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Giant panda Rauhin at Adventure World in Wakayama Prefecture. She and her three daughters are expected to be sent to China in June.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2025

All four giant pandas at western Japan zoo to be sent to China

If no new additions join the zoo, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo would be the only remaining giant pandas housed in Japan.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in Tokyo gained 3.4% in April from a year earlier, as a mixture of impacts from last year’s school fee cuts and higher food and energy costs accelerated inflation, according to the internal affairs ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2025

Tokyo prices rise most in two years, backing central bank's hike path

Consumer prices excluding fresh food gained 3.4% in April from a year earlier. Tokyo's figures are a leading indicator for national price gains.
Shipping containers at a port in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on April 15
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 25, 2025

South Korea and U.S. aim for package of deals before tariff pause ends in July

The U.S. and South Korea had a "very successful" meeting on Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said afterwards.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2025

Trump’s trade whiplash sinks world into dreaded ‘uncertainty’

"The worry I hear more often is actually not even tariffs, it is uncertainty,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters Thursday. "Let’s have clarity.”
Hokkaido's famous lamb is turned into a ragout or French-style stew and used as a pizza topping at Savoy Ezo.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 26, 2025

Savoy, Tokyo’s top pizzeria, fires up in Sapporo

The chain of pizza restaurants has opened its first branch in Hokkaido, offering locals a taste of its famous crisp and airy pizzas.
Nomura is looking to deepen its foothold in its traditional Wall Street businesses by weighing a return to offering cash prime-brokerage services in the United States and Europe.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 25, 2025

Nomura weighs return to prime brokerage four years after Archegos

Prime brokerage, which involves banks lending cash and securities to hedge funds, has become an increasing money maker for Wall Street in recent years due to high equities prices.
Travis Hunter smiles on stage after being selected as the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft by the Jaguars in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 25, 2025

Two-way star Travis Hunter heads to Jaguars as No. 2 pick in NFL draft

The Jaguars traded up to get the No. 2 pick from the Browns.
U.S. President Donald Trump has touted the $44 billion Alaska liquefied natural gas project, which would deliver gas from the state's North Slope fields via a 1,300 kilometer pipeline for domestic use and send it to customers in Asia as LNG, bypassing the Panama Canal.
WORLD
Apr 25, 2025

U.S. expected to press Japan and South Korea for support of Alaska LNG project

The $44 billion Alaska liquefied natural gas project would send gas to customers in Asia as LNG, bypassing the Panama Canal.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a discussion on the employment ice age generation in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 25, 2025

‘Employment ice age generation’ returns to spotlight ahead of Upper House election

The generation, which graduated between 1993 and 2004, has long grappled with pay stagnation and irregular employment due to a tight labor market.
A young recruit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces participates in an exercise in the Kyiv region earlier this month.
WORLD
Apr 25, 2025

Cash bonus for a year fighting Russia? Inside Ukraine's youth recruitment drive

Two months after Ukraine launched a national drive to recruit young people to fight in its tired and aged armed forces for a year, fewer than 500 have signed contracts.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks about U.S. tariffs in Tokyo last week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2025

Japan doubles down on stimulus to counter effects of Trump tariffs

The government will implement measures that build on ones announced earlier with the aim of boosting domestic spending and shoring up corporate balance sheets.
Pope Francis, a reformer known for his humility, inclusivity and focus on social justice, passed away at 88, leaving behind a divided church and a legacy of advocating for humanity's most vulnerable.
EDITORIALS
Apr 25, 2025

The Catholic church loses a lion

Francis’ spirit of inclusion should define who we are as human beings and his compassion should be the lodestar for action, both personal and political.
Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa is leading Japan's negotiations to forge a trade deal with the U.S. Carefully contemplated and measured retaliatory levies are one of the tools at the tariff czar's disposal.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 25, 2025

Japan needs clarity as an antidote to contradictory tariffs

With incompatible goals and an erratic timeline, Trump's tariff strategy has more holes than Swiss cheese. In response, Japan should bring a strong, coherent strategy to the table.
Kobe Bryant's first game-worn jersey is displayed during a media preview ahead Sotheby's sale of sports memorabilia in New York on March 21.
BASKETBALL
Apr 25, 2025

Jersey from Kobe Bryant's Lakers debut sells for $7 million

The jersey was photo-matched to seven games from his 1996-97 rookie season.
Sport climber Miho Nonaka competes during the Tokyo Games in Aomi Urban Sports Park in August 2021.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 25, 2025

Beauty expert encourages female athletes to embrace game day glam

Beauty expert Miha Fukuoka believes sportswomen do not need to downplay their femininity to be taken seriously.
On the surface, "Wildcat Dome" tells a personal story of damaged children — now adults — bound together by tragedy. Underneath, there’s a constant undercurrent of political consequence, invisible and pervasive like radioactive particles.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 26, 2025

‘Wildcat Dome’ challenges Japan's historical narratives

Prolific writer Yuko Tsushima explores themes of militarization, colonialism and occupation through the identities of mixed-race orphans in postwar Japan.
Yokohama coach Patrick Kisnorbo and defender Katsuya Nagato during a news conference in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, a day ahead of the club's Asian Champions League quarterfinal
SOCCER
Apr 25, 2025

Singular focus for new boss Patrick Kisnorbo as Marinos face Ronaldo's Al-Nassr

The meeting in Jeddah's Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium will be Kisnorbo's second for the struggling club since replacing Steve Holland last week.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff prior to their talks in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 26, 2025

Trump says Russia-Ukraine deal 'very close' after new Kremlin talks

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again rejected suggestions that his country give up on Russian-held Crimea.
Indian soldiers trek back after a search operation around Baisaran meadow in the aftermath of an attack in Pahalgam, in Indian-held Kashmir, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 26, 2025

Pakistan official calls for international inquiry into Kashmir terror attack

The defense minister’s remarks appeared to be aimed at defusing tensions with India, after armed militants attacked a tourist group in the disputed territory.
World Bank Group President Ajay Banga speaks during an interview at the IMF-World Bank Group spring meetings at IMF headquarters in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 26, 2025

Developing countries should fast-track U.S. trade deals, World Bank chief says

"You need to negotiate trade systems with the U.S. at the earliest possible (opportunity)," Ajay Banga said. "If you delay, it hurts everyone."
As Japan gears up for the trade talks, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is also seeking to cushion the blow that the U.S. tariffs may have on the domestic economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 26, 2025

Japan to resist Trump efforts to form trade bloc against China

Any demands from Washington on Tokyo to downgrade its economic relationship with China would potentially deal Japan a major economic blow.
A broken Buddha statue inside a damaged pagoda following a strong earthquake in Amarapura township, Myanmar, on April 4.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 26, 2025

Myanmar junta defies quake ceasefire to continue deadly attacks, data shows

The military launched at least 207 attacks, including 140 airstrikes and 24 artillery barrages, according to data from the U.N. Human Rights Office.
As in other cultures, when someone shares bad news in Japanese it’s best to respond with supportive words.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 26, 2025

How to bring up bad news in Japanese

A few grammatical structures can help you talk about being sick, but set phrases will come in handy when the illness is more severe.
The badge of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent is seen during an operation with migrants being transferred to a plane to be expelled from the United States to their country at the airport in El Paso, Texas, in May 2023.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 26, 2025

2-year-old U.S. citizen appears to have been deported 'with no meaningful process'

U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty said the girl, who was referred to as "V.M.L." in court documents, was deported with her mother.
Virginia Giuffre speaks to reporters in New York in August 2019. Giuffre, a former victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, died on Friday at her farm in Western Australia. She was 41.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 26, 2025

Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre takes own life in Australia, family says

"It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia," the family said in a statement.
Pallbearers carry the coffin of Pope Francis at the end of the funeral ceremony in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican on Saturday.
WORLD
Apr 27, 2025

Francis laid to rest as 400,000 mourn pope 'with open heart'

The Vatican said 400,000 people packed St. Peter's Square and lined the streets of Rome for the funeral of the first Latin American leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
Brazil's Urupadi National Forest Park, in the Amazon rainforest, in June 2023
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Apr 26, 2025

Countries could use forests to 'mask' needed emission cuts, report says

The report said overly optimistic assumptions about how much CO2 forests might draw down was "masking the scale and pace of the fossil fuel emissions cuts needed."
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters at his official residence in Tokyo on Sunday before leaving for a diplomatic trip to Vietnam and the Philippines later in the day.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 27, 2025

Golden Week proves to be busy for traveling members of Ishiba's Cabinet

Some in the opposition camp are questioning the need for the trips amid economic turmoil.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump meet, while they attend the funeral of Pope Francis, at the Vatican on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2025

Trump raises Putin doubts after Zelenskyy talks at pope's funeral

The Ukrainian leader said they had discussed a possible unconditional ceasefire with Russia and that their talks had "the potential to become historic."
AI-generated content — including those made using pictures of real people, which are known as “deepfakes” — is not explicitly covered under Japan's current legal framework, nor are human-drawn illustrations that depict child abuse.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Apr 27, 2025

Japan struggles with gray zone of AI deepfakes exploiting children

AI-generated content is not explicitly covered under the country's legal framework, nor are human-drawn illustrations that depict child abuse.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years