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Tsunehisa Katsumata was known for his quick decision-making, which earned him the nickname “Razor Katsumata.”
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2024

Former Tepco chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata dies at 84

Katsumata was the company's point man after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant went into meltdown in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
The close for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Asia’s second-biggest equities market, will be moved back to 3:30 p.m. from Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 1, 2024

High-frequency traders get an extra 30 minutes for Japan stocks

The extra half-hour is raising concerns among market participants who fear the shift will give rise to machine-driven price moves.
The Gifu Prefectural Police headquarters in the city of Gifu
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 1, 2024

Gifu police officer arrested over alleged sex with underage girl

The suspect, then a police academy student, was allegedly fully aware of the girl's age.
Police officers control traffic in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2024

Fewer Halloween revelers seen in Tokyo following street drinking ban

Measures taken that include the street drinking ban to prevent problems are "beginning to produce results," Shibuya's mayor said.
One of the cutest Shiba dogs at ARK, Pomelo is very true to her name.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Nov 4, 2024

Bright and zesty Pomelo knows what she wants

Pomelo was named rather randomly when she arrived at ARK. Little did we know that the name was spot on. The description of the citrus fruit that comes up online — “bright, tangy and refreshing, with an acidity and zestiness that adds an invigorating quality” — fits this girl to a T.
A woman walks past a poster with an image of Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi for the 2024 Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), which is currently underway through Nov. 6.
CULTURE
Nov 2, 2024

Spend Culture Day weekend in Ginza with TIFF and Yuko Mohri

The Tokyo International Film Festival is great chance to see noteworthy films, while the Artizon Museum presents playful art installations by Yuko Mohri.
Ukrainian law enforcement officers comfort a woman crying over the body of her 15-year-old son following a missile attack in Kharkiv on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 2, 2024

In Ukraine, hopes of war breakthrough slim whoever wins U.S. election

For many in war-torn county, the outcome of the U.S. election and its impact on the war with Russia feels less likely to be pivotal than it once did.
Early voters at a polling site during early voting in Queens, New York, on Oct. 27. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia is behind a video that appeared on social media this week falsely claiming that Haitians illegally voted multiple times for Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 2, 2024

U.S. spy agencies issue new warning on Russia’s election misinformation campaign

Three recent videos have sought to undermine confidence in the security of the vote.
Akira Oishi (left) and Shinichi Okanobori have taken on the responsibility of surveying the flora and fauna of Mount Tenran and Mount Tonosu in Saitama Prefecture.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / Longform
Nov 2, 2024

Inside Japan's 100-year project to monitor its deteriorating biodiversity

With researchers and an army of volunteers on its side, the Monitoring Sites 1,000 project aims to bring attention to our fragile ecosystems.
The seaside town of Shika on the Noto Peninsula, where the local power provider, Hokuriku Electric, has been fighting for a decade to restart a nuclear power plant in the town’s center.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 2, 2024

Can quake-prone Japan ever embrace nuclear energy again?

The government, its makeup in flux after the LDP lost seats this week, will soon need to make decisions that will shape Japan's future nuclear policy.
The closing session of the United Nations' COP16 summit in Cali, Colombia, on Friday
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Nov 2, 2024

Talks on halting nature loss run into extra time in Colombia

A closing plenary session started more than four hours late as groups of negotiators huddled behind closed doors seeking to iron out their differences.
Search and rescue team members and a member of the Spanish Civil Guard look for bodies following flooding in Chiva, Spain, on Saturday.
WORLD
Nov 3, 2024

Amid flood cleanup in Spain, residents try to make sense of the disaster

Some blamed climate change, while others pointed toward politicians, who sounded the alarm only after the flood was already raging.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Salem, Virginia, on Saturday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 3, 2024

Climate skeptics are hatching big plans for a second Trump term

Pushed to the fringes during the Biden administration, they are now preparing to revive coal, gut the EPA and limit the tools used by climate scientists.
The Tokyo Hydrogen Museum in the capital's Koto Ward on Thursday. The capital is targeting the “full use” of hydrogen produced using renewable energy “in all fields” by 2050 as part of its decarbonization drive.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Nov 3, 2024

Tokyo's climate goals rely on a fuel that is falling out of favor

The metropolitan government is targeting the widespread use of hydrogen, but strong competition and its physical properties are limiting its applications.
Polling has failed spectacularly in recent U.S. presidential elections and the country can only hope it navigates this year's volatile race with its credibility intact.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2024

Broken political polling failing American democracy

To restore confidence in polling, pollsters must recognize the limitations of traditional random sampling and improve methods for diagnosing nonresponse bias.
As the European Commission prepares to make decisions on Google’s practices by the end of 2024, there is hope for a collaborative approach with U.S. regulators to create meaningful structural reforms.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2024

Google’s breakup needs an international tag team

There’s a growing consensus among regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to redefine antitrust harm beyond just pricing issues.
Tesla CEO Elon Mus joins former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the site of the first assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2024

The growing shadow of big money in U.S. politics

Changes in federal election law have made it easier for candidates like Donald Trump to trade influence for donations.
Masaaki Iene (left) watches as an architect from a local support center checks the level of damage at his house in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Oct. 15 to see whether previous assessments carried out by local government officials were appropriate.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 4, 2024

Noto quake-hit areas question home damage assessments

Many have noted inconsistencies in assessments and discrepancies between the results and the actual situations.
In a group interview at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Thursday, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya declined to make predictions about the Liberal Democratic Party’s approach to any revisions to the Status of Forces Agreement, but said he believes “some wisdom will probably come about” from planned talks within the party.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 4, 2024

Top diplomat says Foreign Ministry will ‘quietly examine’ revising SOFA pact

Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya says finding a "mutually acceptable" solution to issues in the pact governing the U.S. military presence in Japan is key.
Flags of the Khalistan separatist movement are seen on Sept. 20, 2023 at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, where Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot and killed in the parking lot three months earlier, in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 4, 2024

Sikh activists see it as freedom. India calls it terrorism.

The cause to carve out a land called Khalistan from Punjab fizzled out decades ago, but the Indian government still frames the movement as a national security threat.
Smoke billows from a chimney at a combined-cycle gas turbine power plant in Drogenbos, Belgium, on Dec. 6, 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 4, 2024

The world promised to tame methane, but emissions are still rising

World leaders and fossil fuel executives have declared tackling methane — and doing so quickly — a crucial priority.
A Palestinian child sits on top of sacks of flour at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) aid distribution center in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Nov 5, 2024

Israel ends cooperation deal with U.N. Palestinian relief agency

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for years called for UNRWA to be dismantled, accusing it of anti-Israeli incitement.
Operators respond to telephone directory inquiries from Tokyo at a call center in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, in October 1997.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Nov 11, 2024

As NTT ends its Dial 104 service, Okinawa's call centers look elsewhere

Naha and Nago were home to Japan's biggest call center operations, receiving around 125,000 calls a day at their peak in 1999.
Singtel uncovered the breach of its network after detecting suspicious data traffic in a core back-end router and finding what it believed was sophisticated, and possibly state-sponsored, malware on it, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 6, 2024

Chinese group accused of hacking Singapore's Singtel in telecom attacks

The breach of Singtel, which has operations throughout Southeast Asia and Australia, was seen as a test run by China for further hacks against U.S. firms.
Volunteers and locals help to clean the mud off the street following heavy rains in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Nov 6, 2024

At least 89 people missing from floods in eastern Spain

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he was earmarking €10.6 billion ($11.6 billion) to help victims.
American voters in Tokyo gather at an election watch party, organized by Democrats Abroad Japan, at a British bar in Tokyo's Shimokitazawa district on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2024

American voters in Japan reflect divisions in home country

Several Republican voters said they believed Trump’s leadership could address the problems they are most concerned about, such as illegal immigration.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he steps on stage during a rally for former U.S. President and then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in New York on Oct. 27
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2024

What Trump's re-election means for Elon Musk

Trump has vowed to give Musk an official role cutting government spending — and with it, the power to influence policy and the federal agencies.
Kunihiko Katsuta is taken to Hyogo Prefectural Police's Tatsuno police station on Thursday after he was arrested for an attempted murder.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 7, 2024

Murder inmate arrested for stabbing of another girl in Japan

The inmate has also hinted at his involvement in the 2007 murder of a 7-year-old girl in Hyogo Prefecture.
The headquarters of Bungeishunju, Shukan Bunshun's publisher, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 8, 2024

Comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto to withdraw Bungeishunju defamation suit

The lawsuit was filed over a Shukan Bunshun article that detailed sexual assault allegations made by two women.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an election night event in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Friday that Iranian plotters had discussed a plan to assassinate Trump before the 2024 election.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 9, 2024

U.S. announces charges in alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Trump

The foiled assassination plot on Trump was allegedly directed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to avenge the death of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

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