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Yvie Oddly poses in front of Eagle Tokyo Blue, a Ni-chome bar instrumental in organizing many events around the Japan visits of "RuPaul's Drag Race" stars.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 2, 2023

A 'Drag Race' tour brings inspiration and profits

When the competitors of "RuPaul's Drag Race" come through Tokyo, the local scene gets a major boost.
Ukrainian and Russian forces fight for control of the city of Bakhmut in May. Elon Musk asked why so many American lawmakers care more about what happens in Ukraine than the migrant crisis at the U.S. border.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2023

Message for Elon: We must keep supporting Ukraine

Elon Musk asked, "Why do so many American politicians from both parties care 100 times more about the Ukraine border than the USA border?”
Smoke billows following Israeli strikes amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 13, 2023

Israel calls for all civilians to leave Gaza City

Israeli said it would operate "significantly" in the coming days and that civilians would only be able to return when another announcement was made.
Commuters ride on rickshaws on a flooded road after heavy rains in Dhaka in September.
ENVIRONMENT / ANALYSIS
Oct 19, 2023

Can pre-disaster cash and aid help fix climate loss and damage?

Anticipatory action can help avert the worst effects of climate-related disasters.
Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
WORLD / Politics
Nov 9, 2023

Giorgia Meloni defied doubters to survive a year in Italy. Now it gets harder.

The far-right label applied to Meloni for most of her career may be too simplistic for a politician who demonstrates flexibility and pragmatism.
Staff members work at a desk next to an exhibition for Shenzhen's metro carbon inclusion project, inside a subway station in Pingshan district of Shenzhen on Oct. 19.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / ANALYSIS
Nov 27, 2023

China turns to households in fight to slash carbon emissions

"Carbon inclusion" programs aim to help transform the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter into a carbon-neutral country by 2060.
A Walmart worker organizes products for the Christmas season in 2016.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2023

Walmart shifts to India and reduces imports from China

The shift shows how the rising cost of importing from China and escalating political tensions are pushing U.S. firms to import more from other countries.
A Palestinian resident inspects the destruction caused by air strikes on their home in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 4, 2023

Israel’s war aims move south with Hamas leadership in crosshairs

Israel is bearing down on the city of Khan Younis where it says the Hamas leadership is entrenched deep inside tunnels.
Injured Palestinians arrive at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 6, 2023

Despite death toll, U.S. unlikely to rethink weapons supplies to Israel

U.S. officials consider private negotiation to be effective in pressuring Israel to minimize civilian casualties in its offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
American pop singer Caroline Polachek, who lived in Tokyo from the age of 1 through 7, held her first gig as a solo headliner in Japan at Toyosu Pit in November.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 7, 2023

A heady Tokyo homecoming for Caroline Polachek

The U.S. indie pop singer returns to her childhood home for her first solo gig in Japan and builds out her musical universe with maximalist emotions.
New Year's celebrations in Japan and Western countries can differ wildly, but Tokyo offers plenty of ways for you to ring in 2024 in any way you prefer.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 9, 2023

A Tokyoite’s guide to a Western-style New Year’s Eve

Typically, Ōmisoka (New Year’s Eve) is a family affair — even in the global metropolis that is Tokyo.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 10, 2023

Shohei Ohtani to join Dodgers on record-breaking deal

Ohtani reached an agreement on a record-breaking deal worth $700 million with the Dodgers.
Prime Minster Fumio Kishida joins ASEAN leaders for a family photo before the start of the ASEAN-Japan summit in Jakarta in September.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 14, 2023

With eye on China, Japan and ASEAN to unveil ‘new vision’ for ties

The three-day summit will see the two sides launch a wide range of cooperation initiatives.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda told lawmakers in parliament that his job was about to get even more "challenging” from the end of the year, adding to speculation of looming action by the central bank.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2023

BOJ set to stay outlier as 2024 hike seen in contrast to Fed

The Bank of Japan has become used to being a policy outlier over its decades-long quest to vanquish deflation. It’s likely to be no different in 2024.
An employee looks at data on screens in the high-tech command center at the Novartis AG campus in Basel, Switzerland.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 10, 2024

Swiss pharma firms plot different paths to blockbuster drugs

Roche has doubled down on Alzheimer’s and boosted research and development spending across its portfolio.
JAPAN / Explainer
Jan 31, 2024

Quake-hit Noto faces a long road to recovery. Here's how you can help.

After initially asking people to refrain from coming as volunteers, municipalities in Ishikawa are now open to outside help.
Recruits in the Spartan storm brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard practice at the unit's base in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on April 20, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 1, 2024

Ukraine to tighten army mobilization rules as early conscripts tire

Last month the military proposed mobilizing 450,000 to 500,000 more people, taking into account the military's plans and projections of possible losses.
A Houthi military helicopter prepares to land on the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea in November.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2024

Why Beijing won’t fight the Houthis

Whether they target Chinese vessels directly or not, attacks on Red Sea shipping by Houthi rebels threaten to undermine China’s economic recovery.
Italian women are having fewer children — with some eschewing motherhood altogether.
WORLD / Society
Mar 11, 2024

Italian women are burying the myth of the mamma

Italy has one of the lowest birthrates in the world at 1.24 — well below the level needed for the population to sustain itself without immigration.
Fans cheer during a friendly match between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Kiwoon Heroes ahead of the Major League Baseball Seoul Series in Seoul on Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 18, 2024

MLB brings Shohei Ohtani, season openers and big dreams to Seoul

With a set of stars from the region, 2024 is turning out to be baseball’s moment in Asia.
Palestinian Umm Nael Al-Khlout cooks breakfast on the rubble of her house which was destroyed during Israel's military offensive in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on March 13.
WORLD
Mar 18, 2024

The daily hunt for food in Gaza

For 2 million hungry people in the Gaza Strip, most days bring a difficult search for something to eat.
Indian National Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi (center) with other party leaders of the I.N.D.I.A alliance in New Delhi in December 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

Anti-Modi alliance in India is faltering as election nears

Absent a clear vision that presents the Indian electorate with an alternative to the ruling BJP, the Congress-led alliance faces an uphill task in polls.
Palestinian children wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen amid shortages of food supplies, as the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas continues, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 5.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 20, 2024

In Gaza, starving children fill hospital wards as famine looms

Hundreds if not thousands more children could die of hunger unless fighting stops and aid agencies have full access throughout Gaza, UNICEF says.
Kaori Yamada grew up surrounded by bonsai her whole life and was expected to carry on her family's 170-year-old legacy when she became an adult.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 23, 2024

The bonsai master working to branch out an age-old craft

Kaori Yamada grew up surrounded by bonsai her whole life and was expected to carry on her family's 170-year-old legacy or otherwise end it.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 29, 2024

The vocabulary of shogi can help you make moves in your conversations

The world of shogi, a game that is often described as a form of Japanese chess, has given us much more than just checkmates.
A woman in the Tokai region posts her meals on social media and gives advice to young people suffering from eating disorders.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 22, 2024

Woman with eating disorder looks to help young sufferers via social media

The woman is letting people know that a person’s value is not determined by their body shape.
A direct military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities by the U.S. and its allies would likely only delay its program while risking regional war and increasing the likelihood of Tehran acquiring nuclear weapons in the long run.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2024

Iran hawks want to strike now. They're wrong.

One thing Iran hawks get right, starting with the contention that by attacking Israel directly on Saturday night, Iran changed rules of engagement.
Elderly women walk past a building destroyed during a Russian missile attack in the town of Selydove, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on April 14. The West needs to take decisive action to support an out-gunned Ukraine before the situation worsens.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2024

If only the West backed Ukraine as it did Israel

Western leaders need to take decisive action to support an out-gunned Ukraine before the situation worsens.
Andrei Belousov has been described as a tough-talking and professional government insider who once led a campaign to wring more money out of big business for the state, proving he had sharp enough elbows to navigate the system.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 14, 2024

Surprise pick as Russia’s defense minister is tough-talking economist and Putin ally

Andrei Belousov's appointment as defense chief suggests to many that President Vladimir Putin is reshaping Russia for a long war in Ukraine.
If OpenAI’s mostly male engineers are trying to build the perfect girlfriend, they are on the right track. If they are trying to build a more reliable AI model, there is still more work to do.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2024

OpenAI's new ChatGPT can flirt. What could go wrong?

What are the social and psychological consequences of regularly speaking to a flirty, fun and ultimately agreeable artificial voice?

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear