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U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House in October 2017. Canada, like other nations in the president-elect's crosshairs, is scrambling to blunt the impact of his threat to implement steep tariffs once he re-takes office.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2024

The creep of national security threatens the WTO

In Trump's mind, tariffs are the cure-all for virtually everything that ails the United States.
Christians take selfies after a Christmas Eve Mass at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, on Tuesday, ahead of the 20th anniversary of a magnitude 9.1 earthquake that struck the coast of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, triggering a huge tsunami across the Indian Ocean.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 25, 2024

Blogs to Bluesky: Social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami

In two decades, the online social media landscape has experienced a vast change, allowing information — as well as rumor and misinformation — to flow in real time.
People walk past Jemaa el-Fnaa square, in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Oct. 22.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 26, 2024

Morocco presents new women's rights legislation

The proposals include raising the legal marriage age and expanding women's custody rights.
The central Hokkaido city of Asahikawa made headlines this year when one of its suburbs was named as the best place to live in Japan — a ranking earned in part due to the community's many outstanding restaurants and cafes.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 28, 2024

How Hokkaido quietly became a culinary treasure trove in 2024

Food trucks, morsels with cutesy cues from nature and more helped Japan’s northernmost island have a stellar year.
According to the National Police Agency, a total of 3,326 romance scam were reported in the first 11 months of this year, more than double that in the same period of last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 30, 2024

'For our future together': The rising threat of romance scams in Japan

The prevalence of such scams, which prey on the lonely, has led authorities to step up measures to crack down on scammers who are often not even in the country.
Climate demonstrators protest against investments in fossil fuels during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington on Oct. 21.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 30, 2024

After a year of hard climate talks, ‘minilateralism’ is an alternative

Global environmental agreements have never been simple, but a variety of factors, such as political polarization, make countries less willing to compromise.
The U.S. Treasury Department said Monday that a Chinese state-sponsored actor was behind a hack resulting in access to some of its workstations earlier this month, according to a letter to Congress.
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2024

U.S. Treasury says it was breached by Chinese hackers in 'major' incident

The hackers were able to remotely access certain Treasury workstations and "certain unclassified documents maintained by those users.”
Many Japanese dating apps have ways to detail specific interests that can be as narrow as one particular TV show, game or an artist.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Swiping in Japan: How Gen Z is changing the dating app game

The once-stigmatized apps are flourishing as a new normal for dating among Gen Z in Japan, albeit with a different approach to before.
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.
Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, speaks during the 2025 CES event in Las Vegas on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2025

Nvidia slides after unveiling leaves investors wanting more

Though Nvidia’s latest announcements gave an upbeat view of the company’s long-range prospects, there wasn’t as much near-term upside as some investors had sought.
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.
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.
Mark Zuckerberg, then chief executive of Facebook, appears at a joint U.S. Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington in April 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s sprint to remake Meta for the Trump era

The highly unusual overhaul of the firm's speech policies came after the Meta CEO visited U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in November.
U.S. Vice President-elect JD Vance following a meeting with Republican Senators in Washington on Jan. 8
WORLD / Politics
Jan 13, 2025

JD Vance predicts hostage deal before Trump’s return to White House

JD Vance says a hostage deal with Hamas is likely before Trump’s inauguration, crediting tough rhetoric for pushing negotiations forward.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange will soon require some companies to publish their financials in English in addition to Japanese.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 13, 2025

Japanese companies rush to up English-language disclosures in 2025

The Tokyo Stock Exchange requires Prime market companies to release financial statements and other key information simultaneously in English and Japanese from April.
Yoon Suk Yeol is facing a criminal investigation for alleged insurrection, the first case of its kind against a sitting South Korean president.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 14, 2025

South Korea to begin impeachment trial to decide Yoon’s fate

Yoon Suk Yeol is facing a criminal investigation for alleged insurrection, the first case of its kind against a sitting South Korean president.
Smoke plumes rise from explosions above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 14, 2025

Final draft of Gaza truce deal shown to sides after 'breakthrough'

Both sides are "closer than we've ever been" to a deal, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 15, 2025

U.S. and Egyptian leaders focus on 'coming hours' in Gaza cease-fire talks

Officials say an agreement for a truce in the besieged enclave and release of hostages was closer than ever.
In only two days, more than 700,000 new users joined Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, a person close to the company said.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 15, 2025

Over half a million ‘TikTok refugees’ flock to China's RedNote app

In only two days, more than 700,000 new users have reportedly joined Xiaohongshu, a popular networking app known for lifestyle content and product recommendations.
Akutagawa Prize winners (from left) Jose Ando, author of "Dtopia" and Yui Suzuki, author of "Goethe wa Subete o Itta," and Naoki Prize winner Shin Iyohara, author of "Ai o Tsugu Umi."
CULTURE / Books
Jan 15, 2025

Japan's most prestigious literary awards go to a trio of contemporary voices

Jose Ando and Yui Suzuki take home Akutagawa honors, while Shin Iyohara nabs the Naoki Prize.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian leader Masoud Pezeshkian shake hands during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2025

Russia and Iran draw closer with new pact before Trump returns

The comprehensive strategic partnership agreement seeks to deepen political and economic ties as the two countries grapple with sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies.
A training session for a new reporting system that the Japan Coast Guard began operating on Saturday
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2025

Japan Coast Guard launches emergency video reporting system

The coast guard hopes the new system will improve life-saving measures in the event of emergencies at sea.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a letter to the United Nations stating the U.S.'s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2025

The global treaties that live on without the U.S.

Many international agreements continue to exert strong influence on global policy without the world's most powerful nation.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade at Capitol One Arena in Washington on Monday.
WORLD
Jan 23, 2025

Musk calls for defunding of Wikipedia over description of gesture

A recent war of words pits the two tech giants against each other and highlights the starkly different ethos behind Musk's X and Wikipedia.
Rodgers (right) was a longtime managing editor of Kyoto Journal and, alongside colleagues like Susan Pavloska (left) and John Einarsen (center), helped make it one of Japan’s leading English-language publications.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 27, 2025

Ken Rodgers, a fixture of the Kyoto literary scene, dies at 72

Hailing from Australia, Rodgers made a home and community for himself in Japan’s ancient capital across more than four decades.
The Tiffany & Co. store on Fifth Avenue in New York in 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 28, 2025

Tiffany workers mock forced 'joy' that exacerbated staff exits

When Tiffany & Co. executives were looking for ways to boost staff morale, they rolled out an internal social app called "Tiffany Joy.” It didn’t take long to turn into a chore.
The preserved Atomic Bomb Dome is seen behind the Cenotaph for the victims of the atomic bombing at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park last October.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 28, 2025

Hiroshima and Nagasaki mayors invite Trump to visit on 80th anniversary of atomic bombing

The mayors emphasized Washington’s key role in reining in the proliferation of nuclear weapons as “tensions continue to worsen” across the globe.
Customers walk past an Apple logo inside an Apple store in New York in 2018.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 30, 2025

Apple and SpaceX link up to support Starlink network on iPhones

In an under-the-radar move, the latest iPhone software update now supports Starlink satellite technology.
Workers construct an array of solar panels for a floating photovoltaic solar energy farm near Cottbus, Germany, in August 2024.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 30, 2025

Red tape and rare earths: EU 'compass' charts economic future

The publication of the "competitiveness compass" aims to mark a change of tack toward a more business-friendly Brussels.
Chief among the worries surrounding DeepSeek is the fact that it collects and stores data in servers in China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 31, 2025

DeepSeek’s AI restricted by ‘hundreds’ of companies in days

Companies have worked to block access due to concerns about potential data leaks to the Chinese government and what they view as weak privacy safeguards.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past