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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.
With the next prime minister needing to be selected soon after the recent election, there are questions about whether the Democratic Party For the People and Nippon Ishin no Kai will support Shigeru Ishiba in his bid to remain Japan’s leader.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 31, 2024

Ishiba's future in question as support from allies wavers

The question now is whether the DPP and Ishin will support the LDP nominee to ensure victory, or if they will nominate their own candidates.
Nomura Holdings said it paid the penalty on Thursday and apologized to clients and concerned parties.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2024

Nomura fined by Japan regulator for bond market manipulation

The fine, while small, may hurt Nomura’s reputation at a time when it is refocusing on Japan as a key growth area for its trading and investment banking operations.
Fans watch Game 5 of the World Series at Fields, a sports bar in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, on Thursday morning.
BASEBALL
Oct 31, 2024

Fans gather early at Shibuya bar to watch Shohei Ohtani's big night

Game 5 of the World Series started at around 9 a.m. on Thursday for fans in Japan.
People walk among piled up cars, following floods in Sedavi, Valencia, Spain, on Thursday.
WORLD
Nov 1, 2024

Spain's floods are among Europe's worst storm disasters ever

A year's worth of rain fell in eight hours in parts of the Valencia region on Tuesday.
A mourner attends the funeral of a commander from Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah armed group in Baghdad on Sept. 22
WORLD / Politics
Nov 1, 2024

Iraq tries to avoid regional fight as militias fire at Israel

Two visits to Iran by Iraq's top security officials, seeking Tehran's help to rein in its allied Iraqi factions, failed, sources said.
According to Teikoku Databank, the upcoming price increases can be attributed to higher material costs and will be led by processed food and snacks.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 1, 2024

Japan to see price hikes for 282 food products this month

The upcoming price increases can be attributed to higher material costs and will be led by processed food and snacks.
Investigators of a joint task force set up in the wake of a series of robberies in the Kanto region attend a meeting at the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo on Oct. 18.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 1, 2024

College student who took job on dark web arrested for attempted robbery

The suspect said he thought he was taking on a delivery job, but instead he was forced to break into a house in western Tokyo.
The All Blacks perform the haka before facing Japan in Yokohama on Oct. 26.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Nov 1, 2024

All Blacks coach calls haka part New Zealand's DNA after recent criticism

How opposing teams should respond to the haka has long been a thorny topic.
Vietnamese technical interns work at a food processing factory in Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2024

Criteria revealed for technical interns in Japan looking to change jobs

Applicants can select from a wide range of specific "unavoidable" situations, such as being the victim of harassment, set out in a list attached to the application form.
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.
Nippon Ishin no Kai leader Nobuyuki Baba speaks during the party's executive meeting in Osaka on Thursday as co-leader Hirofumi Yoshimura looks on.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 1, 2024

Nippon Ishin likely to hold leadership election after poor showing at the polls

Calls for leader Nobuyuki Baba's resignation have grown following the party's poor showing in Sunday's general election.
The Kurama Fire Festival is one of Japan's most visceral 'matsuri' (festivals), but growing throngs of spectators could bring changes in the future.
LIFE / Travel
Nov 2, 2024

At Japan’s hottest festival, crowds threaten to smother the flames

Despite the growing throngs of attendees, it’s the smaller details of the Kurama Fire Festival that add up to more than the sum of its parts.
Held weekly at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward, Tatakai Tuesday brings together both local and visiting fighting game enthusiasts.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Nov 2, 2024

Blood, bruises and brotherhood at Tokyo’s fighting games club

Organizers Jonathan Metoyer and Andrew Fidelis started the events to 'replicate a sense of pressure you’d feel in competitive space.'
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (right) shakes hands with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell before their meeting at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Friday morning, ahead of the announcement of Japan and the EU's new defense and security partnership.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 1, 2024

Japan and EU launch defense and security tie-up amid mutual China concerns

The move is aimed at developing, deepening and strengthening cooperation and dialogue across all areas of security and defense, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya says.
A perfect storm of political uncertainty at home and abroad is brewing for markets in Japan.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 1, 2024

Investors in Japan place — and hedge — their bets ahead of U.S. election

Donald Trump's lead in U.S. battleground-state polls, coupled with the outcome of Sunday's Lower House election, is fueling bets on the dollar against the yen.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2024

Japan’s potential kingmaker says BOJ shouldn’t hike before March

The central bank needs to closely examine the results of next year’s wage deal results before moving on policy again, Tamaki said.
Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. In its revised estimates, the Cabinet Office cut its inflation-adjusted GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal year ending in March 2025 to 0.7% from 0.9% projected in July.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 1, 2024

Japan cuts growth forecast again for current fiscal year on weak exports

In its revised estimates, the Cabinet Office cut its inflation-adjusted GDP growth forecast for the year ending in March 2025 to 0.7% from 0.9% projected in July.
A military medic checks on injured Ukrainian soldiers on a military evacuation train on Oct. 18.
WORLD
Nov 1, 2024

Russia speeds up advance in Ukraine as mood darkens in Kyiv

A gain of more than 200 square kilometers adds to territory taken in a grinding summer offensive that’s involved huge losses of Russian troops and equipment.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui attend a ceremony in Moscow on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 1, 2024

North Korea says will stand by Russia until 'victory' in Ukraine

North Korea's Choe Son Hui was in Moscow as the West believes up to 10,000 North Korean troops are training in Russia and on the brink of entering the war in Ukraine.
In recent years, anglophone publishers have perked up to the potential of “healing fiction,” driven by a healthy appetite for East Asian literature. Japan figures prominently in this literary landscape, and a fondness for felines in the "iyashikei" (healing type) genre has proven commercially viable abroad.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 2024

Cat companions and the 'healing fiction' boom

Japan's "iyashikei" (healing type) cultural products are gaining audiences, and non-Japanese readers are craving cozy feline literature in translation.
Tennessee National Guard soldiers offload from a C-17 aircraft at Grayling Army Airfield in Grayling, Michigan, in August 2022. Camp Grayling, which is within 160 kilometers (100 miles) of where China-linked electric vehicle battery maker Gotion plans to build a facility, will be added to an existing list where nearby property transactions may be reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
WORLD
Nov 2, 2024

U.S. expands oversight on property deals near military sites

The move comes at a time of heightened concern over China-related land purchases.
A subcommittee of Japan's Fiscal System Council proposed Friday that the government provide efficient support over multiple years to the sector, which is growing in importance from the perspective of economic security.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 2, 2024

Japan panel calls for medium-term chip sector aid strategy

The subcommittee said the government provide efficient support over multiple years to the sector, which is growing in importance.
Chipmaker Nvidia will replace rival Intel in the 128-year-old Dow Jones Industrial Average prior to the start of trading on Nov. 8.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 2, 2024

Nvidia to replace Intel in the Dow Jones Industrial Average

The company will replace rival Intel in the 128-year-old Dow Jones Industrial Average prior to the start of trading on Nov. 8.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, attends a news conference at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 2, 2024

Ishiba to meet with U.S. and Chinese leaders during multilateral summits

The meetings will be the first time for Ishiba to hold talks with either president in person since taking office early last month.
In a June paper, six Chinese researchers from three institutions, including two under the People's Liberation Army's leading research body, the Academy of Military Science (AMS), detailed how they had used an early version of Meta's Llama as a base for what it calls "ChatBIT."
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 2, 2024

China researchers develop AI model for military use on back of Meta's Llama

The evidence was believed to be the first showing that Chinese military experts have been systematically trying to leverage the power of open-source LLMs.
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.
Former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison is seen in a booking photograph at Shelby County Detention Center in Shelbyville, Kentucky, in September 2020.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Nov 2, 2024

Former U.S. cop convicted of civil rights abuse in Breonna Taylor case

Brett Hankison was convicted on one count of civil rights abuse, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Japan's Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Tetsuo Saito arrives at Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Oct. 1.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 2, 2024

Land minister Tetsuo Saito set to lead Komeito

Saito will be picked to head the party by its leadership on Thursday, before being formally elected on Nov. 9.

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