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Visitors at the EdgeCortix booth during the AI Expo Tokyo event in Tokyo in May 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2025

Japan backs AI chip startup EdgeCortix in boost to defense tech

The startup secured government subsidies of ¥3 billion to develop energy-efficient AI chiplets for commercialization in 2027.
Seven & I hopes to focus more on its 7-Eleven convenience stores.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
May 28, 2025

Seven & I’s move away from banking leaves market wondering

7-Eleven's ATMs are an important part of the convenience store operator's business.
Rock band Mrs. Green Apple performed an emotional rendition of hit song “Darling” on the final night of the Music Awards Japan.
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2025

Songs, stars and strategy: Japan debuts its newest awards ceremony

From viral hits to legacy tributes, Japan's 'answer to the Grammys' delivers a celebration of J-pop's past and present at its inaugural event in Kyoto.
AI hallucinations — when generative models fabricate information — are becoming more frequent, harder to detect and increasingly dangerous as we embed the technology deeper into society.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2025

AI hallucinations? What could go wrong?

The notion that we can’t ensure that AI will produce accurate information is, uh, “disturbing” if we intend to integrate that product so deeply into our daily lives.
The Chinese Communist Party has significantly expanded its global influence operations by using tactics like election interference, disinformation, elite capture and pressure on the diaspora to sway politics and policies in democracies worldwide.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2025

Is Beijing engineering election wins for 'soft on China' politicians?

Beijing legally requires all citizens to support Communist Party policies and views ethnic Chinese everywhere as instruments for advancing its global goals.
Charisma was overweight when she arrived at ARK, but has slimmed down to 8 kilograms.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
May 29, 2025

This charming Shiba enjoys life’s simple pleasures

Charisma loves soft toys, snoozing in her favorite spot and getting a nice massage.
Displaced Palestinians carry bags of food aid after storming a World Food Program warehouse in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD
May 29, 2025

Deadly break-in at U.N. warehouse as aid trickles into Gaza

The World Food Program appealed for an immediate scale-up of food aid "to reassure people that they will not starve."
U.S. Steel Edgar Thompson Works in Pennsylvania
BUSINESS / Economy
May 29, 2025

Trump’s Nippon Steel bid support boosts Japan’s trade talk hopes

The apparent breakthrough raises the possibility that Japan could get some new traction in its bid to get tariffs on autos and other exports removed.
Agrolend CEO Andre Glezer (second from right), JICA Brazil Office chief Akihiro Miyazaki (far left) and others on Wednesday in Sao Paulo
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2025

JICA signs deal to invest in Brazilian farming fintech firm

JICA hopes the investment will help ensure stable food procurement by Japan, which imports such crops as soybeans and corns from the South American agricultural giant.
Stockpiled rice arrives Thursday at a rice-milling factory operated by an Iris Ohyama subsidiary in the town of Watari, Miyagi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2025

Stockpiled rice shipped within three days and set to hit shelves next week

The rapid shipment is in sharp contrast with previous arrangements using auctions, under which it took months to sell and ship 310,000 metric tons of rice in phases.
As humidity rises in the rainy season, it’s a good idea to get some moisture absorbers and place them around the home.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 30, 2025

How to talk about change in Japanese — one forecast at a time

Use the changing seasons as a springboard to learn how Japanese expresses cause-and-effect shifts.
Harvard University students wearing graduation gowns walk through Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 30, 2025

Judge blocks Trump ban on Harvard's international students

The ruling is a victory for the Ivy League school that is entangled in multiple battles with the administration.
The Hotaruan Royal Garden Suite, a renovated traditional "minka" home, will host the second iteration of the Minka Preservation Society's MinkaMeets event.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 31, 2025

Traditional home experts to gather at MinkaMeets event

Roof thatching expert Haruo Nishio is one of several experts scheduled to speak at the June 7-8 event.
The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2025

Trump aims at Chinese students and tech in threat to truce with Xi

Just weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump declared a "total reset” with China following a trade truce in Geneva, tensions are rising again between the world’s biggest economies.
73% of sports organizations in Japan have not made consultation desks available for LGBTQ  and other sexual minorities, as well as people seeking advice on gender identity and sexual orientation, according to a survey led by Pride House Tokyo.
JAPAN
May 30, 2025

