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Demonstrators take part in a protest against China to support the ethnic Uyghur community, in Istanbul in December 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 4, 2025

China eases travel curbs on Uyghurs but maintains 'severe' controls

Human Rights Watch says Uyghurs are rarely permitted to travel overseas with family members and often face interrogation on returning to China.
While Fuji Media Holdings is known for its iconic sphere-and-lattice headquarters in the Odaiba district near Tokyo Bay, it also owns office buildings, condominiums, hotels, nursing homes, logistic facilities, resorts and even two aquariums.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025

Fuji Media’s crisis entices investors betting on changes

It may come as a surprise that Fuji Media’s shares have surged 45% this year, making it the best-performing stock on the benchmark Topix index.
Fentanyl precursors on display in Mexico City on Oct. 4, 2023. Chemical components are said to be shipped from China to Mexico, where they are then made into fentanyl and smuggled across the border.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 4, 2025

How China allegedly contributes to the deadly fentanyl crisis

Chemical components are said to be shipped from China to Mexico, where they are then made into fentanyl and smuggled across the border.
Roki Sasaki pitches in a game against the Czech Republic during the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo on March 11, 2023, the 12th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
BASEBALL
Feb 4, 2025

Roki Sasaki's road to glory was paved by ache of a tragedy

Long before he became a pitching phenom and signed a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Roki Sasaki's life was marked by tragedy.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters the Prime Minister's Office on Monday. Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump are due to have their first summit on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 4, 2025

Ishiba and Trump eye joint statement after first summit

The statement is expected to underscore Japan and the United States' commitment to working together in a wide range of areas including security and the economy.
Monks at the temple of the golden Buddha Dordenma in Thimphu, Bhutan, in 2023
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2025

Japanese-made AI Buddha to make debut in Bhutan

Monks in the country will use the chatbot on a trial basis to further improve its functions and create guidelines on its use.
Ramen with simmered tuna cheek meat and soup made from bluefin tuna bones in Tokyo's Koto Ward
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 4, 2025

Novel seafood noodles become flavor of the moment in Tokyo

Noodles served with tuna, yellowtail, whale meat or other ingredients are gaining in popularity.
Visitors to a UFO festival in the town of Iino in the city of Fukushima turn up dressed as aliens and other characters in November last year.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 4, 2025

UFO fans increasingly active in Japan

The trend may be a sign of social anxiety amid geopolitical tension and conflicts across the globe, an expert says.
The current government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer has resisted calls for a national inquiry focused on the grooming gangs in Rotherham, and says it will conduct a series of local probes.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 4, 2025

'Life's ruined' in U.K. town broken by grooming gangs

Rotherham, once a producer of some of the world's finest steel, is now the epicenter of a major U.K. scandal that has left the town angry, ashamed and needing answers.
According to the National Police Agency, 99% of speech venues during last year’s House of Representatives election had baggage inspections carried out.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 4, 2025

Election speech sites step up security after failed 2023 Kishida attack

The National Police Agency has applied greater pressure on speech organizers to enforce security measures following the 2023 failed attack on former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Mizuho’s sustainability report for 2024
ESG CONSORTIUM
Feb 4, 2025

Mizuho report aims to spur action to move into alternative energy

To achieve carbon neutrality in an increasingly uncertain world, Japanese companies should focus on innovations for alternative energy and shift their business models toward building a carbon-neutral economy, Mizuho Financial Group says in a recent report.
Snow-covered streets in Obihiro, Hokkaido, on Tuesday
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2025

Record-breaking snowfall hits Hokkaido as cold front sweeps Japan

The cold air mass is expected to fluctuate in intensity and persist until the weekend, with heavy snow forecast for Hokkaido, Tohoku and Hokuriku later this week.
The Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai on Jan. 20. China's Finance Ministry said it would impose levies of 15% for U.S. coal and LNG and 10% for crude oil, farm equipment and some autos.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 4, 2025

China hits back with tariffs on U.S. goods after Trump imposes new levies

Trump on Monday suspended his threat of 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada at the last minute, but there was no such reprieve for China.
Visitors view snow sculptures at the Sapporo Snow Festival, which kicked off on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2025

Sapporo Snow Festival kicks off with giant sculptures

Snow sculptures created by locals include one of Hokkaido native Haruka Kitaguchi, who won gold in the women's javelin throwing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Ryuji Kimura, 25, is accused of attempted murder along with other charges for throwing an explosive at then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida moments before he was to give a speech in Wakayama in April 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 4, 2025

Kishida's attacker denies having intention to kill ex-PM

The prosecution plans to produce evidence showing the lethal potential of the pipe bomb thrown at Kishida moments before he was to give a speech in Wakayama in April 2023.
Despite numerous past meetings between U.S. and Japanese leaders, Shigeru Ishiba's relationship with Donald Trump is expected to be awkward, lacking the rapport the U.S. president had with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2025

Ishiba will finally meet Trump, but expectations need to be kept low

His long-time rival Shinzo Abe's relationship with Trump is the ideal but an unfair comparison.
Russian demand for Japanese grand pianos is always very high, a dealer has said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 4, 2025

Smuggled grand pianos show Trump’s challenge in pressuring Putin

High-end Japanese pianos still make their way to Russia despite export ban, highlighting Tokyo's struggle to enforce sanctions.
Cargo containers await loading onto ships at the port of Tianjin, China, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 5, 2025

Xi’s careful reply to Trump tariffs shows China has more to lose

The shift reflects both Xi’s success at diversifying imports away from the U.S. since Trump’s first term, as well as China’s more precarious economic situation.
A ship transits through the Gatun locks at the Panama Canal in Colon, Panama, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2025

Panama considers canceling port deal with Hong Kong firm

Such a move would mark a concession to U.S. President Donald Trump, who says China has too much control over the Panama Canal.
Talks by Honda and Nissan to create the world’s third-largest carmaker have gone haltingly since the plans were first announced in December.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2025

Nissan shares plunge, Honda's rise as end to merger talks reported

Shares in Nissan slid more than 4% before trade was suspended by the Tokyo Stock Exchange following the Nikkei report.
Slovenian basketball player Luka Doncic (center) holds up a jersey as he stands alongside Lakers head coach JJ Redick (right) and general manager Rob Pelinka during a press conference introducing Doncic as the newest member of the Lakers at the UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo, California on Tuesday.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Feb 5, 2025

Doncic hungry for titles after shock Lakers trade

Doncic said the prospect of playing alongside LeBron James for arguably the NBA's most iconic franchise represented a "dream come true."
A statue of the founder of the International Olympic Committee, Pierre de Coubertin, at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland
OLYMPICS
Feb 5, 2025

The closed-door battle to lead the Olympics

For such a consequential election, much of it is taking place in the dark, away from any form of public or private debate.
A vigil is held in central Budapest on Tuesday to commemorate a 43-year-old Japanese woman, whose charred body was found in a burned out apartment the previous week. Counter terrorism forces detained her husband, an Irish citizen, on Monday on suspicion of killing the woman.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 5, 2025

Irish man held over suspicious death of Japanese woman in Hungary

The charred body of the victim — the man's former wife and mother of their two children — was found in a burned-out apartment in central Budapest on Jan. 29.
Protestors gather outside of the headquarters for United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday ahead of a news conference by Congressional Democrats.
WORLD
Feb 5, 2025

U.S. aid agency places global staff on leave as part of Trump's purge

The move is part of the Trump administration's radical drive to shrink the U.S. government, which has shocked Washington and caused angry protests.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (center) drops back to pass against the Buffalo Bills during the first quarter in the AFC Championship game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Jan. 26.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 5, 2025

Chiefs take comfort riding with QB Patrick Mahomes

Mahomes is taking his fifth crack at winning the Lombardi Trophy — which would be his fourth — and it's not a stretch to label him the most consequential player Sunday.
A climate change demonstrator takes part in a protest to denounce the impact of U.S. politics on climate change, outside the U.S. Embassy in London on Jan. 11.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 5, 2025

Top climate scientist declares 2 degrees Celsius climate goal 'dead'

A stark new analysis concludes that Earth's climate is more sensitive to rising greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought.
Founded in Hangzhou only 20 months ago, DeepSeek’s technology made waves in January with a new mobile app featuring its reasoning AI chatbot.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 5, 2025

Australia bans DeepSeek from government tech, citing security

A threat assessment by the country’s intelligence agencies found the technology posed an unacceptable risk.
A site where a road collapsed in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, swallowing a truck, is seen on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2025

Japan plans to strengthen water infrastructure after major road collapse

The move comes after it is believed a damaged sewer pipe caused a sinkhole to open up in the city of Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on Jan. 28.
Members of Myanmar's military patrol on a street next to Shwedagon Pagoda, on the fourth anniversary of the military coup, in Yangon on Feb. 1.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 5, 2025

Myanmar junta bans possible conscripts from foreign travel

The junta has lost control of swathes of the country to ethnic minority armed groups and other opposition forces in the civil war triggered by its coup d'etat four years ago.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama has been credited with convincing opposition parties to remain at the negotiating table with his diplomatic skills.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 5, 2025

Who is Hiroshi Moriyama, the man behind the prime minister?

The Liberal Democratic Party secretary-general is known for his negotiation skills and diplomacy, making him integral for a party that now rules as a minority government.

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