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The Osaka Expo site on Yumeshima island in December. A survey of 3,000 people from across Japan conducted in October by the Mitsubishi Research Institute showed that just 24% of respondents expressed an interest in attending the Osaka Expo.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 4, 2025

Excitement for the Osaka Expo is low. Can organizers build hype?

A little over two months before it opens, the Osaka Expo is just about ready to welcome guests from Japan and the rest of the world — that is, if they are ready to come.
Rintaro Sekizuka runs a record store in both London and Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 8, 2025

Tokyo’s vinyl experts say overseas buyers are ‘sustaining the scene’

A weak yen makes rare vinyls a steal for tourists, and locals say it's all part of a circular musical exchange.
Anti-Yoon protesters react after the Constitutional Court's verdict on the impeachment of South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 4, 2025

South Korea upholds Yoon impeachment, prompting snap election within 60 days

The move, while deepening a divide in South Korea between conservative and progressive voters, could also have broad implications for relations with neighboring Japan.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 14, 2025

How China went from courting Trump to ‘never yield’ tariff defiance

Beijing has put civilian government officials on a "wartime footing” and ordered a diplomatic charm offensive aimed at encouraging other countries to push back.
Women and children fleeing Ukraine gather in Przemysl train station on March 2, 2022.
WORLD
Jul 24, 2023

Ukraine needs its women back for a shot at economic recovery

Failure to persuade any of the 2.8 million working-age women who have fled the country to return would cost Ukraine 10% of its annual prewar gross domestic product.
A disturbing factor that may ultimately defeat the all-volunteer military force is the growing political division across the U.S., which is diminishing the young people's faith in America.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2023

U.S. military’s recruiting woes are a national-security crisis

The U.S. military's struggle to entice even the most surefire candidates — the children of veterans — puts the future of the all-volunteer force in doubt.
As the Kremlin’s grip on power slips, Russia’s generals will likely organize a putsch against Putin and his KGB/FSB cronies — the army’s historical rival.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2023

The Kremlin’s mobster code

While Western experts continue to view Russia as a modern state, it turns out that President Vladimir Putin is the boss of one crime family, but not all of them.
The music score for “Glory to Hong Kong”
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 8, 2023

Hong Kong government to appeal in failed bid to ban protest song

Reiterating that disseminating the song was a national security crime, the government said its injunction was crucial to safeguarding the city.
Technical trainees from Vietnam work at a knitwear factory in the city of Mitsuke, Niigata Prefecture, in February 2019.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 6, 2023

Japan is bringing in more foreign nationals than you think

Japan isn’t an outlier when it comes to low fertility rates, merely a front-runner.
A promotional poster for the film "Barbie" in Tokyo earlier this month
CULTURE
Aug 12, 2023

Hollywood blockbuster 'Barbie' opens in Japan after controversy

Tickets sold fast in Japan as fans flocked to the theatrical release, timed to coincide with the start of the Bon holiday period.
Residential buildings under construction at Tahoe Group's Cathay Courtyard development in Shanghai
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 17, 2023

China’s housing slump is much worse than official data shows

Industry insiders and economists say China’s official home-price indexes are likely understating the depth of the downturn.
A jade pig from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) at the shop of jade trader Lee in Taipei. Taiwan's jade trading sector is flagging post-COVID.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 19, 2023

Taiwan's antique jade dealers see trade losing luster

With the global economy in tatters, buyers are more cautious about taking a chance on expensive items, especially with the market awash with counterfeits.
Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer from his window at the Vatican on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 30, 2023

Few Catholics in Mongolia, but Pope's visit eyes geopolitics

In going to the sparsely populated, Buddhist-majority nation, the pope may be eyeing Mongolia as a way to help build bridges with China and Russia.
A sign reading "suspend the sale of all fish products imported from Japan" in an area of Japanese restaurants in Beijing
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2023

China’s actions on Japan and religion are cut from the same cloth

Beijing’s stoking of anti-Japanese sentiment based on unscientific accusations mirrors its suppression of religious freedom in Xinjiang.
Pictured in his Kyoto kitchen, Alain Ducasse has the largest collection of Michelin stars of any chef alive — not that he puts much stock in such accolades.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 3, 2023

Alain Ducasse: ‘The Kyoto customer wants refinement’

The world’s most Michelin-starred chef sees those stars as a “reward” instead of an “objective.”
Packs of raw fish at a Japanese food store in Beijing prior to China's ban on Japan's seafood products
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 6, 2023

China takes its anti-science disinformation campaign to a new level

Japan can counter China's disinformation on the safety of the Fukushima water release, and gain people's trust, by sharing the data.
The sudden resignation of BP CEO Bernard Looney may mark a crossroads clean energy, as Looney was seen as pushing for a transition more aggressively than his industry peers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2023

BP chief’s surprise exit leaves questions over green strategy

BP said Tuesday that the 53-year-old CEO was departing after failing to fully disclose to the company board past relationships with colleagues.
Starting next year, all renovations to the new Imperial Hotel are scheduled to finish in 2036.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 16, 2023

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel enters the history books

The curtain is about to close on Frank Lloyd Wright’s contribution to Tokyo’s skyline.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 18, 2023

Top Biden official and Chinese diplomat hold 'constructive' talks

The talks come ahead of an anticipated November meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at an APEC summit.
The aviation industry has promised to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, but harsher weather conditions are already forcing a rethink of critical infrastructure in airports and airfields across the world.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Sep 18, 2023

Extreme weather is forcing redesign of world’s busiest airports

From flooded substations and overheating electronic systems to cracking runways, most airports weren’t built to endure what climate change has in store.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2023

Climate fault lines in clear sight at U.N. General Assembly

Disconnects are likely to remain front and center when many of the same leaders gather in Dubai for COP28 in November.
Cinema staff prepare servings of popcorn during an "all you can eat popcorn for 199 baht" campaign in front of a cinema inside a department store in Bangkok in November 2022.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2023

Southeast Asia cinema chains thrive as other markets struggle

Local box office records are being set, filmmaking grants are being unveiled and large cinema chains are shifting into expansion mode.
A sign asking for an investigation into India's role in the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar is seen at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 21, 2023

Canada appeals to allies as tensions rise with India over murder

The muted response to Trudeau's allegations is stark when compared with the uproar after a Russian double agent was poisoned in England in 2018.
Former Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel (left) helps Lewis Hamilton prepare the Mercedes team's "bee hotel" at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Sep 22, 2023

Sebastian Vettel creates a buzz in Japan amid biodiversity crisis

The retired former champion invited current F1 drivers to make a small contribution to nature by building "bee hotels" next to the Suzuka Circuit track.
Players compete against one another during the Just Dance event at the Olympic Esports Week in Singapore in June.
MORE SPORTS / FOCUS
Sep 24, 2023

China hosts esports’ biggest moment with Tencent at the wheel

The once-in-four-years Asian Games, effectively a regional Olympics, is the first time that competitive video games will be eligible for medals.
Mark Zuckerberg speaks onstage during the Meta Connect Developer Conference in Menlo Park, California, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 28, 2023

Meta unveils AI assistant and Facebook-streaming glasses

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the products as bringing together the virtual and real worlds while emphasizing lower costs.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2023

Cambodia's dictatorship marches on and nary a word

Just as quickly as countries condemned Cambodia’s sham elections, its new leader, Hun Manet, was welcomed by the U.N.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, last November.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 7, 2023

Biden says meeting with Xi in November is a 'possibility'

Washington and Beijing are edging closer to setting up a Biden-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco from Nov. 16-17.
Taylor Swift attends the MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Sept. 12.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2023

Taylor Swift and the political needle

With hundreds of millions of social media followers and a staunchly loyal fan base, she can move any dial with the tiniest of efforts.
A portion of a Microsoft data center that supports the Pentagon, and is next door to a bitcoin mine operated by Chinese-owned Bit Origin, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Sept. 29. Aside from the intelligence-gathering concerns over Chinese bitcoin mines in the U.S., the energy sucking facilities can also put immense pressure on power grids.
WORLD
Oct 14, 2023

Across U.S., Chinese bitcoin mines draw national security scrutiny

Microsoft reported one site in because of its proximity to a nuclear missile base. Other cryptocurrency facilities have ties to the Chinese state.

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Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.