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Despite Shinzo Abe's numerous achievements as prime minister, including job creation and efforts to promote workforce gender equality, recent controversies surrounding his tenure, including ties to controversial groups and scandals within his political faction, have tarnished his image.
COMMENTARY
May 7, 2024

The economic legacy of Japan's longest-serving prime minister

Under Abenomics and the BOJ's monetary policy, employment rose more than under any other Japanese government in the 21st century.
Economic security has evolved to include offensive measures, such as industrial policy. Countries like Japan are increasingly on-shoring strategic industries such as semiconductors, regardless of the cost.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 7, 2024

The shift from economic security to geoeconomics

Economic security started out as a defensive concept, but it has now been weaponized to include an offensive element, morphing into a geoeconomic tool.
A skeptical reporter (Yukichi Tanaka, right) about the existence of extraterrestrials travels to a self-proclaimed UFO city for a story in “Alien’s Daydream.”
CULTURE / Film
May 9, 2024

'Alien’s Daydream': Micro budget film delivers fresh takes

Yoshiki Matsumoto’s debut feature is an ambitious, multilayered essay on the UFO phenomenon with tongue firmly in cheek.
An ambitious high school freshman recruits three girls from her region to create an “idol” group from scratch in “Trapezium.”
CULTURE / Film
May 9, 2024

‘Trapezium’: Being an idol isn’t always a dream come true

The anime adaptation of a book by Kazumi Takayama, a former member of Nogizaka46, offers an authentic look at the pressures of show business.
Displaced Palestinians construct makeshift shelters in the rubble of destroyed homes after fleeing from Rafah, in central Khan Younis, Gaza, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 9, 2024

Biden warns he’d hold back more weapons if Israel invades Rafah

U.S. President Biden's warning does not signify a break with Israel, U.S. officials said, but is rather to exert as much pressure as possible.
The Olympic flame sits on board the Belem as the boat sails near the coast of Marseille, France, on Wednesday.
OLYMPICS
May 9, 2024

Olympic flame arrives on French soil for 2024 Paris Games

"It marks the end of preparations, the Games arrive in the life of the French people," French President Emmanuel Macron said.
A police officer from the Metropolitan Police Department visits a homeowner in Tokyo to increase awareness of roof inspection scams. The number of complaints made to the National Consumer Affairs Center in relation to such scams tripled between 2018 and 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 9, 2024

Tokyo police warn against costly roofing scams

Deceitful contractors coax homeowners into undertaking costly and unnecessary repairs by falsely claiming their roofs are damaged.
China is likely around two years behind the United States in developing its own AI software.
WORLD / Politics
May 9, 2024

U.S. eyes curbs on China's access to AI software behind apps like ChatGPT

Preliminary plans the Biden administration has include placing guardrails around the most advanced AI Models, the core software of AI systems like ChatGPT.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held a news conference on Thursday, his first in about two years as he tried to set a new course for his conservative government after suffering a stinging defeat in parliamentary elections last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 9, 2024

South Korea’s Yoon tries to reset agenda with rare news conference

The leader used the event to lay out his priorities for his remaining three years in office.
The Russian Embassy in London. Britain's deportation of Russia's defense attache is a response to a suspected arson attack against Ukrainian-linked properties in East London and other espionage activities, the U.K. Home Secretary said.
WORLD / Politics
May 9, 2024

U.K. expels Russian envoy in pushback against spying surge

The action is a response to a suspected arson attack against Ukrainian-linked properties in East London and espionage activities across the U.K and Europe.
SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire Graphcore, a struggling British semiconductor startup.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 9, 2024

SoftBank said to be in talks to buy troubled AI chip firm Graphcore

Graphcore reported just $2.7 million in revenue for 2022, a 46% drop from the prior year, according to its latest financial report.
Urawa Reds Ladies celebrate with their fans after winning the league championship at Urawa Komaba Stadium on June 3, 2023.
SOCCER
May 9, 2024

Urawa Reds Ladies to vie for Asian supremacy amid controversy over AFC's actions

Final to go ahead after backlash forced AFC to reverse earlier decision to cancel match.
Former Shizuoka Vice Gov. Shinichi Omura announces he is running for the gubernatorial election, on April 12.
JAPAN / Politics
May 9, 2024

Campaigning for Shizuoka's next governor kicks off with all eyes on maglev line

A record six candidates are running for the post after the previous governor resigned over controversial remarks.
The H5N1 bird flu virus, which has been found in cattle, is a pathogen that has loomed large in the minds of infectious disease experts for its potential to cause a deadly human pandemic.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2024

The bird flu outbreak brings more questions than answers

This is a pathogen that has loomed large in the minds of infectious disease experts for its potential to cause a deadly human pandemic.
Cars are pictured with Mount Fuji from a secondhand car dealer in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN
May 9, 2024

Barrier to block view of Mount Fuji delayed

Fujikawaguchiko town is building the screen to deter people from taking pictures of the landmark.
A Palestinian man leaves a house hit by an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD / Society
May 10, 2024

Gaza's sick and injured search for help amid Rafah assault

Fighting has directly shut some of the main medical facilities that had served people sheltering in Rafah.
Having succeeded her father, Akira Mori, Miwako Date has been CEO of real estate development firm Mori Trust since 2016.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
May 19, 2024

Leading a major property developer with an eye on art and culture

Third-generation CEO Miwako Date is making her mark with Mori Trust's regional luxury hotels.
Ryo Wakabayashi, a distal myopathy patient, lives alone in the city of Fukushima.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Tohoku
May 20, 2024

Persistence pays off with approval of distal myopathy drug

The disease is estimated to affect only 300 to 400 people in Japan.
Israeli soldiers walk amid military vehicles near the Israel-Gaza Border, in southern Israel, on Thursday. Washington has long urged the Israeli government not to invade Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip without safeguards for civilians.
WORLD / Politics
May 10, 2024

Israel due to get more U.S. weapons despite Biden pause

A range of military equipment worth billions of dollars, some in the works since December, remain in the pipeline as a result of a slow approval process.
Caitlin Clark was the top pick in the WNBA draft on April 15.
BASKETBALL
May 10, 2024

Caitlin Clark feeling no pressure as WNBA debut approaches

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is embracing the moment as she brings her super-sized star power from the collegiate game to the pro ranks.
The Upper House passes a security clearance bill on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 10, 2024

Japan's parliament enacts new economic security clearance bill

The new law will work in conjunction with an existing law on the protection of specially designated secrets.
Steelmakers' concerns about BHP's coking coal market power could derail a deal between BHP and Anglo American.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024

BHP-Anglo American deal raises alarm in Japan's steel industry

Australia is the world's biggest exporter of coking coal and top supplier to Japan, making up around 60% of its imports.
Kendrick Lamar has long been cast as the authentic and artistic representative of modern rap.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
May 10, 2024

Japanese MCs jump in on the Kendrick Lamar-Drake rap beef — and pick a favorite

The way artists here have joined the feud between two of rap's biggest names says more about hip-hop beefs in Japan than you realize.
A customer uses a mobile phone at a contactless payment terminal in a pub in London. As with so many other industries, technology has been a primary driver of the change.
WORLD / Society
May 10, 2024

American-style tipping is testing British pub culture

Restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars, account for more than 90% of tipping across the country.
Flowers are laid on the bank of a river in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, where the charred bodies of a Tokyo couple were found last month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
May 10, 2024

What we know so far about the case of the burned couple in Tochigi

Details of what happened are starting to become clearer following the arrest of their daughter’s common-law husband, the suspected mastermind.
Japan Post CEO Tetsuya Senda (right) and his Seino Transportation counterpart Satoshi Takahashi announce their companies' agreement on joint long-haul truck operations, in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024

Japan's logistics firms seek partnerships to cope with driver shortage

Japan Post and Seino Transportation have reached a basic agreement to work together on joint long-haul truck operations.
A view of Matazo Kayama’s folding screen paintings reproduced on ceramic panels by Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics, displayed at Simose Art Museum.
CULTURE / Art
May 11, 2024

Art and architecture come together at Simose Art Museum

Tradition and innovation converge at Shimose Art Museum. For it first anniversary, the venue is spotlighting trailblazer nihonga artist Matazo Kayama.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in a news conference on Friday in Tokyo
JAPAN
May 10, 2024

Japan raps U.S. officials' remarks about atomic bombings

The comments were "inappropriate and unacceptable" the Foreign Minister told a parliamentary committee meeting.
If Donald Trump returns to the White House, will his foreign policy be as erratic as it was the first time? Would that help or hinder the U.S.? Leaders all over the world are asking themselves these questions.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2024

Would Trump 2.0 rekindle the merits of volatility?

Was Trump's erratic foreign policy an asset or a liability for the U.S.? In capitals all over the world, leaders are weighing the prospect of his return.
The Hong Kong market's recent rally has been fueled by a reassessment of investment strategies, with previously favored markets such as Japan and Taiwan losing appeal. Bloomberg
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2024

What is behind the Hong Kong market’s fast and mysterious rally?

The reallocating of investments toward Chinese assets is likely to continue, despite the historical volatility associated with the Chinese market.

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