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Taro Kitabayashi, chief executive officer of Norinchukin Bank, during an interview in Tokyo, on April 9. Kitabayashi said the bank finished selling off its unprofitable U.S. Treasury holdings by the end of March, thus avoiding the volatility last week as Trump’s trade policies whipsawed markets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 15, 2025

Norinchukin dodges Trump’s market chaos after selling Treasuries

New Chief Executive Taro Kitabayashi said the bank finished selling off its unprofitable U.S. Treasury holdings by the end of March.
New Zealand's Mark Tele'a in action in October 2023
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Apr 15, 2025

All Black wing Tele'a announces Japan switch

Media reports have suggested that the 28-year-old will join Toyota Verblitz.
The Bank of Japan will likely postpone raising interest rates due to uncertainties stemming from U.S. tariff measures that could deal a blow to Japan’s economy, a former executive director said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 15, 2025

BOJ will likely put rate hike aside for now, ex-official says

"They will be in a wait-and-see mode for a while,” said Kenzo Yamamoto, a former executive at the Bank of Japan.
A computer-generated image of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's next-generation offshore patrol vessel
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2025

Japan begins work on naval patrol vessels to boost surveillance

The ships will require fewer personnel and feature autonomous navigation and other state-of-the-art systems, allowing them to perform a range of operations.
Shuhei Kishimoto, in April 2023 in Wakayama Prefectural Government
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 15, 2025

Wakayama Gov. Kishimoto dies at 68

The governor died on Tuesday morning of septic shock at a hospital where he was receiving treatment after being found collapsed at home a day earlier.
A concept image of the Hayabusa2 unmanned probe, which utilizes Earth's gravity for acceleration as part of its asteroid exploration mission
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2025

Hayabusa2 target asteroid may be smaller than expected

Direct exploration Hayabusa2 is expected to provide important insight into planetary defense to help prevent disasters caused by asteroid collision.
Journalists Sergei Karelin, Antonina Favorskaya and Artem Kriger, accused of taking part in the activities of an "extremist" organization founded by late opposition politician Alexei Navalny, attend a court hearing in Moscow on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2025

Russian journalists jailed for 5½ years for alleged extremist ties to Navalny

Moscow has intensified pressure on domestic and foreign reporters since the start of its war in Ukraine.
A Bank of Kyoto branch in the city of Kyoto. Kyoto Financial Group has been a symbol of Japan’s old guard holding out against selling the stakes, given its historic ties to exporters based in the city including Nintendo, Nidec and Kyocera.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2025

Kyoto bank shifts stance on mergers and cuts to cross-shareholdings

Kyoto Financial has been a symbol of Japan’s old guard holding out against selling the stakes, given its historic ties to exporters based in the city.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, his partner Jodie Haydon and chairman and Board President of Tennis Australia, Jayne Hrdlicka, in the stands before the Australian Open final on Jan, 28, 2024
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2025

Australian politicians gifted sports tickets while weighing betting ban

Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had promised a crackdown on gambling advertising following a 2023 report by his government.
The building of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. The court, which ended proceedings in 2022, tried former Khmer Rouge officials for crimes committed during the regime, reinforcing global norms against impunity.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

Japan should challenge Washington in defense of justice

Japan played a key role in trying the Khmer Rouge for their crimes in Cambodia. Half a century on from the genocidal regime, Tokyo must renew its commitment to international law.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has sent a delegation to Washington for high-stakes tariff talks, as other nations watch to see if Tokyo can secure favorable terms from the Trump administration.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

If Japan can’t get a good trade deal, can anyone?

The Asian nation is the canary in the tariff coal mine. If it can’t secure a good deal, there’s little hope for others.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday in Washington.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 16, 2025

Trump calls the U.S.-Japan alliance ‘one-sided.’ Tokyo says otherwise.

Some observers believe the U.S. president’s worldview is stuck in the 1980s, a time when trade deficits with Japan captured the attention of U.S. policymakers.
Mean Loeuy (center), a survivor of a Khmer Rouge labor camp, tells his story to a group of children during an outreach program at a school in Phnom Srok district in Banteay Meanchey province.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 16, 2025

Lessons in horror with Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal

A team led by a lawyer is traveling around Cambodia teaching schoolchildren about Pol Pot's brutal regime, sharing 20 years' worth of evidence and testimony from victims.
A DJI drone. British officials have raised concerns that Chinese-manufactured drones are surveying critical national infrastructure sites in the U.K.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 17, 2025

U.K. raises alarm on Chinese drones used to survey sensitive sites

Using Chinese-made drones at key sites in Britain is a risk as Chinese law can compel its companies to share data with the state.
Alysa Liu reacts after her free skate at the world championships in Boston on March 28.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Apr 17, 2025

