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Recent cases of alleged Chinese espionage in Germany and Britain are the latest reminder of Beijing's immense intelligence network and its ability to penetrate into the heart of European capitals.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 25, 2024

Europe ill-prepared to counter China's espionage push, analysts say

This week's cases of alleged Chinese spying in Germany and Britain are the latest reminder of Beijing's immense intelligence network.
After a string of contractual issues over guarantor service for the elderly, the government aims to introduce specific regulations to ensure that users can access support with confidence.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 25, 2024

Japan to draw up guidelines for elderly guarantor services

Demand for guarantor services is rising due to the growing number of elderly living alone
Members of the Generation Z division at the Kitakyushu municipal government in Fukuoka Prefecture discuss ways to attract more young people to live in the city.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 25, 2024

Local governments setting up unique divisions to revitalize economy

Kitakata in Fukushima Prefecture has created a ramen division and soba division to promote local cuisine.
Rory McIlroy was one of the PGA Tour's staunchest defenders when the turmoil that has gripped the sport began with the emergence of LIV Golf.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 25, 2024

Rory McIlroy open to returning to PGA Tour board

McIlroy stepped down from the board in a surprise move last November, saying he wanted to concentrate on his own game.
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 25, 2024

Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other

In a departure from boys' club politics, candidates including four women, a writer and an ex-martial artist are making their case for a seat in parliament.
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Apr 26, 2024

Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past

Chef Ryohei Ikemi will open dinner with a warming soup featuring vegetables from Aomori's Lake Towada and close with a local Kyogoku apple gelato.
The smartphone screen of a man in his 70s from the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture shows exchanges with a person claiming to be a woman from Taiwan discussing investment in gold.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 6, 2024

Online predators seduce elderly victims into investment scams

Cases of people being swindled out of money show working-age people are also falling victim.
Canadian singer Avril Lavigne attends the opening ceremony of Gap Flagship Ginza in Tokyo in 2011, three years before releasing her music video for the Japan-inspired track “Hello Kitty.”
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Apr 26, 2024

Avril Lavigne walked so today's influencer tourists could Mario Kart

Ten years ago, the pop star’s ‘Hello Kitty’ video drew outrage from the West, but she wouldn’t be the last visitor to use Tokyo as a backdrop for content.
Japan has entered an era of full-fledged population decline. If current trends remain unchanged, the nation's population is expected to decline by about half from 124 million in 2023 to 63 million by 2100.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 26, 2024

Japan’s shrinking population is a big problem for the nation

An expert panel sounds the alarm on the nation's declining birthrate and population crisis.
Police officers stand guard in front of the entrance to the venue of the so-called Palestine Conference in Berlin on April 12. Anger over Israeli aggression in Gaza is growing in the U.S. and in other parts of the world, including in the West.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2024

The world cannot just cancel Palestine

Germany and other Western governments are appropriating cancel culture to stop demonstrations against Israeli aggression, using antisemitism as a shield.
The top leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, meets with the Iranian president in Tehran on March 27.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024

Hamas says it received Israel's response to its cease-fire proposal

After more than six months of war, negotiations remain deadlocked, with Hamas sticking to its demands that any agreement must end the conflict.
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Apr 27, 2024

In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline

Efforts to revitalize rural areas through various incentives has yielded limited results as people continue to gravitate toward urban centers.
Birane Mbaye, one of the survivors of a disastrous attempt to reach Spain last year, sits on a wooden fishing boat at the shore of Fass Boye, Senegal.
WORLD / Society
Apr 27, 2024

African migrant disaster survivor haunted by weeks lost at sea

Birane Mbaye's memories of the voyage are hazy, but vivid nightmares about his friend still shock him awake at night, screaming.
A prisoner stands behind the door of a cell in the isolation section of the Villepinte detention center in Villepinte, near Paris.
WORLD / Society
Apr 27, 2024

Ahead of Olympics, a packed Paris prison braces for crowds of inmates

Many of the events are being held in Seine-Saint-Denis, which has the highest ratio of immigrants among France's departments and is also the poorest.
Some programmers are gearing up for what they expect to be an era of tighter controls after Russian President Vladimir Putin secured a mandate until at least 2030 with a landslide win at elections last month.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024

Russian programmers play 'cat and mouse' game to outsmart censors

Some of them employing techniques learnt from Chinese hackers' efforts to evade the even more stringent 'Great Firewall' there.
Palestinians cover a body that was buried in a mass grave in the northern Gaza Strip.
WORLD / EXPLAINER
Apr 27, 2024

Mass graves in Gaza: what do we know?

The discovery of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals have triggered calls by the U.N. rights chief and others for an international investigation.
Palestinian children stand amid the debris of a house destroyed by overnight Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 28, 2024

Some U.S. officials say Israel may be violating international law in Gaza

A joint submission from four U.S. bureaus raised "serious concern over non-compliance" with international humanitarian law.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends a conference in Paris last June.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 28, 2024

Tesla CEO Elon Musk kicks off surprise trip to Beijing

Musk is seeking to meet senior Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss the rollout of Full-Self Driving software in China.
The departure lobby for domestic flights is crowded with travelers at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Saturday, the first day of this year's Golden Week holidays.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2024

Golden Week crowds greeted with high temperatures as holiday period kicks off

The mercury soared as millions of travelers were venturing to both international and domestic destinations.
When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Apr 29, 2024

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

Among official records in Japan, the "koseki" is key to discovering where you came from. However, it's not without controversy.
Protesters in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and pro-Israel counterprotesters scuffle during demonstrations at the University of California Los Angeles on Sunday.
WORLD
Apr 29, 2024

White House urges 'peaceful' campus protests after hundreds arrested

The wave of demonstrations began at Columbia University in New York but they have since spread rapidly across the country.
In his book "It’s Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life," Buddhist priest Jikisai Minami sprinkles in surprising declarations such as “Stop taking care of yourself,” “It’s okay not to have friends,” “People can live without hopes and dreams.”
CULTURE / Books
Apr 29, 2024

Buddhist priest grounds new book with practical advice and cheeky declarations

"It’s Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life" by Jikisai Minami addresses the ills of modern life by revealing the true nature of suffering.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a joint ministerial meeting of the GCC-U.S. Strategic Partnership in Riyadh to discuss the humanitarian crises in the Gaza, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 30, 2024

U.S. warns ICC action on Israel would hurt cease-fire chances

The U.S. and its allies are concerned that the International Criminal Court may issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials just as the country is getting closer to a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, potentially jeopardizing a deal, people familiar with the matter said.
A screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron, at the GAC Motor booth at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 30, 2024

Xi seems on a mission to drive a wedge between Europe and the U.S.

During his five-day trip to France, Serbia and Hungary on Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to show the EU how much China can offer them.
A staff member works at the animation studio Shake Hands in Kyoto on Jan. 24. The studio aims to provide job training and confidence to people with autism.
JAPAN / Society
May 5, 2024

Anime studio draws on talent of autistic artists

The groundbreaking initiative aims to provide job training and confidence to people with autism.
A man rides a scooter past apartment high rises under construction in Zhengzhou, China, in January 2019.
BUSINESS
Apr 30, 2024

Strained Chinese cities struggle to pay homebuying subsidies

Some local governments are unable to raise funds to pay promised subsidies, frustrating buyers and casting doubts over future support measures.
Peaches grown in Fukushima Prefecture. A so-called zebra firm in the prefecture is selling substandard fruits to greengrocers in urban areas, which leads to higher incomes for local farmers.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2024

Japan eyes socially mindful startups to boost regional economies

Starting in June, the government will launch pilot projects to help such startups cooperate with local governments, banks and companies.
(From left) Nanami Fukuoka, Natsumi Matsunaga and Riana Tashima, students from Denshukan High School in Yanagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture, and Mutsumi Machitori, their teacher, show their research in late March.
JAPAN / History / Regional Voices: Kyushu
May 6, 2024

Students in Fukuoka learn of school's tragic past in World War II

After investigating a cenotaph at their school, pupils researched 17 alumni who died at a nearby munitions factory.
Razor wire lies near an abandoned house, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, near Israel’s border with Lebanon in northern Israel on March 19.
WORLD
Apr 30, 2024

Residents of northern Israel brace for possible all-out war with Hezbollah

Since October, more than 300 people have died in fighting in the border area, mainly Hezbollah fighters.
One problem with globalization is American leaders have the power to disrupt numerous economies by severing supply chains or manipulating financial flows, but citizens of those countries have no influence over U.S. elections.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 29, 2024

Democracy and authoritarianism in a modern, globalized world

The bedrock principle of democracy is that people affected by the decisions of political leaders should have a say in selecting those leaders.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan