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U.S. President Donald Trump's imposed and since paused tariffs on Canada and Mexico, coupled with his broad levies on China — and possibly others soon — pose risks of economic retaliation, supply chain disruptions and long-term damage to U.S. influence.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2025

The tariff man is making a risky bet

The optimal tariff argument ignores the substantial risks that Trump is taking. A generalized trade war will make everyone worse off.
Homes destroyed by wildfire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles earlier this month. Insured losses caused by this and other fires raging in the area in recent weeks have been valued at over $30 billion.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2025

Fossil fuel insurance is still way too cheap

Despite mounting losses from climate-induced disasters, insurers continue underwriting fossil fuels. Raising the cost of such policies would help cut emissions and benefit many.
Ditching the U.S.' normal trade relations designation for China could lead to an automatic jump in levies, at rates that could far exceed what Trump has so far slapped on China.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Feb 6, 2025

Trump's China focus increases odds of end to special trading status

The Permanent Normal Trade Relations designation was was extended to China in 2000.
A health employee prepares a malaria vaccine in Abobo, a district of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in July 2024.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 6, 2025

U.S. aid cuts come at deadly moment for malaria control

Funding of up to $1 billion a year is now frozen as part of U.S President Donald Trump's plan to axe foreign aid.
Heat forward Jimmy Butler (center) shoots the basketball over Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (left) and forward Aaron Gordon during the third quarter of a game at Kaseya Center on Jan. 17.
BASKETBALL
Feb 6, 2025

Warriors reportedly land Heat's Jimmy Butler in multi-team trade

Butler has agreed to a new two-year, $121 million extension with the Warriors through 2026-27, according to multiple reports.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes takes off his helmet after defeating the Bills during the AFC Championship game at Arrowhead Stadium on Jan. 26.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 6, 2025

NFL heralds helmet technology for reduction in concussions

Concussions fell to a record low this season, down 17% from the previous campaign, with improvements to helmet technology and after the league changed rules governing kickoffs.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 6, 2025

With Ishiba-Trump meet, Tokyo hopes to keep ties on even keel

Tokyo has been scrambling for ways to placate the U.S. leader, and head off any dust-up between the allies during Friday’s meeting.
Gaza’s reconstruction is needed, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach — framing it as a business deal without addressing Palestinian political aspirations — makes little sense as foreign policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2025

Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ scheme may be more than a fantasy

It’s tempting to dismiss Donald Trump’s bid to take over Gaza as just another wild proposal, designed more to change the conversation and wrong-foot negotiating partners than as policy.
Naomi Osaka celebrates winning her second round match at the Australian Open over the Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova on Jan. 15.
TENNIS
Feb 6, 2025

Naomi Osaka on tennis, motherhood and being Japanese

Osaka returned to the tour a year ago and has had mixed results overall. But there are early signs in 2025 that she's starting to "get her pink back."
"Uketsu" is a completely anonymous writer and YouTuber whose odd books — which blend mystery and horror — have become a smash-hit publishing phenomenon in Japan.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 7, 2025

'Uketsu': The internet phantom haunting Japan's bestseller lists

Anonymous author and YouTuber "Uketsu" deals in a quiet horror that has delighted millions of readers.
China, under President Xi Jinping, is resisting Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, but may need to respond with major fiscal stimulus, currency devaluation or allowing TikTok’s sale to navigate economic challenges.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2025

China’s Mr. Big Won’t Cave in to Trump for Nothing

Does Xi Jinping have a trade war game plan? He’ll need to make hard choices.
A representative from the prosecutor's office shows parts of an unidentified missile, which Ukrainian authorities believe to be made in North Korea, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 6.
WORLD
Feb 6, 2025

Ukraine sees marked improvement in accuracy of Russia's North Korean missiles

The increase in accuracy — to within 50-100m of the intended target — suggests North Korea is successfully using the battlefield to test its missile technology.
Tokyo Electron, one of a handful of key chip gear-makers globally, revealed expansion plans after posting better-than-expected earnings.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2025

Tokyo Electron plans expansion despite AI spending doubts

The company, one of a handful of key chip gear-makers globally, revealed the expansion after posting better-than-expected earnings.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting in Moscow on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 7, 2025

Ukraine keeps its Kursk bargaining chip for any Russia talks

Russian forces have, so far, reclaimed only about half of the area that Ukraine took last year.
Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles helmets at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Wednesday, ahead of Super Bowl LIX
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 7, 2025

Chiefs eye first three-peat; Eagles out to avenge Super Bowl LVII loss

The Chiefs' run of good fortune has led to a sentiment among fans and media that someone else should get a turn.
David Burritt, president and chief executive officer of U.S. Steel, in Detroit in September
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2025

Trump meets U.S. Steel CEO as Nippon Steel hopes to save deal

The meeting took place one day before Trump is due to meet with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Cedar pollen has made its earliest appearance in Tokyo's air, so it's time to start thinking about how wearing face masks and applying other allergy-busting sprays will affect your style for the weeks to come.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 8, 2025

Hay fever beauty: The aesthetics behind Japan’s allergy products

Face-sculpting masks and anti-pollen, makeup-fixing sprays can help you stay beautiful when the pollen starts flying.
Together, Shinsuke Yamagai (right) and his younger brother, Ryota, have elevated the cuisine at Shintaku, putting it on the map as one of Niigata Prefecture’s premier gastronomic destinations.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Feb 9, 2025

Brothers’ local focus lifts Shintaku to Niigata’s highest rank

From the ashes of a devastating 2005 fire, Shinsuke and Ryota Yamagai have remade their family’s historic Niigata restaurant into a beacon of Japanese gastronomy.
Arranging your dish in this checkerboard pattern is said to bring good luck, but if that holds true for eating this to start the year, what's stopping you from cooking in a bit of good fortune whenever you need it?
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 9, 2025

Some traditional Japanese culinary rules are meant to be broken

It might tick off Japanese cuisine purists, but there’s room on the table for classic new year ‘osechi ryōri’ dishes whenever you please.
The government plans to allow foreign nationals to engage in home care services, a sector struggling with a labor shortage.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2025

Japan looks to allow foreign nationals to engage in home care services

Non-Japanese would be allowed to work in the sector if they meet certain conditions, such as receiving training.
Demonstrators rally during a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump and the actions he has taken in the first weeks of his presidency, in Washington, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 7, 2025

U.S. judge blocks Trump buyout program as 60,000 sign up to quit

The Trump administration is pressuring workers to leave their jobs in an unprecedented drive to overhaul the federal government.
While the ruling minority government’s weakened position has emboldened opposition parties to push for more spending across multiple policy fronts, the International Monetary Fund has warned there is limited space today in Japan to address the risks of natural disasters and mounting social security costs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 7, 2025

Japan needs immediate deficit cut to fix fiscal path, IMF warns

The government needs to prepare now to avoid negative surprises four or five years down the road, the IMF’s Japan mission chief says.
Lakers forward LeBron James dunks for the basket against the Warriors in Los Angeles on Thursday.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Feb 7, 2025

LeBron James scores 42 as Lakers hold off Warriors

James also grabbed a season-best 17 rebounds to go with eight assists and six 3-pointers as the Lakers won their fourth straight game.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (center) attends a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2025

Japan's Cabinet approves legislation on 'active' cybersecurity

The new measures aim to enable the government to infiltrate the sources of cyberattacks in order to neutralize them.
Ishiba eats a mikan tangerine at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Jan. 22.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 7, 2025

A 'joyful' Japan? Ishiba's choice of slogan sparks the opposite feelings

Even members of Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party were not happy with the slogan.
Spurs center Victor Wembanyama will play in the NBA All-Star tournament after being selected by Charles Barkley in Thursday's All-Star Draft.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Feb 7, 2025

Barkley picks global lineup for NBA All-Star tournament

In a revamped format for the Feb. 16 All-Star event in San Francisco, four elite teams will meet in a tournament format.
Rapidus, which is expected to begin pilot production of chips in April and achieve mass production in 2027, is the cornerstone of the government’s effort to revive its domestic semiconductor industry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2025

Cabinet approves bill to fund Rapidus semiconductor production

Rapidus is the cornerstone of the government’s effort to revive its domestic semiconductor industry.
Although she’s unlucky in love, Shigusa (Kirara Inori, left) finds strength in expressing herself through art in “Kisspeptin Chronicles.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2025

‘Kisspeptin Chronicles’: Quirky rom-com dances through the pain of heartache

Shiika Okada’s debut feature has an autobiographical feel and a hopeful message about self-discovery despite romantic disappointments.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declares martial law in Seoul on Dec. 3. Yoon is currently facing charges related to his actions over that two-day period.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2025

Was there an insurrection in Seoul on Dec. 3, or is that happening now?

Yoon can now be held for up to six months in prison simply at the behest of the prosecutors.
Far from making America great again, Donald Trump’s actions since assuming the presidency are giving a giant boost to China’s attempts at world leadership.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2025

‘America First’ in action

Far from making America great again, Trump is giving a giant boost to China’s claims to world leadership.

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan