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The Tokyo District Court is expected to present its decision regarding the dissolution the Unification Church on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 23, 2025

Tokyo court may decide on Unification Church dissolution on Tuesday

The fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shed light on the Unification Church's controversial practices.
Yuma Kagiyama performs during the men's free skate at Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki in November.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Mar 23, 2025

Top skaters prepare to do battle at worlds as 2026 Olympics loom

From Kaori Sakamoto to the "Quad God," here are five skaters to keep an eye on over the next week in Boston.
Viktor Hovland celebrates with the trophy after winning the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Mar 24, 2025

Viktor Hovland ends PGA title drought with Valspar Championship victory

Hovland claimed his seventh U.S. tour title, but his first since the Tour Championship in 2023.
The Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, on Sunday, where talks are underway with U.S. mediation to try to reach a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war.
WORLD
Mar 24, 2025

U.S.-Russia talks on Ukraine begin in Saudi Arabia

U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for a rapid end to the three-year war and hopes talks in Riyadh could pave the way for a breakthrough.
Saudi fans cheer during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Asia zone qualifiers group C match between Saudi Arabia and China in Riyadh on Thursday.
SOCCER
Mar 25, 2025

Renard expecting no letup from Japan as Saudis eye World Cup spot

The Saudis picked up their first win in five qualifiers when they beat China 1-0 at home last week.
Han Jong-hee, co-chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics, in Suwon, South Korea, on March 19
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2025

Samsung Electronics co-CEO Han Jong-hee dies of cardiac arrest

Han, who joined Samsung Electronics nearly 40 years ago, built his career in the TV business. He became vice chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics in 2022.
A Ukrainian coast guard serviceman on a patrol boat as a cargo ship passes by in the Black Sea on Feb. 7, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 25, 2025

U.S. and Russia wrap up Saudi Arabia talks on proposed Black Sea ceasefire

Even as the talks were underway, a Russian missile strike damaged a school and a hospital in Ukraine wounding at least 88 people.
Nobuya Fukumoto (far left), a lawyer for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, is surrounded by the media at the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday after it ordered the group to be stripped of its religious corporation status.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 25, 2025

Tokyo court strips Unification Church of religious corporation status

The order against the group, heavily criticized for its coercive tactics in soliciting donations, removes its tax-exempt status.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding global trade, there are some bright spots — namely, the booming trade in services, where the United States is leading the way.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2025

America’s big trade win

American workers are reaping the rewards. Services exports directly generated 4.1 million jobs in America in 2022, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson (center) passes in the second quarter against the Baltimore Ravens in an AFC wild card game at M&T Bank Stadium on Jan. 11.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Mar 26, 2025

Giants to sign 10-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson: reports

Wilson is one of the most accomplished quarterbacks of his era; he is a 10-time Pro Bowl selection and won a Super Bowl in 2014.
Ispace's Resilience lunar lander at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Tsukuba Space Center in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, in September
JAPAN / FOCUS
Mar 26, 2025

Japanese startups driving space development

Not only large companies but also emerging businesses are hurrying to conduct lunar exploration and commercialize transportation services using rockets.
An advertisement featuring Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 26, 2025

Tokyo Series proves to be big business for MLB — and Japanese companies

The weeklong festival of all things baseball highlights how Shohei Ohtani has created myriad business opportunities on both sides of the Pacific.
Students in South Korea sit the annual College Scholastic Ability Test. There is huge pressure on this exam, which determines young people's university choices and, in turn, their job and even marital prospects, leading to a heavy mental health burden.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2025

Entrance exam wars: A pressure cooker for South Korean youth

South Korea comes to a standstill on the day of the national university entrance exam. But so does students' possibility to determine their future paths beyond a mere test score.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and others attend a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Opposition urges LDP to reinvestigate ties with Unification Church

The move comes following a court order to strip the group of its religious corporation status.
Iwao Hakamata, a wrongfully convicted death-row inmate who was acquitted last year through a retrial, and his sister Hideko after a news conference in Tokyo in November 2019. Hakamata won compensation from Japan this week.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 27, 2025

Ex-judge fights Japan's 'unopenable door' retrial system

Hiroaki Murayama wants Japan's outdated retrial system to be fixed so that there will "be no more (Iwao) Hakamatas."
Masuo Fukuda, head of Citigroup’s investment banking business in Tokyo, says the hiring in Tokyo started in December targeting various levels of bankers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2025

Citigroup hiring dealmakers in Japan with fee pool seen reviving

The Wall Street firm is expanding its investment banking team in Japan as it bets the country’s deal fee pool will finally rebound.
The Hawks' Ryoya Kurihara fields a ball during spring camp in Miyazaki on March 7.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 27, 2025

Incumbent Hawks face fresh challenge from rising Fighters in Pacific League

Flamboyant manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo and his up-and-coming Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters may finally be ready to pose a challenge for the favored Hawks.
Increasing rice production for exports would help enhance supply flexibility as rice could be diverted for domestic consumption in case of a shortage.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2025

Japan advised to boost rice exports to 353,000 tons in 2030

Increasing rice production for exports would help expand supply flexibility as rice could be diverted for domestic consumption in case of a shortage.
Brooklyn Kura's Catskills, a "junmai daiginjō" (sake with rice polished down to at least 50%), is made with water from the New York region of the same name.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 28, 2025

New York's Brooklyn Kura becomes first U.S. sake exporter to Japan

The brewer’s initial exports are “relatively small,” but it hopes drinkers in Japan are "open to trying" American-made sake.
U.S. President Donald Trump's deal-focused approach to diplomacy may prevent a hostile China-Russia-North Korea-Iran alliance, but weakens U.S. global leadership.
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2025

The art of the deal meets a four-power axis

Trump's deal-focused approach may prevent a hostile China-Russia-North Korea-Iran alliance but weakens U.S. global leadership.
Yuki Tejima, who runs the Instagram account booknerdtokyo, hesitated to try her hand at literary translation until she won an award at the International Translation Contest.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 29, 2025

Yuki Tejima's metamorphosis from bookworm to literary translator

An Instagram “bookfluencer” and professional translator for over 10 years, Tejima’s love of books was, strangely enough, a hurdle to working in literary translation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks at a news conference in Kyiv on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 29, 2025

Zelenskyy cautious on dramatically expanded U.S. minerals deal

The U.S. proposal would require Kyiv to send Washington all profit from a fund controlling Ukrainian resources until Ukraine had repaid all U.S. wartime aid, plus interest.
The launch of the test line will be an important milestone in Rapidus' aim of beginning mass production at the factory in 2027.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 29, 2025

Rapidus to launch pilot line for advanced chips on Tuesday

The launch of the test line will be an important milestone in Rapidus' aim of beginning mass production at the factory in 2027.
The World Health Organization's headquarters in Geneva. The WHO is facing an income gap of nearly $600 million in 2025 and has "no choice" but to start making cutbacks, the organization's chief wrote in an internal email.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 30, 2025

WHO must cut budget by a fifth after U.S. pullout

The WHO is facing an income gap of nearly $600 million in 2025 and has "no choice" but to start making cutbacks.
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 30, 2025

Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps

At a Tokyo Fail Club gathering, speakers share candid talks about ventures gone wrong, bankruptcy and depression, touting a message of persistence in the face of adversity.
Ilia Malinin celebrates after winning gold at the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Mar 30, 2025

Malinin retains world title as Kagiyama stumbles

With a dazzling performance, Malinin put the world on notice less than a year to go before the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto (left), South Korean Trade Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun (center) and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Sunday
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2025

Japan, South Korea and China vow to strengthen trade ties amid looming U.S. tariffs

The meeting came ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s expected announcement of a new round of tariffs on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya (second from right) addresses a meeting of the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World without Nuclear Weapons (IGEP) in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 30, 2025

Experts start talks on proposals for NPT review conference

Participants include experts from nuclear powers such as the United States, China and Russia, as well as from non-nuclear states.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a news conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 31, 2025

Australia’s Albanese takes the lead in polls as election race starts

The Australian leader is fighting to become the first in more than two decades to win consecutive terms in office.
Fishermen unload Pacific bluefin tuna off Miyakejima island in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2025

Tokyo aiming to establish brand power of fish caught off its islands

Tuna hauls around the islands of Hachijojima and Miyakejima are on the rise, as catch quotas have been expanded thanks to the growing tuna population in the Pacific Ocean.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami