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Tokyo observed the first "extremely hot day" of the season on July 10, 2023, when the temperature hit 36.5 degrees. A new heatstroke alert system will be put in place on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 23, 2024

Japan to put special alert system for heatstroke in place

The Environment Ministry will put in place a special alert system for heatstroke to protect people from unprecedented heat.
Yum China, which operates KFC and Pizza Hut, plans to add more than 5,000 outlets by 2026 with more than 50% of them outside megacities.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 23, 2024

China’s small towns thrive as more opt out of demanding megacity life

As an economic downturn in China’s biggest cities prompts layoffs and competition for remaining posts, many are finding a better quality of life elsewhere.
An employee prepares to place a mortar into a box at an arms production facility in an undisclosed location in Ukraine.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Apr 23, 2024

Cash shortages and attacks take toll on Ukraine's growing arms sector

Firms are struggling to fund production and secure long-term deals, and all are concerned about being targeted in intensifying Russian missile strikes.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a news conference at the end of a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting on Capri Island, Italy, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 23, 2024

Top U.S. diplomat returns to China, but breakthroughs unlikely

From Ukraine and Taiwan to the South China Sea and the Middle East, the list of bilateral and global issues on the agenda will be long.
Digital platforms have been flooded with disinformation, allowing foreign countries to conduct influence operations and leading to widened social divides.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 28, 2024

How democratic states are regulating digital platforms

Some platforms have been flooded with disinformation, allowing foreign countries to conduct influence operations.
Economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2024

Japanese minister Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine

She signed a visitors' book as a minister and made a ritual offering at her own expense.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the Manhattan Supreme Court on the sixth day of the hush-money trial against him on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 24, 2024

Ex-tabloid CEO says he bought and killed stories about Trump affairs

The National Enquirer's ex-CEO said he deliberately didn't publish stories about Donald Trump's affairs to help the former president's 2016 election.
A worker walks through a burned out control room at a power plant of energy provider DTEK. A Russian attack blew off parts of the roof and ripped through walls, severing vital communications systems and sparking several blazes.
WORLD / Society
Apr 24, 2024

'Everyone's afraid': Ukraine power plant workers fear fresh strikes

Russia has stepped up devastating bombardments on Ukrainian power plants in recent weeks.
Princess Aiko attends an imperial garden party in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2024

Princess Aiko makes debut at imperial garden party

The princess joined the party hosted by the emperor and empress at the Akasaka Imperial Gardens after graduating from Gakushuin University last month.
People backing Ukraine gather outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. The Senate on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to approve a long-stalled $95 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 24, 2024

Congress passes Ukraine aid bill in boost to Kyiv — and Taipei — after long delay

The package, which had been delayed amid objections from Republican hard-liners, could be signed into law as soon as this week.
Tests for patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease. According to the Alzheimer's Association, the disease is estimated to affect more than 6 million Americans.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 24, 2024

Alzheimer's drug adoption in U.S. slowed by doctors' skepticism

There is an entrenched belief among some doctors that treating the memory-robbing disease is futile.
Buyers inside an exhibition hall at the Canton Fair in Guangzhou on April 17.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2024

China’s prices are just too low for buyers to sweat about tariffs

Many buyers at China’s biggest trade event in the southern city of Guangzhou shrugged off the risk of an escalating trade war with the U.S.
Migrants travel in an inflatable boat across the English Channel, bound for Dover on the south coast of England.
WORLD / Society
Apr 24, 2024

U.K. Rwanda law sparks fear among migrants hoping to cross Channel

At least 15 people have died trying to cross this year so far, already more than in all of 2023.
The inhabitants of a tranquil mountain village see their local environment threatened by Tokyoites with plans to build a glamping site in “Evil Does Not Exist.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2024

‘Evil Does Not Exist’ builds its dramatic tension to perfection

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s nuanced drama deftly meditates on humanity’s complex relationship with nature.
Despite the potential benefits AI might have for bank customers, like finding the best interest rates, there are concerns about the destabilizing effects it may have on financial stability.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2024

Generative AI is coming for your bank. Maybe.

