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U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 8, 2024

Biden takes on Trump and Republicans in State of the Union speech

The 68-minute speech gave Biden, who is suffering from low approval ratings, a chance to speak directly to millions of Americans about his vision.
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama waves during his first day of a teaching session at the Kalachakra Ground in the village of Bodhgaya, in the Indian state of Bihar, in December 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 8, 2024

Will reincarnation or realpolitik determine the Dalai Lama's successor?

Esoteric questions of rebirth rarely have political consequences, but many fear the search for the next Dalai Lama could inflame regional rivalries.
Akira Toriyama
CULTURE
Mar 8, 2024

'Dragon Ball' creator Akira Toriyama dies at 68

A post announcing his death said Toriyama was “working on many projects” and that “there was so much more that he wanted to accomplish.”
Demonstrators hold a banner as they take part in a march to call for gender equality and protest against gender discrimination as part of an International Women’s Day march in Tokyo in 2021.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 8, 2024

Recognizing the vocabulary surrounding International Women’s Day

Many of the terms describing issues women are facing in Japan have a string of complex kanji. Knowing the basics can go a long way in aiding understanding.
Iwate Gov. Takuya Tasso speaks during an interview in February in the city of Morioka.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 8, 2024

13 years after 3/11, Iwate looks to make best use of new infrastructure

The governor of Iwate also called on the central government to continue necessary reconstruction projects while listening to people in the affected areas.
An ukiyo-e print by Utagawa Kuniteru depicts the assault of Asano Naganori on Kira Yoshinaka, an incident that triggered the tragedy of the 47 Ronin and one that was re-created in the play “Chushingura.”
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Mar 8, 2024

Revenge: A dish seldom served in Japanese history but still cold as ice

When Confucius was asked, "Should we kill those who are evil?" The response came, "What need is there for you to kill?"
Palestinians carry bags of flour they grabbed from an aid truck in mid February near an Israeli checkpoint as Gaza residents face crisis levels of hunger amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2024

Getting more aid to Gaza shouldn’t be this difficult

Adding avoidable deaths through hunger and disease in Gaza to an already high fatality toll is good for no one but extremists.
Actress Yumi Ishikawa speaks during an interview on Monday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 8, 2024

'KuToo' campaign leader wants to bring attention to sexual abuse

Ishikawa believes that behind the issue of sexual abuse is the unspoken assumption within Japanese society that there is no such thing as discrimination.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 9, 2024

OpenAI’s Sam Altman returns to board after probe clears him

Altman was cleared of any wrongdoing that would have mandated being fired, according to a report based on a monthslong investigation.
An image taken from video of a U.S. Navy F/A-18 jet crew’s encounter with an unexplained anomalous phenomena
WORLD / Politics
Mar 9, 2024

Pentagon review finds no evidence of alien cover-up

But the new report suggests that the public’s belief that the government is hiding what it knows will probably continue.
Residents of Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, participate in a nuclear disaster drill at an evacuation facility in Kurihara on Jan. 20.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 9, 2024

Nuclear plant restart raises evacuation concerns in Miyagi

Residents near the Onagawa nuclear plant on Miyagi's Oshika Peninsula are concerned about whether they could evacuate swiftly if disaster strikes.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, attends a conference in Paris in June of last year.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2024

Led by Musk, Silicon Valley inches to the right

Musk and other tech mavens are pushing themes cherished by Fox News and far-right movements from a place that electorally remains a liberal stronghold.
A DJI drone emerges from the casing on top of a BYD Yangwang U8 vehicle.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 11, 2024

China EV makers woo buyers with in-car beds, kitchens and drones

Top EV makers are facing a slowdown in demand at home as consumers curb spending.
An armed soldier stands guard next to a sign prohibiting the use of weapons outside the military headquarters as Haiti continues in a state of emergency, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 6.
WORLD / Society
Mar 11, 2024

Violence in Haiti puts focus on how to unravel gangs' grip on power

Armed gangs have profited from collusion, negligence and chaos since the 2021 assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moise.
Italian women are having fewer children — with some eschewing motherhood altogether.
WORLD / Society
Mar 11, 2024

Italian women are burying the myth of the mamma

Italy has one of the lowest birthrates in the world at 1.24 — well below the level needed for the population to sustain itself without immigration.
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron (right) and former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg are both experiencing a revival in U.K. political and business circles.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2024

Has the U.K. learned nothing from Brexit?

The current success of David Cameron and Nick Clegg in the U.K. suggests that the country — and the world — have learned little from populism's rise.
Members of the Kurdistan Centre for Arts and Culture, inspect old books before making digital copies, as part of an effort to digitize historic Kurdish volumes and manuscripts, in the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk on Feb. 13.
WORLD / Society
Mar 11, 2024

'Sacred job': Iraqi Kurds digitize books to save threatened culture

In Iraq, the Kurds are a sizeable minority who have been persecuted, and many of their historic documents have been lost or destroyed.
The defense request is largely seen as a symbolic opening shot in what is expected to be a protracted spending battle in Congress ahead of a November presidential election that will almost certainly pit President Joe Biden against his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 12, 2024

With eye on Indo-Pacific, Biden seeks record U.S. defense budget

But the $895.2 billion figure for fiscal 2025 is only about a 1% increase from the $886.3 billion proposal made last year — far below inflation levels.
Shi Pong Hsu, 75, makes coffee in a Singapore coffee shop. The city-state's government projects that almost a quarter of its population will be 65 or over by 2030.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2024

Singapore is bracing for a super-aging society

Japan and South Korea may be the poster children for low birthrates, but Singapore is confronting its own decline. Its solution? Bonuses for nurses.
The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activity.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 12, 2024

Study of polyglots offers insight on brain's language processing

The brain's language network consists of a few areas situated in its frontal and temporal lobes.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 12, 2024

Health ministry urges caution after measles outbreak

Eight cases have been confirmed among passengers of a flight from the United Arab Emirates that landed at Kansai International Airport in late February.
Connor O'Leary competes during an event in Huntington Beach, California, in 2019.
OLYMPICS / Surfing
Mar 13, 2024

Japan picks Aussie-born O'Leary for bonus Olympic surfing spot

O'Leary, who was raised in the south Sydney suburb of Cronulla, was granted a third men's spot by the Nippon Surfing Association.
Earl Stewart, a Toyota dealer, says he was shocked when he first heard about Toyota’s strategy.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2024

Toyota’s hybrid-first strategy is delivering big profits

Toyota’s sales are booming, and the company is reporting huge profits.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2024

Ride-sharing starts in Ishikawa city before shinkansen extension

The service is now available at major tourist spots and residential areas between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. and in the whole of the city from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m.
Wakana Nukui has been described as having a knack for storytelling and vividly sharing her vision with those around her.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Mar 24, 2024

A social entrepreneur who is determined to lift Cambodian women's status

Wakana Nukui has fostered new talent in design while opening shops dedicated to local products.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani(left) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pose for a portrait on media day at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 21.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 14, 2024

See-through baseball pants become eye-opening controversy for MLB

The league's new uniforms have dominated the conversation during spring training.
YouTuber and former Upper House member GaaSyy after his release on bail in September
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2024

YouTuber GaaSyy given suspended prison term for defaming celebrities

GaaSyy's acts seriously threatened the victims, the presiding judge said, causing them “enormous financial damage” through online hate.
Czech Republic's Ondrej Satoria pitches against Japan during the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome on March 11.
BASEBALL
Mar 14, 2024

Ondrej Satoria reflects on electric WBC showdown against Shohei Ohtani

Satoria, an electrician by day, struck out the Japanese superstar during the World Baseball Classic.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 14, 2024

Phone relay service helps hard of hearing government staff

The service facilitates communication for workers hard of hearing and those with speech impediments by connecting them with operators online.
Built for two artists, Ishii House is a simple, rectangular timber structure with a double-height window facing the veranda.
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 16, 2024

Architecture of community won Riken Yamamoto the Pritzker Prize

Unlike many other laureates, Yamamoto is not a household name. But his work and approach have long been admired within the Japanese architectural scene.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan