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Travel officials from the Middle East experience test cutting for Japanese swords in Setouchi, Okayama Prefecture, in January.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2025

Government touts exchanges with nations participating in Osaka Expo

Local governments expect their plans to boost youth exchanges, accelerate overseas expansion and promote tourism.
"I hope skaters who train here will go on to shine on the world stage," Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada told the Japan Times at Mao Rink Tachikawa Tachihi, a skating rink in Tachikawa, Tokyo, whose establishment she was involved in, on Jan. 28.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Feb 11, 2025

Mao Asada sets out to safeguard the future of Japanese skating

Mao Rink Tachikawa Tachihi, a project that involved the three-time world champion, has become a dream destination for skaters.
Emperor Hirohito speaks during a welcome ceremony hosted by U.S. President Richard Nixon in Anchorage, Alaska, on Sept. 26, 1971.
JAPAN / History
Feb 11, 2025

Emperor Showa was cautious about Nixon's 1972 visit to China, document shows

That the emperor voiced his own position on the visit to China may raise questions about diplomacy involving the imperial family.
YouTube has evolved from a dinner party lark 20 years ago into a modern lifestyle staple poised to overtake U.S. cable television in paid viewership.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2025

YouTube, the online video powerhouse, turns 20

The video hosting site has gone from hosting a 19-second clip titled "Me at the Zoo" to becoming the world's largest in terms of time spent and ad revenue.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping hold a bilateral meeting during the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2025

Trump’s initial moves will benefit China

And while Trump has claimed that his policies will strengthen America, in reality, thus far, the biggest winner of many of his actions has actually been China.
Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuya Endo (third from left) joins a tour of the BRP Melchora Aquino, the BRP Melchora Aquino, last May. The Philippine Coast Guard ship was provided to Manila under Japan's official development aid program.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

Japan exploring more defense transfers to Philippines, envoy says

As Tokyo revises its export guidelines to ease defense equipment transfers, the partners expect more security cooperation on the horizon.
Donald Trump has halted most U.S. government-funded aid globally for 90 days, while moving to dismantle USAID, which he accused of being run "by a bunch of radical lunatics."
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 11, 2025

U.S aid freeze risks handing influence to China in Beijing's backyard

Trump has halted most U.S. government-funded aid globally for 90 days, while moving to dismantle USAID, which he accused of being run "by a bunch of radical lunatics."
U.S. Vice President JD Vance waves during a bilateral meeting with the president of the European Commission held at the Chief of Mission's residence at the U.S. embassy in Paris on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Vance warns Europe against overregulating emerging AI

JD Vance’s appearance in Paris is his first major engagement on his first foreign trip as Donald Trump’s vice president.
An Israeli tank on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Netanyahu says Israel will end Gaza ceasefire if hostages not returned on Saturday

Following Netanyahu's ultimatum, Hamas issued a statement renewing its commitment to the ceasefire and accusing Israel of jeopardizing the truce.
Elon Musk, with his son, speaks to reporters alongside U.S. President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday. Musk stated that he was providing maximum transparency, while offering no evidence for his sweeping claims that the federal bureaucracy is corrupted by cheats and officials who have approved money for “fraudsters.”
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Flanked by Musk, Trump orders U.S. agencies to assist with government layoffs

With his 4-year-old son by his side, Musk stood alongside Trump in the Oval Office at the White House before the order was signed.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

As Trump hits delete, the race is on to save LGBTQ+ and climate data

Thousands of U.S. government web pages are being altered or deleted following a slew of executive orders from President Donald Trump.
A YPG fighter holds a notebook with an image of Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan, in Al Hasakah, Syria, on Dec. 21.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Turkey seeks historic peace with Kurds in a shifting Middle East

For the Turkish president, a peace deal would potentially win him enough support to change the constitution and extend his more than two decades in power.
Construction workers in Pasadena, California, on Tuesday. The U.S. could lose millions of workers in the construction industry if President Donald Trump carries through on his campaign of mass deportations, with workers in agriculture, bars and restaurants also at risk.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 12, 2025

Trump deportations send construction workers 'back to the shadows'

Such a response could worsen a labor shortage that already threatens to delay homebuilding and exacerbate a housing affordability crisis.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in July 2018
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

In U.S. policy reversal, Trump and Putin agree to Ukraine talks

Trump's move blindsided European allies, who feared the more conciliatory American stance amounted to a giveaway to the Russian leader.
By cancer type, the 10-year survival rate was 57.9% for stomach cancer, the most common cancer among the patients surveyed.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 13, 2025

Japan's 10-year cancer survival rate stands at 54% in latest survey

The rate was 57.9% for stomach cancer, the most common cancer among patients surveyed.
The city center of Obihiro, Hokkaido, is covered in snow on Feb. 4.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2025

12 deaths related to heavy snow since Feb. 4

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency also said 51 people have been severely wounded across the country.
Ethnic Uyghurs protest near the Chinese Consulate in Istanbul in 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

China repressing Tibetans and Uyghurs in Switzerland, government report says

Members of the two Chinese minority groups are subject to "transnational repression," the report said.
Rory McIlroy celebrates on the 18th hole after winning the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Pebble Beach, California, on Feb. 2.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Feb 13, 2025

Rory McIlroy had conversation with Donald Trump about PGA-LIV deal

McIlroy said he played golf with Trump in early January and felt Trump supported the PGA over Saudi-backed LIV.
The Ishiba Cabinet's approval rating has risen 0.3 percentage point in February, at 28.5%, while its disapproval rating was down 0.2 point at 40.1%, according to Jiji Press opinion poll.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

Public approval for Ishiba Cabinet steady at 28.5%, poll finds

The Cabinet approval rating was up 0.3 percentage point, while its disapproval rating was down 0.2 point at 40.1%.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, on Feb. 1
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Japan, China and South Korea planning foreign ministers' meeting on March 22

Japan and China are also considering holding a ministerial-level economic dialogue.
Mary Jean Burke, first executive vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees National VA Council, speaks during a rally against U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, outside the Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Thousands fired in U.S. government as Trump and Musk purge workers

Termination emails have been sent in the past 48 hours to workers across the government, mostly recently hired employees still on probation.
Timid though he may be at first, Tangelo warms up quickly and shows an eagerness for human companionship.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Feb 14, 2025

Tangelo the cat is oh so sweet

This 10-year-old feline is yearning for love and attention from a warmhearted soul.
Toyohara Kunichika experimented with established norms of composition and began spreading a single figure over three full sheets, as seen in this “Kabuki Play 'Kagamiyama Gonichi no Iwafuji'” triptych.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 15, 2025

Kunichika's vibrant ukiyo-e gets a chance to shine at anniversary exhibit

An underappreciated ukiyo-e master is the focus of the largest-ever retrospective of his work in Japan, marking the 190th anniversary of his birth.
Chinese President Xi Jinping
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 14, 2025

Xi to chair symposium attended by Jack Ma and other Chinese business leaders, sources say

Xi rarely chairs symposiums about the private sector, and the event underscores the numerous challenges currently facing China.
As peckish deer chase delighted tourists in Japan's temple-dotted Nara Park, a quiet but dedicated team of litter-pickers patrols the stone paths, collecting plastic waste that threatens the animals' health.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 15, 2025

New street patrol helps Nara's deer clean up their act

Garbage dropped by tourists can pose a serious risk to Nara's famous deer, but a new group is cleaning up the town.
Volunteer Nhoun Niyok shows villagers how to use a mosquito net to prevent malaria in Cambodia's northeastern Mondulkiri province on Jan. 16.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Feb 14, 2025

Cambodia nears Khmer Rouge survivor's dream of eradicating malaria

The hope is for zero cases this year — a remarkable turnaround for a country that was formerly an epicenter of multi-drug resistant strains.
In a 2024 survey, a total of 14.7% of respondents said they had more or less friendly feelings toward China, up 2.0 percentage points from 2023, and 56.3% said they had such feelings toward South Korea, up 3.5 percentage points.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 14, 2025

Japanese sentiment on China and South Korea improves, survey shows

A total of 14.7% of respondents said they had more or less friendly feelings toward China while 56.3% said they had such feelings toward South Korea.
Talks on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. taking a controlling stake in Intel's factories at the request of Trump administration officials are in very early stages, and the exact structure of a potential partnership hasn’t been established. But the intended result would have the world’s largest made-to-order chipmaker fully operating Intel’s U.S. semiconductor factories.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 15, 2025

TSMC considers running Intel’s U.S. factories after Trump team request

Trump officials raised the idea of a deal between the two companies in recent meetings with the Taiwanese chipmaker, and TSMC was receptive.
The Trump administration has fired scores of the Centers for Disease Control's "disease detectives," the researchers are hired annually through a competitive process that each year whittles down hundreds of applicants — including doctors, nurses, scientists and more — to a class of a few dozen.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 15, 2025

Trump admin fires CDC 'disease detectives' as bird flu fears rise

Established in 1951, the Epidemic Intelligence Service is a two-year post-doctoral training program whose officers have been on the front line of investigating outbreaks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a video conference with the Sevastopol governor in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 15, 2025

Putin assembles team of heavyweights to negotiate Ukraine deal

U.S. President Donald Trump’s team by contrast lacks the same depth of background on Ukraine and has little experience negotiating directly with Russia.

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