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In digital trade, Japan's imports have been rising faster than its exports, amid the dominance of global information technology giants such as Microsoft and Google.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 11, 2025

Japan's trade deficit for digital services rose to record ¥6.6 trillion in 2024

Japan's digital trade deficit is expected to reach ¥10 trillion in 2030, roughly equivalent to its crude oil imports in 2024.
The Tesla gigafactory in Austin, Texas. Nothing in Texas law would stop Tesla from launching a robotaxi service.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2025

Tesla robotaxis by June? Musk turns to Texas for hands-off regulation

Nothing in Texas law would stop Tesla from launching a robotaxi service.
Sam Altman (left) and Elon Musk were among the 11-person team that founded OpenAI in 2015.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 12, 2025

AI feud: How Musk and Altman's partnership turned toxic

Facing a barrage of hostility, Altman has increasingly suggested that Musk's actions stem from regret over leaving OpenAI in 2018.
Elon Musk, with his son, speaks to reporters alongside U.S. President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday. Musk stated that he was providing maximum transparency, while offering no evidence for his sweeping claims that the federal bureaucracy is corrupted by cheats and officials who have approved money for “fraudsters.”
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Flanked by Musk, Trump orders U.S. agencies to assist with government layoffs

With his 4-year-old son by his side, Musk stood alongside Trump in the Oval Office at the White House before the order was signed.
Netflix series “Asura,” directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, is a remake of a classic TV drama (known as “Like Asura” in English), created by Kuniko Mukoda and broadcast by NHK between 1979 and 1980.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 12, 2025

The different faces of ‘Asura’ through the generations

While Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new series meticulously remakes a classic NHK drama, this reinterpretation tweaks the story to give its female characters more agency.
Shishi (left) wrestles Tokihayate at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Nov. 10.
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Feb 12, 2025

Could Ukraine be the next nation to produce a yokozuna?

The amateur powerhouse is starting to make its presence felt in professional sumo.
A new scam causing concern in Japan starts out simple, but when victims request to continue, they are instructed to set up an account on a certain app or website where they are to enter their personal information.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 12, 2025

Japan's consumer watchdog raises alarm over new social media scam

The deceptively innocent scheme requires users to do one simple thing to earn some extra cash: take screenshots of videos.
A "biohybrid" robot hand developed by a research team from the University of Tokyo and Waseda University
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 13, 2025

Japanese research team develops world’s largest 'biohybrid' robot hand

Lack of nutrients, necrosis and muscle fiber alignment issues have limited the scale of previous "biohybrid" systems.
While Nariaki Obukuro’s previous releases often included lyrics with specific references pulled from his own experiences, on “Zatto,” he’s stepping back to explore the joy and pain of the wider world.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2025

Nariaki Obukuro found his groove — just not on the dance floor

A J-pop insider’s shift to soul, reggae and flamenco reflects his personal growth, time spent in London and current events.
Too many people die from treatable diseases in places with little access to health care. To prevent this from happening, affordability, availability and acceptability considerations must be at the core of medical products' lifecycles, starting with R & D.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2025

To stop preventable deaths, start with the fundamentals

Treatable diseases like malaria are still causing too many deaths in places with poor health care. To prevent these, accessibility must be baked into medical development.
A special police member monitors a protest, while inside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) building, a day after members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk moved into the CFPB, in Washington last Saturday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 14, 2025

Rapid unraveling of U.S. consumer watchdog leaves financial firms in limbo

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may be reviled by the industry, but its abrupt undoing is causing upheaval among those it regulates.
Mary Jean Burke, first executive vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees National VA Council, speaks during a rally against U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, outside the Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Thousands fired in U.S. government as Trump and Musk purge workers

Termination emails have been sent in the past 48 hours to workers across the government, mostly recently hired employees still on probation.
Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district. Masayuki Makino, a representative of a volunteer group that operated in Kabukicho, is suspected of committing indecent acts against a 17-year-old girl at a hotel in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, on Oct. 15, 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 14, 2025

Tokyo volunteer group's former rep held over indecent acts against teen

Masayuki Makino, who was part of a volunteer group that operated in the Kabukicho entertainment district, allegedly committed the acts against a 17-year-old girl.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an Executive Order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

U.S. embassies told to brace for staff cuts amid Trump overhaul, sources say

Some embassies have been asked to look into reducing both U.S. staff as well as locally employed staff by 10% each.
Timid though he may be at first, Tangelo warms up quickly and shows an eagerness for human companionship.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Feb 14, 2025

Tangelo the cat is oh so sweet

This 10-year-old feline is yearning for love and attention from a warmhearted soul.
Kendrick Lamar performs at the halftime show of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Louisiana.
COMMUNITY / Voices / Black Eye
Feb 17, 2025

Black History Month in 2025: The boundaries between 'us' and 'them'

Our columnist reflects on the fraught ideologies of race from both sides of the Pacific.
Chinese President Xi Jinping
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 14, 2025

Xi to chair symposium attended by Jack Ma and other Chinese business leaders, sources say

Xi rarely chairs symposiums about the private sector, and the event underscores the numerous challenges currently facing China.
Sydney-based Minotaur Capital outperformed the global stock market in its first six months while slashing research costs by using AI.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 14, 2025

Hedge fund startup that replaced analysts with AI beats the market

Minotaur Capital, which has no analysts on staff, returned 13.7% in the six months ending January versus 6.7% for the MSCI All-Country World Index.
The structure that covers the remains of the damaged reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is seen damaged on Friday.
WORLD
Feb 14, 2025

Russian drone 'struck' Chernobyl cover, but no radiation increase detected: Zelenskyy

Ukraine said Russia launched more than 100 drones across the country overnight targeting northern regions of the country where the Chernobyl power plant lies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a video conference with the Sevastopol governor in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 15, 2025

Putin assembles team of heavyweights to negotiate Ukraine deal

U.S. President Donald Trump’s team by contrast lacks the same depth of background on Ukraine and has little experience negotiating directly with Russia.
The top lid of a tank at the "J9" area is removed at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 15, 2025

Tepco takes on challenge of making space for Fukushima nuclear debris

Workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have started dismantling water storage tanks to free up space for tons of nuclear debris.
Officers from the Austrian State Criminal Police are seen near a cordoned off area after a knife attack near the main square in the city center of Villach, in southern Austria, on Saturday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 16, 2025

Syrian arrested after deadly stabbing attack in Austria

Syrian asylum seeker was arrested after a teenager was stabbed to death and five other people were wounded in southern Austria on Saturday.
Group of Seven top diplomats, including Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya (second from left) and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right), meet on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in the German city on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 16, 2025

Japanese FM asks U.S. counterpart to exempt Tokyo from Trump tariffs

The foreign minister also said that he had broached the issue of Trump’s planned tariffs on automobiles imported to the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump listens alongside Elon Musk as he explains the administration's cost-cutting efforts in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 16, 2025

Fired U.S. nuclear bomb specialists recalled by Energy Department

The employees, responsible for designing and maintaining U.S. nuclear weapons, were part of a larger wave of mass dismissals, drawing alarm from national security experts.
Co-leader and main candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel is seen on a screen as she takes part in a TV debate in Berlin on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2025

Anger, fear, nostalgia: Why German voters back far-right AfD

All other parties have pledged to isolate it behind a "firewall" of noncooperation.
Bain Capital said in a statement on Monday that it won’t implement a tender offer for Fuji Soft after deciding not to increase the price.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 17, 2025

Bain ends tussle with KKR for Fuji Soft by giving up bid

The public battle underscored how quickly the private equity landscape has been changing in Japan.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda says that his party aims to revise the budget for fiscal 2025 by a scale of ¥1 trillion ($6.6 billion).
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 18, 2025

CDP may not approve fiscal 2025 draft budget, Noda says

Its approval depends on how far the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition accepts the opposition party's proposed amendments.
Rear Adm. Jacques Mallard (right), commander of the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier strike group, speaks during a ceremony aboard the carrier at a naval base in Toulon, France, last September.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 18, 2025

French carrier group chief draws lessons from first Pacific deployment in 60 years

The deployment helped deepen the French Navy's operational understanding of the region, and learn from and boost interoperability with partner nations, a top commander says.
America's leading spokesperson on matters of public health, the surgeon general, has issued an advisory linking alcohol consumption to cancer, urging greater awareness and policy changes.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

It's time to rethink how safe alcohol is

Raising awareness about the risks is key to helping people make decisions about drinking.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off carrying 53 Starlink internet satellites, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 18, 2022.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 18, 2025

Vietnam paves way for Musk's Starlink amid U.S. tariff threats

A regulatory change can be seen as "an olive branch" to SpaceX amid nervousness in Vietnam about tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’