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Empty shelves of rice are pictured in a supermarket in Tokyo on Aug. 27 with a notice asking customers to buy one brand a day for a family.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2024

Agricultural Ministry holds meeting on rice shortage in stores

As of the end of June, private-sector rice inventories in the country stood at 1.56 million metric tons, the lowest since comparable data became available in 1999.
A drone view shows a residential building heavily damaged during a Russian drone and missile strike in Lviv, Ukraine, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Sep 4, 2024

Russian air attack kills seven in Ukraine's Lviv, regional officials say

Among those killed in Lviv by the drone and missile attack was a 14-year-old girl, with five children among the injured.
Passersby outside Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on July 29. A new analysis has found that Japan's extreme heat in July would have been "almost impossible" without climate change.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / Boiling Point
Sep 4, 2024

Japan's record heat in July 'almost impossible' without climate change

Heavy rainfall that caused severe floods the same month was also exacerbated by global warming, according to a new analysis.
Alimentation Couche-Tard’s bid to acquire Japan’s Seven & I Holdings has sparked discussions about Japan’s approach to foreign investment and whether rejecting or accepting the bid reflects an openness to international business.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 4, 2024

7-Eleven deserves more than shareholder supremacy

While Japan should consider investor interests, it should not forsake the broader social and community benefits that its businesses provide.
The shutdown of Elon Musk's X has drawn parallels with authoritarian regimes, damaging Brazil’s international reputation and raising concerns about judicial overreach.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2024

Shutting off Elon Musk won't help Brazil's democracy

While regulating hate speech is complex, the approach by Brazil's Supreme Court might be excessive and counterproductive.
Weighting the total number of medals won by each country by value — three points for gold, two for silver and one for bronze — reveals that the 12 countries with the highest medal count in Paris are all advanced economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2024

The geopolitics of Olympic medals

A larger population offers a broader talent pool, and economic development supports better sports infrastructure and policies.
Beyond losing the American market, China is losing some of its own manufacturing companies, which are shifting parts of their production to countries such as Vietnam and Mexico to avoid U.S. tariffs.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2024

The rise and coming fall of Chinese manufacturing

Despite China's significant investments in technology, the decline of its manufacturing sector seems inevitable.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi announces his candidacy for leadership of the party in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 4, 2024

In leadership bid, LDP Secretary-General Motegi says no tax hikes

He pledges to tackle Japan’s sluggish economy without increasing the burden on taxpayers and abolish the contentious "funds for political activities."
Takaaki Saito enters the Metropolitan Police Department's Fukagawa Police Station in Koto Ward, Tokyo, on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 4, 2024

Trio trying to pay off supercar debt arrested for alleged fraud

The trio is believed to have created a total of 34 credit cards in the names of nine people using personal information they obtained.
A young woman visiting a rural backwater from Tokyo (An Ogawa) finds an unlikely playmate in Tatsunari Ota’s “There Is a Stone.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 5, 2024

‘There Is a Stone’ finds beauty in the inconsequential

While very little happens, Tatsunari Ota’s slow-moving debut feature offers stirring moments of simplicity.
A Palestinian child is vaccinated against polio in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD
Sep 5, 2024

Polio vaccines give Gaza families an all-too-brief respite from war

One Gazan mother wondered what good the polio vaccination campaign could do when her children would soon face more air strikes and shelling.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event at the Throwback Brewery, in North Hampton, New Hampshire, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 5, 2024

Harris' debate plan: Call out Trump and create social media moments

Vice President Kamala Harris' team believes many will watch the debate as video clips on social media platforms like TikTok and X.
Damaged buildings in the Mellah, or Jewish quarter of Marrakech, Morocco, in October 2023, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake the previous month.
WORLD / Society
Sep 5, 2024

One year on, Morocco's quake victims still wait for homes

The 6.8 magnitude quake killed more than 2,900 people and damaged vital infrastructure.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan greet the press before welcoming leaders from African countries in Beijing on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 5, 2024

Debt woes and funding needs in focus as China hosts African leaders

Africa and its ample mineral and oil resources have become the focus of intense geopolitical competition in recent years.
Pasocom Music Club’s “Love Flutter” marks an important moment for Japan’s electronic community as project members Aoi Shibata (left) and Masato Nishiyama step into a role other artists once held for them — scene veterans who are inspiring the next generation.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 5, 2024