No LGBTQ+ help desks for 73% of sports groups in Japan

The survey was conducted in March and April on efforts to protect sexual minorities and secure diversity.
Stockpiled rice arrives Thursday at a rice-milling factory operated by a subsidiary of household appliance company Iris Ohyama in the town of Watari, Miyagi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2025

Some retailers hesitant to buy stockpiled rice on quality concerns

Smaller shops in Japan are worried that older batches might not taste as good, which could cause customers to take their business elsewhere.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton is seen before the Monaco Grand Prix on May 25.
MORE SPORTS
May 30, 2025

Lewis Hamilton labels rumors of friction with Ferrari engineer as 'noise'

Hamilton said he and Riccardo Adami were learning more and more about each other and adapting the way they worked.
A government white paper on agriculture attributed the recent rice price hikes partly to some producers boosting direct sales to consumers and sales to nonconventional buyers.
JAPAN
May 30, 2025

Government blames rice price surges on procurement route changes

Rice prices at retailers soared because wholesalers had to buy at relatively high prices to supplement shortfalls, a white paper concluded.
The Trump administration's escalating campaign against Harvard — cutting billions in funding, blocking foreign students, and threatening its independence — marks an unprecedented attack on U.S. higher education.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2025

U.S. soft power is a casualty in Trump’s war on Harvard

The fight against Harvard will do extensive and potentially irreparable injury. It is an extraordinary act of self-harm.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, is in Washington again for a fourth round of high-level negotiations with the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2025

Tariff talks with U.S. a mix of slow progress, ever-present uncertainty 

Japan's chief negotiator is back in Washington for another round of high-level negotiations.
The Bayan Obo mine containing rare earth minerals, in Inner Mongolia, China.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 31, 2025

Carmakers warn China's rare-earth curbs could halt production

Auto executives are sounding the alarm on an impending shortage of rare-earth magnets from China that could force the closure of factories within weeks.
Artists offer their own interpretations of Japan's most famous monster at "Godzilla The Art Exhibition."
CULTURE / Art
May 31, 2025

'Godzilla The Art Exhibition' reimagines film icon as monstrous muse for modern art

The Mori Arts Center Gallery exhibition takes Japan's most famous monster beyond the world of filmmaking and asks nine artists to interpret the beast from their own point of view.
The defense chiefs of “the Squad” grouping, which brings together Japan, Australia, the U.S. and the Philippines, meet Saturday in Singapore for talks on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue regional security summit.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 31, 2025

‘Squad’ defense chiefs meet with eye on countering China

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the grouping the most “strategically positioned to manifest deterrence" amid “an unprecedented military buildup by China.”
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (second from right) and Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro (second from left) attend a meeting in Singapore on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Japan and Philippines agree to strengthen defense cooperation

The two ministers confirmed expanding joint exercises after signing a reciprocal access agreement to ease military visits between their countries.
A woman walks past posters of South Korea's presidential candidates on Saturday, ahead of the upcoming June 3 election in Seoul.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Misinformation hits South Korea's upcoming election

Many of the claims focus on foreign interference, tapping into local fears of meddling by China, or fabricating support.
Philippines Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro speaks at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Philippines vague on U.S. missile deployments, but clear on one thing

Manila has already secured the funds to buy its own midrange missiles, according to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his report to delegates at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 19.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2025

Trump’s WHO withdrawal could cost the U.S. dearly

Despite progress since COVID-19, the U.S. remains vulnerable to pandemics like H5N1, and withdrawing from the WHO would weaken its ability to respond to global health threats.
Then-<i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs the New Year's ring-entering rite in 2018. The Japan Sumo Association has accepted his resignation and he will officially leave the association on June 9.
SUMO
Jun 2, 2025

Former yokozuna Hakuho to leave sumo association

Hakuho's departure comes more than a year after his stable closed down over a physical abuse incident involving one of its wrestlers.
The basic framework adopted by the government calls for measures to improve the employment situation of those in their 40s and 50s, and for steps to assist them in their later years.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Japan government to boost support for job 'Ice Age' generation

The framework calls for measures to improve the employment situation of those in their 40s and 50s, and for steps to assist them in their later years.
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 4, 2025

Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?

Amid widespread abuse of Japan’s tax-free shopping system, a group of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are mulling over its possible abolition.

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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’