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Fuji TV is suing its former president, Koichi Minato, and former executive vice president, Toru Ota, for ¥5 billion ($34 million) over their mishandling of a “sexual violence” scandal involving former TV personality Masahiro Nakai.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 28, 2025

Fuji TV seeks ¥5 billion in lawsuit against former execs over Nakai scandal

The broadcaster claims its former president, Koichi Minato, and former executive vice president, Toru Ota, failed to respond appropriately to the scandal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a reception at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 9.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 29, 2025

Russia eyes China trade revival as Putin prepares for Xi summit, sources say

"Ahead of the visit, officials on both sides are looking into ways to increase trade because the current numbers do not look good," one source said.
The special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office searches the office of Upper House lawmaker Akira Ishii in the city of Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 29, 2025

Nippon Ishin lawmaker's alleged fraud likely totals ¥8 million

Akira Ishii is suspected of receiving salaries for a state-paid public secretary who actually did not work for him.
Jesse Kirkwood is part of a vibrant field of translators who have nurtured what might be called a “post-Murakami era of Japanese literature and translation,” one book at a time.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 29, 2025

Jesse Kirkwood: ‘Languages are entire cultural universes with all sorts of baggage’

The Japanese-English literary translator reflects on catching the recent wave of “post-Murakami” fiction and how he balances reading for work versus pleasure.
The government will support university student internships at local companies starting in fiscal 2026, aiming to encourage urban-to-rural migration and regional settlement.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2025

Japan to support internship programs at local companies

The aim is to strengthen the flow of people from urban to rural areas by encouraging university students in big cities to return to their hometowns after graduation.
The Cowboys traded Micah Parsons to the Packers on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Aug 29, 2025

Cowboys trade Micah Parsons to Packers in blockbuster deal

The Packers sent three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark and first-round draft picks in 2026 and 2027 to the Cowboys in the blockbuster trade.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia (center) is flanked by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura (right) and his brother Cesar (left) as he arrives for his immigration check-in on Monday in Baltimore.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 29, 2025

Why are countries accepting deportees from the U.S.?

Several poor countries, mostly in Africa, have agreed to take deportees from the United States who are almost entirely citizens of other countries.
The Finance Ministry is seeking input from primary dealers on the potential for further cuts to long-term government bond issuance, sources say.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 29, 2025

Japan asks primary dealers for views on cutting long bond supply

The Finance Ministry has asked primary dealers for their views on further reducing issuance of longer-maturity government bonds, according to people familiar with the matter.
Headlining the second day of YouTube Music Weekend is Vocaloid artist Kikuo, who, with 1.46 million YouTube subscribers, is one of the most popular artists in the genre.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 29, 2025

YouTube Music Weekend is where Japan’s internet-born performers go global

YouTube's three-day weekend of online performances features a medley of Vocaloid, hyperpop, rock and pop artists in a supportive, cultural festival atmosphere.
“Sympathy Tower Tokyo” is centered around Sara Machina, a star architect designing  a new experimental prison in central Tokyo.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 30, 2025

ChatGPT controversy is the least interesting part of 'Sympathy Tower Tokyo'

In Rie Qudan’s futuristic Tokyo, AI and architects take on the prison system.
The Lhasa River, a major tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River, flows near the southern part of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. China’s new megadam project could become a geopolitical and ecological time bomb. Getty Images
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2025

The global perils of China’s new ‘superdam’ project

One might have expected the revelation of China's huge dam project to set off alarm bells worldwide. Instead, the reaction has been muted.
China’s demographic spiral is now resembling that of ancient Rome, where changing social norms and drastic population-control measures led to falling birth rates and irreversible decline.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2025

What ancient Rome can teach China about demographic collapse

China’s situation, however, is particularly perilous. Unless it is reversed, a demographic decline of this magnitude could recall the collapse of the Roman Empire.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama speaks to reporters on Friday at party headquarters.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 29, 2025

Pressure builds on LDP's Moriyama to take the fall for election drubbing

It is customary in Japan for a party's secretary-general to quit after a poor showing at the polls.
At Kuro Mame, baristas customize the coffee according to the guest's preferences.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 29, 2025

Sip a bespoke coffee for ¥4,000 at Kuro Mame

Always wanted to have a barista customize your brew? Make a beeline for this premium cafe.
A meeting of Nippon Ishin no Kai lawmakers earlier this month.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 29, 2025

Scandal-hit Nippon Ishin lawmaker to quit

Tokyo prosecutors have launched an investigation into Ishii on suspicion he fraudulently received funds for wages for a secretary who did not actually work for him.
A man waves Indonesia's national flag during clashes with riot police on Friday in Jakarta following the death of a motorcycle taxi driver.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 29, 2025

Police killing sparks unrest in Indonesia in first major test for Prabowo presidency

The civilian, a motorcycle ride-sharing driver, was hit at the site of violent clashes on Thursday near parliament as police sought to disperse demonstrators.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and British Defense Minister John Healey speak in Tokyo on Thursday ahead of the Pacific Future Forum.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2025

In a first, U.S. skips Asia security forum being held in Japan

The Pacific Future Forum features the U.K. and Japanese defense ministers as speakers and senior military officials from Japan and Western nations, but no U.S. representatives.
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, speaks next to U.S. Sen Deb Fischer at Songshan Airport in Taipei on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 30, 2025

Taiwan has right to be free and 'preserve self-determination,' senior U.S. senator says

Taiwan has the right to be free and "preserve self-determination," U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Armed Services Committee and one of the strongest advocates for Taiwan in the U.S. Congress, told the island's president Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a news conference in Kyiv on Friday.
WORLD
Aug 30, 2025

Zelenskyy wants higher-level talks on security guarantees

The call came as European Union defense ministers pledged to train Kyiv's troops on Ukrainian soil in the event of a truce.
U.S. President Donald Trump wears a "Trump Was Right About Everything!" hat, as he visits The People’s House: A White House Experience museum in Washington on Aug. 22.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 30, 2025

Seeking more power, Trump uses firings to test presidential limits

The actions underscored Trump's desire for influence in sectors normally seen as independent from overt political control.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, will screen government agencies and ministries' requests for tax reform at their respective tax panels, aiming to draw up guidelines later this year.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 30, 2025

Government agencies draw up fiscal year 2026 tax reform requests

The ruling coalition will screen the requests, aiming to draw up late this year tax reform guidelines for the fiscal year starting next April.
Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani, leaves federal court in Santa Ana, California, in February.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 30, 2025

Bookmaker linked to ex-Ohtani interpreter sentenced to prison

A California bookmaker who took at least 19,000 bets from Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter was sentenced to one year and one day in prison on Friday.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a meeting in Ramallah, in the West Bank, in April.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 30, 2025

U.S. bars Palestinian leader Abbas from U.N. as allies pledge statehood

The U.S. justified its decision by restating that the Palestinian Authority had failed to repudiate extremism while pushing for a Palestinian state.
Then-U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to board Air Force Two as she departs LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York, in September last year.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 30, 2025

Trump withdraws Kamala Harris' Secret Service protection

The move comes just weeks before Harris is set to go on a tour to promote a new book about her failed presidential campaign against Trump last year.
A Y-20 tanker aircraft and Chengdu J-20 jet fighters fly in a formation during a flyover rehearsal ahead of a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, in Beijing on Aug. 24.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Aug 30, 2025

Beyond the 'bling,' China aims for deterrence in military show

Questions remain about how effectively China's armed forces — untested since a bloody border conflict with Vietnam in 1979 — could knit its gear together in a future conflict.
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (third from right),  chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, poses for pictures alongside U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (third from left) and others upon arriving at the Songshan Airport in Taipei on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 30, 2025

Senior U.S. senator expects joint weapons production with Taiwan

A Taiwan official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that co-production of weapons was "very important."
The Betsukai Pilot Spirits welcomed new players (left to right) Yuta Yamanaka, Roman Guthrie, Scott Bellina and Leo Jiminian this year, pictured here with Yassir Lachkar of the Ishikari Red Phoenix.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Sep 1, 2025

Overseas sluggers step up to bat in small-town Hokkaido

The residents of Betsukai, Hokkaido — where cows outnumber people 7-to-1 — have extended a warm welcome to five players from overseas who joined the Pilot Spirits.
Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations unit at a traffic checkpoint in the Ivy City neighborhood in Washington on Thursday
WORLD / Politics
Aug 31, 2025

Trump’s ‘startling’ rapid deportation policy paused by U.S. judge

The decision puts on hold a rule enacted in January that has become a key element of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort.
Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser Al-Rahawi attends an event in Sanaa in January.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 31, 2025

Yemen's Houthis say prime minister killed in Israeli strike

Israel has been striking Houthi targets for months in response to the rebels' attacks, which they say are in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.
Boxing gloves on the wall of a gym in Tokyo ahead of a training session by American star Floyd Mayweather in September 2022. Intense sparring, drastic weight loss and lax regulation have created a dangerous environment in Japanese boxing, officials say, as the sport in the country reels from the deaths of two fighters.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Aug 31, 2025

Attack and never give up: Inside Japan's deadly boxing scene

The twin tragedies sent shockwaves through Japanese boxing, with authorities scrambling to investigate and facing pressure to tighten safety.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past