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Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 19, 2025

Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot

Japan’s capital topped the rankings for its “exceptional broadband speeds, transport infrastructure, safety, culture, and new digital nomad visa.”
Tokyo stocks moved higher on Tuesday morning in uninspired trading.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 19, 2025

Tokyo stocks hit a fourth all-time high in six trading days

Nikkei 225 ekes out another record and then falls back to end the day down.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with European leaders in Washington on Monday amid signs of U.S. and its NATO partners drifting further apart. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 19, 2025

All is not quiet on the Western front

The Trump-Putin Alaska summit is further evidence that the U.S. and its NATO partners are drifting further apart with each passing month.
Khalid Jamil playing for India on July 24th, 2001. Jamil was this month appointed coach of the national team.
SOCCER
Aug 19, 2025

Global soccer players' union urges India to revive top league

The fate of the Indian Super League, which is usually played between September and April, hangs by a thread.
Omar Garcia Harfuch has earned respect from rank-and-file military and security forces by showing up, gun-in-hand, on the front lines, one source said.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 19, 2025

Battle-tested cop is Mexico's hope to tame cartels and placate Trump

Garcia Harfuch has earned praise for helping deliver on Sheinbaum's vision of increased cooperation with the U.S.
A Japanese soldier (Eiji Funakoshi) with tuberculosis struggles to survive in the Filipino countryside during World War II in “Fires on the Plain.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 20, 2025

‘Fires on the Plain’: Haunting imagery in restored 1959 war film stands the test of time

Now restored in 4K, Kon Ichikawa’s film is a far from simple survival story that stares into humanity’s darkest corners.
The sun sets over Gaza on Tuesday, as seen from the Israeli side of the border between Gaza and Israel. Mediators Egypt and Qatar have been pushing proposals to restart indirect talks between the sides on a U.S.-backed ceasefire plan.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025

Israel weighs Hamas offer of 60-day Gaza truce and hostage release

Efforts to pause the fighting gained new momentum over the past week after Israel announced plans to seize control of Gaza City at the heart of the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli women take part in a protest demanding the end of the war in the Gaza Strip near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, close to the Israeli border with Gaza, on Aug. 10.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025

As Netanyahu expands Gaza war, some reservists grow more disillusioned

They accuse the government — the most far-right administration in Israel's history — of perpetuating the war for political reasons.
A photograph of Akiko Kirkham and her husband, Glenn Kirkham, in their younger days
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025

Japanese woman faced hardships in Australia after World War II

Memories of the war, such as the Imperial Japanese Army's bombing of Darwin, remained vivid for many Australians, and marriages between Australians and Japanese often faced unease.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on June 5. Soruces say Lutnick has been pushing the idea of the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that receive CHIPS Act funding, and that Trump likes the idea.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 20, 2025

Washington eyeing government stakes in chipmakers given CHIPS Act funds: sources

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is said to be exploring how the U.S. can receive equity stakes in firms such as Micron, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung.
Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (right) throws a pass during warmups prior to the game against the Green Bay Packers at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Aug. 16.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Aug 20, 2025

Colts name Daniel Jones QB1 as QB2 Anthony Richardson 'respects' call

Signed to a one-year, $14 million contract in the offseason, Jones joined the Colts to take part in an open competition for the job.
Trucks heading toward the Jianxiawo lithium mine, in Yichun, Jiangxi province, China. The U.S. government said it will increase scrutiny of lithium, steel and other materials imported from China.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 20, 2025

U.S. targets Chinese steel and lithium for forced-labor scrutiny

The move fits within Trump's trade goals and previous government action against alleged forced labor in China.
Sara Errani (below) and Andrea Vavassori in action during their match against Taylor Fritz and Elena Rybakina at Flushing Meadows in New York on Tuesday
TENNIS
Aug 20, 2025

Defending champions trump singles stars in revamped US Open mixed doubles

Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani downed Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz before outlasting Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev.
The My Number health insurance card enables online verification of a patient's eligibility via card readers installed at medical institutions.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Aug 20, 2025

My Number health insurance card uptake remains persistently low

Confusion and doubts over the new system have stalled the government's push to digitalize medical records and services.
Students visit the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park in late April. Attitudes in Japan are shifting away from the traditional pacifist views that have held sway since the end of World War II.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Aug 20, 2025

Trump shock spurs Japan to think about the unthinkable: nuclear arms

There is a growing willingness to loosen the country’s decades-old pledge not to produce, possess or host nuclear weapons in its territory.
Exports fell 2.6% in value in July from a year earlier, posting the biggest downturn since February 2021, led by cars, auto parts and steel.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 20, 2025

Japan’s exports tumble most in four years as U.S. tariff pain intensifies

Exports fell 2.6% in value from a year earlier, sliding more than the median forecast of a 2.1% decline, the Finance Ministry has reported.
A building in Kawasaki housing Toshiba's new headquarters
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2025

Japanese manufacturers moving headquarters out of central Tokyo

Toshiba, Fujitsu and other major manufacturers are moving elsewhere in response to the spread of remote work.
Left: Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani attends a regional forum in Mecca earlier this year. Right: Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer attends a special session of the Knesset in Jerusalem, in 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025

Syrian and Israeli diplomats met in Paris to discuss 'de-escalation,' report says

The attempt at diplomacy comes amid tensions as Israel has occupied territory and hit targets across Syria.
A training session at Shikoroyama stable in June 2016. Sumo training sessions are increasingly simulated or the preserve of group tours.
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Aug 20, 2025

Is sumo becoming a victim of its own popularity?

In 2025, fans and tourists alike are all too often getting an experience that pales in comparison to what was previously possible.
Yoshihiko Noda, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. The former prime minister has signaled he’s ready to take his conciliatory approach to the government to new heights, hinting that the time for clashes with the Liberal Democratic Party is over.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 20, 2025

CDP softens stance toward LDP in bid to bolster political center

“Right-wing populism has grown too strong,” CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda said. “Unless the center gains more strength, Japanese politics won’t improve.”
The agriculture ministry believes it is difficult to sell all of the stockpiled rice by the original deadline set at the end of this month due to slow deliveries to retailers.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025

Government extends deadline for stockpiled rice sales

While a new deadline will not be set, the ministry will ask businesses concerned to make sure the rice sells out within a month of delivery.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that a document on his country's trade deal with Japan is being prepared.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 20, 2025

Lutnick: Japan’s $550 billion will be directed by Trump

The U.S. commerce secretary said the funds promised by Tokyo in the course of tariff talks will be deployed to benefit the United States.
Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier has chosen to remain at the House until Wednesday, after Democratic lawmakers who had left the state to prevent Republicans from redrawing Texas’s 38 congressional districts returned to the Capitol in Austin, Texas, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025

Texas lawmaker prepares for second night of redistricting protest in state Capitol

Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier is pushing back in a redistricting battle as President Donald Trump seeks to keep Republican control of Congress.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about the economy in the Oval Office on Aug. 7. From immigration to the Fed, Trump is making risky moves that could undo his wins while Democrats double down on policies that so far are not working.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2025

On economic policy, the White House is its own worst enemy

The White House needs to calm down and choose consolidation over controversy and chaos while the Democratic Party must dump, not just downplay, its plainly unpopular positions.
A worker displays a handful of shredded hard drive pieces for e-waste processing at a facility in Festac, Nigeria, in 2020.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 21, 2025

Urban mining eases the critical minerals crunch 

Governments are waking up to the potential of e-waste recycling, and Japan is leading the way.
The U.S. dollar's dominance is threatened as digital currencies' security and data integrity become key factors in the global monetary system, challenging America's economic privilege.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2025

Currency dominance in the digital age

As digital technologies power money via stablecoins and CBDCs, currency networks depend on both macroeconomics and infrastructure security.
A tourist enjoys the Ras Hankorab beach in the Red Sea Wadi Al-Gemal protectorate in southern Egypt. The local environment is under threat amid development projects.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 21, 2025

Tourism deal puts one of Egypt's last wild shores at risk

The shadowy contract, which allows for the construction of a resort on one of the country's last undisturbed Red Sea beaches, was halted but not permanently canceled.
Acting Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jim Kilby visits BlackSea Technology facilities to view a drone test in Baltimore, Maryland, in June.
WORLD
Aug 21, 2025

The U.S. Navy is building a drone fleet to take on China. It's not going well.

A recent naval test designed to showcase the Pentagon’s top autonomous drone boats ended in failure due to software glitches and human error.
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska on Aug. 15. Trump says Putin has agreed to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2025

Trump touts his diplomatic record, but the results are mixed

Although the U.S. president has sought to broker peace in conflicts around the world, he's struggled to secure firm settlements.
Novak Djokovic in action with Olga Danilovic during their round of 16 mixed doubles match against Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev at the U.S. Open on Tuesday
TENNIS
Aug 21, 2025

Aging Djokovic out to turn back time in push for U.S. Open glory

Djokovic has placed all his chips on New York in what many see as his last realistic shot at Grand Slam glory.

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’