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South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (right) shakes hands with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a joint news conference in Seoul in May.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 21, 2024

Kishida eyes visit to South Korea in early September

Kishida apparently hopes that he and Yoon will confirm the importance of keeping relations between their countries on track.
Thailand Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra pays her respect to a picture of Thailand King Maha Vajiralongkorn as she receives a royal endorsement to become the 31st prime minister in Bangkok on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2024

Thailand’s democracy is on shaky ground

Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is in the middle of yet another political crisis. Citizens deserve better.
The 7-Eleven convenience store chain, a deeply ingrained part of modern Japanese life, faces a potential takeover by Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard.
COMMENTARY
Aug 21, 2024

A 7-Eleven buyout would stretch Japan’s appetite for M&A

The country’s convenience stores have become essential to daily life. That has many fearing the prospect of a foreign takeover.
Existential risks like bioterrorism or climate change, created by humans, are not being treated by governments with anything like the seriousness or urgency they deserve.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2024

Will we survive the next 100 years?

Existential risks like bioterrorism or climate change, created by humans, are not being treated by governments with anything like the seriousness or urgency they deserve.
Revised guidelines on municipal governments' postpartum care programs will likely include care for women who temporarily stay at their parents' homes to give birth.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2024

Japan to revise guidelines for local government postpartum care

The upcoming revision comes as some local governments face difficulties implementing postpartum care projects by themselves.
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, gestures during a news conference in Kabul on May 26.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 22, 2024

Taliban bars U.N. human rights special rapporteur from Afghanistan

Richard Bennett is based outside Afghanistan but has visited several times to research the situation there.
The departure of the head of Apple's App Store comes as the division is being split into two teams: one overseeing Apple’s own store and another responsible for alternative app distribution.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 22, 2024

Apple’s App Store head to leave in reorganization amid global scrutiny

Matt Fischer, a vice president who has run the App Store business since 2010, will leave the iPhone maker in October.
A drone view shows Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, on Aug. 11.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 22, 2024

Trump earns big from Florida golf resorts as his other businesses flag

The health of Donald Trump’s golf business is a bright spot at a precarious moment for the Trump Organization.
Japan coach Futoshi Ikeda consoles Fuka Nagano after their quarterfinal loss against the United States at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 3.
SOCCER
Aug 22, 2024

Nadeshiko Japan parts ways with coach Futoshi Ikeda

The 53-year-old led Nadeshiko Japan to the last eight at the Women's World Cup last year, but the team was unable to improve on that showing in Paris earlier this month.
University students in Varanasi, India, protest against a recent rape and murder of a doctor in West Bengal. Despite some improvements in legislation following high-profile cases, such as the 2012 gang rape, violence against women has worsened, with recorded rapes increasing.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2024

Protests won’t change India's attitude toward rape

Despite some improvements in legislation following high-profile cases, such as the 2012 gang rape, violence against women has worsened, with recorded rapes increasing.
Ebenezer Agyarko tends to his cocoa plantation in Kwabeng, north of Accra, the capital of Ghana.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 22, 2024

Chocolate prices unlikely to decline even as African cocoa harvest improves

Issues that have long hobbled the industry remain, meaning bean prices aren’t likely to fall back to previous levels.
Letsile Tebogo holds his gold medal during a celebration in his native Botswana on Wednesday. Tebogo, who was being honored in the capital city of Gaborone, won gold in the 200 meters at the Paris Olympics.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Aug 22, 2024

Letsile Tebogo sets new goals following 200-meter triumph in Paris

The 21-year-old is the first African to win the Olympic 200.
Torrential rain in Tokyo on Wednesday night
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 22, 2024

Tokyo under assault by ‘guerrilla rainstorms’

An inflow of warm, humid air from the Pacific Ocean is contributing to the unstable weather conditions this week, the Meteorological Agency says.
Astellas Pharma's headquarters in Tokyo
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2024

Japanese citizen indicted on suspicion of espionage, China confirms

Chinese prosecutors have indicted a Japanese citizen on suspicion of espionage, China's foreign ministry said.
Okayama and Tottori prefectures are some of the least-visited regions in Japan among foreign tourists — which is why they offer such a welcome break from crowd-clogged cities like Tokyo and Kyoto.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 23, 2024

In Japan’s flyover country, 72 hours of hidden gems

Some of Japan’s least-visited prefectures among foreign tourists host opportunities for peace, quiet and rural beauty.
Three Tokyo restaurants claim to be the inventor of Japan's 'katsu karē' (breaded and fried pork served with Japanese curry), but Ginza Swiss' take (pictured) may be the most unique.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 25, 2024

Japan’s dueling ‘katsu’ curry creators are just happy to see the dish thrive

1918? 1921? 1947? The dish’s origin is uncertain, but its popularity today both within and beyond Japan is unassailable.
Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, head of Thailand's Department of Disease Control, speaks during a news conference following the suspected first case of the new, more dangerous strain of mpox in Bangkok on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Aug 23, 2024

Thailand confirms Asia’s first case of new mpox virus strain

The patient who tested positive for clade Ib was a European man who arrived in Bangkok last week from Africa.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at a news conference in Warsaw on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 23, 2024

Indian PM Modi set to visit Kyiv for talks with Zelenskyy

The visit, which follows a trip by Modi to Moscow in July, is important for Western-backed Kyiv.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, arrives to speak on the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 23, 2024

Harris accepts historic nomination to start election sprint

Her challenge now is to harness the energy and excitement of a party reinvigorated by her rapid ascent.
Canadian National Railway workers picket at the CPKC Toronto yard, after the company and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) locked out employees following unsuccessful negotiation attempts with the Teamsters union, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 23, 2024

Canada moves quickly to end unprecedented rail shutdown

The Canadian Industrial Relations Board will consult the two rail companies and unions before issuing a back-to-work order that should come soon.
Rescue personnel with the body of British entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who died when a yacht owned by his family sank off the coast of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo, Italy, on Thursday
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 23, 2024

Body of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch retrieved from yacht

Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah is still unaccounted for, an interior ministry official said.
NHK's headquarters in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2024

NHK chief apologizes for Senkaku Islands report on Chinese news

NHK is considering seeking damages from and filing a criminal complaint against a Chinese newscaster over the incident.
Yukio Edano announces his bid to run in the leadership race of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 23, 2024

Yukio Edano pushes centrist image in CDP leadership bid

The ex-leader is attempting to shed a leftist identity by avoiding the expression "zero nuclear power" and pledging to review ties with the Japanese Communist Party.
A lithium battery factory following a deadly fire in Hwaseong, South Korea, on June 24
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 23, 2024

Safety failures caused deadly fire at South Korea plant, police say

Twenty-three people were killed at an Aricell lithium battery plant in South Korea in a massive blaze in June.
A construction worker in Akasaka-Mitsuke, Tokyo, on Wednesday. High temperatures are projected to linger on past the summer.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2024

High temperatures expected to continue in Japan through October

The warm fall will follow what has already been a particularly hot summer, with July’s average temperature coming in at a record high for the month.
High school students submit a request to the Saitama Prefecture Board of Education in the city of Saitama on July 23 asking for 12 girls- or boys-only public high schools to remain single-gender.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 23, 2024

Saitama divided over making single-gender high schools coed

A prefectural panel said last year that rejecting girls at boys-only schools is against the United Nations convention on discrimination against women.
A boy pushes a biped robot developed by LimX Dynamics at the World Robot Conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 23, 2024

China's robot makers chase Tesla to deliver humanoid workers

The Asian giant's push into the emerging industry draws from the formula behind its initial electric vehicle drive more than a decade ago.
The Tokyo District Court's Tachikawa branch is hearing a trial involving former university student Issei Nakanishi, 21, who is accused of robbery and the manslaughter of an elderly woman in the city of Komae in western Tokyo in January 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 23, 2024

Ex-student denies manslaughter charge over Tokyo woman's death

Issei Nakanishi, 21, is alleged to have conspired with others to rob the 90-year-old woman in her home in the city of Komae, western Tokyo, in January 2023.
Foreigners account for more than 10% of the population in countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia. Despite an expected decline in births, their populations may continue to grow for some time due to their ability to attract immigrants.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2024

The rich world’s immigration conundrum

Fourteen high-income countries have shown how immigration can help offset declining fertility rates and maintain population levels.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a Lower House hearing on Friday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 23, 2024

Ueda promises better communication as he sticks to the script

Ueda took extra care with his comments to an extraordinary session of parliament called to discuss the market turmoil sparked by the central bank's surprise rate hike.

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