Search - information

 
 
The town of Futaba is still dealing with the effects of 3/11, but that isn't stopping some residents from looking forward.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 7, 2024

Futaba pivots to 'hope tourism' to revive its fortunes

Whether you’re a long-term resident of Japan or flying in for a holiday, the message is clear: Futaba welcomes you.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visit the cenotaph for the victims of the Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima Peace Park in Hiroshima in May 2023.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 6, 2024

Former PM Kishida worried upheaval in Seoul may hurt ties

Kishida, who left office in September, formed a warm relationship with Yoon over frequent meetings.
The United States was Japan’s biggest export destination in 2023 with cars and auto parts making up a third of shipments.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 6, 2024

Japan eyes talks with Trump that include cutting auto tariffs

Analysts say close personal ties between Trump and late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe played a role in smoothing out trade and diplomatic relations.
Critics have said that drivers who were speeding well over the speed limit or those who were extremely drunk were not indicted for dangerous driving because of its vague definition.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Dec 6, 2024

What constitutes fatal dangerous driving in Japan?

Critics say its vague definition has often led prosecutors to indict offenders with less-serious charges of fatal negligent driving instead.
The South Korean government holds its own memorial service for Korean gold miners on Nov. 25 in Sado, Niigata Prefecture, after skipping the one organized by local authorities the day before.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2024

Kyodo News to remove senior editors over Yasukuni Shrine report

The agency reported in August 2022 that a lawmaker had visited the shrine based on unconfirmed information.
A Ukrainian serviceman wipes a mirror at an outdoor washbasin near the Kharkiv region in November.
WORLD
Dec 7, 2024

In Ukraine, more and more exhausted soldiers abandon their posts

Since 2022, Ukraine opened nearly 96,000 criminal cases against servicemen who abandoned their positions since Russia’s invasion.
The decision significantly raises the prospects of an unprecedented ban in just six weeks on a social media app used by 170 million Americans.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 7, 2024

U.S. appeals court upholds TikTok law forcing its sale

The decision is a major win for the Justice Department and opponents of the Chinese-owned app and a devastating blow to TikTok parent ByteDance.
A low pressure storm system known as a "bomb cyclone" moves off the coast of the U.S. Pacific Northwest and western Canada in a composite satellite image on Nov. 20.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 7, 2024

Google introduces AI agent that aces 15-day weather forecasts

They report that their new model can, among other things, outperform the world’s best forecasts meant to track deadly storms and save lives.
Japan's envisaged active cyber defense system is to acquire and analyze communications information even in normal times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2024

Japan eyes monitoring international communications for cyber defense

The move is part of a plan to develop active cyber defense, or preemptive action to prevent cyberattacks, according to sources.
Makoto Uchida, President and CEO of Nissan, holds a press briefing at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 in Tokyo on Oct. 25, 2023. Uchida is under presser to deliver a turnaround and to keep his job at the troubled carmaker.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 8, 2024

Nissan boss Uchida races to save the automaker — and his job

Makoto Uchida is under pressure to reverse Nissan’s fortunes after years of turmoil following the 2018 arrest of former chairman Carlos Ghosn.
Syrian rebel fighters celebrate near the Clock Tower in Homs on Sunday after rebel forces entered Syria's third city overnight.
WORLD
Dec 9, 2024

Stunned, elated prisoners pour out as Syria's jails are flung open

Throughout the civil war that began in 2011 in Syria, security forces have held hundreds of thousands of people in detention camps known for torture.
Director Ema Ryan Yamazaki wanted to show situations that everyone, non-Japanese included, could relate to in “The Making of a Japanese,” her documentary about Japan’s schoolchildren. 
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2024

Documentarian praises the positives of stricter schooling

"The Making of a Japanese" director Ema Ryan Yamazaki reflects on the role of the Japanese educational system in creating empathetic children.
Yurie Collins is a bilingual comedian based in Tokyo. In addition to being a prize-winning roast comic, her dating-themed "Tokyo Hoe Tales" shows have proven to be a hit with women of all nationalities.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 10, 2024

Yurie Collins: ‘Everyone seems sedated, fed-up … that’s why they turn to comedy’

Yurie Collins is a bicultural stand-up comedian who has opened for comedian Atsuko Okatsuka and the upcoming Iliza Shlesinger show in Tokyo.
The exterior of a blast furnace building is seen during a media tour by Nippon Steel at their East Nippon Works Kashima Area facility in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 10, 2024

Nippon Steel makes final push to win over U.S. workers

Nippon Steel said it made new commitments with regards to where and when a previously announced $1.4 billion capital expenditure commitment would be spent.
The French headquarters of Huawei Technologies in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris in 2020. Companies that maintain business ties with Huawei could lose access to work for the Pentagon, which committed nearly $460 billion on contracts in fiscal 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 10, 2024

