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The dashboard screen of a Toyota RAV4 compact crossover vehicle at an event in May
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 28, 2025

Toyota’s internal inertia stifles digital transformation effort

Inside Toyota, a group of employees are worried about the company’s future in an era when a car’s software matters just as much as its sheet metal.
Sheep on the eastern shores of Lake Hawea, near the town of Wanaka on the South Island of New Zealand. New Zealand sheep farmers are fighting to stop the loss of pasture to fast-spreading pine plantations, which earn government subsidies to soak up carbon emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 28, 2025

New Zealand farmers battle pine forests to 'save our sheep'

New Zealand is one of the rare countries to allow 100% of carbon emissions to be offset by forestry.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has called off a trip to Central and South America that would have included stopovers in the U.S.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 29, 2025

Taiwan's Lai calls off trip with U.S. transit as Trump seeks Xi summit

The Taiwanese president had intended to stop in New York and then Dallas as part of a trip to diplomatic allies in Central and South America.
A soldier from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)  and his comrade cross a stream toward the front line in Laiza, Kachin state, in 2013.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 29, 2025

Trump team hears pitches on access to Myanmar's rare earths

If the ideas are ever acted upon, Washington may need to strike a deal with the ethnic rebels controlling most of Myanmar's rich deposits of heavy rare earths.
An elderly man clears mud in front of a flooded market after heavy rains at Taishitun village in Miyun district, on the outskirts of Beijing, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 29, 2025

Floods kill dozens after Beijing records almost a year of rainfall in days

China's usually arid north has seen record precipitation in recent years, with some scientists linking the rainfall to global warming.
Workers remove copper from industrial wiring inside a recycling shop in Manila on June 26.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 29, 2025

In the Philippines, informal e-waste dismantling poses health risks

Scavenging electronic waste for the nickel, aluminum and copper inside releases a toxic brew of chemicals, including lead, mercury and cadmium, into the air.
Kunshiro Kiyozumi, 97, who was the youngest crew member of the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58 in World War II, on his way to a restaurant to have lunch in Matsuyama, Japan, on April 29.
JAPAN / History
Jul 29, 2025

Last soldiers of Imperial Japanese Army have a warning for younger generations

"In their last breaths, no one shouted for the long life of the emperor,” said one veteran about his comrades. "They called out for their mothers, whom they would never see again.”
Palestinians carry aid supplies which entered Gaza through Israel in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, on Sunday.
WORLD
Jul 29, 2025

Gaza death toll hits 60,000 as global monitor demands action to avert famine

Famine is unfolding in Gaza and immediate action is needed to end fighting and allow unimpeded aid access, the hunger monitor said.
Palestinians crowd a coastal path west of the city of Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip after managing to get aid parcels on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 30, 2025

Britain warns Israel it could recognize Palestinian state as Gaza starves

The warning, which drew a harsh Israeli rebuke, came after a hunger monitor warned a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding and immediate action is needed.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on board Air Force One en route from Scotland to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 30, 2025

Trump says he fell out with Epstein because he was taking Mar-a-Lago spa staff

U.S. President Donald Trump gave some of his most expansive public comments yet about his falling out with Jeffrey Epstein.
Apple executives John Giannandrea (left) and Craig Federighi. Shares of the company declined as much as 1.5% to $210.82, reaching a session low in New York trading.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 30, 2025

Apple loses fourth AI researcher in a month to Meta’s Superintelligence team

Meta previously lured away the leader of the Apple foundation models group, Ruoming Pang, with a compensation package valued at more than $200 million.
A building in the city of Osaka that served as the Osaka Army Arsenal's chemical analysis laboratory during World War II
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2025

Researcher seeks to save Osaka Army Arsenal as 'negative legacy'

The military factory manufactured artillery for the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and employed up to around 66,000 people.
Former Canada coach Bev Priestman during a Women's World Cup group match against the Republic of Ireland in Perth, Australia on July 26, 2023
SOCCER
Jul 30, 2025

'I didn't feel safe': Banned Canada coach explains move to New Zealand

Wellington Phoenix announced Wednesday that Priestman would take over as head coach of its women's team.
Fuji TV headquarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward.  Fuji TV came under fire over the manner in which it handled a case of “sexual trouble” involving former boy band member Masahiro Nakai and a female announcer.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Jul 30, 2025

How the Japanese TV industry is changing

After a series of major scandals in recent years, Japan’s TV industry appears to be growing more sensitive to issues of harassment and misconduct.
A wall is pockmarked by bullet holes following sectarian violence in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, on July 25.
WORLD / FOCUS
Jul 30, 2025