Pasocom Music Club returns to the pure pleasures of the dance floor

For the Kansai-born duo, new album “Love Flutter” isn’t just an evolution of its sound — it’s the next step in pushing the boundaries of electronic music.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears at a joint news conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 5, 2024

Cabinet shake-up suggests Zelenskyy is planning for ‘new phase of the war,’ analysts say

Observers say the reshuffle, which comes at a dynamic moment in the war, had been in the works for months.
A sumo referee performs the dohyō matsuri, or ring purification ceremony, in January 2017 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Sep 5, 2024

No talking, no eating, no standing: Inside sumo's ring purification ceremony

Spectators are required to stay seated for its duration, and refrain from using flash when taking photos.
One problem with Japan’s investments in African infrastructure compared to other countries is that its projects often lack long-term sustainability and alignment with local development plans, limiting their impact. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 5, 2024

Is Japan’s involvement in Africa’s development outdated?

Japan's traditional aid approach is seen as too transactional and insufficiently addressing Africa's broader development challenges.
Shigeru Ishiba speaks at a supporters meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 30.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 5, 2024

Taxes and political reform in focus in upcoming LDP campaign

The candidates’ recipes to put the economy back on track after decades of low growth are varied, with some emphasizing redistribution and others promising no tax hikes.
Get your dark blue suit out of the closet, job hunting season is once again upon us.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 6, 2024

Those looking for jobs in Japan get another shot at it in September

Hiring for new recruits usually takes place in time for an April start, but Japanese companies are increasingly looking to hire in the autumn.
Few in Japan may be more passionate about the 'onigiri' (rice ball) than Yumiko Ukon, owner of an onigiri specialty shop in Tokyo's Otsuka neighborhood.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 8, 2024

‘When I die, I would like to come back as a rice ball’

There’s no denying the cultural significance of the ‘onigiri’ (rice ball). But there comes a point where an onigiri is surely just an onigiri.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Sep 6, 2024

Zelenskyy overhauls Cabinet with slew of new ministers and top diplomat

Andrii Sybiha, 49, an experienced diplomat who does not have a prominent public profile, takes the reins of the foreign ministry, replacing Dmytro Kuleba.
Seven & I Holdings, operator of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, said on Friday it has rejected Alimentation Couche-Tard's takeover bid as not being in the interest of shareholders.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 6, 2024

Seven & I pans value of offer as it rejects Canadian takeover bid

Seven & I said that Alimentation Couche-Tard had “grossly” undervalued the target company and that the takeover attempt was timed “opportunistically.”
The oceanographic research vessel Mirai passes through the Diomede Islands, located at the center of the Bering Strait, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2024

Japanese research vessel Mirai enters Arctic ocean

Mirai is on a month-long voyage to study environmental changes in the Arctic, which is believed to be warming faster than anywhere else on Earth.
Predicting the winner of the 2024 presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris remains exceptionally challenging as the the current landscape is highly fluid.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 6, 2024

Election predictions are too noisy to tell if Trump or Harris will win

There’s a lot of campaigning to go, a lot of events that could turn the election into a landslide for either candidate.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan head Kenta Izumi announces he will run for reelection as party leader in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 6, 2024

Views on interparty cooperation set CDP leader candidates apart

Kenta Izumi, Yukio Edano and Yoshihiko Noda have all outlined different ideas on working with the Japanese Communist Party and Nippon Ishin no Kai.
Former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi declares his candidacy in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 6, 2024

Shinjiro Koizumi promises immediate snap election if elected LDP president

The former environment minister said he will turn to the electorate to allow voters to judge his plan to transform Japan.
A building housing the Tokyo District Court's Tachikawa branch in the city of Tachikawa
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 6, 2024

21-year-old gets 23 years over robbery-murder in western Tokyo

The case was part of a high-profile series of robberies across Japan allegedly committed by the same group.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol during a meeting at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 6, 2024

Kishida and Yoon reaffirm importance of sustained cooperation

Kishida highlighted the need to continue efforts to advance bilateral ties, once again expressing sympathy for Koreans who suffered during Japanese colonial rule.
An investor sits in front of a board showing stock information at a brokerage office in Beijing.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 7, 2024

China bulls getting tired of waiting for elusive stock recovery

Weakness in Chinese equities is eroding the confidence of some of Wall Street’s staunchest supporters, with hopes for a turnaround fading in the world’s No. 2 economy.

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