Tech investors reckon that supersmart agents will soon upend the business model of traditional banks, but there are caveats.
Of 1,729 local municipalities nationwide, 744 have been identified as being at risk of disappearing.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 24, 2024

Over 40% of Japan's municipalities at risk of vanishing, study finds

The Tohoku region takes the top spot in both the number and percentage of municipalities at risk of disappearing due to a sharp population decline.
Japanese project Serani Poji, founded and operated by musician Tomoko Sasaki, was a relatively under-the-radar group during the early 2000s. Thanks to short-form video platforms such as TikTok and YouTube Shorts, however, it has suddenly become one of the most successful Shibuya-kei groups in terms of streaming numbers.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 25, 2024

Serani Poji’s retro Shibuya-kei sounds find viral fame

The video game-related pop project gets a second life after online listeners rediscover chipper cuts from a 2002 album.
The Pentagon initially opposed the long-range missile deployment, fearing the loss of the missiles from the American stockpile would hurt U.S. military readiness.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 25, 2024

The U.S. quietly shipped long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine

Long-range missiles from a $300 million military aid package the U.S. approved on March 12 have already been used twice in Ukraine.
Members of the Generation Z division at the Kitakyushu municipal government in Fukuoka Prefecture discuss ways to attract more young people to live in the city.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 25, 2024

Local governments setting up unique divisions to revitalize economy

Kitakata in Fukushima Prefecture has created a ramen division and soba division to promote local cuisine.
Everywhere, U.S. allies are taking steps to defend or advance their interests in the event former U.S. President Donald Trump returns to power in November elections, an even chance based on recent opinion polls in swing states.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 25, 2024

How U.S. allies are preparing for a possible second Trump term

They want to avoid Trump's "America First" policies dealt them before, which included trade wars and a shakeup of security alliances.
Rory McIlroy was one of the PGA Tour's staunchest defenders when the turmoil that has gripped the sport began with the emergence of LIV Golf.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 25, 2024

Rory McIlroy open to returning to PGA Tour board

McIlroy stepped down from the board in a surprise move last November, saying he wanted to concentrate on his own game.
The planned extension of the Hokkaido Shinkansen to Sapporo will be delayed until after fiscal 2030 due to difficulties relating to tunnel construction, according to sources.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2024

Hokkaido Shinkansen extension to be delayed beyond fiscal 2030

According to sources, tunnel construction for the section has proven challenging.
Toyota's annual global sales topped 10 million units in 2023 for the first time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 26, 2024

Toyota sets records for output and sales as scandals fail to dent demand

Global sales increased 5% from a year earlier to 11.1 million units, new data shows, exceeding 10 million for the first time.
Former Auburn and Oregon quarterback Bo Nix Nix thinks his experience gives him an edge over the other potential first-round quarterbacks.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Apr 25, 2024

NFL draft pool shrinks as NIL money entices more players to stay in school

Only 58 underclassmen have declared for this week’s draft, the smallest number since 2011.
Race walker Nanako Fujii wears thick-soled shoes during a national race walking event in Kobe on Feb. 18.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 25, 2024

Japanese race walkers slow to embrace thick-soled shoes

The key benefit of athletes wearing thick-soled shoes is that they are propelled forward by the bounce generated by the soles of the shoes.
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2024

Ukraine is far from doomed

When comparing Ukraine’s situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 25, 2024

Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other

In a departure from boys' club politics, candidates including four women, a writer and an ex-martial artist are making their case for a seat in parliament.
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Apr 26, 2024

Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past

Chef Ryohei Ikemi will open dinner with a warming soup featuring vegetables from Aomori's Lake Towada and close with a local Kyogoku apple gelato.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 28, 2024

Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.

As with for any single parent, life can present challenges. For those times, you'll need to learn resilience, perseverance and attention to detail.
Snoopy watches people very closely, and when he’s out on walks he’ll keep his nose to the ground.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Apr 29, 2024

Snoopy is sniffing out his forever home

Whether it's racing around or chasing balls, Snoopy is one super-energetic pup.

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