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Japan's Shohei Ohtani carries the Japanese flag onto the field before the start of the World Baseball Classic final against the United States in Miami on March 21, 2023.
BASEBALL
May 15, 2025

Historian Rob Fitts discovers earliest ever reference to baseball in Japan

The widely held belief is that American Horace Wilson introduced the sport to Japan in 1872. Fitts' discovery revises the timeline to 1869.
Morgan Stanley analysts estimate the top five makers of hearing aids hold roughly 99% of the global market, which they predict will be worth over $14 billion by next year rising from about $12 billion in 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 15, 2025

Trump’s tariffs spare Europe-dominated hearing aid industry

An ecosystem developed over more than a century has given three Danish companies and a Swiss rival a quasi-monopoly on the market for devices that help people hear better.
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2025

Peace breakthrough unlikely as Putin declines to meet Zelenskyy in Turkey

Hopes were further dented by U.S. President Donald Trump saying there would be no movement without a meeting between himself and Putin.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (right) speaks during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on May 6.
SOCCER
May 16, 2025

FIFA president says international fans will be welcome at World Cup in U.S.

The world will be welcomed to the United States for the 2026 World Cup and this year's Club World Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Thursday, days after a meeting with officials from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
Walking along Osaka's Kanjosen brings you closer to a different side of the city that the head-in-the-clouds Expo 2025 misses.
LIFE / Travel
May 17, 2025

Fighting Osaka Expo fatigue? Walk the 21-km Loop Line for a cure.

Officially completed in 1961, the Osaka Kanjosen runs through the city’s most famous and less touristed neighborhoods alike.
Buildings destroyed during the war in Harasta, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2025

Trump’s pledge to lift Syrian sanctions faces a complex road

The move was seen as a highlight of Trump’s trip to the Arabian Peninsula this week, but actual implementation will be a protracted and thorny challenge.
Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul talks to the press as he arrives for an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Turkey, in Antalya, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2025

'Paradigm shift': Germany says to meet Trump's NATO spending target

Germany, with its dark World War II history, has long been reluctant to spend big on defense.
Starting in the early 1980s, shipping nuclear waste for storage on Orchid Island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan was standard practice.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
May 16, 2025

Final nuclear plant shutdown leaves Taiwan facing energy crunch

The shutdown takes place just as power demand is projected to rise 13% by the end of the decade, largely driven by data centers and chipmakers.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump as first lady Melania Trump and Akie Abe look on while on board the Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Kaga, stationed at the Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 28, 2019.
JAPAN
May 16, 2025

SDF activities expand 10 years after key security legislation

Japan has enhanced cooperation with the United States and other friendly nations in the face of challenges such as China's maritime expansion.
Japan is considering adding three more sectors, including distribution warehouse management, to its program to grant residency status to foreign workers with what are being called "specified skills."
JAPAN
May 16, 2025

Japan eyes three more sectors for foreign workers program

The three sectors — distribution warehouse management, services supplying sheets and towels to hotels, and resource recycling — are struggling to secure workers.
Yields in Japan’s $7.8 trillion government debt market are now rising rapidly after years of moving at a glacial pace.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 16, 2025

Japan’s steep bond curve divides investors and challenges economy

Yields in the country’s $7.8 trillion government debt market are shifting higher at breakneck speed after years of moving at a glacial pace.
The draft of the government's defense white paper says China's moves to strengthen its cooperation with Russia are a serious concern for Japan's security, describing Beijing's military moves as the biggest strategic challenge ever.
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2025

Japan government paper to express concern over China-Russia ties

A draft of the defense white paper described Beijing's military moves as the biggest strategic challenge ever.
This undated image shows cardiologist Kiran Musunuru and pediatrician Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas with patient KJ Muldoon.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 16, 2025

U.S. baby with rare illness treated with tailor-made gene edit

The baby, who had a gene mutation that affected his liver, was treated using what amounts to a pair of molecular scissors, delivered via an infusion.
Jhonattan Vegas, seen during the Byron Nelson tournament on May 4, leads the PGA Championship after one round.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
May 16, 2025

Jhonattan Vegas grabs first-round lead at PGA Championship

No other golfer representing Venezuela has ever been among the top 10 on the leaderboard at the end of any round of a major.
The Upper House passed the active cyberdefense bill on Friday with majority support spanning the ruling bloc and the major opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2025

Japan enacts active cyberdefense law

Through the law, the government aims to set up defenses against cyberattacks that are on par with or better than major Western countries.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and other ministers ahead of a Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2025

Japan enacts bills to make criminal procedures digital

The revised laws will make trial records digital to allow lawyers to view them online.
Civic Coalition presidential candidate Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski speaks during an election rally in Krakow, Poland, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2025

In Poland, a presidential election with European stakes

The country's presidential elections come at a fraught moment for Europe, analysts said ahead of the first round of voting on Sunday.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaks in the Oval Office after President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with the U.K. on May 8. The agreement is far from a win for London, which has chosen deference over strength in dealing with Washington's bullishness.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2025

Lessons from the U.S.-U.K. trade deal: Don’t appease a bully

The tariff agreement signed between London and Washington does little to boost the U.K. economy and, despite appearances, is a diplomatic defeat for Prime Minister Starmer.
The U.S. economy has shifted from strong growth to heightened recession risk and uncertainty due to President Trump’s aggressive trade tariffs and budget cuts, leaving Congress to reclaim control over policy to avoid worsening economic disruption and global instability.
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2025

Only the U.S. Congress can end Trump's economic uncertainty

There is no chance of reining in the disruption and destruction unless the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress reclaims its constitutional authority over trade policy.
Okasan Securities and Iwai Cosmo Securities said they had been hit by fraudulent trading, indicating the hacking of online trading accounts is expanding to mid-sized brokerages.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 16, 2025

Hacking of trading accounts in Japan spreads to midsized firms

The hacking of online trading accounts has exploded in Japan, surging more than 10-fold in April from March.
People shop inside a tax-free drug store at the Ameyoko shopping district in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 16, 2025

Emergency contraceptive pill may be approved for over-the-counter sales

In most cases, women in Japan must undergo a medical examination and obtain a prescription to access such pills.
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and his delegation in the Oval Office of the White House in April. Since then, Japan's trade negotiations with the U.S. have produced no tangible results.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
May 16, 2025

Akazawa's dilemma: no tariff deal or a half-baked deal

Japan has realized the U.S. has no intention of seriously talking about duties on automobiles now.
Fuji Television Network's headquarters building in the Odaiba district of Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
May 16, 2025

Fuji Media Holdings posts net loss for first time since going public

The company's net loss follows a slew of scandals concerning its corporate culture and governance.
Nissan's Oliver Rowland drives during qualifying for Miami E-Prix at Homestead Motor Speedway in Homestead, Florida, on April 12.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
May 16, 2025

Nissan hoping to electrify home crowd as Formula E returns to Tokyo

Nissan heads into the race leading the constructor standings.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures with a clenched fist as he prepares to board Air Force One in Abu Dhabi at the end of his Middle East tour on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
May 17, 2025

Trump reshapes U.S. Mideast policy. Can deals work instead?

The president proclaimed a decisive break with decades of U.S. interventionism, promising a new foreign policy based instead on the art of the deal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks on the phone ahead of a meeting at the European Political Community summit, at Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, Albania, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 17, 2025

Ukraine calls on allies to keep pressure on Russia after ceasefire talks fall short

Russia is presenting conditions that a Ukrainian source described as "non-starters."
The first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, which is made by Fujirebio Diagnostics, a unit of Japan’s H.U. Group Holdings, was cleared for people 55 years and older who exhibit signs and symptoms of the disease, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a statement.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 17, 2025

FDA clears first blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease

The test made by Fujirebio Diagnostics, a unit of Japan’s H.U. Group Holdings, was cleared for people 55 years and older who exhibit signs and symptoms of the disease.
U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out Friday at the Supreme Court after it blocked his bid to resume deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, saying the justices are "not allowing me to do what I was elected to do."
WORLD / Politics
May 17, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court maintains block on Trump deportations under wartime law

The top court faulted his administration for seeking to remove the Venezuelan migrants without adequate legal process.
Nissan's Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, may be closed as part of the struggling carmaker's streamlining efforts.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 18, 2025

Nissan to solicit early retirements while eyeing plant closures in Japan

The move comes after sources said a day earlier that the carmaker was considering closing two plants in Kanagawa Prefecture.
U.S. President Donald Trump will speak by phone with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday in an attempt to find a way out of the "BLOODBATH" in the Ukraine war, the American president said on social media.
WORLD / Politics
May 18, 2025

Trump says he will speak to Putin to end Ukraine 'bloodbath'

Kyiv said Russian negotiators have demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before any ceasefire deal.

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