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Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, at a news conference on Friday, said the Cabinet has approved a bill to revise relevant laws to digitalize criminal procedures in the country.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 28, 2025

Japan's Cabinet approves bill to digitalize criminal procedures

Once passed, existing laws will be amended to allow greater use of technologies by law enforcers and the judiciary.
While Japan's luxury goods market remains strong, its seconhand resale market is proving just as much a draw for tourists searching for great bargains — as long as they can manage to get their hands on the real deal.
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 1, 2025

Not even Japan is safe from counterfeit luxury goods

Despite a reliable reputation, Japan’s secondhand luxury market is still vulnerable to fakes and counterfeits.
Prices of more than 2,300 food items, such as frozen food products, are expected to be raised in March.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2025

Prices of over 2,300 food items to be raised in Japan in March

The monthly figure is on course to top 2,000 for the first time since October 2024, and the cumulative number in 2025 will exceed 10,000.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton participates in Formula One preseason testing in Sakhir, Bahrain, on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Feb 28, 2025

Lewis Hamilton 'really enjoying' driving Ferrari during testing

The seven-time world champion was second overall on the day but only 0.031 seconds slower than Carlos Sainz.
China's recent naval exercises near Australia and New Zealand, though legal, highlight Beijing’s growing reach and willingness to test other nations' responses.
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2025

China pushes the military envelope with power projections

This week, Chinese ships conducted military exercises, including live-fire drills, in waters near Australia and New Zealand. While legal, the moves expose its hypocrisy.
The latest "Captain America" movie depicts a conflict between the U.S. and Japan over a newly discovered element, but the premise seems implausible and likely reflects a late-stage decision to replace China with Japan to avoid alienating Chinese audiences.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 28, 2025

A U.S. war with Japan? Only in ‘Captain America.’

It’s clear that Japan must be a stand-in for China — possibly a late-stage replacement in a movie that became notorious for its multiple rewrites and reshoots.
Taiwanese comic artist Rishiazao and interpreter Yun-wen Huang greet an attendee at the 2025 Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2025

Taiwan comics on the rise: Local storytellers, global aspirations

A supportive ecosystem and eager audiences — both domestic and global — are boosting the soft power of illustrated narratives from Taiwan.
Nadeshiko Japan celebrates after winning the SheBelieves Cup in San Diego on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Feb 28, 2025

Nils Nielsen's vision for Nadeshiko Japan comes to life at SheBelieves Cup

The remarkable achievement has brought about a renewed optimism among the fanbase, as Japan seems ready to turn the page after years of perceived underperformance.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (center) at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday. The Cabinet has decided to spend an additional ¥106.8 billion ($710 million) from its fiscal 2024 budget reserve funds on disaster relief for areas hit by the Noto Peninsula earthquake last year.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 28, 2025

Japan to spend additional ¥106.8 billion on aid for quake-hit Noto

The latest relief, using reserve funds from the fiscal 2024 budget, takes the total of financial aid for the peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture to more than ¥820 billion.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2025

Trump kicks Zelenskyy out of White House after Oval Office meltdown

The ugly clash in the Oval Office saw Trump and Vice President JD Vance berate the Ukraine leader for not being "thankful" for U.S. help in the three-year war against Russia.
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar are stuck in limbo at a compound in Myawaddy on Feb. 26.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 1, 2025

Some foreigners pulled out of Myanmar scam centers face struggle to get home

Hundreds of foreign nationals have little food, scant health care and filthy toilets in the remote camp they have been taken to, two detainees said.
Disaster was the word European officials used as Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s long-sought meeting with Donald Trump descended into a livestream of raised voices and angry bickering.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2025

Zelenskyy-Trump blowup leaves U.S. allies facing disaster

Kyiv’s European allies, who’ve spent weeks trying to talk Trump out of rushing into a quick deal to end the war on Putin’s terms, were aghast.
Shoppers walk through a shopping area in Shanghai. China's household spending is less than 40% of annual economic output, some 20 percentage points below the global average.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Mar 1, 2025

China urged to think big, go hard on reviving battered consumption

With China's consumer support focusing on subsidies rather than reforms, pressure is growing on Beijing for policies with a longer-term impact.
Palestinians break their fast by eating the Iftar meals during the holy month of Ramadan, near the rubble of buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 2, 2025

Israel agrees on U.S. plan for temporary ceasefire in Gaza, PM's office says

The U.S. proposal came after a realization that more time is needed for talks on a permanent ceasefire.
Hidetaka Ishii, an official at the Chiba Municipal Government, says close coordination with private-sector operators is key for regional decarbonization efforts.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Mar 2, 2025

Japan’s climate heroes show potential and limits of local initiatives

Chiba and others show the potential for local areas to accelerate the energy transition, as well as the challenges of building locally driven, carbon-free energy models.
The Spasskaya tower of the Kremlin, center, and Saint Basil's Cathedral, right, in Moscow in 2022
WORLD / Politics
Mar 2, 2025

Trump’s clash with Zelenskyy leaves Moscow both thrilled and wary

Moscow is celebrating Trump’s shift away from unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine, but some in the Kremlin fear his unpredictability could create new risks.
The website of the Qiaoxing Volunteer Group, a Chinese community organization in the Philippines, shows four men detained in late January in the Philippines on charges of espionage seen with Chinese defense attache Li Jianzhong and the governor of Cagayan province, Manuel Mamba, in this illustration picture taken Feb. 27.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 2, 2025

Alleged Chinese spies gave Philippine city and police cash and motorbikes

The men spied on the Philippine navy with drones, according to investigators, who also found also photos and maps of sensitive sites on their phones.
The rapid collapse of the plan to take Seven & I private reflects how personal egos and domestic competitiveness ultimately outweighed the nationalistic desire to fend off Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard, whose pursuit of the Japanese retailer emerged last August.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 2, 2025

Seven & I and Nissan deal fallout leaves Japan companies vulnerable

The collapse of the deals means the companies are potentially even more vulnerable to foreign takeovers.
Former Reds great Pete Rose speaks during a ceremony for the unveiling of his bronze statue at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati on June 17, 2017.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 2, 2025

MLB's Rob Manfred reviewing petition to reinstate Pete Rose

The report comes one day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would pardon Rose.
Lydia Ko poses with the trophy after winning the HSBC Women's Championship in Singapore on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Mar 2, 2025

Lydia Ko adds 'Asia's Major' to trophy haul with Singapore crown

Ko, a three-time major winner, started the final round with a one-shot lead over a tightly packed field.
The government plans to make it easier for urban workers to get side jobs in regional areas.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 2, 2025

Government to help regional firms hire urban workers for side jobs

The subsidies are part of a program that matches corporate workers with struggling small and midsize companies in regional areas.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office in Washington on Tuesday. The U.S. president just signed another executive order on Saturday designating English as the official language of the United States.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 2, 2025

Trump designates English as official language of U.S.

The White House published an executive order by Trump which says it is "long past time" that English is declared as the nation's official language.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy departs following a contentious meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday. Plans to sign a critical minerals deal between the two nations were scrapped after the talks quickly devolved into a fiery exchange over U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2025

Trump’s Oval Office clash with Zelenskyy was a win for Putin

Nobody in Ukraine, or any other country formerly under Moscow’s boot, believes that Putin will honor the terms of a ceasefire without credible guarantees.
Chinese President Xi Jinping
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 3, 2025

Xi prepares to unveil China stimulus plan as trade war heats up

AI breakthroughs and Xi’s recent embrace of private entrepreneurs have driven a rally ahead of the National People’s Congress.
Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Mar 3, 2025

As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows

Women and young people are leading a migratory wave that the government is struggling to halt.
Xiaobaodang Coal Mine, in Shaanxi province, China, in 2023. China, which mines and burns half the world’s coal, is facing swelling inventories of the fuel.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 3, 2025

Coal’s four-year lows hide a coming global supply squeeze

Demand for the fuel continues to rise in India and China, outpacing breakneck rates of expansion in solar and wind.
Ukrainian servicewomen Natalia (right), 53, and her daughter Veronika, 26, from the 100th mechanized brigade, pose for a photo at an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region in Ukraine on Feb. 15.
WORLD / Society
Mar 3, 2025

'Under my wing': Mothers and daughters serving together in Ukraine

Ukrainian servicewomen Natalia, 53, and her daughter Veronika, 26, serve in the 100th mechanized brigade.
A worker assembles electronic car keys at a manufacturing plant in Jalisco State, Mexico, on Feb. 20. The production of key fobs is an example of the benefits of the USMCA free trade agreement, which has simplified manufacturing and supply chains.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 3, 2025

The risks of Trump tariffs encapsulated in a car key

Electronic car keys are assembled in Mexico, but can cross borders in North America several times before being finished.
Adrian Newey, Aston Martin's new managing technical partner, speaks during a news conference in Silverstone, Britain, on Sept. 10, 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Mar 3, 2025

New Aston Martin designer Adrian Newey ready to get back to drawing board

Cars designed by Newey have won 12 constructors' championships for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull and 223 grand prix since 1991.
Blackstone said it agreed to purchase 60% of Tokyo-based CMIC, a contract research organization, in a deal that values the company in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 3, 2025

Blackstone buys Japan drug trial firm, adding to private equity health deals

Blackstone has been increasingly active in Japan’s life science sector amid a wider buyout boom in the country.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past