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As childish as Ryokan may have been, human suffering wrung his heart. A portrait of the monk and calligraphy by him are shown here. (Ink on paper; early 19th century; replica before 1970)
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jul 21, 2024

Ryokan and us: 'How wide! How boundless!'

The Edo Period monk could see the world through a child's eyes, maybe even those of a child from our modern era.
The misinterpretation of data on guns and self-defense in the United States highlights how studies may overstate the benefits while downplaying risks and unintended consequences.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2024

Guns aren’t as good for self-defense as America thinks

Like other public health crises, gun violence has been studied and scientists have data pointing to ways the carnage can be reduced.
One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
PODCAST / deep dive
Jul 22, 2024

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Homeless influencers, fantasy boyfriends and bubble-era bars — Kabukicho seems to have it all.
Bank of Japan officials are divided over whether to raise interest rates at a policy meeting next week, people familiar with the matter say.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 23, 2024

BOJ is said to see weak consumer spending complicating rate call

Weak consumer spending has prompted the government to cut its fiscal year growth forecast to 0.9%, with central bank likely lowering its projection to 0.5%.
The latest research indicates that heat stress is likely to worsen the condition of people with Alzheimer’s disease — which accounts for over half of all dementia cases in Japan — by making them more irritated or exacerbating their cognitive decline.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Boiling Point
Jul 29, 2024

For aging Japan, a troubling link between heat and dementia

The latest research indicates that heat can exacerbate cognitive decline and worsen dementia symptoms.
A scientist looks at scans at the Memory Center at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital in Geneva on June 6, 2023.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 29, 2024

A blood test accurately diagnosed Alzheimer’s 90% of the time, study finds

A team of researchers reported that a blood test was significantly more accurate than doctors’ interpretation of cognitive tests and CT scans in signaling Alzheimer's.
Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) virions (spherical in appearance) bud from a cultured human lymphocytes in this scanning electron microscopic image obtained from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2019.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 29, 2024

Cured HIV patients 'living proof' of hope in fight against virus

Only seven people are considered to have been effectively cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant.
Temperatures are soaring across Japan, making getting to sleep at night a constant battle between your body and the right setting for your air conditioner to help you nod off.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Boiling Point
Aug 2, 2024

An ideal AC temperature for sleep? Science says yes ... and no.

Keeping your room at 26 degrees Celsius can help you sleep through summer’s steamy nights — but how long should you leave the AC on?
Okinawan rapper Awich’s dynamic and emotional set proved her ability to headline any festival moving forward.
CULTURE
Aug 2, 2024

Why Fuji Rock is still the best party in Japan, no matter who headlines

Kraftwerk paid tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto in a sentimental set, while Awich, Man with a Mission and Turnstile provided some of the weekend's most thrilling moments.
Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, during an event at the Buergenstock Resort in Stansstad near Lucerne, Switzerland, on June 15.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 3, 2024

Ukraine’s allies are worried about the power of Zelenskyy’s top aide

Some of Ukraine’s international backers are growing concerned about just how much decision making power Andriy Yermak has.
The dark side of artificial intelligence is that it could make deadly and low-cost bioweapons more accessible to nonstate actors.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2024

AI may save us, or may construct viruses to kill us

One reason biological weapons haven’t been much used is that they can boomerang. If Russia released a virus in Ukraine, it could spread to Russia.
A garment store is set ablaze in Dhaka on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 5, 2024

Bangladesh protesters demand prime minister resign as death toll rises

Demonstrations began over the reintroduction of a quota plan that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaks at the National Press Club in Tokyo in May 2014.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 5, 2024

Bangladeshi military to form interim government after PM flees country

Sheikh Hasina had sought since early July sought to quell nationwide protests against her government, but she fled after a brutal day of unrest on Sunday.
The Intel Corporation logo at a temporary office during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, in 2022
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 8, 2024

How spurning OpenAI set chip giant Intel behind in the AI marketplace

OpenAI went on to launch the groundbreaking ChatGPT in 2022 and is now reportedly valued at about $80 billion.
A bulletin board shows the day's highest temperature in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, on July 29.
JAPAN / Boiling Point
Aug 8, 2024

From Naha to Nemuro, how Japan’s cities are responding to more heat

Municipalities are reaching for everything from automated misting systems to anime to help cool residents and educate them about the risks of heat.
Displaced Palestinians watch as first responders prepare to transport the bodies of people killed in an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza City on Saturday.
WORLD
Aug 11, 2024

Israel criticized after strike kills scores in Gaza

The Israeli military acknowledged the attack but said Hamas and another armed Palestinian group were using the facility for military operations and attacks on Israel.
A woman checks her phone as she stands amid the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli bombardment in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood on Sunday.
WORLD
Aug 12, 2024

In Gaza, keeping the internet on can cost lives but also save them

Preserving the war-torn territory's internet connection comes at a price and the risks can be deadly for desperate users.
Polina Oba enjoys the food in Fukuoka, but still finds herself traveling to Tokyo often as that’s where most of the decision-makers are based. 
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 12, 2024

Polina Oba: ‘Try quick, fail quick, learn quick and you need to always pivot’

Networking is at the core of Polina Oba's GourmetPro startup. Not only is it great meeting new people but you'll never know where those connections may lead.
People rest outside Matadero cultural center during the fourth heatwave of the summer in Madrid on Sunday.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 12, 2024

Experts are fighting over whether to give heat waves names

The arguments against naming heat waves aren’t so removed from the arguments in favor: Heat is complicated, and its threat level tricky to generalize.
A container-sized cabin produced by Zheng Weirong's company
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 13, 2024

Chinese swap handbags for trips as ‘experience economy’ booms

Consumer spending in China is still constrained by modest income growth and falling home prices, which make homeowners feel less wealthy overall.
Google is appealing an Aug. 5 ruling that it illegally monopolized the markets of online search and search text ads but the presiding judge has ordered the start of plans for the second phase of the case, which will involve the government’s proposals for restoring competition, including a possible breakup request.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2024

U.S. considers a rare antitrust move: breaking up Google

If the breakup plan proceeds, the most likely units for divestment are the Android operating system and Chrome web browser.
Health minister Keizo Takemi fields questions from reporters in March after a Cabinet meeting to deal with health problems caused by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's beni kōji red yeast rice supplements.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2024

Health Minister Keizo Takemi on how to improve Japan's health care system

Digitalization, hiring high-skilled foreign workers and increasing wages are among the steps that Japan could take.
South Africa's 49-year-old skateboarding Olympian, Dallas Oberholzer, competes in the men's prelims during the Paris Games on Aug. 7.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2024

The oldest Olympians might hold the key to slowing down aging

As we age, the number of mitochondria in our cells declines, but that happens much more slowly in people who continue to do strenuous exercise.
A college student paints graffiti on a wall at Dhaka university in the capital on Monday following weeks of student-led protests that toppled autocratic Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2024

Bangladesh student protesters eye new party to cement their revolution

Their hope is to avoid a repeat of the last 15 years, in which Sheikh Hasina ruled the country of some 170 million people with an iron fist.
The volunteer lifesavers of Nishihama Surf Lifesaving Club never know what's in store at the start of their day.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Aug 19, 2024

It's no simple day at the beach for Japan's volunteer lifesavers

Protecting beachgoers from drowning, heatstroke and possible tsunami, lifesavers are seeking formal recognition for what they do.
An ambulance is parked at the entrance of the emergency room of Saitama Hospital in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, on July 24.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Boiling Point
Aug 20, 2024

How Japan's health care system is gearing up for more heatstroke cases

Rising heatstroke cases are weighing on the nation’s health care system, which is already wrestling with the growing burden of a rapidly aging population.
Attendees wave the U.S. flag after Vice President Kamala Harris spoke on the last day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 23, 2024

Democrats taste victory in November. But are they too confident?

In a series of speeches during the party's convention, several people issued stern warnings for anyone believing the happy talk that November's election will be easy.
Forensic police inspect the scene of stabbings in Solingen, Germany, on Saturday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 24, 2024

Three dead in knife attack on German festival

Police closed off the center of Solingen, while victims and witnesses were being questioned about the attack on Friday night.
Jonah Ndeuludila (right) is studying at Tochigi Prefecture's Asian Rural Institute in order to bring skills back to his job at Namibia's Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 2, 2024

Over half a century, seeds of change grow at a Tochigi farm

Founded by Toshihiro Takami in 1973, ARI promotes organic, subsistence farming methods and the practice of servant leadership.
An abandoned house in Urayama, Saitama Prefecture. Buying an <i>akiya</i>, which means empty house in Japanese, can be a rewarding experience that yields a unique space and a livable home, competitively priced. Or it could turn out to be a money pit.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024

First lesson of Japan’s akiya gold rush: No such thing as a free house.

Renovations are usually the most expensive part of the journey and the laundry list of what needs to be done is long and tends to get longer after the process starts.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’