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With Russia holding the upper hand in Ukraine and its people likely to support a favorable peace, why is the Kremlin unwilling to negotiate?
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 22, 2025

Russia’s two minds on Ukraine

Russian people used to have savings; today, they spend whatever they can get their hands on and even take out loans.
Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan's newly appointed agriculture minister, arrives at the ministry building in Tokyo on Wednesday. He replaced Taku Eto, who quit after saying he’s never needed to buy rice, a comment that angered many people.
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2025

Rice price uproar intensifies ruling party's election fears

When the remarks triggered a predictable and understandable backlash, Eto explained that he was trying to make a joke.
After establishing Lagoon Brewery in 2021, Yosuke Tanaka began making export-only "nihonshu" (Japanese sake) and later, "craft sake," a new genre of sake that isn't bound by the rules of traditional sakemaking.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 25, 2025

Brewed from rice, water and tomatoes: The growth of ‘craft sake’

Hampered yet inspired by the strict regulations for new brewers, a growing breed of sake producers are making the beverage on their own creative terms.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations attend a meeting in Istanbul on May 16.
WORLD
May 23, 2025

Major Russia-Ukraine POW exchange begins

Russia and Ukraine each agreed after two hours of talks in Istanbul last week to swap 1,000 prisoners, but failed to agree to a ceasefire.
Director Jafar Panahi, Palme d'Or award winner for the film "Un simple accident" ("It Was Just an Accident"), poses  during a photocall after the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
May 25, 2025

Iranian filmmaker Panahi urges 'freedom' as he wins top prize at Cannes

The dissident filmmaker's "Un Simple Accident" tells the tale of five Iranians confronted with a man they believed tortured them in jail.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani in the dugout during a game against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix on May 9.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 25, 2025

Shohei Ohtani to face live batters for first time since 2023

The pitching session is the next step in Ohtani's recovery from the right ulnar collateral ligament surgery he underwent in the fall of 2023.
A house damaged during a Pakistani artillery shelling in Poonch, in India-administered Kashmir, on May 14
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 26, 2025

India and Pakistan battle for global sympathy after border truce

Both sides are sending delegations to global capitals to influence international perception of the conflict, as tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals continue to simmer.
Alex Palou celebrates after winning the Indianapolis 500 in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
May 26, 2025

Alex Palou holds off Marcus Ericsson to take checkered flag at Indy 500

Palou, who has won five of this year's first six IndyCar races, took the checkered flag under caution.
Firefighters extinguish a blaze in damaged private houses following Russian strike in Kyiv region on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
May 26, 2025

Calling Putin ‘crazy,’ Trump says he’s weighing Russia sanctions

The U.S. leader's remarks came after Moscow launched a second night of deadly missile and drone strikes across much of Ukraine.
People walk past a cannabis dispensary in Bangkok on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 26, 2025

Surge in cannabis smuggling prompts Thailand to tighten rules

Dispensaries will be allowed to sell cannabis only to those with licenses or with prescriptions from medical professionals when proposed changes to existing rules take effect.
Rafael Nadal waves to the crowd at Roland Garros during a ceremony honoring his career at the French Open on Sunday in Paris.
TENNIS
May 26, 2025

Roland Garros pays tribute to 'King of Clay' Rafael Nadal at French Open

Nadal dominated the French Open after winning in his debut as a teenager in 2005, lifting the trophy a record-breaking 14 times.
Construction equipment sits idle in a park near Shiba Toshogu shrine in Tokyo's Minato Ward. While Japan has a history of treating its trees with reverence, green coverage is said to be lacking in most of the major cities.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / Longform
May 26, 2025

Do Japan's trees no longer occupy the sacred space they used to?

Trees have long occupied a sacred place in Japanese culture. In the fast pace of the 21st century, however, they're increasingly losing out to progress.
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi visits a supermarket to check the prices of rice on Friday in Koto.
JAPAN
May 26, 2025

Bags of rice at half price will hit stores by early June, Koizumi says

With necessary costs added on, a 5-kilogram bag of rice is set to cost ¥2,160 at retailers in June.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 20.
WORLD
May 27, 2025

Trump blows hot and cold on Putin, with Ukraine war in limbo

U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be losing patience with Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, but it's unclear if he will actually toughen his stance.
Rescue workers at the site of a Russian missile attack in Kyiv on Sunday.
WORLD
May 27, 2025

Ukraine confirms China gives supplies to Russian military factories

China has forged even closer trade and other economic relations with Russia since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Al-Nassr's Cristiano Ronaldo scores against Al-Khaleej in Riyadh on Wednesday
SOCCER
May 27, 2025

Ronaldo says Al-Nassr chapter is 'over'

The 40-year-old Portuguese forward's contract with the Saudi club ends this summer.
"Handguns" sold over online shopping websites. The National Police Agency has issued a warning about toy pistols sold online that are capable of firing live ammunition.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 27, 2025

Police issue warning over toy pistols capable of firing live rounds

Possession of such products constitutes a violation of the firearms and swords control law, the National Police Agency said.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 19.
WORLD / Politics
May 28, 2025

Trump says Putin 'playing with fire' as sanctions pressure grows

Moscow has kept up attacks despite a phone call eight days ago in which U.S. President Donald Trump said Russian leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to immediately start talks.
The World Health Organization is struggling financially due to the departure of its biggest donor, the United States.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 28, 2025

WHO restructures and cuts budget after U.S. withdrawal

Hit by the withdrawal of its biggest donor, the United States, the WHO trimmed its already smaller 2026-2027 budget from $5.3 billion to $4.2 billion.
Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York on May 23
BUSINESS / Tech
May 28, 2025

Apple reels from share selloff as Trump’s 25% tariff threat drives uncertainty

Some are skeptical the tariffs will come to pass, but any such measures would require Apple to absorb costs or raise prices, eroding demand.
A worker produces a turbine engine component at PBS Group, in Velka Bites, Czech Republic, on May 6.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2025

Booming business has Europe's defense companies scrambling for workers

Arms makers are hiking wages and benefits, and even poaching from other sectors, as governments ramp up defense spending.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks at a Lower House farm committee in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 28, 2025

With latest move, farm ministry sets sights on ¥1,800 for a 5-kg bag of rice

The agriculture ministry will sell older batches of stockpiled rice to smaller retailers and rice shops via no-bid contracts, and pause offerings to big buyers.
Innovative Space Carrier CEO Kojiro Hatada poses with a model of the planned spaceplane ASCA 3 at JFE Engineering’s factory in Yokohama on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2025

Japanese reusable rocket startup ISC eyes U.S. test launch in December

Innovative Space Carrier said its ASCA 1.0 reusable launcher will conduct a 100-meter flight and landing test.
Closed-circuit television cameras in a New Delhi street in on May 21. Global makers of surveillance cameras have clashed with Indian regulators over new rules that require them to submit materials for assessment in government labs, driven in part by alarm about China's capabilities.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 28, 2025

India's alarm over Chinese surveillance prompts crackdown on cameras

Rejecting the request from manufacturers for a delay, India said its policy "addresses a genuine security issue" and must be enforced.
German and U.S. soldiers participate in Allied Spirit 24, a multinational training exercise, in Hohenfels, Germany, in March 2024. Reforger, NATO’s massive Cold War-era exercise to rush U.S. troops to Europe, was shelved after the Soviet collapse. But with Vladimir Putin attacking neighbors, maybe it’s time to revive it.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 28, 2025

How can Europe deter Putin? Revive the ‘Reforger.’

The massive Cold War military exercise put a stop to Soviet aggression then, and it could do the same with Russia now.
Demonstrators hold signs during a protest in support of international students at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
May 28, 2025

Japanese universities urged to open doors to students blocked from Harvard

The education ministry has asked universities nationwide to support students affected by the White House's push against foreign enrollments at Harvard.
Despite the stereotypes, Japan is one of the most permissive places for non-residents to buy property.
COMMENTARY
May 27, 2025

It’s too easy for foreigners to buy Japanese property

Foreign buyers are driving up Tokyo housing prices amid Japan’s lack of property restrictions, sparking calls for tighter rules to protect residents and limit speculation.
A Ukrainian serviceman fires a howitzer toward Russian troops, at a position on a front line near the town of Kupiansk, in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 29, 2025

Trump again criticizes Putin as Ukraine war heats up

But Trump also said he was not yet prepared to impose new sanctions on Russia because he did not want the penalties to scuttle a potential peace deal.
More Chinese families are clustering in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, a district renowned for having the finest educational environment in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2025

Chinese parents are fueling Tokyo’s education race

International schools in Tokyo are already witnessing an influx of children from the newly arrived, highly involved Chinese households.
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate for South Korea's Democratic Party, speaks during a news conference after casting his early vote for the upcoming presidential election in Seoul on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 29, 2025

Martial law put Lee Jae-myung back on track for South Korean presidency

The liberal politician favored to become the country's next leader has overcome a knife attack and criminal charges on his unexpected path back toward the top post.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic