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Yoshihiko Noda, the head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, attends a news conference last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 2, 2025

CDP to present 'full package' of budget revisions in mid-February

The opposition party's upcoming revisions will include a gasoline tax cut, free school lunches and tuition-free high school education regardless of parents' income levels.
Many attribute the far right’s recent global rise to “anti-incumbency” bias, but this overlooks how the COVID-19 crisis fostered division and distrust, turning voters against their governments. 
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2025

Confronting the pandemic’s toxic political legacy

Libertarian resentment over past restrictions and mandates is one thing; an abiding distrust of scientists is quite another.
Bollywood faced a challenging year in 2024, with box-office collections dropping significantly, leading to concerns about a return to lawlessness in Mumbai.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2025

Bollywood’s dark past is threatening to return

When everything starts bombing for Bollywood, things take a sinister turn in Mumbai.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a Lower House plenary session last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 2, 2025

LDP conservatives frustrated by Ishiba's diplomacy with China

As Ishiba's foothold within the LDP remains precarious, one misstep could spark moves to undermine his administration.
Rescuers on Thursday continue to try and free a truck driver after his vehicle plunged into a sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, earlier in the week.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2025

Residents near Japan sinkhole urged to evacuate

The growing sinkhole in Saitama Prefecture could be the result of corroded sewerage pipes, according to local authorities.
Rory McIlroy lifts the trophy after winning the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Pebble Beach, California, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Feb 3, 2025

Sizzling Rory McIlroy captures Pebble Beach title

The 35-year-old four-time major winner made three birdies and an eagle after the turn to fire a 6-under par 66 and finish 21-under 267.
The Imperial Household Agency's Instagram account boasts over 1.8 million followers.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 3, 2025

Imperial Household Agency finds success on Instagram amid public relations push

With the account boasting over 1.8 million followers, the agency is aiming to boost engagement.
U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper appears on the BBC's "Sunday Morning" political television show with journalist Laura Kuenssberg.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 3, 2025

U.K. to become first country to criminalize AI child abuse tools

The government will make it illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate sexualized images of children, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Smoke billows from the site of several explosions during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday.
WORLD
Feb 3, 2025

Israeli military blows up buildings in West Bank refugee camp

Israeli forces began the assault on Jenin on Jan. 21, two days after a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and the militant group Hamas took effect.
A member of the former rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham stands guard near an image of Assad at the fourth division headquarters in Damascus on Jan. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 3, 2025

Digital discord: Online disinformation sows discontent in Syria

There are fears online disinformation is derailing the transition of power after Sunni Islamist rebels defeated Assad in December.
People who were onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship when the COVID-19 cluster infections in the ship broke out in February 2020 pray Monday in Yokohama for those who died of the disease.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2025

COVID-19 victims of Diamond Princess ship remembered five years on

Of a total of 3,711 passengers and crew members on the ship, 712 became infected with the novel coronavirus and 14 died from the disease.
A snowy street in the city of Aomori in early January
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2025

Weather agency warns of heavy snow in many areas from Tuesday

The Meteorological Agency urged people to be on high alert for possible traffic disruptions.
An Iranian couple sits in a park facing the Milad Tower in Tehran on Dec. 27.
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 3, 2025

Vanishing mountains: Winter air pollution smothers Iran

Iran's capital Tehran frequently ranks among the world's most polluted cities, says Swiss-based air quality monitoring company IQAir.
Construction workers near a sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on Monday
JAPAN / Society / EXPLAINER
Feb 3, 2025

Why it's taking so long to reach the driver trapped in a Saitama sinkhole

The biggest challenge for the operation, now in its seventh day, is that the sinkhole continues to expand, complicating the rescue efforts.
After a long wait, Beyonce proudly holds the one prize that has alluded her for many years: the Album of the Year award. "Cowboy Carter" also garnered the Best Country Album award.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 3, 2025

Beyonce finally wins top album, as Kendrick Lamar sweeps Grammys' rap category

Beyonce made history at the Grammys as she became the annual event's most decorated artist while the night paid tribute to the community of fire-ravaged Los Angeles.
Beyonce accepts the Best Country Album award for genre-spanning record "Cowboy Carter," her first accolade of the big night.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 3, 2025

In pictures: The Grammys 2025 moments to remember

It was a night for recognition of music's brightest talents but also for coming together after the tragedy of the LA wildfires.
A U.S. Marine provides water to Afghan families during the evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in August 2021.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2025

Abandoning Afghans who worked with us troops is shameful

The urgency is driven by a simple fact: The Afghans who helped us, along with their family members, are considered traitors by the ruling Taliban.
Communist Party supporters take part in a rally next to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in July 2022. Economic reforms pushed by the U.S. in 1990s on Russia caused hardship and extremism, fueling Vladimir Putin's rise.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2025

A secret cable and a clue to where America-Russia relations went wrong

Putin is the main culprit for Russia’s return to authoritarianism, aggression and hostility to the West. But American arrogance and presumptions cannot be dismissed.
Demonstrators protest outside the U.S. Agency for International Development headquarters in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 4, 2025

Elon Musk targets closure of U.S. humanitarian aid agency

The billionaire tasked with downsizing the federal government has been increasingly critical of USAID, calling it a left-wing agency unaccountable to the White House.
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.

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