Search - 2022

 
 
Shigeo Nagashima (left), then the manager of the Tokyo Giants, waves to fans with players and coaches during a victory parade in central Tokyo in 2000. Nagashima died at the age of 89 on Tuesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 3, 2025

Japanese baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima dies at 89

Long before the rise of Shohei Ohtani and Ichiro Suzuki, Nagashima was arguably the most famous player in Japanese baseball history.
Oscar Dolan (center), the founder of the New York Sumo Club, officiates at a match between Josh Ortiz (left) and Daniel Akandu during the Empire Cup competition at Japan Village in New York on May 17.
SUMO
Jun 3, 2025

At this New York City sumo club, ‘Everybody gets thrown’

The New York Sumo Club has about 100 wrestlers, with around 20 regulars.
Russian delegation head and presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky speaks to the press after a meeting at Ciragan Palace during the second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Russia sets out punitive terms at peace talks with Ukraine

The terms highlighted Moscow's refusal to compromise on its longstanding war goals despite calls by U.S. President Donald Trump to end the "bloodbath" in Ukraine.
Volcanic steam rises from Mount Etna, as seen from Milo, Italy, on Monday.
WORLD
Jun 3, 2025

Italy's Mount Etna erupts, spewing ash, gas and rock

Sicily's Mount Etna has been active recently but Monday's eruption was the most dramatic, with experts warning that such activity could continue for weeks.
Save the Children Japan in May 2022 began its Hello! Baby Box initiative to provide essential items for newborns, with the aim of reducing the burden of child care costs for women in dire situations.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2025

Most expecting and new mothers in poverty lack funds for basic necessities: survey

State support is often diverted to cover essential day-to-day costs and consumables needed for child-rearing, a survey found.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani meets with his U.S. counterpart, Pete Hegseth, at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 3, 2025

Why Japan isn’t panicking about Trump’s foreign policy

Hegseth’s SLD speech is the first extended statement about U.S. policy and it checked all the boxes.
Laleli's informal shipping scene, once a bustling hub of cross-continental trade, is now facing growing pressure from rising costs and tougher residency rules imposed by Turkish authorities.
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2025

Tough residency rules and Chinese competition squeeze Istanbul's 'suitcase trade'

Shipments have dropped, even as Turkish exports to Africa have generally soared — from $11.5 billion in 2017 to $19.4 billion last year.
Aryna Sabalenka plays a backhand return to China's Zheng Qinwen during their quarterfinal women's singles match at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on Tuesday.
TENNIS
Jun 4, 2025

Swiatek and Sabalenka set up French Open semifinal as Alcaraz sweeps through

World number five Swiatek has been struggling for her best form and has not reached a final since winning the French Open title last year.
A Japanese team has started a final-stage clinical trial to administer to patients with familial Alzheimer's disease a drug discovered using iPS cells.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 4, 2025

Japanese team starts final-stage trial for iPS drug to treat Alzheimer's

Through the trial, which began in May, the team aims to confirm the safety and efficacy of the treatment, with hopes of obtaining regulatory approval.
A mother takes her child to kindergarten in Hanoi on Wednesday. Vietnam's birth rate fell from 2.11 children per woman in 2021 to 1.91 last year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 4, 2025

Vietnam scraps two-child limit as birth rate declines

The birth rate fell from 2.11 children per woman in 2021 to 1.91 last year, below replacement level.
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025

Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here

The long-awaited gaming console hits shelves Thursday, with booming orders and tariffs making for a complicated debut.
Australia's Milos Degenek celebrates after qualifying for the knockout stages of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar on Nov. 30, 2022
SOCCER
Jun 4, 2025

Australia targets easier World Cup path ahead of Japan clash

If Australia does beat Samurai Blue on Thursday, it still faces a long wait to confirm whether a berth has been secured for a sixth straight World Cup finals.
Lawson plans to sell 1-kilogram and 2-kg bags of rice it bought from the government's stockpile at ¥360 ($2.50) and ¥700 respectively.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025

Aging rice? Lawson prefers to call it 'vintage.'

As convenience stores prepare to sell government stockpiled rice from older harvests to consumers, Lawson says it will offer rice balls made of "vintage rice."
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2025

Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation

Prison labor is no longer mandatory, which allows more time for educational and rehabilitative programs aimed at reducing recidivism.
Smoke rises from a fire aboard the cargo vessel Morning Midas as seen from a U.S. Coast Guard C-130J Super Hercules, approximately 480 kilometers south of Adak, Alaska, on Tuesday. The ship's cargo consists of around 3,000 cars, including 800 electric vehicles.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 5, 2025

Ship carrying EVs abandoned in Pacific after catching fire

The Morning Midas' cargo consists of about 3,000 cars, including 800 electric vehicles.
A man cycles past a mural calling for the conviction of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, Metro Manila, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 5, 2025

Philippines' Sara Duterte questions impeachment trial under new congress

The Philippine vice president said procedural issues may arise for her trial in the Senate due to the current body adjourning next week.
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2025

Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists

Ideas range from stricter driver's license tests for foreign nationals to increasing taxes on foreign visitors.
Malware used by Chinese state-backed hacking groups was on the systems of a U.S. telecommunications firm for seven months starting in the summer of 2023, investigators claim.
WORLD
Jun 5, 2025

Chinese hacked U.S. telecom a year before known wireless breaches

The hack raises questions about when Chinese intruders established a foothold in the American communications industry.
Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and their daughter, Princess Aiko, meet with survivors of the war as they visit the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum in Itoman on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2025

Imperial family mourns WWII victims in two-day visit to Okinawa

The visit was Princess Aiko's first to Okinawa, which reflected the imperial couple's wish that memories of the war be passed onto the next generation.
The election of Lee Jae-myung signals South Korea’s leftward shift on energy policy, but despite his ambitious renewable plans, deep-rooted regulatory, financial and geographic challenges threaten to stall progress unless reforms are swift and systemic.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2025

South Korea's new president has a chance to clean up

Years of inertia and obstruction of the transition have left the country with a system plagued by high costs and the lowest renewable penetration among developed economies.
Aryna Sabalenka celebrates her victory over Iga Swiatek during their women's singles semi-final match on day 12 of the French Open tennis tournament on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on Thursday.
TENNIS
Jun 6, 2025

Sabalenka downs holder Swiatek to set up French Open final with Gauff

The Belarusian will face 2022 finalist Gauff in Saturday's showcase match after the American crushed French hopes with a straight-sets victory over wild card Lois Boisson.
Japan's head coach Hajime Moriyasu (left) reacts after the loss against Australia in Perth on Thursday.
SOCCER
Jun 6, 2025

Moriyasu mourns end of unbeaten run after loss to Australia

"It ended up being an extremely frustrating and disappointing result," Moriyasu told reporters.
Canada defender Alphonso Davies (left) dribbles the ball during the second half of a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal match against Mexico at SoFi Stadium in California on Mar. 20.
SOCCER
Jun 6, 2025

Soccer surging in Canada a year from World Cup hosting

Data ranks soccer as the most popular sport among Canadian youth and, while the country retains its love for ice hockey, families increasingly struggle to take part.
Kim Moon-soo, the presidential candidate for South Korea's conservative People Power Party, listens to Kweon Seong-dong, the floor leader of the party, as he attends an election campaign rally in central Seoul on May 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 6, 2025

South Korean conservatives looking for rebirth after election loss

The defeat has left conservative leaders pointing fingers and trading blame as the party searches for a new direction.
Vice president of events and exhibitions for Studio Ghibli, Kenichi Yoda (right), and director and Ghibli Park creative development manager, Goro Miyazaki (left), pose at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival before receiving an Honorary Palme d'Or.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2025

Studio Ghibli marks 40 years, but future looks uncertain

A look into the legacy of the beloved anime studio.
The Tsuruga nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture. Under an amended law, nuclear plants' operating period may be extended beyond 60 years to compensate for stoppages caused by "unforeseeable circumstances."
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2025

Japan law comes into force to extend nuclear plant lifespans

Under the amended law, nuclear plants' operating period may be extended beyond 60 years to compensate for stoppages caused by "unforeseeable circumstances."

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