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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.
A government panel meets to discuss active cyberdefense in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2024

Independent body eyed to oversee Japan cyberdefense

The government plans to take measure it hopes will help dispel concerns about violating the constitutionally guaranteed secrecy of communications.
Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jul 21, 2024

As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals

Can a 700-year-old dance have an effect on extreme heat or torrential rain? Probably not. When you're feeling powerless, though, any little thing helps.
Secret Service officers surround U.S. former President Donald Trump, the Republican  presidential candidate, as he attends the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2024

Secret Service says it denied earlier Trump requests for more federal resources

The denied requests for additional resources were not specifically for the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president survived an assassination attempt.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives aboard Air Force Two in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, traveling to a campaign fundraiser, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2024

Trump campaign prepares attack plan for Harris in case Biden withdraws

The effort assumes that the U.S. vice president would be the most likely candidate to replace the president at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Lamposts and other signs throughout Hirogawa, Wakayama Prefecture, display warnings, evacuation routes and measurements of height above sea level. The town has been hit by eight tsunami in its recorded history.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / OUR PLANET
Jul 21, 2024

Why Japanese researchers are looking to submarine cables for faster tsunami warnings

While Japan boasts one of the world's most sophisticated earthquake and tsunami detection systems, gaps still remain.
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.
A drone view of Neve Daniel, a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on March 12
WORLD
Jul 22, 2024

Israeli settlers court Republican religious right after Hamas attacks

While Donald Trump has suggested U.S. policy could change, neither he nor the Republican Party have been explicit about their position toward a Palestinian state.
Fireworks during Irumagawa Tanabata Festival in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture in July 2023
JAPAN / Society
Jul 22, 2024

Many summer fireworks festivals in Japan canceled due to complaints

Property damage caused by debris, and littering and trespassing by those looking for a better view are among the reasons for the cancellations.
U.S. President Joe Biden walks to board Marine One at Hagerstown Regional Airport, in Hagerstown, Maryland, on June 20.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2024

Inside the weekend when Biden decided to withdraw

U.S. President Joe Biden did not tell most of his staff until a minute before making his announcement to the world on social media on Sunday.
Paris is preparing to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which start on Friday. These Summer Games will likely be very different from the previous ones, held in Tokyo in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 22, 2024

In defense of Tokyo 2020, the loneliest Olympics

As Paris gets ready to host the Olympics, a reflection on the previous Games, held in Tokyo three years ago, prompts doubts about predictions of a COVID-induced disaster.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff arrive at Kamala's Presidential Campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 23, 2024

Buttigieg to Beshear: Kamala Harris' possible vice president

Potential vice presidential candidates for Kamala Harris include Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Mark Kelly.
Brazilian street skateboarder Felipe Gustavo performs a trick during a timed run with the Red Bull team at a skate park in Huntington Beach, California, on April 24.
OLYMPICS / Skateboarding
Jul 23, 2024

Skateboarding's reputation does a 180 as it rolls into Paris

Skateboarding brought in a much-needed younger audience on its Olympic debut in 2021, leading organizers to lock it in for the Paris Games.
A man squats next to a fire as Palestinians, who fled the eastern part of Khan Younis, were ordered by Israeli army to evacuate their neighborhoods in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Monday.
WORLD
Jul 23, 2024

Israel sends tanks back into Khan Younis area and kills 70

"It is like doomsday," said one resident of the area affected in Gaza.
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%.
Artificial intelligence is transforming various business sectors and the economy. But concerns about humanoid robots replacing all jobs are unfounded, as human dexterity will remain essential for the foreseeable future.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2024

AI is making robots smarter. They’ll need boundaries.

Where AI meets the physical world — and creates the potential for conflicts — is in manufacturing and logistics.
Samsung Electronics' headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, on June 13, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 24, 2024

Nvidia clears Samsung's HBM3 chips for use in China-market processor

Nvidia's approval of the chips comes amid soaring demand for sophisticated graphics processing units.
Hedwig Schreck is a third-generation Tokyoite whose grandfather first arrived in Japan from Germany in 1920 as a submarine engineer.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 24, 2024

Hedwig Schreck: ‘Art has always been part of my life’

A third-generation Tokyoite, the former TV producer has pivoted to teaching others about Japanese culture in her retirement.
The health ministry is calling for people to take infection control measures thoroughly as cases of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases are rising in Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 24, 2024

Japan battling 11th COVID wave, data shows, as KP.3 variant evades immunity

New infections have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks amid the rise of the highly transmissible new coronavirus variant.
Deputy leader of Fatah Mahmoud al-Aloul and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attend an event at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2024

Rival Palestinian factions project unity, but deep divisions remain

For China, the agreement represents an opportunity to promote an image of Beijing as a peace broker and an important player in the Middle East.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 24, 2024

Toyota chairman and 12 other Japanese executives banned from entering Russia

Others include Rakuten Group Chairman and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani and Japan International Cooperation Agency President Akihiko Tanaka.
People walk along a flooded street in Manila on Wednesday amid heavy rainfall from Typhoon Gaemi.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 24, 2024

Deadly Typhoon Gaemi floods Philippines, shuts Taiwan

The Philippines is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to extreme weather events, which have cost the nation about $1.2 billion annually between 2000 and 2016.
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 25, 2024

Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises

The number of foreign residents in Japan rose by 329,535 from last year to 3,323,374.
Former President Donald Trump gets ready to take the stage shortly before the assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July, 13. Four U.S. presidents have been killed in office.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2024

The U.S. presidency is a deadly job — and always will be

Roughly a quarter of all U.S. presidents have been victims of serious assassination attempts — four of which ended in death.
King Charles and Queen Camilla of Britain attend a ceremony on June 25 to welcome Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on a seven-day state visit to the U.K.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 24, 2024

The imperial visit that crowned Japan-U.K. friendship

Having overcome past tensions, Japanese-British relations are at their peak, as seen during Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako's state visit to the U.K. in June.
Rescuers paddle their boats along a flooded street in Manila on Wednesday amid heavy rains brought by Typhoon Gaemi.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 25, 2024

China braces for Typhoon Gaemi after it pounds Taiwan and Philippines

The typhoon was expected to approach China’s coast with winds of 129 kilometers per hour.
U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Wednesday, where he spoke about his decision to drop his Democratic presidential reelection bid.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 25, 2024

Biden says he's 'passing the torch' in speech from Oval office

He is the first incumbent president not to seek reelection since Lyndon Johnson in 1968.
Nakazakicho may be just a few minutes outside the major commercial district of Umeda, but it certainly doesn't feel that way.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 27, 2024

The dancer keeping Osaka’s Nakazakicho indie

Nakazakicho’s transformation is more than the success story of a small neighborhood turning the tide against inner-city decay.
More tourists than ever are guided around Japan based on the content they consume online, but can those same creators help direct them to less-populated areas of the country?
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Jul 29, 2024

Influencers helped cause overtourism. Can they help fix it?

“I don't want to use filters or put out content just for the sake of views and followers,” one content creator says. “I want to show people what the real Japan is.”
Takeo Suzuki from the Pentax division of Ricoh Imaging demonstrates the Pentax 17 half-frame film camera at the Pentax Club House in Tokyo on June 28.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2024

New Japan film camera aimed at 'nostalgic' young fans

Japan's major camera brands stopped making analogue models in the 2000s, prompting sellers in big cities to refurbish old models for new analogue enthusiasts.

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