Huawei suppliers to face further U.S. limits under defense bill

The bill's language effectively bars Pentagon contractors from selling chips and the equipment for making or designing them to Huawei or its affiliates.
In scrap yards lacking proper environmental safeguards, towering piles of scrap are at risk of collapse.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Dec 10, 2024

Japan to tighten regulations for electronic devices scrap yards

Local communities have expressed concerns over frequent fires and noise pollution.
Manchester City's Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England. The club stands accused of 80 breaches of financial rules between 2009 and 2018, plus a further 35 of failing to cooperate with a Premier League investigation, but strongly denies any wrongdoing.
SOCCER
Dec 10, 2024

Manchester City hearing into Premier League charges concludes: reports

City strongly denies any wrongdoing, but face severe sanctions if found guilty, including potentially being relegated.
The U.S. decision to suspend the use of a firing range in the Senkakus has had lasting consequences, undermining Japan's claims to the islets and sending mixed signals about U.S. support for Japanese sovereignty over the area.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 10, 2024

A restart of Senkaku firing ranges is long overdue

The suspension also had strategic consequences, depriving both U.S. and Japanese forces of vital military training ranges.
The defense lawyer of Kentaro Kitagawa, former head of the osaka District Public Prosecutors Office, speaks at a news conference on Tuesday in Osaka City.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 10, 2024

Former chief prosecutor of Osaka to plead not guilty over rape in shift

During his first trial hearing in October, Kentaro Kitagawa said he would not contest the rape allegation, expressing deep remorse.
Prince Hisahito, who is second in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne, is currently a third-year student at the University of Tsukuba’s affiliated high school.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2024

Prince Hisahito to enroll at University of Tsukuba

The 18-year-old, who is a student at the university’s affiliated high school, secured admission through a recommendation-based exam.
The East Japan Railway Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. Within the next 10 years, JR East will develop automated walk-through gate technology so that passengers can enter the train platform without having to tap their Suica card or phone on the ticket gates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2024

JR East announces 10-year plan to drastically overhaul Suica

Dubbed the "Suica Renaissance," the plan involves redesigned ticket gates, new payment features and a subscription service.
Georgian anti-government protesters face off against police during consecutive days of mass demonstrations against the government's postponement of European Union accession talks in central Tbilisi on Dec. 3.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2024

Georgia has crossed a Russian Rubicon

A tipping point came last week when authorities in the capital Tbilisi sent masked police to raid the headquarters of opposition parties.
There is no guarantee that bird flu will ever begin transmitting between humans, and U.S. health authorities have emphasized that the risk to the general public remains low.
WORLD
Dec 12, 2024

'Knocking on our door': Experts warn of bird flu's pandemic threat

U.S. health authorities have emphasized that the risk to the general public remains low.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes passes against the Buccaneers in Kansas City, Missouri, on Nov. 4.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Dec 12, 2024

NFL trio brace for physical toll of playing three games over short period

"It's a unique situation," said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who shared that he told the team to take one day at a time through the unprecedented stretch.
A production line at Mazda's plant in Salamanca, Guanajuato state, Mexico
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2024

Mazda’s Mexico investment to hinge on Trump’s tariff decisions

Mazda joins a growing number of auto firms that have either paused or signaled they may reconsider plans in the country.
A handout photo shows Kosuke Nozaki (right), who was found dead of a drug overdose, and Saki Sudo, who was his wife.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 12, 2024

28-year-old widow of ‘Don Juan of Kishu’ acquitted of his murder

Prosecutors had argued that Saki Sudo, 28, somehow caused her wealthy 77-year-old husband Kosuke Nozaki to ingest drugs, resulting in a fatal overdose.
The head priest of Kiyomizu Temple writes the kanji "kin," which was chosen by the public as the character that best represents 2024, on Thursday in Kyoto.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2024

'Kin' selected as the kanji of 2024 after strong year for Japanese athletes

The choice also reflected the Liberal Democratic Party’s slush-fund scandal and the spate of robberies involving shady part-time jobs.
Nvidia will end the year with about 4,000 people in China, up from just about 3,000 at the start of 2024, people familiar with its operations said.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 12, 2024

Nvidia steps up hiring in China to focus on AI-driven cars

The tech giant will end 2024 with about 4,000 employees in China, after starting the year with around 3,000.
Curious and friendly, Chicory is very nice to other dogs, which cannot be said for other Shibas.
COMMUNITY / ADOPT ME!
Dec 16, 2024

A smiley Shiba that plays nice and loves everyone

Chicory has all the cuteness of his Shiba breed without the usual prickly temperament.
Illegally cultivated cannabis plants uncovered by police at a home in Chiba Prefecture. Revised cannabis-related laws now criminalize the use of marijuana in addition to its possession and sale.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 12, 2024

Japan tightens cannabis laws amid rising youth usage

The use of marijuana has been criminalized, with the maximum penalty for possession, transfer and now usage set at up to seven years in prison.

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