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Naomi Osaka takes part in a news conference after losing her women's singles match on the second day of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Jan. 15.
TENNIS
Feb 6, 2024

Inspired by daughter, Osaka aims to return to top spots this year

The four-time Grand Slam champion suffered an early Australian Open exit following 15 months out of the sport.
Simone Biles runs through a portion of her beam routine during the second day of a two-day media event with the USA Gymnastics team ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Katy, Texas, on Monday.
MORE SPORTS / Gymnastics
Feb 6, 2024

Teammates treasure superstar Biles' 'human qualities'

After a two-year hiatus, Simone Biles is poised to vault into Paris as potentially the biggest headline act of the 2024 Olympics.
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi speaks during a press conference at a hotel in Tokyo on Tuesday, a day before his team faces Vissel Kobe in a friendly match.
SOCCER
Feb 6, 2024

Messi says leg 'getting better' but could miss Japan match

Inter Miami are set to face Japanese champions Vissel Kobe at Tokyo's National Stadium on Wednesday.
Foreign investors are seeking more English-language disclosure from companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 6, 2024

Foreign investors want more English info from TSE firms

The TSE plans to make Prime firms release key information in Japanese and English simultaneously.
A man walks through panels at a solar power plant under construction in Aksu, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, in 2012.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024

Banned Chinese solar goods worth billions find route to U.S. via India

Amid a solar boom, India’s largest panel-maker has sent millions of panels to the U.S. made with parts from a Chinese firm denied entry to the U.S. market.
Taylor Swift (right) cheers on her boyfriend Travis Kelce's team, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the AFC divisional round playoff game against the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York, on Jan. 21. The Chiefs will play the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 6, 2024

Taylor Swift rocks the world and drives the far right crazy

The “Swift effect” has become a force in both U.S. domestic politics and international relations.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2024

Kishida insists corporate donations have no effect on LDP policy

The responses came during Lower House budget committee questions from Akira Nagatsuma, policy chief of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.
U.S. President Joe Biden sought to cast responsibility for the failure to secure an agreement on the border — an issue which polls show is a major political liability for his re-election hopes — on congressional Republicans and Donald Trump.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Biden pins border bill failure on Trump with Ukraine hanging

Biden acknowledged the Senate package was all but dead.
Europe's climate agenda is entering a difficult phase as it begins to touch sensitive sectors, such as farming, and as traditional industries face fierce green tech competition from China.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

EU recommends ambitious 2040 climate target but goes light on farming

Europe's climate agenda is entering a difficult phase as it begins to touch sensitive sectors, such as farming.
Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martinez said the China outreach could materialize as an "office of trade interests" that would help find a Chinese market for Guatemalan products.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Taiwan ally Guatemala mulls commercial ties with China, foreign minister says

But the Central American country also plans to maintain existing ties with Taipei.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen holds a welcome ceremony in September 2022 for then-Tuvaluan Prime Minister Kausea Natano in Taipei.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Tuvalu could recognize China, but how much would it affect Taiwan?

Taipei might benefit from shifting its energy and resources away from competing with Beijing over formal recognition.
A Japan Airlines jet is on fire at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Jan. 2.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2024

Japan air traffic controllers call for 'significant' staff increase

Last year, the number of air traffic control staff in Japan dropped to its lowest level in at least 19 years, according to transport ministry data.
Ukrainian Railway trains at the central railway station of Kyiv on Sunday
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2024

Ukrainian Railways to buy rails from Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel plans to deliver about 15,000 metric tons of rails in summer and 7,500 metric tons next year.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2024

Kishida vows to conclude peace pact with Russia

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday vowed to conclude a peace treaty with Russia after resolving a territorial row over four northwestern Pacific islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan.
Taiwanese soldiers train at a base in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Tuesday. The island has decided to extend compulsory military service for young males from four months to one year amid increasing threats from China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2024

Taiwan extends military conscription, a system Japan might want to consider

As Japan struggles to fill its military ranks, compulsory national service might be its only solution.
Straight-to-video films, locally called “V-Cinema,” were popular in the 1990s and into the 2000s, becoming a training ground and launchpad for Japanese directors and actors.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2024

Threatened with extinction, V-Cinema hopes for new saviors

Physical deterioration and copyright issues mar the influential film genre that once served as a launchpad for directors and actors in Japan.
Japanese fans of Taylor Swift take a selfie before entering Tokyo Dome for the pop star's Eras Tour show in Japan on Feb. 7.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 7, 2024

Taylor-mania hits Tokyo as Swift resumes tour before Super Bowl

Excited fans from countries such as Australia, Thailand and China joined the vast crowd at Tokyo Dome ahead of the megastar's Eras Tour show on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2024

How dogs have helped Tokyo police for over a century

The role of police dogs has changed due to the spread of DNA testing, security cameras and other tools of technology.
Inter Miami's Lionel Messi in action during a friendly against Vissel Kobe on Wednesday in Tokyo
SOCCER
Feb 7, 2024

Messi wows Tokyo fans days after Hong Kong no-show

Messi's appearance came days after his absence on the pitch in a recent Hong Kong friendly had angered fans there.
Since 2006, North Korea has been subject to sanctions, which the U.N. Security Council has repeatedly strengthened to try and cut off funding for its weapons of mass destruction development.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 8, 2024

U.N. experts investigate cyberattacks worth $3 billion by North Korea

Monitors wrote that the funds reportedly help the country's development of weapons of mass destruction.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during an interview with KBS at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Sunday. The handbag incident has cast a shadow over Yoon as his conservative People Power Party is trying to wrest control of parliament in an April election.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 8, 2024

South Korean president says Dior bag incident was a political move

Yoon Suk-yeol breaks his silence over a video showing his wife receiving a luxury handbag from a Korean-American pastor in September 2022.
While online influence campaigns are increasingly common as powerful people and governments around the world seek to manipulate public opinion, experts tracking such operations say China is one of the biggest sources of such drives alongside Russia and Iran.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 8, 2024

Chinese firm behind ‘news’ sites pushes pro-Beijing content globally, report says

Spread over websites in 30 countries, the propaganda material is interspersed with news aggregated from local news outlets and Chinese state media.
Kazuyuki and Yuki Shimamoto are the executive chef and head patissier chef at Mimi’s Restaurant and Bar in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 10, 2024

Kazuyuki and Yuki Shimamoto: 'When you make things you love, you naturally just get better at it'

A culinary couple share their thoughts on a career in the kitchen and how they approach life in one of Japan's major tourist towns.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 8, 2024

Japan’s Valentine’s Day chocolate budget sees 34% rise

About 22% of survey participants said they would purchase chocolates for themselves — 3.4 times more than those buying for a romantic partner.
The location of the water leak (left) and a close-up of the vent where the water was released at part of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 8, 2024

Tepco reports leak at Fukushima but says no contamination detected

The nuclear plant operator plans to remove soil from around the area that may have been contaminated by the 5,500 liters of radioactive water that leaked.
A traveler walks past a flight information display at the Beijing Capital International Airport on Feb. 2 ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday that begins on Saturday in China.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2024

Chinese visitors to Japan over Lunar New Year to fall short of 2019 level

Visa-free travel offered by some countries and last year's release of treated wastewater from Fukushima may be swaying Chinese travelers' decisions.
Shiki Nakayama at a snow-covered baseball field in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, last month. Nakayama grew up watching her older brother’s exploits on the diamond and first picked up a bat and ball in elementary school.
BASEBALL
Feb 9, 2024

Meet the Gen Zer in Japan who is forging a path for girls in baseball

For 16-year-old Shiki Nakayama, it's no big deal that she's the only girl on her high school baseball team.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2024

Osaka Expo budget expected to rise again by ¥200 million

The latest request would raise the total amount of money directly spent by the national government on all expo-related activities to ¥164.9 billion.
49ers running back Christian McCaffrey runs with the ball during the team's win over the Detroit Lions in the NFC Championship game on Jan. 28.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 8, 2024

McCaffrey sprints into Super Bowl as key cog in 49ers offense

McCaffrey heads into the biggest game of his life in blistering form after a regular season campaign that saw him amass 1,459 rushing yards.
At the new teamLab Borderless museum, the crowd-favorite room of lamps from Borderless 1.0 has evolved into a room of light bubbles, which interact with each other and the bodies passing by.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 8, 2024

Have we reached teamLab saturation?

The art collective re-opens its Borderless museum in Azabudai Hills. But the experience is starting to feel stale.

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan