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"Animator Skill Test Textbook” was written in concert with a test created and administered by the Nippon Anime & Film Culture Association since 2024. The test was designed to help set a baseline for those studying animation, and so that animation studios can get a better idea of applicants' current skill level.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 4, 2025

English textbook targets a skills gap in Japan’s growing anime industry

From "dōga" to “lip flap,” the Nippon Anime & Film Culture Association’s "Animator Skill Test Textbook" teaches aspiring animators how to talk like the pros.
Israeli tanks are positioned on the border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD
Sep 4, 2025

Israel says expecting 1 million Gazans to flee new offensive

In Jerusalem, hundreds of Israeli protestors took to the streets to call for a truce and hostage release deal after nearly two years of war.
First responders work at the site of an accident involving Lisbon's Gloria funicular, a popular tourist attraction, which derailed and crashed, resulting in fatalities and injuries, according to authorities, in Lisbon on Wednesday.
WORLD
Sep 4, 2025

At least 15 killed in crash on Lisbon's historic cable car railway

"It's a tragic day for our city. ... Lisbon is in mourning, it is a tragic, tragic incident," said Carlos Moedas, mayor of the Portuguese capital.
People walk along a hillside, in the aftermath of an earthquake, in the Nurgal district of Kunar province, Afghanistan, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Sep 4, 2025

Days after quake, survivors in Afghanistan still await aid

Fearful of near-constant aftershocks, people have huddled in the open or struggled to unearth those trapped under the heaps of flattened buildings.
The remains of a barrack at the former Minidoka camp in southern Idaho where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Sep 4, 2025

Have the lessons of WWII internment gone unheeded in U.S.?

Eighty years after the end of World War II, many see troubling echoes of when the U.S. forcibly sent approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent to internment camps.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, "It won’t stop with just this strike,” after the U.S. targeted a boat in the Caribbean Sea allegedly full of drugs from Venezuela.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 4, 2025

U.S. threatens more strikes on purported drug boats after attack in Caribbean

The move marked a major escalation in U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on narcotics traffickers following deployment of U.S. Navy vessels off the Venezuelan coast.
Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul attends a press conference after securing the backing of opposition People's Party to serve as Thailand's next prime minister, in Bangkok on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 4, 2025

Thai prime minister frontrunner gets chance at leadership after six years

The rise of conservative politician Anutin Charnvirakul, who said he's been ready to be prime minister since 2019, is a testament to patience and savvy coalition building.
Mizuho's bid to acquire a majority stake in India's Avendus Capital faces hurdles over valuation and the right exit option for KKR portfolio company, sources say.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 4, 2025

Mizuho’s India deal with Avendus said to stall on valuation

Mizuho was on the verge of buying a majority stake in Avendus in what would be the latest acquisition by a Japanese bank in India.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Washington on Thursday
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 5, 2025

U.S. senators pit Kennedy against Trump on vaccine policy

Half a dozen heated exchanges during a combative three-hour Senate hearing focused on his decision to fire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez.
Russian President Vladimir Putin walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a military parade in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Wednesday.
WORLD / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Sep 5, 2025

Could humans live forever, as Putin was heard telling Xi?

Maybe not, experts say, though serious research is increasingly revealing more about why we age — and how we could try to stop it.
Juan Rivera gave the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump high marks on its handling of immigration because "there's a lot more public safety."
WORLD / Society
Sep 5, 2025

These Trump voters back his immigration crackdown, but some worry about his methods

All 20 voters said they support Trump's work to expel immigration offenders with violent criminal records, but there was less consensus about how he is going about the crackdown.
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military offensive shelter in a UNRWA school, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Aug. 19.
WORLD
Sep 5, 2025

Coffee and cash: How Hamas pays its civil servants in secret

The Hamas-run government in Gaza is still paying some salaries to employees, at least in part and with delays.
A native of Saskatchewan, Canada, Jon Heese naturalized as a Japanese citizen in 2007 and embarked upon a career in local politics the following year.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 8, 2025

Canadian-born politician tackles Ibaraki’s issues big and small

After being elected to four terms in the Tsukuba Municipal Assembly, Jon Heese now serves as a prefectural assemblyman — and one of Ibaraki Prefecture’s biggest cheerleaders.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un view a military parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Wednesday, marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2025

Divide the dictators, President Trump — don’t unite them

Xi's objectives here are clear: first, to elevate China's national prestige; second, to strengthen alliances among authoritarian leaders; and third, to rewrite history.
U.S. President Donald Trump displays a photo of himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on Aug. 22.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2025

Putin sees only U.S. weakness in Ukraine

Few Ukrainians swallow the enthusiastic talk in the West about security zones and U.S. guarantees.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (center) at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday prior to a Cabinet meeting
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 5, 2025

Japan to start a new support system for crime victims next year

The government has increasingly been urged to enhance public assistance for people afflicted by serious crimes.
U.s. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June 2018. Trump approved a 2019 Navy SEAL operation to plant a listening device in North Korea, a mission that unraveled amid a series of mistakes and resulted in the SEALs killing North Korean civilians.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 6, 2025

How a top secret SEAL Team 6 mission into North Korea fell apart

The 2019 operation, greenlit by President Donald Trump, sought a strategic edge. It left unarmed North Koreans dead.
A moment of silence is observed during a memorial service to mark the seventh anniversary of an earthquake in Atsuma, Hokkaido, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2025

Victims of 2018 Hokkaido quake mourned on seventh anniversary of disaster

The powerful earthquake, which struck on Sept. 6, 2018, killed 44 people and partially or fully destroyed more than 2,300 houses.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio in June.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 7, 2025

U.S. strike on alleged cartel boat shows Rubio’s influence growing

The attack was the culmination of Trump’s yearslong interest in using unprecedented — and legally questionable — force against drug cartels.
People buy groceries from a mobile supermarket in a rural area of Nagomi, Kumamoto Prefecture. The government is considering a new "hometown resident" registration system to help strengthen regional revitalization measures.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2025

Japan eyes two types of 'hometown resident' registration

The system is included in the government's basic vision for regional revitalization, adopted in June.
Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful from the popemobile after a Mass for the canonization of Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City, on Sunday.
WORLD
Sep 7, 2025

Huge crowds at the Vatican as teen becomes first millennial saint

Tens of thousands of people gathered at the Vatican Sunday as Pope Leo XIV proclaimed the Catholic Church's first millennial saint, an Italian teenager dubbed "God's Influencer."
NASA says its satellite imagery shows the Earth is becoming drier — at least the parts where most people live.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2025

The Earth is drying out and we need to act urgently

Measurements from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites suggest the continents have been losing fresh water at an alarming rate since 2002.
Smoke rises over Kyiv after a Russian missile strike on Sunday, reportedly the largest mass strike of the war.
WORLD
Sep 7, 2025

Russia hits Ukraine with biggest air attack of war

Russia launches drones, missiles on Ukraine, Zelenskyy appeals for stronger air defenses.
Smoke and flames rise as an Israeli airstrike hits a house in Gaza City on Sunday.
WORLD
Sep 8, 2025

U.N. says time is short to stop famine spreading as Israel bombards Gaza City

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are said to be already experiencing or at risk of famine in areas including Gaza City, where Israel launched a new offensive against Hamas.
Princess Aiko (center) attends the 10th national conference on disaster management held in the city of Niigata on Sunday.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2025

In imperial family first, Princess Aiko attends disaster-related conference

Princess Aiko joined two sessions, both of which were related to the January 2024 major earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula.
U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey is one of the most senior ministers to retain their post after Prime Minister Keir Starmer reshuffled his Cabinet.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 8, 2025

Starmer tells Cabinet to change gears in bid to fend off Farage

The British prime minister recently reshuffled his government, appointing more than four dozen junior ministers after overhauling his Cabinet.
The city of Obihiro, Hokkaido, under the scorching sun on July 23
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2025

Heatstroke patient numbers jumped in cooler Hokkaido and Tohoku this summer

In Hokkaido, the number of heatstroke patients rose 1.7-fold from the previous year, while Aomori Prefecture saw a 1.53-fold rise and Akita Prefecture saw a 1.42-fold rise.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick argues that U.S. President Donald Trump has sole authority to invest Japan's promised $550 billion.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 8, 2025

Search is on for loopholes in Japan’s $550 billion investment pledge

The pledge was described over the weekend by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as essentially a blank checkbook for U.S. President Donald Trump.
Demonstrators gather outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government in Kathmandu on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 9, 2025

Nepal's ban on major social media sites lifted after protesters killed

All major social media apps were said to be working as the government ordered a probe into the violence that saw police launch a deadly crackdown.
Sexual abuse survivor Anouska de Georgiou speaks at a news conference on Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington, where she called where she called for the release of remaining files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigations under the Epstein Files Transparency Bill.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2025

Jeffrey Epstein’s victims aren’t a hoax

Why was Jeffrey Epstein so protected? Who is still being protected? And who protected them all?

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’