How Syrian attackers killed: One hand on the gun, another on the camera

Videos posted to social media provide some of the most detailed depictions yet of the sectarian bloodshed that erupted Syria this month.
Japan's temperature soared to a record 41.2 degrees Celsius in Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, on Wednesday, surpassing the previous high of 41.1 C.
JAPAN / Breaking
Jul 30, 2025

Japan marks highest-ever temperature of 41.2 C in Hyogo

The mercury hit the above-human temperature of 41.2 C in the city of Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, as authorities urged people to take precautions to avoid heatstroke.
The town of Severo-Kurilsk on Russia's northern Kuril Islands is hit by a tsunami on Wednesday in this image taken by a drone.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 30, 2025

Powerful quake off Russia sparks Pacific tsunami

The quake off Russia's remote Kamchatka Peninsula triggered tsunami up to 4 meters across the Pacific and sparked evacuations as far away as Hawaii.
Parliamentary affairs chiefs of the ruling and opposition parties on Wednesday at the parliament building after signing an agreement to abolish the provisional add-on gasoline tax
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2025

Ruling and opposition parties agree to scrap provisional gas tax by year-end

The parties aim to enact a bill to scrap the tax at an extraordinary session of parliament expected to be convened in autumn.
“Memory of Lines” is Chiharu Shiota’s second art installation on Teshima as part of the Setouchi Triennale.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 30, 2025

Artist Chiharu Shiota weaves a hidden marvel on Teshima

The artist cherished for her red-thread installations creates a new work in one of Japan’s famed art islands.
Waves slam into a sea wall off Waikiki Beach after authorities downgraded earlier tsunami warnings following an earthquake off Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Wedenesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 31, 2025

Tsunami danger has Chile to U.S. on alert after Russia quake

Aftershocks will likely continue for months and there is no way to predict if there will be another massive shake.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about recognizing Palestinian statehood at a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 31, 2025

Canada plans to recognize Palestinian state, raising allies' pressure on Israel

"Canada condemns the fact that the Israeli government has allowed a catastrophe to unfold in Gaza," said Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Canadian-born Jesse Cunningham came to Japan to teach in the JET Programme, and later found opportunities to learn traditional blacksmithing in Kochi Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Aug 4, 2025

The international artists supporting Japan’s craft legacy

From Kochi to Kamakura, non-Japanese craftspeople are training with local artisans and carving out a niche for themselves.
Hun Sen speaks at a press conference at the National Assembly after a vote to confirm his son, Hun Manet, as Cambodia's prime minister in Phnom Penh on August 22, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 31, 2025

Cambodia's Hun Sen at the helm in border conflict with Thailand

The former leader played an outsized role in events leading up to the deadliest fighting between Thailand and Cambodia in over a decade.
The Angels David MacKinnon runs to first after recording an RBI single for his first MLB hit on June 22, 2022.
BASEBALL / Sac Bunts
Jul 31, 2025

Former Seibu player David MacKinnon hopes to connect baseball world with new podcast

MacKinnon decided to retire earlier this year after playing in MLB, NPB and KBO during his career.
Reflecting a sharp rise in fraud cases involving offenders posing as police officers, the number of special fraud cases between January and June increased 50% from a year before, with the amount of damage shooting up by 2.6 times.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2025

'Fake police' fraud cases surging in Japan

The amount of money swindled in such cases totaled ¥38.93 billion between January and June.
Palestinians carry aid supplies from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD
Aug 1, 2025

U.S. shifts toward Israel after envoy meets Netanyahu in bid for Gaza aid and truce

The U.S. also announced sanctions on officials of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which run a state France, the U.K. and Canada may recognize.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
WORLD
Aug 1, 2025

After deadly strikes on Kyiv, Zelenskyy urges allies to seek Russia 'regime change'

The overnight strikes reduced part of a nine-story apartment block in Kyiv's western suburbs to rubble and wounded at least 150 people in the capital.
A screenshot of eBay shows war relics including swords and gas masks being put on sale.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2025

Large number of Japanese war relics still offered on auction sites

Items such as swords that belonged to soldiers of the Imperial Japanese military and protective hoods used during air raids can be found on eBay.
Japan's seasonally adjusted effective job-to-applicant ratio dipped to 1.22 in June, down 0.02 point from the previous month, according to the labor ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 1, 2025

Japan's jobs-to-applicant ratio falls to 1.22 in June

It marked a second consecutive month of decreases as more people entered the job market amid soaring prices of food and other goods.
A notice board at a station in Tokyo announces suspended shinkansen services due to a tsunami warning after a strong quake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday. 
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2025

A troubling reminder of Japan's vulnerability to natural disasters

There is considerable work to be done. Multiple studies and surveys of municipalities show that they are not prepared for a big incident.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’