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U.S. voters are increasingly concerned about misinformation spreading the good-old-fashioned way — through politicians sowing falsehoods.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 4, 2024

More than AI misinformation, U.S. voters worry about lying politicians

Politicians face almost no legal consequences for distorting the truth, researchers say.
Despite Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's serious and studious personality, he is by nature a nonconformist and is less socially inclined compared to other politicians.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 3, 2024

The Shigeru Ishiba I personally know

Ishiba takes pride in his mottos and interests, remains steadfast in his beliefs and stays true to his path.
Yoshinobu Kimura is not afraid to break the accepted norms when it comes to devising surprising new sips for Sushi M.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Oct 6, 2024

Sake, coffee and fish bones: Anything goes for Sushi M’s cocktails

Yoshinobu Kimura's experiments with coffee, cocktails and sushi are just one facet of his boundary-pushing philosophy.
Without Japanese outdoorsman George Masa, America might not have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — so why do so many people in Japan not know he existed?
COMMUNITY / Issues
Oct 7, 2024

The forgotten Japanese naturalist who created a U.S. national park

George Masa was an enigmatic figure, but his contributions to preserving America's natural beauty are unassailable.
With his robust physique and loving spirit, Yukichi will make one lucky family very happy.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Oct 7, 2024

Yukichi was lost and found on the streets of Kyoto

With his adorable face, big round eyes, and healthy appetite, Yukichi will make a wonderful addition to a loving family.
Diego Garcia — the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago and the site of a major military base used by Britain and the United States — is seen in this undated image the U.S. Navy provided.
WORLD
Oct 4, 2024

U.K. cedes Chagos Island sovereignty to Mauritius and keeps air base

Britain's deal also could pave the way for people displaced decades ago to return home.
Nippon Ishin no Kai head Nobuyuki Baba (back left) and Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan head Yoshihiko Noda (back right) discuss cooperation during the upcoming general election in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 4, 2024

Opposition parties have little time to form united front ahead of polls

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s surprise announcement of an Oct. 27 general election has left others scrambling to coordinate in order to avoid multi-cornered fights.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2024

Masamitsu Yoshioka, last Pearl Harbor bombardier, dies at 106

"I’m ashamed that I’m the only one who survived and lived such a long life,” Yoshioka said in an interview last year.
Digital minister Taro Kono attends an Upper House committee session in June. The cautioning of Kono over his use of his smartphone to respond to a question in the Upper House last November attracted significant attention and led to a bipartisan call for digital transformation within parliament.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 4, 2024

Digitalization advances gradually in Japan's parliament

Improvement plans have been adopted but certain practices, such as the use of tablets at the podium during plenary sessions, remain off-limits.
A tea field in Makinohara, the birthplace of Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda, in August. The city in Shizuoka Prefecture, which once thrived on a now-declining tea industry, exemplifies disparities between Japan's struggling rural areas and its bustling megacities.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 4, 2024

In Bank of Japan chief's birthplace, Ueda's policy puzzle is laid bare

Makinohara's mayor says the Shizuoka Prefecture surf town is not keeping pace with Japan's broader recovery.
The FIFA logo is seen during a news conference in February 2019.
SOCCER
Oct 4, 2024

FIFA defers decision on call to suspend Israel

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) called for its Israeli counterpart to be suspended in May.
Dul Saroth (left) and Soeum Samrach, deminers with the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, practice using the Advanced Landmine Imaging System in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province in August.
JAPAN / Longform
Oct 7, 2024

The Japanese tech that could one day make Southeast Asia landmine-free

The Advanced Landmine Imaging System being tested in Cambodia promises to speed up landmine clearance work and save lives.
Japan Coast Guard officials search for missing people after the fatal sinking of the Kazu I tour boat off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2024

Japan to require passenger ships sailing in cold waters to carry life rafts

The move follows the deadly sinking of the Kazu I tour boat off Hokkaido in April 2022.
Rikiya Morita, a suspect wanted in connection with a robbery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2024

Suspect in violent Kanto burglaries placed on public wanted list

Rikiya Morita and three other men allegedly broke into an elderly couple’s residence in the city of Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture.
A lifeguard waving a tsunami flag during a demonstration
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 4, 2024

Meteorological agency ramps up 'tsunami flag' awareness efforts

Visual communication tools like tsunami flags are critical at swimming beaches, where sound can be obscured by waves and wind.
A funeral is held for Russian military personnel and civilians killed in the war with Ukraine, at a cemetery in Luhansk, in Russian-controlled Ukraine, in May 2023. The U.S. estimates that 120,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and another 180,000 injured, further worsening the nation's manpower shortages and economic output.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2024

The Russian war economy’s days are numbered

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his cronies boast that the sanctions make Russia stronger, but they incessantly call for all restrictions to be lifted.
An Ito-Yokado supermarket in Tokyo. Selling down some of its stake in the supermarket business would allow Seven & I to bring in a partner that could accelerate an overhaul of the unit.
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2024

Seven & I considering supermarket stake sale ahead of IPO, sources say

The supermarket business includes the Ito-Yokado chain, one of Japan's best-known grocery store businesses.
Paul Watson speaks at a news conference on the sidelines of the U.N. climate summit in Paris in December 2015.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2024

Japan says Paul Watson case 'nothing to do with whaling'

The co-founder of Sea Shepherd was arrested in Greenland in July on an arrest warrant issued by Japan.
The Japanese market for secondhand items is growing, with more consumers using flea market apps such as Mercari.
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2024

Japan's used goods market is expanding, but that may hurt its GDP

The trend is seen as friendly to consumers and the environment, but it can have the undesirable consequence of pushing down the country's GDP.
Keidanren chief Masakazu Tokura (center, left) presents the business lobby group's policy requests to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba alongside the Japan Association of Corporate Executives' Takeshi Niinami (far left) and Ken Kobayashi of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on Friday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2024

Japan's three major business lobbies submit policy requests to Ishiba

Ishiba told the three business leaders that ending the Japanese economy's deflationary state is a top priority.
Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after a strike as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, on Saturday.
WORLD
Oct 5, 2024

Israeli strike hits north Lebanon as raids pummel Beirut suburbs

A source said a Hamas official, his wife and two children were killed in the strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli.
There's long been one mantra in mainstream economics: Growth is good. But recently, an alternative term has begun taking root in popular culture and policy: "degrowth."
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 5, 2024

These are boom times for ‘degrowth’

Kohei Saito believes one reason degrowth has had increasing appeal is because "younger generations are not enjoying the fruits of economic growth.”
 A giant mural of Shohei Ohtani on the side of a hotel in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 5, 2024

Japanese baseball fans flock to LA to see playoff-bound Ohtani

Inside Dodger Stadium, the influence of Japanese fans is clear, from Japanese-language merchandise to cuisine that included bento boxes, sushi and fried octopus.
Tomoyuki Sugano (left) with his Giants teammates during a game last month in Hiroshima.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 5, 2024

Giants ace Tomoyuki Sugano announces plans to join MLB

The long-time Giants starter has won the Sawamura Award as NPB's best pitcher twice, in 2017 and 2018.
Raymonde Desiree, a member of the Chagossian community living in Crawley, south of London.
WORLD / Society
Oct 5, 2024

Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate

Britain will transfer sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius, and many Chagossians are angry that they were not given a say in the islands' fate.
Cameron Lew, who makes music under the name Ginger Root, recently released “Shinbangumi,” an album that was influenced by the glimmering pop echoes of Japan in the 1980s as well as the nerviness of Devo, the loose rock-pop of Hall & Oates and even Haruomi Hosono’s ’70s explorations of exotica.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 5, 2024

Ginger Root expands on effervescent retro sound

New release "Shinbangumi" comes after a whirlwind year for the American artist who blends glittering pop echoes of 1980s Japan with a mish-mash of Western influences.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba inspects the area around a morning market, which was heavily damaged in the Jan. 1 earthquake, in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2024

Torrential rain in Noto Peninsula to be designated a severe disaster, Ishiba says

Ishiba announced the plan during a visit to areas damaged heavily by the rain and the powerful Jan. 1 earthquake.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk jumps on stage to join Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 6, 2024

Trump rallies with Elon Musk at site of assassination attempt

For Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla and SpaceX and the world’s richest man, it’s his most prominent moment yet as part of a political campaign.
French President Emmanuel Macron holds a news conference on Saturday in Paris.
WORLD
Oct 6, 2024

Macron calls for halting weapons to Israel for Gaza conflict

Macron announced that 88 Francophone countries voted unanimously to call for a cease-fire in Lebanon.
An emergency shelter in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, set up in January after a powerful earthquake earlier that month. The central government plans to survey the level of stockpiles at temporary shelters around the country.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 6, 2024

Japanese government to survey stockpiles at designated shelters

The survey is expected to cover stocks of food, blankets, baby formula, paper diapers for infants and adults, portable toilets, toilet paper and sanitary products.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami