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Health experts say the beni kōji supplement scandal should not be treated as a one-off incident. Instead, it should be seen as a cautionary tale about how such health food items could pose more risks than benefits.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2024

Kobayashi Pharma’s slow response to scandal spotlights deeper issues

Health experts say the scandal should be seen as a cautionary tale, and not a one-off incident.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the court after a pre-trial hearing in a hush money case in New York on March 25. As Trump faces a slew of trials, his opponents should take the comparison to Hitler's court room dramas seriously.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2024

The Hitler trial’s lessons in the Trump era

As former U.S. President Donald Trump faces a slew of trials, his opponents should take the comparison to Hitler's court room dramas seriously.
“Butter” author Asako Yuzuki was inspired by the real-life story of Kanae Kijima, who was nicknamed the “Black Widow” and the “Konkatsu Killer” by the media for killing three men she dated to maintain her luxurious lifestyle of gourmet meals and a high-end cooking school.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 12, 2024

Asako Yuzuki's 'Butter' is a heady serving of food culture and feminism

The author's foodie femme fatale character was inspired by a real-life "black widow" case that caught the public's attention in 2009.
U.S. Steel said that over 98% of the votes were in favor of the deal under which Nippon will pay $55 per share, an amount that represented a hefty premium when the takeover was announced in December.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 13, 2024

U.S. Steel shareholders approve $14.9 billion buyout by Nippon Steel

The move takes the merger one step closer to completion even as political opposition to the deal mounts.
The departure hall at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Now with inflation at its strongest in decades, Japanese are starting to realize that years of static wages leave many of them budgeting each month before their next pay check.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2024

Japan’s young workers head abroad as huge wage gap persists

The outflow is also a sign that many Japanese aren’t buying into the nation’s economic optimism as it exits from decades of deflation.
A street vendor flees from gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2024

Haiti decrees long-awaited transition council, but questions remain

The long-delayed move is intended as a first step in restoring security to the gang-ravaged Caribbean country.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tours a new Toyota battery factory in Liberty, North Carolina, with state Gov. Roy Cooper (second from right) on Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2024

Kishida touts Japan’s investments in U.S. with visit to swing-state Toyota plant

The prime minister visited the North Carolina plant where Toyota last year injected an additional $8 billion to make batteries for electric vehicles.
A funeral procession in Tehran for seven Iranian military commanders killed by an Israeli airstrike in Syria, on April 5. American intelligence analysts and officials said Friday that they expected Iran to strike multiple targets inside Israel within the next few days in retaliation for an Israeli bombing in the Syrian capital on April 1 that killed several senior Iranian commanders.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2024

U.S. targets unlikely to be on list in possible Iranian attack, officials say

In anticipation of the strikes, several countries have issued new guidelines to their citizens about travel in Israel and the surrounding region.
U.S. President Joe Biden during a joint news conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (not pictured) in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2024

It's inflation, stupid: Biden faces renewed election threat

The cost of living is rising more quickly again, just when he thought he had put the issue behind him to get a clear run at November's vote.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order rolling back regulations from the 2010 Dodd-Frank law on Wall Street reform at the White House in Washington in February 2017.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2024

If Trump wins, he plans to free Wall Street from 'burdensome regulations'

If elected, Trump would likely cut back protections for small-scale investors and borrowers, and allow companies to raise money with less scrutiny.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives for a tour of a new Toyota battery factory in Liberty, North Carolina, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 13, 2024

Kishida touts U.S. visit success, saying snap election not on his mind

The prime minister, who is due to fly back on Saturday, will be hoping the diplomatic success can translate into a bump in his low approval ratings.
Protesters step on a caricature of Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they take part in a demonstration to condemn China's recent "aggressive actions" in disputed waters of the South China Sea, in front of the Chinese Consulate in Makati, Metro Manila, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 13, 2024

China feels boxed in by the U.S. but has few ways to push back

Aside from pointed words and the perfunctory maritime patrol, Beijing's options to push back against U.S. pressure appear limited, analysts say.
A voter arrives at a polling station in San Diego, California. According to a recent survey, young U.S. men were the only population group in the United States or seven EU member states actually to have become more conservative since 2014.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2024

Despair makes young U.S. men more conservative ahead of U.S. election, poll shows

The study offered context for November's U.S. presidential poll and a plethora of votes worldwide, including an EU parliamentary election in June.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with members of the National Security team regarding the missile attacks on Israel from Iran, in the White House Situation Room on Saturday.
WORLD
Apr 14, 2024

Biden pledges G7 response and U.S. support for Israel after Iran attacks

Iran launched explosive drones and fired missiles at Israel late on Saturday in its first direct attack on Israeli territory.
Noto Airport in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2024

Japan to revise guidelines for airport operators in times of disaster

The BCP revisions come on the heels of the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1.
Israeli Air Force F-15 Eagle is pictured at an air base, said to be following an interception mission of an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel, in this handout image released Sunday.
WORLD
Apr 14, 2024

Iran warns Israel not to respond militarily to retaliation

After direct and unprecedented attacks on Israeli, Iran advocates for restraint, hinting at severe consequences if ignored.
Results of three by-elections on April 28 will likely influence the fate of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's administration.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 14, 2024

Three Japan by-elections set to start amid fund scandal

The official campaign period is set to start Tuesday for the April 28 by-elections for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet.
Cherry blossom viewers at Notokashima Station in Ishikawa Prefecture on Saturday
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2024

Train station in quake-hit town crowded with cherry blossom viewers

Cherry trees line both sides of the station's platforms, creating a stunning sight that has earned it the nickname the "cherry blossom tunnel."
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 10.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 15, 2024

Opposition figurehead decries China's 'alarming' sway in Solomon Islands

The archipelago is the unlikely focal point of a diplomatic scramble pitting a rising China against Western rivals.
Iranians gather at Palestine Square to celebrate Iran’s attack on Israel, holding up their phones with the flash on, in Tehran on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2024

Iran’s attack on Israel sparks race to avert a full-blown war

Nations around the world are working to stop what could be a slow dance toward war in the Middle East after Iran directly attacked Israel.
Canada has become ground zero for Facebook's battle with governments regarding laws that force internet giants to pay media companies for links to news published on their platforms.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2024

When Facebook blocks news, studies show the political risks that follow

The blocking of news links has led to changes in the way Canadian Facebook users engage with information about politics, two unpublished studies found.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an unpopular leader at home, whom many hold responsible for failures that led to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2024

Iran attack tests Netanyahu’s political staying power

For almost three decades, Netanyahu has warned that a nuclear Iran would be catastrophic.
People applying for My Number cards are likely to be able to present digital IDs as valid identification documents when receiving the card starting next month.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2024

Government plans to allow digital IDs to receive My Number cards

The move is aimed at broadening the scope of acceptable ID methods to encourage students and workers to sign up for the cards.
LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi and election strategy committee chair Yuko Obuchi speak to reporters in Tokyo on April 2.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 15, 2024

By-elections to determine Kishida’s fate within LDP

Losing in the Shimane No. 1 district, long an LDP stronghold, would mark a major blow to the prime minister.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses supporters during an election campaign rally in Pushkar, India, on April 6, ahead of the country's upcoming general election starting Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 15, 2024

For Modi, the Indian election is less about winning and more about by how much

For Indian leader Narendra Modi, an upcoming parliamentary election is less about winning and more about by how much.
Yukio Kani, chairman and global CEO of Jera
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 15, 2024

Japan’s top power producer Jera considers IPO to fund green push

The Tokyo-based company plans to develop 20 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity by fiscal 2035.
An exterior view of Qasr al-Basha in 2021 in Gaza City, where Napoleon Bonaparte slept for several nights during his campaign in Egypt and Palestine.
WORLD
Apr 15, 2024

Gaza's historic treasures saved by 'irony of history'

Invaluable artifacts remain intact thanks to the blockade that made life in the Gaza Strip such a struggle for the past 16 years.
Takuya Hirai (left), chair of the Liberal Democratic Party's Public Relations Headquarters shows the party's new poster bearing a slogan created by generative artificial intelligence, at the party's headquarters on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 15, 2024

AI creates Japan ruling party's new poster slogan

The LDP will print about 150,000 copies of the new poster and put them up across the country.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei made the decision to launch a missile attack on Israel on Saturday, one that was largely repelled by the latter’s air defense systems. This had the effect of weakening Iran’s position and strengthening Israel’s.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2024

Netanyahu can gain from Iran’s missile barrage error

Having repelled Iran's attack, the Israeli government can rebuild its standing at home and abroad by drawing attention away from its mistakes in Gaza.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (right), seen here meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, has made strengthening ties with Tokyo one of his foreign policy priorities.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2024

A humbled Yoon must future-proof Seoul’s alliances

Despite Yoon Suk-yeol's weak grip on South Korea's government after his electoral defeat, he can still do a lot to ensure his foreign policy lives on.

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