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Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi speaks during a press conference at a hotel in Tokyo on Tuesday, a day before his team faces Vissel Kobe in a friendly match.
SOCCER
Feb 6, 2024

Messi says leg 'getting better' but could miss Japan match

Inter Miami are set to face Japanese champions Vissel Kobe at Tokyo's National Stadium on Wednesday.
Like for other generative AI services, the algorithm behind Rufus is a closely held secret and Amazon declined to discuss how it operates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024

Who benefits when shoppers use Amazon's new AI tool?

The tool raises several questions, as Amazon has a history of steering customers toward products that most benefit the company.
The Bank of Japan signed a joint statement with the government in 2013 committing itself to achieve its 2% inflation target "at the earliest date possible."
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 6, 2024

Japan's inflation goal still needed even if negative rates end: official

Chief government economist Tomoko Hayashi says any shift in BOJ policy would not alter the importance of the 2% inflation target.
A man walks through panels at a solar power plant under construction in Aksu, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, in 2012.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024

Banned Chinese solar goods worth billions find route to U.S. via India

Amid a solar boom, India’s largest panel-maker has sent millions of panels to the U.S. made with parts from a Chinese firm denied entry to the U.S. market.
Taylor Swift (right) cheers on her boyfriend Travis Kelce's team, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the AFC divisional round playoff game against the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York, on Jan. 21. The Chiefs will play the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 6, 2024

Taylor Swift rocks the world and drives the far right crazy

The “Swift effect” has become a force in both U.S. domestic politics and international relations.
Nintendo has raised its forecast for Switch console sales and its overall operating profit for the year ending in March.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024

Nintendo raises sales and profit forecasts after strong holiday earnings

The Kyoto-based firm's shares are at an all-time high this year, with expectations for a next-generation Switch also playing into the lofty valuation.
Vietnam is sitting on around 17% of the world’s known rare-earth reserves, second only to China. 
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2024

Vietnam should seize a 'rare' opportunity to take on China

Vietnamese officials have approved plans to supercharge rare-earths production, aiming to process as much as 62,500 tons of the minerals by 2030.
Japan’s shortage of software engineers in particular has caused the country to lag behind in its digital transformation.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 6, 2024

Tech firms in Japan are scouring for talent amid labor shortage

Three-quarters of technology hiring managers in Japan found recruitment to be "very” or "quite” competitive last year.
U.S. President Joe Biden sought to cast responsibility for the failure to secure an agreement on the border — an issue which polls show is a major political liability for his re-election hopes — on congressional Republicans and Donald Trump.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Biden pins border bill failure on Trump with Ukraine hanging

Biden acknowledged the Senate package was all but dead.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen holds a welcome ceremony in September 2022 for then-Tuvaluan Prime Minister Kausea Natano in Taipei.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Tuvalu could recognize China, but how much would it affect Taiwan?

Taipei might benefit from shifting its energy and resources away from competing with Beijing over formal recognition.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2024

Japan to allow bureaucrats to work remotely in principle

The government will release guidelines on remote work as part of an effort to encourage more diverse ways of working among its employees.
Ukrainian Railway trains at the central railway station of Kyiv on Sunday
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2024

Ukrainian Railways to buy rails from Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel plans to deliver about 15,000 metric tons of rails in summer and 7,500 metric tons next year.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 7, 2024

Orcas appear to escape after being trapped in drift ice off Hokkaido coast

Local officials are hopeful that the animals escaped to safety as the density of drift ice decreased Wednesday.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner ahead of a practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November
MORE SPORTS
Feb 7, 2024

Red Bull's Christian Horner has Friday hearing over complaint against him

The BBC said it understood the complaint is related to "inappropriate behavior of a controlling nature."
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Education minister under fire for unreported ties to Unification Church

Masahito Moriyama said he could not remember 2021 meeting with the group or the agreement he signed with it for electoral support.
Taiwanese soldiers train at a base in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Tuesday. The island has decided to extend compulsory military service for young males from four months to one year amid increasing threats from China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2024

Taiwan extends military conscription, a system Japan might want to consider

As Japan struggles to fill its military ranks, compulsory national service might be its only solution.
Today’s Russia is nothing like the citadel of stability and satisfaction nor the bastion of prosperity that the Kremlin tries to claim it is.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2024

Preparing Russia for permanent war

Today’s Russia is nothing like the citadel of stability and satisfaction nor the bastion of prosperity that the Kremlin claims it to be.
Japan is the only country with a law requiring married couples to adopt the same surname. In 95% of cases, it is women who take their husband's name.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2024

The land where single surnames are the only option

The business lobby recently joined calls for Japan to accept separate surnames after marriage. What, then, is standing in the way of change? Politics.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2024

How dogs have helped Tokyo police for over a century

The role of police dogs has changed due to the spread of DNA testing, security cameras and other tools of technology.
Nippon Steel is on track to finalize its planned $15 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by the end of September, an executive has said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2024

Nippon Steel says on track to close U.S. Steel deal by September

The deal by the world's No.4 steelmaker to buy U.S. Steel has drawn criticism from some in the United States.
Inter Miami's Lionel Messi in action during a friendly against Vissel Kobe on Wednesday in Tokyo
SOCCER
Feb 7, 2024

Messi wows Tokyo fans days after Hong Kong no-show

Messi's appearance came days after his absence on the pitch in a recent Hong Kong friendly had angered fans there.
A Chinese J-10 jet fighter in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China, in November 2014. Relations between Saudi Arabia and China have become closer in the energy industry and beyond. The two countries are working to expand cooperation in fields including aircraft, artificial intelligence and infrastructure.
WORLD
Feb 8, 2024

China grabs spotlight with major presence at Saudi weapons show

Exhibiting for the first time under a single brand, state companies displayed a range of weaponry, from drones to anti-aircraft and ballistic missiles.
The “dogeza” position is used for the sincerest of apologies and it was deployed by the man who mistakenly ruined an attempt at a Guinness world record on live television.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 9, 2024

The year so far has been marked by some good and bad apologies

A social norm seems to persist in Japan that one should apologize first and explain later. That goes for companies as well.
The location of the water leak (left) and a close-up of the vent where the water was released at part of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 8, 2024

Tepco reports leak at Fukushima but says no contamination detected

The nuclear plant operator plans to remove soil from around the area that may have been contaminated by the 5,500 liters of radioactive water that leaked.
England's Jess Carter in action with Spain's Salma Paralluelo during the Women's World Cup final in Sydney in August 2023
SPORTS
Feb 8, 2024

Women's sports draw record viewership in U.K. in 2023, research shows

The FIFA Women's World Cup final, which England lost 1-0 to Spain, was 2023's most-watched women's sports event on TV with 38.4 million viewing hours.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 8, 2024

Cyber and phone fraud cases in Japan surge, marking 15-year high

National Police Agency officials say that it is premature to conclude that public safety in Japan has deteriorated.
Shiki Nakayama at a snow-covered baseball field in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, last month. Nakayama grew up watching her older brother’s exploits on the diamond and first picked up a bat and ball in elementary school.
BASEBALL
Feb 9, 2024

Meet the Gen Zer in Japan who is forging a path for girls in baseball

For 16-year-old Shiki Nakayama, it's no big deal that she's the only girl on her high school baseball team.
U.S. and U.K. military aircraft have carried out over a hundred bombing missions on Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, as well as against Tehran's proxies in Iraq and Syria, since last month.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2024

2024 looks to be a very bloody year

Preventing a conflagration and wider wars depends first on preventing regional crises from escalating, which demands a strong deterrent posture.
Singer Taylor Swift performs at her concert in Tokyo on Wednesday. With her winning her fourth Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards on Monday, sales of her merchandise will likely increase even as fans feel more compelled to purchase them for their premium value.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 8, 2024

'Swiftonomics' to yield ¥34.1 billion economic boost for Japan

The economic ripple effect of an average attendee of Taylor Swift's concerts in Tokyo is estimated at ¥155,090.
Around 55,000 fans showed up for Taylor Swift's first show on the Tokyo leg of her world tour.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 8, 2024

Fans share love for Taylor Swift at sold-out Tokyo shows

Swifties from all over the world flew into Japan to see the pop superstar perform at The Eras Tour’s only stops in East Asia.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight