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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump meets with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2025

Meloni’s closeness to Musk and Trump is a win-win — and a big risk

By pivoting away from China toward the administration of the incoming U.S. president, the Italian prime minister creates a different kind of dependency.
Runaway youths have recently been gathering in areas such as the Toyoko area of the Kabukicho entertainment district in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, where they often get into trouble.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2025

Japan to allow youths to stay at shelters without parental consent

Those under the age of 18 will be able to use shelters even if obtaining prior consent from those with parental authority is expected to be difficult.
Kinoko no Yama wireless earbuds, which were released by Meiji in March and sold in limited quantities
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2025

Snack makers try to keep long-selling products 'fresh'

Related products and fan events are being offered by companies in a bid to engage with consumers.
An investigation conducted by the antitrust watchdog in 2023 and 2024 found that a post office in the Kanto region collected penalty fees from subcontractors without giving them a sufficient explanation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Japan Post received administrative guidance over poorly explained penalties

Penalty fees for failed deliveries and for complaints about cigarette odors were not explained adequately to subcontractors, the Fair Trade Commission found.
A subsidy for epidural childbirths was one of Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's campaign promises when she ran for her position last year.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Tokyo looks to ease the pain — both physical and financial — of childbirth

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is looking to begin offering a subsidy for epidural childbirths in fiscal 2025.
Volunteers take care of children at a children’s play space opened for survivors of the earthquake in the city of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 31, 2024.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Professor highlights crucial importance of volunteer aid after major quakes

Although volunteers often face criticism on social media, an expert in disaster management argues that volunteers are essential from the very moment a disaster strikes.
Jean-Marie Le Pen gives a speech on Feb. 3, 1973
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2025

French far-right figurehead Jean-Marie Le Pen dies

The far-right bogeyman of French politics, infamous for his dismissal of the Holocaust and anti-immigrant rhetoric, has died at age 96.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump gestures as he makes remarks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 8, 2025

Trump will not rule out force to take Panama Canal and Greenland

Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, also floated the idea of turning Canada into a U.S. state.
Demonstrators inside the U.S. Capitol after breaching barricades on Jan. 6, 2021
WORLD / Society
Jan 8, 2025

Violent extremism lingers online with U.S. flagging less content

Donald Trump’s return to the White House promises to cement the hands-off approach toward online behavior.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada announces his resignation in Ottawa on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 8, 2025

The race begins to replace Canada's Trudeau as prime minister

Canada's new leader is likely to face elections within weeks of taking over from Justin Trudeau in March.
Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commander, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, attends a meeting in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on June 8, 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 8, 2025

Daglo, the feared Darfuri general accused by the U.S. of genocide

The paramilitary commander went from feared Darfur militia commander to de facto vice-president before unleashing a devastating war for power in Sudan.
Firefighters respond to homes destroyed while a helicopter drops water as the Palisades Fire grows in Pacific Palisades, California, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jan 8, 2025

Wildfire triggers panicked evacuations in Los Angeles suburb

Hundreds of firefighters swarmed the area, attacking the blaze from the ground and from the air.
Kyoto University's CiRA Foundation will automatically make autologous induced pluripotent stem cells and turn them into heart muscle and nerve cells at a new facility in the city of Osaka starting in April.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 8, 2025

Automated iPS cell production to start in Japan in April

Autologous iPS cells will be created and turned into, among others, heart muscle and nerve cells.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel at the Prime Minister's Official residence in Tokyo on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 8, 2025

Missteps highlight Ishiba’s foreign policy challenges

Japan faces a delicate balancing act between securing its economic future and ensuring its security, with Ishiba's policies leaving much to be desired in both areas.
Japan Post was asked by a subcontractor entrusted with Yu-Pack parcel deliveries to raise the commission fees it paid, in light of rising costs, but Japan Post left subcontracting fees unchanged without discussion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 8, 2025

Japan Post also received FTC guidance for second subcontractor issue

Postal service company was asked by a subcontractor to raise the commission fees it paid, in light of rising costs, but made no change.
A potential foreign acquisition of Japanese retail giant Seven & I would be "heavily related" to national security, Japan's economy minister Ryosei Akazawa said on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2025

Japan flags foreign takeover of 7-Eleven owner as a security issue

His public comment is the first by a senior Japanese official over security issues raised by a $47 billion buyout offer by Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard.
An apartment building burns during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles county, California, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Jan 9, 2025

Los Angeles under siege as wind-driven wildfires upend city

The fires, which burned more than 26,000 acres by Wednesday afternoon, has upended life in America’s second-largest city.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 9, 2025

Biden to further limit AI chip exports in final push

The regulations would create three tiers of chip trade restrictions, granting full access to allies, limited access to most of the world and virtually no access to adversaries.
Beauty salon Dione, which has over 100 branches nationwide, offers hair removal treatments for children as young as 3 years old. It uses hair removal equipment that emits a special light heated to around 38 degrees Celsius, unlike conventional equipment that involves temperatures of 60 to 80 C.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 9, 2025

Hair removal for kids — boosting confidence or preying on insecurities?

Hair removal treatments are increasingly being extended to children as young as three years old in Japan, raising concerns over the risks.
People remove snow in the city of Aomori on Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2025

Caution urged as heavy snow forecast for Sea of Japan coast

Authorities have warned individuals to consider vehicle safety as well as the risks of traffic disruptions, snow falling from roofs and damage to buildings.
Staff from Aomori Bank and Michinoku Bank, along with family members, participate in the Aomori Nebuta Festival in August 2023, with a large float sponsored by Procrea Holdings behind them.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jan 20, 2025

Rival regional Aomori banks merge to survive amid population decline

Aomori Bank and Michinoku Bank, which had long been rivals, merged this month to form Aomori Michinoku Bank.
Rahm Emanuel professes that the biggest thing he has brought to the U.S.-Japan relationship might be a fresh injection of vitality.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

Emanuel leaves reform legacy amid historic shifts in U.S.-Japan alliance

The departing U.S. ambassador arguably oversaw the most consequential shift in the U.S.-Japan alliance in decades.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter and then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan greet each other before their U.S. presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, in October 1980.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2025

What if Reagan's vision had been more like Carter's?

Yes, Carter had his share of missteps, but he was way, way, way ahead of his time on clean energy.
A home is engulfed in flames as the Palisades Fire burns along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 9, 2025

NFL still planning to stage playoff game between Rams and Vikings in LA

"The NFL's priority is the safety of the Los Angeles community," the league said in a statement.
A supporter of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol holds South Korean and U.S. flags in front of flower wreaths bearing messages of support near his residence in Seoul on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

Impeached South Korean president's party sees signs of revival

Anti-corruption officers' botched attempt to arrest President Yoon Suk Yeol is reinvigorating conservatives to rally behind the People Power Party.
NHK’s latest taiga period drama, “Unbound,” centers on Tsutaya Juzaburo (Ryusei Yokohama), a commoner who becomes a successful bookseller and publisher.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 10, 2025

‘Unbound’ breaks NHK period drama tradition with a hero of the common folk

Public broadcaster NHK marks its 100th anniversary by flipping the script on its long-running period drama series.
Greenland's flag flies in Igaliku settlement, Greenland
WORLD
Jan 10, 2025

Denmark says it has neglected Greenland defense for years

Greenland is crucial for the U.S. military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters at a protest in Caracas on Thursday ahead of the Friday inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro for his third term.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 10, 2025

A two-hour arrest rocks Venezuela as Maduro targets opposition

The arrest of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado marks a significant escalation by Nicolas Maduro, who was declared the winner of last year's election without evidence.
Pan-roasted baby beets, carrots, turnips and orange may be an otherwise American dish, but Sonoko Sakai's addition of lemon-miso yogurt turns it into a 'wafū' (Japanese style) marvel.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 12, 2025

The case for Japan-ifying everything you cook

“Wafu Cooking: Everyday Recipes with Japanese Style” coins the term “wafuing” — shorthand for bringing Japanese flavors into anything and everything.
Palestinians at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2025

Gaza death toll 40% higher than recorded, peer-reviewed study estimates

New study used data from Gaza's health ministry, an online survey and social media obituaries to reach a best estimate of 64,260 deaths by June 30 last year.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years