workshop she conducted in Nagano Prefecture.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 20, 2024

Marina Tsukada lets local lives shape her work

The director’s latest, “Mitsuki, Sekai,” is part of an ongoing project that traces the lives of Nagano Prefecture-based children for a decade until they reach adulthood.
Anthony Joshua (left) and Daniel Dubois during a pre-bout news conference in London on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Sep 20, 2024

Dubois and Joshua primed for Wembley heavyweight showdown

The British boxers left the hype to their promoters as they met in a low-key news conference ahead of Saturday's IBF world heavyweight title fight at Wembley Stadium.
The Eiffel Tower in Paris
OLYMPICS
Sep 20, 2024

Five athletes failed doping tests at Paris Olympics: agency

Around a third of Olympic athletes were drug-tested during the Paris Games this year, with only five positive results, the International Testing Agency said.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani hits his 50th home run of the season on Thursday in Miami.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 20, 2024

Ohtani’s former manager elated — but not surprised — after historic mark

Even as Ohtani rewrites the record books, Hideki Kuriyama believes he can do more.
Before Shohei Ohtani created the 50-50 club on Thursday, just two players in MLB history had hit 50 homers and stolen 50 bases in a season, but not in the same one.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 21, 2024

Others who had 50 steals or 50 homers admire Ohtani's feat

Before Shohei Ohtani created the 50-50 club on Thursday, just two players in MLB history had hit 50 homers and stolen 50 bases in a season, but not in the same one.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan presidential candidates Harumi Yoshida (far left), Kenta Izumi (center left), Yukio Edano (center right) and Yoshihiko Noda pose at a news conference in Tokyo on Sept. 7.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 20, 2024

CDP leader hopefuls must bridge internal and external differences

Once elected, the leader of the main opposition party must both unify the different groups within and choose who to work with to win the next general election.
A scientist looks at brain scans of a patient suffering from Alzheimer's disease in Geneva in 2023.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 21, 2024

Revolution or mirage? Controversy surrounds new Alzheimer's drugs

For defenders, the drugs represent a real chance to fight the disease. For detractors, they are a disappointment after a long line of costly failures.
Shinjiro Koizumi, a former environment minister, during a news conference at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo earlier this month.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 21, 2024

Koizumi ranks as top choice in polls among lawmakers in Japan’s LDP race

The surveys also said many lawmakers remain undecided or could change their minds, indicating a fluid situation with just a few days to go until the vote.
U.S. border guards in Eagle Pass, Texas, in February
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 21, 2024

The Biden administration is fighting smugglers of a potent greenhouse gas

Since the start of fiscal 2024, the Biden administration has stopped roughly 25 illegal shipments of hydrofluorocarbons.
Soya Inomata finished with the silver medal in the men's skateboard vert final at X Games Chiba at Makuhari Messe on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Action sports
Sep 21, 2024

Keyaki Ike grabs gold as skateboarders take center stage at X Games Chiba

Ike beat out U.S. great Nyjah Huston and the rest of the field for gold at X Games Chiba.
Through trial and error, Tashi Gyamtso and his team meticulously selected a variety of herbs and vegetables best suited to Yufuin’s unique altitude, climate and soil conditions — and which now form the backbone of Jimgu's menu.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Sep 22, 2024

Jimgu: A farm-driven restaurant of outstanding local variety

Three years before chef Tashi Gyamtso served his first meal at Jimgu, he arrived in Oita Prefecture to build the farm that stocks his kitchen today.
Netflix has developed more local content for India featuring Bollywood actors over the years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 23, 2024

India probing Netflix for visa violations and racial discrimination, email shows

Netflix has often faced heat in India over its content deemed insensitive by some users, as well as an Indian tax demand since 2023.
The Social Democrats secured a narrow victory in the eastern state of Brandenburg, which is home to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Potsdam constituency.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 23, 2024

Scholz escapes another defeat to far right in German state vote

The Social Democrats edged out the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany in Sunday's election in the eastern state of Brandenburg.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during the Summit of the Future on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 23, 2024

Kishida seeks 'concrete actions' for U.N. Security Council reform

As next year marks the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the U.N., Kishida stated that "concrete actions" should be taken on Security Council reform.
The top three U.S. money managers — State Street, Vanguard, and BlackRock — have dramatically reduced support for environmental and social proposals.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 23, 2024

Big three money managers cut support for climate proposals

Total shareholder support for environmental and social resolutions fell to about 19% during the latest proxy season from roughly 22% in the year-earlier period.
Americans face a choice in the November presidential election between Donald Trump’s isolationist vision of America alone and Kamala Harris’ approach, which builds on the Biden administration’s legacy of strengthening alliances to tackle global challenges.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2024

America’s role in the world is hard. It just got much harder.

November's election offers stark contrast between Donald Trump’s isolationism and Kamala Harris’ focus on strengthening alliances.
A person rides a scooter underneath a fallen pole following Typhoon Shanshan in Miyazaki on Aug. 29 in this screengrab taken from a social media video.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Sep 23, 2024

Shanshan study spotlights science linking warming to extreme weather

Scientists are now able to assess the influence of climate change on particular weather events within weeks or even days.
The Padres' Yu Darvish recorded his 2,000th MLB strikeout during a win over the White Sox on Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 23, 2024

Yu Darvish becomes first Japan-born player to reach 2,000 strikeouts in MLB

Darvish and the Padres were hoping to clinch a playoff berth on Sunday, with the results in other games set to determine that.
Elderly people rest at a park in Beijing on May 22.
BUSINESS
Sep 24, 2024

China's retirement reforms not enough to fix pension headache

Lawmakers fast-tracked the policy without public consultation in September
Kimberly Guilfoyle speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17. More than two decades ago, the future vice president Kamala Harris and the conservative firebrand Guilfoyle were rising legal stars in San Francisco when Guilfoyle accused Harris of trying to deny her a job.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 24, 2024

The long, strange saga of Kamala Harris and Kimberly Guilfoyle

More than two decades ago, the future vice president Harris and the conservative firebrand Guilfoyle were rising legal stars in San Francisco.
Masahiko Uotani (third from left), head of Keidanren's diversity promotion committee, hands its proposal on a separate surname system for married couples to members of a lawmaker group focused on realizing such a system, in June.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Sep 24, 2024

Japan's top business lobby group pushes for separate surnames option

In response to Keidanren's push, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party held internal discussions on the issue for the first time in about three years.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.