World champion Alysa Liu feels best yet to come with Olympics on horizon

The 19-year-old crowned her comeback with a dazzling win at the world championships in Boston a little less than three weeks ago.
A handout artist's impression released on Thursday by N. Madhusudhan/University of Cambridge shows the K2-18b super-Earth, a hycean world, in which astronomers say they have found the strongest yet “hints” of life outside our solar system.
WORLD
Apr 17, 2025

Scientists find strongest evidence yet of life on an alien planet

The scientists stressed they are not announcing the discovery of actual living organisms and that the findings should be viewed cautiously.
Students practice dance during a project activity at Hotei Junior High School in Konan, Aichi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 28, 2025

'Voluntary' school clubs face reform amid excessive burdens

Club activities have long been a standard part of junior high and high school life in Japan, but some schools now struggle to form teams.
Palestinian American photographer Adam Rouhana’s exhibition at this year’s Kyotographie festival shows Palestinian life, not death and rubble.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 18, 2025

Kyotographie 2025 opts for laughter and levity in the face of global strife

Artists at the 13th edition of the international photography festival find humor and heart in their portrayals of humanity.
A recently enacted ordinance aimed at respecting individual differences in Sapporo has not been without controversy.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Apr 28, 2025

Sapporo enacts ordinance to foster diversity and inclusion

The number of foreign residents in Sapporo has doubled over the past decade, despite an overall population decline in the city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on April 5
WORLD / Politics
Apr 18, 2025

Zelenskyy accuses China of supplying Russia with weapons

Kyiv-Beijing ties were already strained after Zelenskyy made public this month its capture of two Chinese nationals fighting for Russia.
Tourists look at skulls of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime in a stupa at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields Memorial in Phnom Penh on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 18, 2025

Khmer Rouge anniversary marked, but without public prayers

The 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge’s march into Phnom Penh passed without survivor-led ceremonies.
U.S. figure skater Ilia Malinin competes during the men's short program at the ISU World Team Trophy at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Apr 18, 2025

Malinin and Liu help U.S. take early lead at skating's World Team Trophy

Malinin, who won his second world title last month in Boston, topped the men's short program in Tokyo with a score of 106.08.
Max Verstappen speaks during a news conference in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 18, 2025

Red Bull star Max Verstappen feeling ‘very relaxed’ amid rampant speculation

Verstappen, who won the Japanese Grand Prix on April 6, finished sixth in Bahrain last week.
The Supreme Court ruled that the man's conduct could undermine public trust in the system and the sound operation of the bus service.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025

Japan bus driver steals $7, loses $84,000 pension

The city of Kyoto sacked the man after he was filmed by a bus security camera taking ¥1,000 in 2022.
An anti-U.S. mural on a building in Tehran earlier this month
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025

With his promises of peace unmet in Gaza and Ukraine, Trump may find Iran just as tough

Adding to regional tensions is Trump's repeated threat to bomb Iran's nuclear sites if a deal cannot be reached.
People walk past an advertisement featuring Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani outside Tokyo Dome on March 18.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 18, 2025

Nothing sells like Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s marketing megastar

The Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player is at the peak of his stardom, and brands are rushing to cash in with huge sponsorship deals.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass speaks to reporters on Friday in Tokyo just after he arrived at Haneda Airport.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2025

New U.S. envoy arrives in Japan with focus on trade, defense and reining in China

Ambassador George Glass said Washington will aim to deepen cooperation with Tokyo on pushing back against China's economic and military moves.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani speaks to reporters in Tokyo on April 11.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2025

Japan defense chief says 'no reason' to change current U.S. troop deal

Gen Nakatani said that spending “is appropriately shared between the Japanese and U.S. governments based on mutual agreement, with a set time frame.”
Alysa Liu reacts after competing in the women's free skating during the ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating 2025 in Tokyo on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 20, 2025

Comeback queen Liu leads U.S. to World Team Trophy win

Liu, who walked away from the sport in 2022 at the age of 16 before returning to the ice last year, topped the women's free skate, knocking Japan's Kaori Sakamoto to third place.
Kerwin Espinosa, son of the late mayor Rolando Espinosa, taking an oath during the Senate drug hearing in Manila. The country's elections commission, Comelec, recorded 46 acts of political violence between Jan. 12 and April 11, including the shooting of Espinosa.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 20, 2025

Money, power, violence in high-stakes Philippine elections

Analysts warned that violence will likely remain a fixture of the Philippines' political landscape.

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Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear