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Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett attends the opening ceremony of Tungaloy's new plant in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, in  November 2011. Buffett says Tokyo executives are good value for money amid a widening pay gap between local and foreign business leaders.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 14, 2024

The pay gap in Japan’s boardrooms is unacceptable

The job market in Japan is, at all levels, much less liquid and executives are less likely to need incentives to avoid jumping ship to rivals.
In Catan: New Energies, players must decide between fossil fuels and clean energy.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 15, 2024

In Catan: New Energies, the goal is avoiding climate catastrophe

When put to the test, players were racked by indecision, laying bare the complexity of solving climate change.
Environmental activists from the group Extinction Rebellion demonstrate outside the media center set up for the Group of Seven leaders' summit, in Bari, Italy, on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 15, 2024

Experts and activists slam 'pointless' G7 on climate

The Group of Seven rich democracies was assailed for having failed to deliver significant new progress on climate during a summit in Italy.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is welcomed by Italian leader Giorgia Meloni on the first day of the Group of Seven summit in the Italian resort of Borgo Egnazia on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 15, 2024

Japan and Italy agree to beef up defense and diplomatic cooperation

Japan and Italy have agreed on a plan to deepen cooperation over the next three years in key areas such as diplomacy, defense and trade.
Group A Streptococcus typically causes swelling and a sore throat in children, but some types of the bacteria can lead to symptoms developing rapidly.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 15, 2024

Rare tissue-damaging bacteria spreads in Japan

At the current rate of infections, the number of cases in Japan could reach 2,500 this year, with a mortality rate of 30%.
NBA legend Ray Allen high-fives children during a basketball clinic in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Saturday.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jun 15, 2024

Former Celtics great Ray Allen says 'distractions' played role in Game 4 blowout

The two-time NBA champion, who ran a basketball clinic for children in Tokyo on Saturday, also stressed that learning defense is key for developing young players.
What's believed to be loudspeakers at the top of a hill on the North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 15, 2024

North Korea building roads and walls inside DMZ, report says

The construction activities are taking place north of the Military Demarcation Line that runs through the middle of the DMZ, the report said.
Ukrainian soldiers walk among the remnants of a destroyed Russian military convoy in Bucha, Ukraine, on April 2, 2022. Representatives of both countries held peace talks in the early weeks of the Russian invasion but they fizzled.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 16, 2024

The sticking points that kept Russia and Ukraine apart

Putin repeatedly referred to the 2022 talks as the foundation for future deals, but many doubt he'd settle for anything less than full subjugation.
Tomohiro Fukuzawa, CEO of SkyDrive, shows a model of the firm's flying car during a news conference in February 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 16, 2024

SkyDrive gives up commercial use of flying car at Osaka Expo

Three other Japanese companies — made by Japan Airlines, ANA Holdings and Marubeni — will also operate flying cars at the event.
The contested Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 16, 2024

Philippines submits U.N. claim to extended continental shelf

Manila claimed it was entitled to "establish the outer limits of its continental shelf" up to 350 nautical miles (648 kilometers) off the western island of Palawan.
Australia's Ariarne Titmus competes in the women's 800 meter freestyle final during Olympic trials in Brisbane on Thursday.
OLYMPICS / Swimming
Jun 16, 2024

Titmus and McKeown carry Australian Olympic swim hopes in bid to topple U.S.

The pool squad was whittled down after six intense days of trials, with bettering their haul from Tokyo three years ago the immediate target.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrives at a Ukraine peace summit near Lucerne, Switzerland, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 16, 2024

Latest polls say U.K. Conservatives headed for election wipeout

The figures indicate Sunak’s weak position going into the campaign has deteriorated since he called the surprise vote three weeks ago.
A welcome sign in Skegness, England, on Tuesday. Britain's last general election was all about leaving the European Union but this time around Brexit is hardly getting a mention.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 16, 2024

Why no one is talking about Brexit in the U.K. election

Brexit fatigue and barely healed scars from the divisive vote have the main parties largely avoiding the toxic issue before the July 4 poll.
Imanaga pumps his fist after closing out the seventh inning against the Cardinals on Saturday at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 16, 2024

Shota Imanaga is becoming a star for the Cubs. How did MLB not see this coming?

Shota Imanaga, who is an early candidate for the Cy Young Award, has quickly established himself as a dynamic presence who pitches with passion and style.
Trucks carrying aid to Gaza on May 14 that were stopped after they were damaged by Israeli settlers near a checkpoint near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
WORLD
Jun 16, 2024

Israel announces localized, daily Gaza 'pause' for aid deliveries

The announcement came a day after one of the heaviest losses for the Israeli army in its war against Hamas.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, in November 2022. The plant was shuttered in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, and has sat idle since.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2024

World’s largest nuclear plant sits idle while energy needs soar

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant has the potential capacity to power more than 13 million households.
Marine Le Pen speaks during a European election campaign rally in Paris on June 2.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 17, 2024

France's Le Pen says she will work with Macron to appeal to moderates

Marine Le Pen is reaching out to mainstream voters as she aims to cement a majority in the next parliament.
Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 17, 2024

Microsoft’s Japan chief sees country accelerating its use of AI

Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsukasa sees AI as an inevitable and revolutionary new part of tech.
South Korean soldiers walk past a military facility where loudspeakers dismantled in 2018 used to be, near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea, on June 10.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 17, 2024

South Korea's loudspeakers face questions over reach into North

Tests in 2017 showed broadcasts could not be understood further than 7 kilometers, short of the 10 km that the military touted as reaching the North's Kaesong city.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
WORLD / Politics
Jun 17, 2024

Disastrous results in U.K. polling show scale of Sunak’s challenge

Seat-by-seat analysis by Survation found Labour to be on course to a large majority.
Passengers look at the tarmac as they wait for flights at Beijing Capital International Airport on April 20.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2024

Chinese outbound travel recovery lags due to costs and visa snags

Chinese people took 87 million trips abroad last year, down 40% from pre-COVID 2019.
Workers clear the oil slick using plastic bags on Sentosa island's Tanjong Beach in Singapore on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 17, 2024

Singapore works to clean up oil spill after tanker accident

Several beaches have been closed after a tidal current carried the oil from the site to an area more than 30 kilometers away, close to the city-state's airport.
Durians at a roadside stand in Chantaburi, Thailand, which is by far the fruit’s biggest exporting country, on April 24. China’s demand for the large and spiky fruit is creating fortunes and reshaping parts of Southeast Asia.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 17, 2024

China’s lust for durian is creating fortunes in Southeast Asia

Last year, the value of durian exports from Southeast Asia to China was $6.7 billion, a twelvefold increase from $550 million in 2017.
Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen near houses destroyed in the Israeli military offensive in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 30.
WORLD
Jun 17, 2024

Aid groups welcome pauses in fighting but say Israel must do more to ease hunger

Some aid groups expressed skepticism that the Israeli military’s action would be transformative.
Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving has a complicated history with the Celtics.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jun 17, 2024

Mavericks star Kyrie Irving focused on Game 5 as NBA Finals head back to Boston

Irving is cognizant of his complicated personal history with the Celtics.
Group of Seven leaders and officials look to the sky during a ceremony involving paratroopers at Borgo Egnazia Golf Club San Domenico in Savelletri, Italy, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics / First person
Jun 17, 2024

In perspective: a firsthand account of this year’s G7

In an increasingly multipolar world, the bloc's relevance comes into question, but any attempt to foster dialogue and ease tensions should be welcomed.
Students receive school lunch at Senju Aoba Junior High School in Tokyo in June 2022.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 17, 2024

Obesity increased among children in Japan during pandemic

The study analyzed the health checkup data of about 186,000 people who graduated from junior high school between fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2022.
Buildings in the Shibuya district of Tokyo on May 2
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2024

Ban on nighttime drinking around Shibuya Station passed by ward

The ordinance, an extension of measures at Halloween and New Year, comes into effect Oct. 1 and carries no penalties.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Amur region last September.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 18, 2024

Putin pledges to take Russia-North Korea ties to 'a higher level'

The Russian leader is expected to ask for even more weapons, while Kim will seek continued military tech support and cash to keep his regime afloat.
Richard Katz argues in his new book that the key to Japan emerging from decades of economic sluggishness depends on stimulating companies with high energy and dynamism, over the lumbering, older firms.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 20, 2024

Hope for Japan, if the elephants get out of the way

Protecting older companies, the jobs they have produced and the political and financial relationships they have nurtured, starves newer, more innovative businesses.

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