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Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attend a state reception in Pyongyang on June 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

U.S. warns that North Korea is becoming better prepared for war

The country is "benefiting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology and experience," said the Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.
Beauty salon Dione, which has over 100 branches nationwide, offers hair removal treatments for children as young as 3 years old. It uses hair removal equipment that emits a special light heated to around 38 degrees Celsius, unlike conventional equipment that involves temperatures of 60 to 80 C.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 9, 2025

Hair removal for kids — boosting confidence or preying on insecurities?

Hair removal treatments are increasingly being extended to children as young as three years old in Japan, raising concerns over the risks.
Otono Kuboki, a Japanese Canadian hair stylist for salon chain Sozo, is a key figure in the company's mission to elevate the viability of Japan's hairdressing industry to foreign residents.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 11, 2025

Can an international makeover help Tokyo salons meet foreign demand?

Sozo Education aims to train Tokyo’s next crop of stylists not just in English vocabulary related to hairdressing but in the diverse needs of foreign hair types.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (second from right) addresses a ministerial meeting held Friday at the Prime Minister's Office to discuss measures to boost exports of farm produce and food products.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2025

Japan to step up efforts to increase food exports

The government will support efforts by Japanese food-related companies to team up with foreign businesses.
Bristol's Ilona Maher (left) takes a selfie with fans after her first match with the team on Jan. 5.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Jan 13, 2025

Ilona Maher shines in first start for Bristol

Her arrival at Bristol has boosted replica shirt sales, while the club's Instagram following has soared from 21,000 to 67,000.
Suzuki Motor President Toshihiro Suzuki (right) listens to explanations on the use of cow feces as fuel for cooking in Gujarat, western India, on Dec. 25.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 15, 2025

Suzuki Motor eyes cow feces for biogas fuel in India

The automaker is exploring means other than electric vehicles for realizing carbon neutrality.
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.
Fans wait in line to meet Webtoon Entertainment creators during the company’s initial public offering at the Nasdaq Market site in New York in June 2024.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2025

Webtoon invests in Japanese webcomic studio No. 9 as manga booms

Webtoon’s first investment since its U.S. initial public offering in June is meant to strengthen its content pipeline in Japan.
The new Switch is a tablet-style device with detachable controllers that can be played in handheld mode or hooked up to a TV, like its predecessor.
LIFE / Digital
Jan 17, 2025

Nintendo announces Switch 2, its first new console in eight years

Japan residents can apply via lottery for a hands-on demo of the Switch 2 on April 26 and 27 at Chiba’s Makuhari Messe convention center.
Nintendo said it will reveal its next-generation Switch 2 on April 2, setting in motion the retirement of the nearly eight-year-old flagship model.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 17, 2025

Nintendo hopes to reprise blockbuster Switch with 2025 successor

It will host several "Nintendo Switch 2 Experience" events in major cities around the world from April 4 to give gamers an opportunity to test the new console.
Rakuten Group CEO Hiroshi Mikitani speaks during an interview at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 17, 2025

Rakuten’s Mikitani wants to sell bonds to Japanese investors

Market pricing indicates that views on Rakuten are improving after years of losses and a stretched balance sheet.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. Tokyo prosecutors on Friday indicted an accountant of the Liberal Democratic Party’s bloc in the assembly for underreporting over ¥60 million ($386,000) of the group’s income and expenditure.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 17, 2025

Accountant for LDP bloc in Tokyo assembly accused of underreporting funds

Hidekatsu Yajima, 72, is alleged to have underreported over ¥60 million ($386,000) of LDP assembly members’ income and expenditure.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping shake hands ahead of their bilateral meeting during the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 18, 2025

Trump and China's Xi hold call on TikTok, trade and Taiwan

Both leaders were upbeat about the call, with Trump calling it "a very good one" and Xi saying he and Trump both hoped for a positive start to U.S.-China relations.
Daiichi Sankyo's headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2025

AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo win U.S. approval for breast cancer drug

The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for patients with advanced breast tumors whose cells bear a certain genetic signature.
Preparations for the 2025 Osaka Expo are underway on Yumeshima island in the city of Osaka ahead of the April 13 opening.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2025

Ishiba visits Osaka to inspect expo venue

Ishiba exchanged opinions with Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura and others about the progress of preparations for the international event.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of novel breast cancer treatment by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca led Daiichi Sankyo's shares to post the largest intraday gain since August on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 20, 2025

Daiichi Sankyo rises most in five months on cancer drug approval

Datroway, developed with AstraZeneca, has been approved for patients with advanced breast tumors.
Although direct Chinese exports to the U.S. have shrunk a little in importance over the past four years, the world’s largest economy is still the most important source of final demand for China.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 20, 2025

China faces Trump’s return just as reliance on exports soars

China’s record trade surplus of nearly $1 trillion last year was equivalent to more than 5% of its gross domestic product.
Car dealer Toyota Mobility Tokyo and used car dealer Goodspeed are believed to have committed illegal practices, such as discounting vehicles in exchange for buying specific insurance products.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 21, 2025

Japan's FSA to issue business improvement order to Toyota dealer

The Toyota subsidiary and Goodspeed are suspected of illegal practices such as discounting vehicles in exchange for buying specific insurance products.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2025

Trump seizes control: his executive actions, from tariffs to immigration

Actions so far include pardoning nearly all charged over the 2021 Capitol riot, rescinding 78 orders by the previous administration, and again exiting the Paris Agreement.
An aide places the Presidential seal before President Donald Trump addresses guests and supporters in an overflow room in the Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol for his Inauguration ceremony in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 23, 2025

What Trump has done since returning to the White House

The orders aim to meet campaign promises such as on illegal immigration, energy and the environment, as well as gender and diversity policies.
A television screen displays a news report on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, inside a restaurant in Seoul on Dec. 28. 2024
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025

South Korea’s economy struggles to grow amid political crisis

The anemic quarterly growth figure points to an economy already in a weakened state, with the prospect of tariffs clouding the outlook for exports, a key engine of growth.
Shipping containers at an industrial port in the Keihin Industrial Zone in Kawasaki. Japanese businesses see a larger role for Japan if global trade breaks down and multilateral trade institutions become less effective without U.S. participation.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025

Japan contemplates global free-trade leadership as U.S. goes protectionist

Tokyo could find opportunity in the turmoil while avoiding direct confrontation with Washington.
TikTok boasts 170 million monthly U.S. users and has become a major driver of culture and politics among young Americans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 24, 2025

TikTok’s possible buyers, from Elon Musk to MrBeast

There will be no shortage of interested acquirers for the popular video service, which boasts 170 million monthly U.S. users.
At several high-end restaurants in Tokyo, tatami is becoming a part of the dining experience — not underfoot but as a tabletop place mat for phones.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 25, 2025

Why tatami is going from the floor to the dining table

As smartphones have become integral to daily life, they are being incorporated into traditional Japanese hospitality.
With abundant rains and formidable humidity in summer, Japan does not seem to be an ideal land for wine, but winegrowers in Yamanashi Prefecture have gradually been able to adapt.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 26, 2025

Of sake and spirits: Indulging in Yamanashi’s best

Visits to Grace Wine’s vineyard and the Suntory Hakushu Distillery turn a tour of the mountainous prefecture into a gourmet treat.
A worker walks past cattle carcasses at the municipal slaughterhouse in Sao Felix do Xingu, Brazil.The country is in talks with Japan over exports of its beef.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2025

Brazil in talks for beef shipments to Japan in threat to U.S.

The U.S. is currently one of Japan’s major beef suppliers, but the country is dealing with a severe shortage of cattle that drove a spike in beef imports from Brazil.
"We want to welcome many people from all over the world, so we want to make Osaka a city where people feel safe with smoke-free streets," said Hideyuki Yokoyama, mayor of the city of Osaka, in early January.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2025

Osaka bans street smoking ahead of Expo 2025

Expo 2025 has struggled with slow ticket sales and public concern over the construction budget.
People line up to use an ATM  in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, days after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. Western financial sanctions have weighed on the Russian ruble, which has sunk from 34 to the dollar in 2013 to around 100 today.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2025

Putin’s war is fueling Russian stagflation

For a normal country, a budget deficit of 2% of GDP would be of no concern. But Russia is not a normal country.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a House Republican members conference meeting at Trump National Doral resort in Miami on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 28, 2025

Trump pledges tariffs ‘much bigger’ than 2.5% and on key sectors

The American president's remarks were the latest in a string of major signals that he’s preparing widespread levies to reshape U.S. supply chains.
Most of Nomura's recent personnel cuts were in London, according to a person familiar with the matter, who added that three worked in rates and another three in the digital office.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 28, 2025

Nomura cuts about 10 global markets staff to reduce costs

A year ago, Japan’s biggest brokerage planned to cut about 60 staffers as the firm sought ways to pare expenses across its investment bank.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?