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Beijing-based Chinese influencer Chang Feifei has taken on many jobs to promote travel destinations in Japan, including from Universal Studios Japan and the Hankyu and Hanshin department stores.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Mar 28, 2024

Influencers — Japan’s secret weapon to promote niche tourism spots

Followers' trust in — and reliance on — social media for travel info, even when the content is sponsored, is a key factor.
A Palestinian boy walks on the site of an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 27.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 2, 2024

How the Israel-Hamas war is changing the international security order

The divide within the international community over the conflict is set to become even more serious.
A poster for "Oppenheimer" is displayed at a theater in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Friday. The film's Japan debut came eight months after its global release.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 29, 2024

'Oppenheimer' opens in Japan eight months after global release

Japan screenings were delayed as the worldwide premiere was only weeks before the anniversary of the 1945 bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 29, 2024

World Court orders Israel to halt famine as Hamas says cease-fire needed

The order from the International Court of Justice came as Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters battled in close combat around Gaza's Shifa Hospital.
Sogo Fitness believes there's no point in working out if you're not having a good time and making new friends while you're doing it.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Apr 1, 2024

Blurring the lines between fitness and social club

Sogo Fitness started with a simple goal — create a community through social events based around keeping fit and healthy.
Japan will charge members of medical insurance programs with fees starting in fiscal 2026 to tackle the country's sluggish birthrate.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2024

Fight against low birthrate to cost ¥450 monthly per head

The government plans to boost annual spending on measures to fight the sluggish birthrate to ¥3.6 trillion by fiscal 2028.
Baltimore workers and relatives attend a news conference to honor families and victims of last week's collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after it was struck by the container ship Dali, in Baltimore, Maryland, on Friday. The death of six Latino workers who were fixing potholes when a Baltimore bridge collapsed highlights the crucial role immigrants play in keeping America running, say advocates.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Mar 31, 2024

Baltimore bridge highlights role of migrants in U.S. workforce

The tragedy comes as many Latinos feel under assault as the U.S. prepares for a bitter presidential election in November.
Israeli police officers hold fire extinguishers during a protest against  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
WORLD
Mar 31, 2024

Deadly chaos at Gaza aid distribution as WHO renews hospital warning

U.N. agencies have warned repeatedly that northern Gaza is on the verge of a man-made famine.
A smoke plume erupts during Israeli bombardment on Khan Yunis as seen from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2024

Fighting rages across Gaza amid revival of truce talks

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7.
Palestinians inspect the damage at Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital after the Israeli military withdrew from the complex housing the hospital on Monday.
WORLD
Apr 2, 2024

Israeli troops exit Gaza's Shifa Hospital, leaving rubble and bodies

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel's military offensive on Oct. 7.
The Alphabet unit allegedly surreptitiously collected user browsing data when they were in "incognito" mode.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2024

Google agrees to delete web browsing data as it settles ‘incognito’ lawsuit

The case, filed in 2020, alleged that Google surreptitiously collected user's browsing history when they were in "incognito" mode.
As they enter the workforce, the young employees who grew up texting one another have their own rules for communicating.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 2, 2024

Fear of a full stop? Young Japanese say drop the period in your texts.

In addition to "maruhara," or "period harassment," younger employees want to cut down on the unnecessary emails that are a part of work culture.
Taiwanese military personnel aide in rescue and relief efforts by searching for survivors in a damaged building in Hualien, Taiwan, after a major earthquake struck off the island's eastern coast.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 3, 2024

Taiwan rocked by most powerful earthquake in 25 years

At least nine people were killed and more than 900 injured Wednesday by a powerful earthquake in Taiwan that prompted tsunami warnings.
A person looks at a vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli airstrike, according to the NGO, in Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Apr 3, 2024

Israel says airstrike unintentionally killed aid workers in Gaza

The U.S. and other allies called for explanations amid widespread condemnation.
Recent research suggests that within developed countries, the old positive relationship between status and fertility is re-emerging.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2024

The wealthy are starting to have more babies than the poor again

After a century during which higher income and status meant fewer children, the current trend is potentially a momentous change.
Chef Jose Andres (center) and local chefs stir large pots of paella destined for people struggling to find enough to eat in the wake of Hurricane Maria, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in October 2017.
WORLD / Society
Apr 3, 2024

How Jose Andres and his corps of cooks became leaders in disaster aid

The idea for World Central Kitchen came to Andres in 2010, when he cooked with Haitians who were living in a camp after an earthquake.
People ride motorcycles near the site where a building collapsed, following the earthquake, in Hualien, Taiwan, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 4, 2024

Taiwan's strongest quake in 25 years kills at least nine, injures over 1,000

Scores of emergency workers were trying to shore up damaged buildings and demolish those deemed impossible to save.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California, on June 5, 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 4, 2024

Apple shifts focus from EV to home robotics as ‘next big thing’

Apple’s pursuit of the "next big thing” has been an obsession since the Steve Jobs era, but it’s hard to envision a product that could match the iPhone.
In a bid to attract young donors, student volunteers have begun calling on youths on streets, and on social media, to give blood.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 4, 2024

Severe blood shortage may hit Japan due to fewer young donors

COVID-19 led to schools and corporations canceling blood donation programs, leaving young people without accessible opportunities to start giving blood.
Workers on Thursday inspect a building damaged by an earthquake a day earlier in Hualien, Taiwan.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 5, 2024

Resilient Taiwan responded fast to earthquake after years honing skills

While past temblors have provided lessons for strengthening coordination, the potential for an attack from China also keeps the island on its toes.
Transfers usually take place in March at the end of the Japanese business year, but each family's reasons for living apart are different.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 8, 2024

When your job separates the family

Japan's “tanshin funin” system sees married company employees leaving their families behind when they are transferred to faraway posts.
Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin,” once the victim of high waves that dragged it into the sea, sits at the end of a pier on the south side of Naoshima.
CULTURE / Art / Longform
Apr 6, 2024

Why is the most exciting art in Japan so hard to get to?

Japan has a unique movement of public art projects and festivals that are a slog to get to — by design. A writer examines the country's “inconvenient art."
Dogs are long-lived enough to serve as better models for human aging than mice, but short-lived enough that aging treatments can be tested in just a few years.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2024

Your dog will have an anti-aging drug before you do

Dogs are long-lived enough to serve as better models for human aging than mice, but short-lived enough that aging treatments can be tested in a few years.
In Japan, dizziness that results from an earthquake is called jishin-yoi (which roughly translates to "earthquake drunk,” or "earthquake sickness”). It is also sometimes called post-earthquake dizziness syndrome.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 6, 2024

How an earthquake can throw the body and brain off-balance

In Tokyo, one team found that some people still experienced balance issues for as long as four months after a big quake.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks with the media after meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Guangdong Zhudao Guesthouse in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 7, 2024

China providing geospatial intelligence to Russia, U.S. warns

Beijing’s support also includes optics, propellants to be used in missiles and increased space cooperation, according to sources.
Palestinians who had taken refuge in Rafah, leave the city to return to Khan Younis after Israel pulled its ground forces out of the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday, six months into the devastating war sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks.
WORLD
Apr 8, 2024

Six months into 'long' war, Israel says readying for Rafah

Defense minister says troops left Khan Younis "to prepare for future missions, including ... in Rafah" where most of Gaza's population has taken refuge.
Members of the People's Defense Forces (PDF) who became guerrilla fighters after being protesters are seen on the front line in Kawkareik, Myanmar, in 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 8, 2024

Fight back or flee? Myanmar draft forces hard choices on youth

Men aged 18 to 35 and women 18 to 27 must serve for up to two years, meaning that 14 million people, 27% of the population, are subject to conscription.
James Manyika, who heads Google’s technology and society team, delivers the keynote address at Google I/O in Mountain View, California, in 2023. OpenAI, Google and Meta ignored corporate policies, altered their own rules and discussed skirting copyright law as they sought online information to train their newest artificial intelligence systems.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 8, 2024

How tech giants cut corners to harvest data for AI

The companies’ actions illustrate how online information has increasingly become the lifeblood of the booming AI industry.
Military personnel participates in a parade on Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, in 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 9, 2024

Thailand ready to receive 100,000 fleeing Myanmar, foreign minister says

Over the weekend there were local reports of intense clashes near Myawaddy town, across the border from the Thai town of Mae Sot.
Haruko Obokata speaks to reporters in the city of Osaka in 2014. Ten years after the STAP scandal, structural problems that led to the scandal persist, leaving ample room for researchers to tamper with research data, experts say.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 9, 2024

Little change in Japan’s research sector 10 years after stem cell fraud

A decade after the STAP scandal, there is still a lot of leeway for researchers to tamper with data.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years