Search - information

 
 
Shonannoumi hits the dirt at the hands of Kotozakura during a bout in Tokyo in May. Shonannoumi is among the many top wrestlers who have dropped out of this month's regional tour due to injury.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Oct 9, 2024

Spate of sumo tour dropouts highlights need to rethink wrestlers' health

While it would be foolish not to capitalize on sumo’s surging popularity, expanded tour schedules cut into recovery time and push wrestlers to their physical limits.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (center) ahead of an extraordinary Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 9, 2024

Ishiba dissolves Lower House for snap election

The new prime minister has stressed the importance of winning a mandate from the public following his LDP leadership victory late last month.
"The Quad" security grouping is taking additional steps to address climate change as a security challenge, including supporting adaptation measures such as early warning systems in Pacific island countries.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 9, 2024

'The Quad’ shows concern over climate change as security threat

At the recent "Quad" summit, measures were taken to respond to the threat of climate change, increasingly viewed as a security concern for the Indo-Pacific region.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol delivers an address during the 47th ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute Singapore Lecture in Singapore on on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 9, 2024

South Korea’s Yoon renews unification call in challenge to Kim

The animosity between the two Koreas has heated up since Yoon took office and bolstered South Korea’s security ties with the U.S. and Japan.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya asked his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to provide a proper accounting of the facts in the stabbing death of a schoolboy in China last month during their telephone talks on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 10, 2024

Japan still pushing China for explanation over killing of schoolboy

Japan wants an explanation as soon as possible, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
The city of Kyoto boasts historic artifacts and cityscapes that millions are willing to travel thousands of kilometers to see, but such treasures are not cheap to maintain, prompting the city to ask foreign tourists for a helping hand.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 13, 2024

Kyoto partners with e-gift service company to let tourists Donate & Go

The new donation service allows foreign tourists to contribute toward the preservation of cities they visit while receiving a gift in return.
Japan Sword Co. is a regular exhibitor at the Antique Dealers’ Fair & Exhibition in Tokyo. Its booth at a previous event in 2021 featured more than a few treasures.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 10, 2024

Hold history in your hands at this triennial antiques fair in Tokyo

Open to the public, the Antique Dealers’ Fair & Exhibition will allow visitors to see pieces up close, which might just spur a purchase.
Osaka police arrested a 30-year-old man Wednesday on suspicion of murdering a 17-year-old girl whose body was found in a hotel room in the city of Osaka last month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 10, 2024

Police arrest 30-year-old man over 17-year-old girl’s murder in Osaka

Shunsuke Fukui was apprehended on Wednesday as he left an internet cafe in Yokohama.
The Consumer Affairs Agency is warning against fake websites that lure consumers into purchasing unrelated or counterfeit products.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 10, 2024

Consumer watchdog warns against fake electronics sites

The sites, often promoted via social media ads, are luring consumers into purchasing unrelated or counterfeit products.
A U.S. military helicopter made an emergency landing on a beach in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2024

U.S. helicopter makes emergency landing on Chigasaki beach

Around noon, a report was received through the fire department that a U.S. helicopter made a “precautionary landing” on a beach in the city.
Masakazu Tokura
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2024

2025 Expo head expects ticket sales to speed up

Around half of the 14 million advance tickets that the organizer aims to sell by the start of the Expo have been sold.
People in Japan get some of the least sleep in the world, so when the rare time comes to turn in, many are turning to bedtime stories to drift off to sleep.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 12, 2024

Can't stop tossing and turning at night? Perhaps a bedtime story would help.

“Bedtime routines vary from family to family, from person to person,” says one researcher. “It's important to find what works best for each person.”
Lauretta is much calmer and more demure than her operatic name might suggest.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Oct 14, 2024

Named for an opera, Lauretta is more adorable than dramatic

Named after the daughter of Gianni Schicchi in the Puccini opera of the same name, it was Lauretta’s big, round face and lovely eyes that won her the name.
The Specialty Coffee Association of Japan's World Specialty Coffee Conference and Exhibition runs through Oct. 12 at Tokyo's Big Sight convention center, where Ogawa Coffee Laboratory is one of many companies showing off advances in coffee roasting and brewing.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 11, 2024

On the ground at Japan's biggest coffee conference

The biggest impact the java-centric event will have on most people might be how their local brewers make their lattes and pour-overs in the near future.
The Bank of Japan's surprise rate increase on July 31 led to Japanese stocks plummeting into bear-market territory, with the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei average falling 12.4% on Aug. 5 alone.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 11, 2024

Bank of Japan vows better messaging to avoid more market turmoil

There is "strong will" within the central bank to learn from what had happened during its last rate increase, BOJ Deputy Gov. Ryozo Himino.
Nanako Fujita made her debut in 2016.
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
Oct 11, 2024

Star female jockey Nanako Fujita retires following suspension

Fujita was suspended for using a smartphone for outside communication on the day before a race.
Justice Minister Hideki Makihara speaks during a joint interview with media outlets at his office in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 11, 2024

Justice minister says he has severed all ties with Unification Church

Hideki Makihara has promised to follow the Liberal Democratic Party’s commitment on ceasing ties with the group moving forward.
A Starlink satellite communication system installed on the training ship Kashima of the Maritime Self-Defense Force for test operations at the Harumi Pier in Tokyo on May 15.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2024

Japan's MSDF eyeing Starlink for better internet connectivity at sea

Hoping to create an environment where MSDF members can freely use the internet while at sea, the MSDF plans to introduce the Starlink service on its vessels.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora, Colorado, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 13, 2024

Trump ratchets up rhetoric, calling for death penalty for migrants who kill Americans

He has already proposed an expansion of the death penalty for other offenders, including people convicted of sex trafficking women and children.
Starting on Nov. 5, the Tokyo Stock Exchange will extend its stock trading hours by 30 minutes to 3:30 p.m.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 13, 2024

200 listed firms in Japan to postpone earnings disclosure

The delay in disclosure signals that companies make light of investors and increases the risk of insider trading, critics said.
The Osaka Expo site under construction. The expo is scheduled to take place on Yumeshima, an artificial island, from April 13 through Oct. 13 of next year.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2024

Challenges remain six months to go before Osaka Expo

About 7.14 million advance tickets had been sold since they went on sale last year — only 51% of the organizers' target of 14 million.
Israeli soldiers carry the body of a victim of the earlier Hamas attack at on a kibbutz in southern Israel, during clean-up operations on Oct. 10, 2023.
WORLD
Oct 13, 2024

Secret documents show Hamas tried to persuade Iran to join its Oct. 7 attack

Minutes of Hamas’ secret meetings obtained by The New York Times show Sinwar’s determination to persuade Hamas’ allies, Iran and Hezbollah, to join the assault.
Members of the emergency services help each other to remove their protective suits at the site of the grave of Luidmila Skripal, wife of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, at London Road Cemetery in Salisbury, U.K., on March 10, 2018.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 14, 2024

Public hearings start into death of Briton by Russian nerve agent

The first week of public hearings will take place in Salisbury Guildhall, before moving to the International Dispute Resolution Center in London on October 28.
Kioxia has undergone years of upheaval and the attempt to list the company is closely watched as a test case for buyout firms in Japan where more companies are selling non-core assets or going private.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 14, 2024

Bain sought $10 billion valuation for Japan's Kioxia, but investors only wanted to pay half

The valuation gap complicates the buyout firm's effort to exit its six-year-old investment in Kioxia.
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (center), with Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly (right), and Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, takes part in a news conference about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's investigation into "violent criminal activity in Canada with connections to India," on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 15, 2024

Canada expels top India diplomats, linking them to murder of Sikh leader

India retaliated by ordering the expulsion of six high-ranking Canadian diplomats.
CEATEC brings together 808 companies and organizations from Japan and abroad.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 15, 2024

CEATEC begins near Tokyo as humanity enters 'a new era' with AI

The trade fair showcases products and services that employ artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies.
Chinese President Xi Jinping makes a toast during the National Day reception on the eve of the 75th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sept. 30.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 16, 2024

Xi’s stronger grip on legislature shows lack of checks on power

Nearly 70% of laws made in China this year feature language explicitly affirming the party’s authority.
Nearly two-thirds of parents of Australian teenagers reported concerns about their children's social media use, according to a 2024 survey by youth service ReachOut.
WORLD / Society
Oct 16, 2024

Australia's planned social media ban raises teen isolation fears

For teenagers from migrant, LGBTQIA+ and other minority backgrounds, an age block could cut off access to essential social support.
The Saudi Aramco logo at the Hyvolution exhibition in Paris on Feb. 1
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 16, 2024

Aramco cancels Saudi chemical project as it focuses on Asia

Aramco is pursuing a series of deals in China that would guarantee long-term demand for Saudi crude.
Angry at what they view as China's state-led xenophobia, taught in schools and prevalent online, some people are taking action after the killing of a 10-year-old Japanese boy on his way to school in China, even at their own personal risk.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 16, 2024

Killing of Japanese boy leaves Chinese asking: Is this my country?

Some Chinese people believe the boy was a victim of surging anti-Japanese sentiment fueled by China’s government.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji