Search - 2021

 
 
At several high-end restaurants in Tokyo, tatami is becoming a part of the dining experience — not underfoot but as a tabletop place mat for phones.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 25, 2025

Why tatami is going from the floor to the dining table

As smartphones have become integral to daily life, they are being incorporated into traditional Japanese hospitality.
With abundant rains and formidable humidity in summer, Japan does not seem to be an ideal land for wine, but winegrowers in Yamanashi Prefecture have gradually been able to adapt.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 26, 2025

Of sake and spirits: Indulging in Yamanashi’s best

Visits to Grace Wine’s vineyard and the Suntory Hakushu Distillery turn a tour of the mountainous prefecture into a gourmet treat.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is pressured by Bills defensive end Greg Rousseau during a game between the two rival teams earlier this season in Orchard Park, New York.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 24, 2025

Rivals Bills and Chiefs clash again with Super Bowl on the line

The rivalry between the Chiefs and the Bills may not have the long history of the great divisional clashes, but its intensity is fueled by the high stakes in their recent meetings.
Advertisements on Threads will come from a "handful of brands” and appear only in the U.S. and Japan to start, according to a post Friday from Instagram boss Adam Mosseri, who called the move a "test.”
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 25, 2025

Meta’s Threads to show ads for the first time in U.S. and Japan

It’s not clear what the revenue potential for Threads will be long term, but the service will benefit from Meta’s existing pool of advertisers.
Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi prior to a Champions League match against Young Boys in Glasgow, Scotland, on Wednesday
SOCCER
Jan 25, 2025

Celtic boss braces for life without Japan star Kyogo Furuhashi

Furuhashi, 30, has been strongly tipped to join French club Rennes as he seeks new challenges.
Naoya Inoue throws a punch against Kim Ye-joon during their world super bantamweight title bout in Tokyo on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Jan 25, 2025

After racking up another KO, 'Monster' Inoue set for bright lights of Las Vegas

There may also be a big payday in Saudi Arabia on the horizon as Inoue takes his thrilling style overseas after a long run of bouts on home soil.
Taeko Oshioka, a member of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) looks for visitors to sign a petition to call on the Japanese government to sign and ratify the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, in front of the preserved Atomic Bomb Dome in the city of Hiroshima last October.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 26, 2025

Japan rules out participating in nuke ban treaty meeting as observer

Instead, the country is considering sending lawmakers from the ruling bloc to the meeting, officials have said.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends an event about the economy at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 26, 2025

Trump’s frenzied debut delights base as thornier decisions await

The honeymoon is hardly assured to last, with the U.S. president so far avoiding drastic steps that would tempt backlash from his party, Wall Street or both.
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One upon departure from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 26, 2025

Trump's firing of independent watchdog officials draws criticism

Donald Trump's late-night firing of inspectors general was called illegal by Democrats and others and drew concern from at least one fellow Republican.
A pipe for transporting carbon dioxide to removal equipment at a carbon capture and storage (CCS) test site in Tomakomai, Hokkaido.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jan 26, 2025

How Japan is looking deep underground to solve its carbon problem

Japan is investing billions of yen to get carbon capture and storage off the ground, but the technology is dogged by high costs and uncertainty.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visits a polling station during the presidential election in Minsk on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 26, 2025

Belarusians vote in election to extend Lukashenko's 30-year rule

Lukashenko — a 70-year-old former collective farm boss — has been in power in reclusive, Moscow-allied Belarus since 1994.
Solar panels near the cooling towers of the retired coal-fired Komati Power Station in South Africa's Mpumalanga province on May 9
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 27, 2025

South Africa's patchwork climate plans risk widening inequality

Poorer regions may be left behind in the transition away from polluting industries to green jobs.
People line up to use an ATM  in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, days after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. Western financial sanctions have weighed on the Russian ruble, which has sunk from 34 to the dollar in 2013 to around 100 today.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2025

Putin’s war is fueling Russian stagflation

For a normal country, a budget deficit of 2% of GDP would be of no concern. But Russia is not a normal country.
Turkish warships sail during a naval parade in Istanbul in 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 27, 2025

Turkey bets on naval clout for edge in high-seas power play

The introduction of new naval vessels is part of a mission to diversify a booming domestic defense industry.
More than a dozen Justice Department lawyers were fired after Acting Attorney General James McHenry, a Trump appointee, concluded they "could not be trusted to faithfully implement the President’s agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the President," a Justice Department official said.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 28, 2025

Trump administration fires team of lawyers who prosecuted him

The officials were fired after the administration concluded they "could not be trusted to faithfully implement the President’s agenda."
Hoshoryu answers questions from reporters after being recommended for the rank of yokozuna, in Taito Ward, Tokyo, on Monday.
SUMO
Jan 28, 2025

Sumo avoids chasm at top as Hoshoryu picked for top rank

The 25-year-old will become only the 74th wrestler to reach the exalted rank in the history of the sport.
Kanoa Igarashi surfs in the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach competition in Oahu, Hawaii, on Feb. 18.
MORE SPORTS / Surfing
Jan 28, 2025

Kanoa Igarashi dreams big as surfing championship tour gets underway

With new tricks up his sleeve, the Olympic silver medalist is eyeing a world title.
A worker at a Kongo factory in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, carefully processes an aluminum plate using a forming press.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jan 28, 2025

Companies in Kyushu struggle to enter TSMC’s supply chain

One report shows that firms in the region make up less than 10% of Japanese companies doing business with TSMC or its unit in Japan.
U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that he was in talks with multiple people over buying TikTok and would likely have a decision on the popular app's future in 30 days.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 28, 2025

Trump says Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok

Microsoft emerged as a top bidder in 2020, but the talks soon collapsed, and a divestment push by Trump ended a few months later when his first term ended.
Webcam model Tania Rios looks at a computer screen in Soacha, near Bogota, Colombia, on Dec. 17. Unhealthy rooms, shared sex toys, excessive shifts, clients with degrading requests and harassment — for years silenced, webcam models are denouncing the abuses they have suffered in Colombia, a mecca of this multimillion dollar business.
WORLD / Society
Jan 28, 2025

Colombian 'webcam models' denounce abuse in online sex industry

Despite their clients being thousands of kilometers away, many webcam sex workers say they have suffered physical and emotional mistreatment.
Sanjay in front of his home in Texas
WORLD / Politics
Jan 28, 2025

Trump’s birthright citizenship rattles H-1B visa workers expecting a baby

The U.S. is fairly unique in offering unconditional birthright citizenship, creating a special enticement for foreign workers.
A train during the handover ceremony of the high-speed rail project linking Kunming, China, with Vientiane, Laos, in 2021. Thailand expects to complete its first high-speed rail network linking the country to China through Laos by 2030.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 29, 2025

Thai high-speed rail linking Bangkok to China eyes 2030 opening

Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy is looking to improve its connectivity with China, its biggest trading partner.
Economic coercion has become a prominent tool in global geopolitics, with both China and the U.S. relying on it to pursue their policy goals, and more so with Donald Trump now in office.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2025

When big countries wave their big economic sticks

There is no agreed definition of economic coercion under international law; like pornography, we know it when we see it.
Fuji TV adviser Hisashi Hieda in 2005
JAPAN / Media
Jan 29, 2025

Who are the key figures involved in the growing Fuji TV scandal?

Koichi Minato, who resigned as president of Fuji TV on Monday, will be one focus of a third-party probe, given his executive role when the incident occurred.
Trump started his term on Jan. 20 by issuing an executive order "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism," which declared the government will only recognize two sexes — male and female.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2025

LGBTQ+ Americans in crisis as Trump rolls back rights

Nine organizations supporting LGBTQ+ people said they had a surge in use of their crisis services and calls to their helplines on Trump's first day in office.
A protester holds a flag as he shouts slogans during a demonstration to mark the anniversary of Myanmar's 2021 military coup, outside the United Nations office in Bangkok, on Feb. 1, 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 30, 2025

Risk of violence escalates in Myanmar's civil war as election looms

With many forces opposing the junta and the election, tensions are set to rise ahead of the ballot.
Sea turtles in Amami Oshima, Kagoshima Prefecture. Their nesting activity has continued to decline in recent years.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 30, 2025

Amami Oshima sea turtle nesting declines to second-lowest level

Scientists believe declining populations may be a key factor and have warned that a long-term analysis is needed to assess the situation.
An attendee records a virtual address by U.S. President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2025

Trump threats risk stretching Europe's fragile unity to breaking point

The European Commission urged member states in a private meeting last week to remain united, with some comparing the situation to the Brexit negotiations.
The Dentsu Group's headquarters building (center) in Tokyo. Tokyo District Court ordered Dentsu Group to pay ¥300 million in fines on Thursday as sought by prosecutors over bid-rigging related to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 30, 2025

Dentsu Group ordered to pay ¥300 million over Tokyo Games bid-rigging

The Tokyo District Court also sentenced the former assistant head of the sports department of core subsidiary Dentsu to two years in prison suspended for four years.
Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Ryozo Himino speaks during an interview in June 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 30, 2025

BOJ deputy signals more room to hike given negative real rates

The deputy governor cemented the BOJ’s message that the central bank is looking to hike rates further in the future.

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.