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Taylor Swift attends the MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Sept. 12.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2023

Taylor Swift and the political needle

With hundreds of millions of social media followers and a staunchly loyal fan base, she can move any dial with the tiniest of efforts.
The "Toyoko" area in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district
JAPAN / Society
Oct 8, 2023

Japan considers shelters for young runaways

The Children and Families Agency hopes the shelters will help prevent youth involvement in downtown area crime.
A woman takes her meal alone in Tokyo's Yanaka neighborhood. As the country ages, Japan's average caloric intake has been shrinking.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Oct 9, 2023

Downsizing dinner: Aging Japan is eating less

As older citizens' shrinking appetites lead to less on the plate, businesses are having to adjust to a new market.
Dendrobium orchids — highly sought after due to their use in traditional Chinese medicine — growing in the wild in Nepal.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Oct 8, 2023

The orchid obsession: How science and smuggling meet in a global trade

Love of the flowers has a dark side, with the desire for rare varieties underpinning a robust illegal trade believed to have wiped out entire species.
Steve Kemme's "The Outsider" offers insight into Lafcadio Hearn's prodigious talent with the pen and the development of his style over the course of his career.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 8, 2023

'The Outsider' brings out colorful personality of one of history’s great Japanophiles

A new biography on Lafcadio Hearn charts the course of the writer’s 54-year life and shows how his years in Cincinnati and Japan were formative periods.
Afghans clear debris from a damaged house after an earthquake in Sarbuland, Herat province, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 8, 2023

Afghanistan earthquakes kill 2,053, Taliban says, as death toll spikes

Amid the confusion, the death toll from Saturday's quakes spiked from the 500 reported on Sunday morning.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 9, 2023

Japan opposition DPP to launch new supporter system

A new lump-sum fee will allow 'special members' to get involved more deeply in the party's management and activities.
Dar San Ye smoking in her home in Yangon. Forty years ago, she stood in a river squaring up to a North Korean agent on the run after a botched assassination, a live grenade primed in his hand.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 9, 2023

The Burmese barmaid who nabbed a North Korean assassin

On October 9, 1983, a hit team from Pyongyang attempted to blow up the South Korean president when he visited Yangon.
A screengrab from a video posted on Telegram on Monday shows an armed Palestinian militant leading a man during the Supernova music festival, near Kibbutz Reim in southern Israel.
WORLD
Oct 10, 2023

'Butchered in cold blood': Nightmare at music festival in Israel

Most of those gunned down at the event were young people in their party clothes who had danced through the night under the stars.
People hold Israeli and U.S. flags as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Sept. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 10, 2023

Conflict forces Biden and Netanyahu into uneasy partnership

After months of strain over the path forward in the Middle East, the two leaders have been thrust into a wartime partnership.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen takes the stage during National Day celebrations in Taipei on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 10, 2023

Taiwan seeks 'peaceful coexistence' with China, president says

President Tsai Ing-wen said in her last national day speech Tuesday that the island will be democratic for generations to come.
Soldiers stand near military vehicles as people protest against the military coup in Yangon in 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 10, 2023

Women and children among 29 killed at Myanmar refugee camp

An artillery strike hit a refugee camp near Myanmar's border with China, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since the return of military rule.
Houses and buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes in Gaza City, on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Oct 10, 2023

Israel pounds Gaza with fiercest airstrikes ever

Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with the fiercest airstrikes in the 75-year history of its conflict with the Palestinians, razing whole districts to dust.
Due to the small number of priests in the Orthodox Church in Japan, some have to care for as many as five different churches.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Oct 14, 2023

Rev. Stephen Keiichi Uchida: 'Your life has value’

Rev. Stephen Keiichi Uchida serves as a priest in the Orthodox Church in Japan and leads three churches in rural Kushiro, Hokkaido.
The remains of a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel lies on a road where it fell in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Oct 11, 2023

Who is the secretive Hamas commander behind the attack on Israel?

Mohammed Deif has topped Israel's most wanted list for decades, held responsible for deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.
A group of Chinese tourists arrive at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in August.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 11, 2023

Japan public opinion turns most negative on China in nine years

More than 92% of respondents to the Japanese section of the poll said their impression of China was "not good,” up from 87% last year.
The Seagram Building in New York on April 24. Three years into a mass workplace experiment, we are beginning to understand more about how work from home is reshaping workers’ lives and the economy.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 11, 2023

Here’s what we do and don’t know about the effects of remote work

Over three years since the pandemic forced many to telework, studies of productivity in work-from-home arrangements are all over the map.
Most projections show the world will hit peak humanity in the 21st century as people choose to have smaller families and women gain power over their own reproduction.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2023

Don’t worry about global population collapse

While environmentalists have long warned of a planet with too many people, now some economists are warning of a future with too few.
A struggling novelist (Rie Miyazawa) wrestles with life’s bigger questions after taking a job at a care facility for people with severe disabilities in “The Moon.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2023

‘The Moon’: Provocative drama bites off more than it can chew

Yuya Ishii’s film courts controversy with a fictionalized retelling of a real-life knife attack at a care facility for people with mental disabilities.
Ground Self-Defense Force members take part in a military review in Asaka, Saitama Prefecture, in October 2018.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2023

'Not proud at all': Japan struggles to recruit for Self-Defense Forces

Experts have said that the country's armed forces could be weakened because of a lack of personnel.
A dove flies over the debris of houses destroyed in Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD
Oct 12, 2023

Gazans bombarded by Israel have no hope and no escape

The Palestinian territory, one of the most crowded places on Earth, has been under siege since Saturday in a near-constant bombardment.
A breaker performs during the Red Bull BC One 2023 Camp Day and National Finals at the Fillmore in Philadelphia on Aug. 26
MORE SPORTS
Oct 12, 2023

Breakers grapple with hip-hop’s Olympic moment

B-boys and B-girls wonder if their art will translate into sport when breaking makes its debut at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
A woman hands out pamphlets outside a voting center in central Sydney on Oct. 3. A coming referendum will decide whether to recognize Indigenous Australians in the Constitution.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2023

Australia’s First Nations vote is coming down to love against war

Australia was founded as a federation in 1901 without formal recognition of the continent’s Indigenous peoples.
The classic Japanese ghost story often features a vengeful female ghost.
PODCAST / deep dive
Oct 12, 2023

[Rebroadcast] Japan’s got ghosts

This week we discuss a few horror movies before “Uncanny Japan” podcast host Thersa Matsuura tells a classic Japanese ghost story.
Sher Aqa, left, grieves over the body of his 12-year-old daughter, Roqia, during a funeral in the earthquake-ravaged village of Siaab, in Herat Province, Afghanistan, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Oct 12, 2023

‘The wrath of God’: Afghans mourn unimaginable loss from quake

Wails echoed across what was left of the village when the ambulance arrived. Inside was the body of a 12-year-old girl, Roqia. She had died in a nearby hospital Tuesday morning, days after a devastating earthquake hit this stretch of northwestern Afghanistan and sent her mud-brick home crashing down...
Israeli soldiers prepare for a mission outside Be’eri, a kibbutz that was overrun by Hamas militants on Saturday, in Israel, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 13, 2023

Israeli army to confront resilient foe in anticipated Gaza invasion

Israel's generals will look to lessons learned from past ground offensives in 2008 and 2014.
Anand Malligavad, a mechanical engineer known as “Lake Man,” stands in the clean waters of Kyalasanahalli Lake in Bengaluru, India. Malligavad, who turned to centuries-old knowledge to reclaim dozens of lakes, is now in demand across India.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 13, 2023

India’s ‘lake man’ relies on ancient methods to ease water crisis

In the seven years, 35 lakes in Bengaluru with a combined water-holding capacity of about 106 million gallons have been restored.
U.S. President Joe Biden participates in a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 78th U.N. General Assembly in New York City last month.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 13, 2023

In U.S., Biden faces few calls to rein in Israel amid Gaza crisis

Allies of the U.S. president want to avoid giving Republicans making the crisis a political liability as he seeks re-election in 2024.
Pedestrians walk past a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 13, 2023

Hong Kong takes economic hit as Chinese tourists fail to splurge

Changes in travel habits come as the Chinese economy weakens and youth unemployment remains high.
Smoke billows following Israeli strikes amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 13, 2023

Israel calls for all civilians to leave Gaza City

Israeli said it would operate "significantly" in the coming days and that civilians would only be able to return when another announcement was made.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji