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Teruko Nakazawa, a retired unpaid parole officer (back), talks with her former parolee in the smoking room of a cafe in Tokyo. Around 47,000 citizen volunteers  far outnumber the 1,000 salaried probation officers working in Japan.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 23, 2025

Japan's unpaid parole officers are driven by a 'love for humanity'

The around 47,000 citizen volunteers far outnumber the 1,000 salaried probation officers in Japan.
Investment trusts that cater to Japanese individuals bought a net ¥10.4 trillion of overseas equities and funds last year after the government expanded the scope of the Nippon Individual Savings Account system.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025

Japan’s love of foreign stocks risks pushing the yen even lower

Investment trusts that cater to Japanese individuals bought a net ¥10.4 trillion of overseas equities and funds last year.
Ryohei Iwatani, secretary-general of Nippon Ishin no Kai, holds a news conference on Wednesday in the National Diet Building.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 23, 2025

Nippon Ishin proposes primaries to unify opposition candidates

The proposal calls for conducting online public opinion polls in constituencies where multiple opposition parties plan to field candidates.
Explosions rock the shore of Iwo Jima during a pre-landing bombardment on Feb. 19, 1945, as seen from a USS Sanborn (APA-193) landing craft.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2025

Imperial couple considering visit to Iwo Jima

The Imperial Household Agency is considering a visit by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako to the island of Iwo Jima in April to pay respects to soldiers killed in World War II.
Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi has been linked with a move to Rennes  in France.
SOCCER
Jan 23, 2025

Celtic captain Calum McGregor hopes Kyogo Furuhashi remains with club

Furuhashi, who turned 30 on Monday, helped Celtic reach the Champions League playoffs in a 1-0 win over Young Boys.
Thai actors Apiwat "Porsch" Apiwatsayree (right) and Sappanyoo "Arm" Panatkool pose for pictures in front of a Thai national flag after registering their same-sex marriage at the Phra Nakhon district office in Bangkok on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 23, 2025

Hundreds to wed as Thai same-sex marriage law comes into force

Thursday's milestone makes Thailand the first Southeast Asian country to allow equal marriage, and the biggest place in Asia to recognize such unions.
A television screen displays a news report on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, inside a restaurant in Seoul on Dec. 28. 2024
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025

South Korea’s economy struggles to grow amid political crisis

The anemic quarterly growth figure points to an economy already in a weakened state, with the prospect of tariffs clouding the outlook for exports, a key engine of growth.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade at Capitol One Arena in Washington on Monday.
WORLD
Jan 23, 2025

Musk calls for defunding of Wikipedia over description of gesture

A recent war of words pits the two tech giants against each other and highlights the starkly different ethos behind Musk's X and Wikipedia.
National Police Agency Commissioner-General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki speaks during a news conference on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2025

Japan police agency sets rules for fake IDs in undercover yami baito probes

Investigations involving the use of fake IDs will target crimes such as robbery, special fraud, investment fraud and romance fraud.
The day care room for younger children at a multipurpose facility on Tonaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, has never been used since its establishment in 2019.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Feb 3, 2025

The harsh reality of migration outflow on Okinawa’s least populated island

Since Tonaki Island established its only day care center in 2019, not a single child has set foot inside.
Japanese Communist Party leader Tomoko Tamura speaks at a Lower House session in Tokyo in December 2024.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 23, 2025

Japanese Communist Party's Tomoko Tamura faces leadership questions ahead of polls

Tamura is aiming for 6.5 million proportional representation votes, but experts say that's unrealistic.
TV star Masahiro Nakai abruptly announced his retirement Thursday as the fallout from sexual misconduct allegations against him continued to expand.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2025

Ex-SMAP member Masahiro Nakai to retire amid sexual misconduct allegations

The 52-year-old former SMAP member said his contracts had been wound up, and that negotiations with sponsors were in progress.
The bus stop in Suzhou, China, where a bus used by a Japanese school came under attack from a man, since identified as Zhou Jiasheng, in June last year
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2025

China sentences man to death over Japanese school bus attack

A Chinese court deemed the death penalty as appropriate in view of the "extremely heinous" nature of the crime, which resulted in the death of a bus attendant.
Imperial family members wave to well-wishers during a public appearance in Tokyo on Jan. 2.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 23, 2025

Parliament to resume discussions over imperial family succession this month

The two chambers of parliament plan to resume talks Jan. 31 on measures to secure a sufficient number of imperial family members.
Vegetables for sale at a local supermarket in Kyoto.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2025

Japan supermarket sales up for fifth year in 2024

Price increases of rice and vegetables such as cabbage pushed up overall sales while the number of purchased items continued to decrease as customers became thriftier.
This year's Oscar nominations were unveiled on Thursday, with transgender cartel musical "Emilia Perez" earning 13 Oscar nods and breaking the record for most Academy Award nominations for a non-English-language movie.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jan 23, 2025

'Emilia Perez' tops Oscar nominations in fire-hit Hollywood

Jacques Audiard's Mexico-set musical shattered the record for the most Academy Award nominations for a non-English-language movie.
The Food and Drug Administration headquarters in White Oak, Maryland
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 24, 2025

Trump alarms scientists by muzzling U.S. health agencies

The move could delay essential information and slow funding for potentially life-saving initiatives.
A Palestinian man searches for the graves and bodies of his father, brother and brother-in-law at Shejaia cemetery, which was flattened by Israeli tanks and bulldozers, in Gaza City, the Gaza Strip, on Monday.
WORLD
Jan 24, 2025

Bereaved Gazans dig out bodies from city ruins and give them graves

Burials are usually carried out within a few hours of death in Muslim and Arab communities, and failure to ensure dignified burials is agonizing for families.
Steps against diversity form part of U.S. President Donald Trump's broader campaign targeting the federal bureaucracy, which he has sometimes disparaged as the "deep state" secretly working against his agenda.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2025

Trump accelerates campaign to remake federal bureaucracy

The U.S. president says his orders ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs would make America a "merit-based country" once again.
Service inflation accelerated a tad to 1.6%, while an index excluding energy costs and fresh food prices advanced 2.4%, unchanged from the pace in November.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025

Inflation in Japan jumps to 3%, supporting the BOJ's rate-hike case

The solid inflation data support the case for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates on Friday, a move widely anticipated by markets and economists.
Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor Janina Iwanska, 94, a retired pharmacist, holds an undated picture from her way back to Poland, ahead of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz, in Warsaw on Jan. 7
WORLD
Jan 24, 2025

Auschwitz survivors recall their suffering 80 years after camp's liberation

An estimated 1.3 million people were sent to the Nazi death camp set up in occupied Poland as part of Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution" to annihilate European Jews.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2025

U.S. judge temporarily blocks Trump's order limiting birthright citizenship

The judge's order prevents Trump's policy from being enforced nationwide for 14 days while he considers whether to issue a long-lasting preliminary injunction.
Daisuke Komatsu (left), who heads the Liberal Democratic Party's group in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, and others bow in apology during a news conference at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2025

LDP Tokyo assembly members to correct funds reports

Some LDP members of the assembly kept some revenues from fundraising parties held in 2019 and 2022 for themselves and did not declare the income.
Katsumi Shinagawa prepares to shred cabbage to serve with pork cutlet dishes at the restaurant Katsukichi in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 24, 2025

Climate change cooks up Japanese 'cabbage shock'

It is the latest pain point for shoppers and eateries in Japan already squeezed by inflation.
TikTok boasts 170 million monthly U.S. users and has become a major driver of culture and politics among young Americans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 24, 2025

TikTok’s possible buyers, from Elon Musk to MrBeast

There will be no shortage of interested acquirers for the popular video service, which boasts 170 million monthly U.S. users.
While Japan deals with so-called overtourism, the rest of the world is just getting back to pre-pandemic levels of visits from international travelers.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 24, 2025

Global tourism is back to pre-COVID highs

Global tourism generated nearly $1.6 trillion (about ¥250 trillion) in 2024, about 3% more than the previous year and 4% more than in 2019.
At several high-end restaurants in Tokyo, tatami is becoming a part of the dining experience — not underfoot but as a tabletop place mat for phones.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 25, 2025

Why tatami is going from the floor to the dining table

As smartphones have become integral to daily life, they are being incorporated into traditional Japanese hospitality.
Hokkaido Railway temporarily suspended train services after a 61-year-old Chinese tourist was fatally struck by a train in the city of Otaru, Hokkaido, on Thursday morning.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2025

Chinese tourist fatally struck by train in Hokkaido

The woman entered the Hakodate Line tracks near Asari Station in Otaru to photograph the ocean with her phone.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his policy speech at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2025

Ishiba stresses regional revitalization in policy speech

The relocation of industrial, state and academic institutions to regions outside of Tokyo will begin with government agencies.
Fuji Television's poor handling of sexual misconduct allegations against celebrity Masahiro Nakai has led to an exodus of sponsors from the broadcaster.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Jan 24, 2025

What are the real issues behind the Fuji TV scandal?

Fuji TV's handling of sexual misconduct allegations against TV personality Masahiro Nakai led to a firestorm of public disapproval. Where did it go wrong?

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