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The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale returns this weekend and features works by artists such as Yayoi Kusama.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 13, 2024

Got somewhere to be and need a friend? Better learn how to ask.

If you live in Japan long enough, you're bound to receive an invitation sooner or later. Make sure you know how to respond or how to ask in return.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito bows at a news conference at the prefectural government office in Kobe on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 13, 2024

Hyogo vice governor to resign over death of prefectural official

Vice Gov. Yasutaka Katayama's resignation comes after the death of an official who distributed a document about alleged harassment by Gov. Motohiko Saito.
NewJeans members (from left) Hanni, Haerin, Danielle and Minji attend an event at which they were named tourism ambassadors to South Korea.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jul 13, 2024

South Korea names K-pop group NewJeans tourism ambassadors

The quartet take on the role previously held by "Squid Game" star Lee Jung-jae and K-pop megastars BTS.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage during a campaign rally at Trump National Doral, his golf resort in Doral, Florida, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 13, 2024

Trump’s subtle shift in his vice president calculations

The former president appears to be giving more weight to political calculations in selecting a running mate, by picking someone who “helps you get elected.”
Taiwan's Defense Ministry said Saturday that from 4 a.m. it had detected "multiple waves of test launches" by China's Rocket Force in Inner Mongolia, which lies some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from Taiwan.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 13, 2024

Taiwan on alert over 'waves' of missile tests in north China

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said that from 4 a.m. it had detected "multiple waves of test launches" by China's Rocket Force in Inner Mongolia.
A Shinto priest leads prayers for safety before the opening of Kitaizumi beach in the city of Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 13, 2024

Fukushima beach opens for first time since treated water release

The Fukushima Prefectural Government said last month that no tritium was detected in seawater at eight beaches in the prefecture set to open this year.
A police officer patrols a beach following what Russian authorities say was a Ukrainian missile strike, in Sevastopol, Crimea, on June 24.
WORLD
Jul 14, 2024

Ukraine is targeting Crimea, a crucial base for Russia’s invasion

Now armed with U.S.-made precision missiles, Kyiv seeks to raise the cost for Russian occupation forces who have long used the peninsula as a base of operations.
Maritime Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Adm. Ryo Sakai says during a news conference Friday that he will step down on July 19 to take responsibility for a string of scandals involving MSDF members.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 14, 2024

Crisis grips Japanese government over Defense Ministry scandals

Some believe such scandals may influence the debate over tax hikes that were proposed to finance the five-year defense spending boost through fiscal 2027.
About 100 of the roughly 200 species of snails in the Kinki region of Japan are threatened with extinction, researchers have warned.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 14, 2024

Snails becoming rarer in Japan, facing risk of extinction

About 100 of the roughly 200 species of snails in the Kinki region are threatened with extinction, researchers warn.
Kenta Izumi, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, holds a news conference Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 14, 2024

Japan's CDP in dilemma over election cooperation with JCP

Both the DPP and the Japanese Trade Union Confederation have repeatedly called for the CDP-JCP cooperation to end.
Keisuke Mukunashi, CEO of Yamaguchi Financial Group, says the regional bank is ready to pay compensation comparable to that of Japan’s biggest banks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 14, 2024

Regional Japan lender dangles megabank pay for market hires

Competition among financial institutions to hire bond traders and other specialists is intensifying as the Bank of Japan nudges interest rates higher.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in Ottawa in April. Trudeau has faced accusations of not responding swiftly enough to foreign interference.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 14, 2024

Canada said to have mapped out secret Chinese police operations

Concern has grown over whether or not Beijing monitors and intimidates members of the Chinese diaspora living in Western democracies.
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
OLYMPICS
Jul 14, 2024

She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics

While news sites have suggested that being a volunteer is a way to attend the Games for “free,” that doesn’t apply to international volunteers like Mai Tarumi.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is greeted by supporters after arriving at the airport in Canberra on June 26 as a free man.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2024

Assange may be free, but are we?

The world needs heroes like Julian Assange. He did what needed to be done and he paid a high price.
Storage tanks at the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage project controlled by oil companies Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies in Norway. The Norwegian government is funding 80% of the initial investment for the state-of-the-art facility.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2024

A giant carbon dump gives glimpse into net-zero future

As the cost of renewables declines at pace with fossil fuel use, the need for carbon, capture and storage tech will diminish, making cost reductions a challenge.
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jul 15, 2024

Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?

Vocaloid creators’ recent cacophonous approach to using Miku’s voice sounds like nothing in mainstream pop right now — and people love that.
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 15, 2024

Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why

Thomas Matthew Crooks is not known to be political, and the FBI has yet to identify a motive behind the 20-year-old nursing home aide’s actions.
Peru's former President Alberto Fujimori waves to supporters as he is wheeled out of the Centenario Clinic in Lima on Jan. 04, 2018. He was sent to prison in 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in the 1990s but was released last year for humanitarian reasons.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 15, 2024

Alberto Fujimori to stand in 2026 Peru elections, his daughter says

It is unclear if the ex-president is eligible to stand for election due to his conviction over massacres committed by the army in his campaign against Maoists guerillas.
Secret Service agents surround former U.S. President Donald Trump after shots were fired during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 15, 2024

U.S. Secret Service faces intense scrutiny after attempt on Trump

Blame is already being trained on the agency's director, Kimberly Cheatle, with Republican lawmakers demanding answers from her even as the FBI investigates the shooting.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 15, 2024

Can Kishida's diplomacy boost support at home?

Facing calls to step down even from within the LDP, the Prime Minister apparently hopes to shore up support through his latest meetings overseas.
Workers assemble a car inside BYD's first electric vehicle factory in Southeast Asia in Rayong, Thailand, on July 4.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 15, 2024

Thai economy faces upheaval due to factory closures

Scores of companies are shuttering in Thailand, which is bearing the brunt of cheap imports from China and factors including rising energy prices and an aging workforce.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men protest against attempts to change government policy that grants them exemption from military conscription, in Jerusalem on April 11.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 15, 2024

Israeli government votes to extend mandatory military service

Israel's attorney general criticized the move as unconstitutional in the absence of concrete actions to draft ultra-Orthodox Jewish men as well.
Fans celebrate BTS' 11th debut anniversary during 2024 FESTA, an event for fans of the K-pop boy band a day after band member Jin was discharged from the South Korean army after 18 months of military service, in Seoul on June 13.
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2024

TikTok sees K-culture spend doubling to $143 billion by 2030

In the U.S. and Southeast Asia, research has found that about 80% of social media users have found Korean culture through TikTok.
Pedestrians in the Wangfujing shopping area in Beijing on July 11, 2024. China's economic growth in the second quarter was lower than forecast, adding pressure on Chinese leaders to lift confidence at the Chinese Communist Party's third plenum this week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 15, 2024

China’s economic growth comes in worse than expected

Underwhelming data for the second quarter puts pressure on Chinese leader Xi Jinping to lift confidence at this week's twice-a-decade policy meeting.
Ohio Senator JD Vance at Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday
WORLD / Politics
Jul 16, 2024

Trump taps Vance as running mate, picking populist protege

Sen. J.D. Vance’s selection saw Donald Trump bypass many of the senator’s own colleagues, including Tim Scott of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida.
Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga warms up ahead of a game against the Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco on June 27.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 16, 2024

'Shotamania' in Chicago: Cubs' Imanaga quickly becomes fan favorite

Imanaga, who has been one of the National League's top pitchers, has seamlessly inserted himself into the Chicago sports scene.
Participants in a "cross-mentoring" training session held by sports club operator Renaissance share their concerns with female executives from other companies who serve as role models.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2024

Japan intensifies efforts to address gender pay gaps

According to the labor ministry, the average monthly wage for full-time female workers last year was ¥262,600, about 75% of the ¥350,900 earned by men.
A worker at Sakai Seisakusyo prepares to transport metal rods at its factory in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, on July 8.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2024

Japan finds a 'stealth' cure for zombie businesses: Let them fail

The shift in thinking is a clear departure for a country that has typically sought to avoid bankruptcies and protect existing jobs at the cost of productivity.
A Palestinian youth walks past piles of smoldering waste, as garbage collection and any other municipality services come to a halt due to the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at the al-Maghazi Palestinian refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 16, 2024

Israel accused of waging a 'war of revenge' on Palestinian prisoners

Israeli authorities have denied all accounts of alleged mistreatment including torture, rape and other sexual abuses in Israeli jails.
An employee checks on items at a Komehyo store in Nagoya.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 16, 2024

Thrift store operator Komehyo pushing to expand business overseas

The company hopes to become the world's top retailer of secondhand luxury brand items by tripling its overseas sales in four years.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan