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A lawyer for ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata speaks at a news conference at the Shizuoka Prefectural Government office on Tuesday. The Shizuoka District Court has awarded Hakamata, who was acquitted of a 1966 murder case in a retrial last year, some ¥217 million ($1.44 million) in compensation for being unjustly detained for over 47 years.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 25, 2025

Hakamata gets ¥217M in compensation after acquittal in 1966 murder case

The amount is the biggest such compensation granted in the country, according to the lawyers of ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata, who spent over 47 years in detention.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waits for a session of the House of Councillors Budget Committee to begin at the Diet in Tokyo on March 14.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2025

Parties still at odds over corporate donations as deadline for agreement looms

The prospect of reaching a decision on whether to ban, restrict or continue to accept donations by the end of the month appears slim.
Futures markets for computing power, driven by increasing demand from AI and other sectors, could help stabilize price volatility and create new investment opportunities, similar to how oil futures manage fluctuations in the energy market.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2025

Computing power is going the way of oil in markets

One of the purposes of futures markets is to draw financial investors into the production process of commodities.
The "Infinite Paradise" main lantern takes center stage at the 2025 Taiwan Lantern Festival, held in the city of Taoyuan between Feb. 12 and 23.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2025

Lantern festival lights up skies in Taiwan with Japanese flair

Japanese municipalities added sparkle to the celebration in Taoyuan, with decorations featuring local mascots and icons.
A protestor waves a Turkish flag in front of riot police during a rally in Istanbul in support of its arrested mayor on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

Turkey protesters fill streets, defying crackdown

The demonstrations erupted after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Max Lesser, a senior analyst on emerging threats at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has uncovered a network of companies operated by a secretive Chinese tech firm that has been trying to recruit recently laid-off U.S. government workers.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

Secretive Chinese network tries to lure fired federal workers in U.S.

Max Lesser, a researcher who uncovered the network, said the campaign follows "well-established" techniques used by previous Chinese intelligence operations.
Tatsuo Hashida (second from right), head of a group representing victims who suffered from having given large donations to the Unification Church in Kochi Prefecture, speaks during a news conference in Kochi on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 26, 2025

Unification Church victims voice joy over stripping of group's legal status

The Tokyo District Court stripped the controversial group of its religious corporation status on Tuesday.
Gen. Timothy Haugh of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency; FBI Director Kash Patel; Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard; CIA Director John Ratcliffe; and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse depart after testifying at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. The hearing came a day after news of a major security breach roiled the Trump administration.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

Trump team scrambles to handle fallout from Signal chat assailed as 'sloppy, careless'

The administration sought to contain the fallout after a journalist said he had inadvertently been added to a discussion on highly sensitive war plans.
Ispace's Resilience lunar lander at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Tsukuba Space Center in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, in September
JAPAN / FOCUS
Mar 26, 2025

Japanese startups driving space development

Not only large companies but also emerging businesses are hurrying to conduct lunar exploration and commercialize transportation services using rockets.
Danish, Greenlandic and U.S. flags fly at the Danish armed forces' Arctic Command in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 14.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

U.S. visit puts 'unacceptable pressure' on Greenland: Denmark

The visit comes at a time of flux, with Greenland's political parties still negotiating a new coalition government after a March 11 general election.
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre, seen behind orange construction fencing, speaks at an election campaign event Ontario, Canada, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

India said to have meddled in Canadian party election

A yearlong inquiry identified New Delhi as one of the main actors saying that it supported candidates believed to be pro-India.
The Immigration Services Agency in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2025

Imabari Shipbuilding loses technical intern certification

The firm will be unable to accept foreign trainees for the next five years.
Residents of Zamami, Okinawa Prefecture, attend a memorial ceremony on Wednesday, the 80th anniversary of the U.S. military's landing on the Kerama Islands during World War II.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2025

Victims of Okinawa battle remembered on 80th anniversary of U.S. landing

Over 200,000 people, including civilians, were killed in ground battles on islands in Okinawa.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (bottom center) and other Trump administration officials mishandled security by discussing a military strike on a commercially available messaging app, exposing vulnerabilities and raising questions about poor judgment.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2025

U.S. allies get a Signal chat’s worth of red flags

In the short term, that may have few real consequences. Although insulting, the administration’s assessment of Europe’s weak military capabilities is correct.
A mars rock is packed before transport from the National Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo to Osaka, where it will be displayed at the 2025 World Exposition, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2025

Mars rock transported from Tokyo for Osaka Expo

The rock will be shown at the government's Japan Pavilion at the expo.
At No. 4, three-Michelin-starred Sezanne took home the title of best restaurant in Japan in this year's Asia's 50 Best Restaurants rankings.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 26, 2025

11 in Japan win Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant honors, but Gaggan is tops

The modern French cuisine of Sezanne was good enough for best in Japan and No. 4 in all of Asia.
A wildfire burns on a hillside in Andong, South Korea, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 27, 2025

South Korea wildfires 'largest on record,' disaster chief says

More than a dozen fires broke out over the weekend, scorching wide swathes of the southeast, as the death toll rose to 26.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be using U.S. President Donald Trump's desire to present himself as a strong dealmaker against him, some European officials said.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Putin’s tactics are pushing Trump toward tough choice on Ukraine

Moscow seems intent on prolonging discussions and keeping the scope of talks narrow to pressure Washington into giving ground.
Some South Korean lawmakers have called the Chinese presence in nearby waters a "direct challenge to marine security."
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

South Korea installs platform to monitor Chinese presence in disputed sea

China says its structures in the sea are fish farming equipment, but they have raised alarm bells in Seoul.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and others attend a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Opposition urges LDP to reinvestigate ties with Unification Church

The move comes following a court order to strip the group of its religious corporation status.
Iwao Hakamata, a wrongfully convicted death-row inmate who was acquitted last year through a retrial, and his sister Hideko after a news conference in Tokyo in November 2019. Hakamata won compensation from Japan this week.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 27, 2025

Ex-judge fights Japan's 'unopenable door' retrial system

Hiroaki Murayama wants Japan's outdated retrial system to be fixed so that there will "be no more (Iwao) Hakamatas."
Alysa Liu competes in the women’s short program during the World Figure Skating Championships at TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Mar 27, 2025

Women's skating favorites falter as Liu leads at worlds

Three-time defending champion Kaori Sakamoto, trying to become the first woman in 65 years to capture four consecutive world crowns, was a disappointing fifth.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pose for photos before their joint news conference at the Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Brazilian leader's Tokyo visit lifts ties to new heights

The two leaders have adopted a five-year action plan and a flurry of agreements as the countries mark their 130th anniversary year of diplomatic relations.
Elon Musk listens to U.S. President Donald Trump speak in the White House in Washington on Feb. 11.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Member of Elon Musk's DOGE team provided tech service to cybercrime ring

Edward Coristine, 19, is among the most visible members of the DOGE effort that has been given sweeping access to U.S. government networks.
Osamu Murata (left), the acting chairman of nonprofit Ashinaga, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Wednesday. Ashinaga, which provides financial aid to children, conducted a survey among parents and guardians of recipients to determine the challenges they face.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 27, 2025

Japan’s single parents struggle to raise children, survey finds

Such households grapple with economic hardship, "time poverty" and social isolation, according to a nonprofit that provides financial aid to children.
A survey of 12,817 companies by Shinkin Central Bank Research Institute found that only 51% committed to base wage hikes, the think tank announced on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2025

Japan’s wage growth isn’t as rosy as Rengo’s data indicate

The broader picture for pay trends may not be as rosy as the union group expects, according to one think tank.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a meeting of the Upper House Budget Committee on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Ishiba’s remarks on inflation relief measures draw ire as budget deadline looms

Confusing messages about an economic package to counter rising prices came as negotiations were heating up on when to hold a vote on the budget.
Demonstrators take part in a rally to support Rumeysa Ozturk — a Tufts doctoral student taken into custody by federal agents — in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

U.S. authorities detain Turkish doctoral student at Tufts, revoking F-1 visa

U.S. authorities have also targeted students at Columbia University, Cornell University, Georgetown University, Brown University and the University of Alabama.
Hisashi Hieda, a 41-year veteran of Fuji TV’s board of directors and dubbed the broadcaster’s “emperor,” has stepped down.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2025

In the wake of several scandals, Fuji TV ‘emperor’ Hieda steps down

Hieda, a 41-year veteran of Fuji TV’s board of directors, also plans to step down as chairman of the Fujisankei Communications Group, of which the broadcaster's parent is a part.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addresses American service members assigned to Kane'ohe Bay, Hawaii, on Tuesday. Hegseth’s itinerary during his first visit to Asia in his new role will include visits to the Philippines and Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2025

Hegseth’s Asia tour won’t fix U.S. credibility crisis

The timing of Hegseth’s first Asian tour couldn’t be more awkward. U.S. President Donald Trump’s "America First” mantra is raising eyebrows.

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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