Search - 2019

 
 
A gravely ill man (Arata Iura) starts to question if it’s worth sacrificing the life of his clone in order to save his own in Sayaka Kai’s “Adabana.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 17, 2024

‘Adabana’: Existential sci-fi will have you seeing double

Sayaka Kai’s drama set in a world where a privileged elite extend their lives by keeping clones in reserve is imbued with literal and figurative darkness.
A Blade battery on display at BYD’s headquarters in Shenzhen
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 17, 2024

Apple secretly worked with BYD on long-range EV battery, sources say

Sources claim the firms teamed up around 2017 to build a battery system using lithium iron phosphate cells.
Toshiyuki Nishida has been a mainstay in entertainment for decades, with an expansive career in film, TV, music and theater.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 17, 2024

Actor Toshiyuki Nishida dies at 76

The actor, known for his roles in works including “Beyond Outrage” and “Tsuribaka Nisshi,” was found dead at his residence in Tokyo on Thursday.
NHK President Nobuo Inaba speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in September.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 17, 2024

NHK to resume contracting former Johnny's performers

The broadcaster's president said the decision was based on the agency’s clear efforts to compensate Johnny Kitagawa's sexual abuse victims.
A torii gate in Tokyo. A Chilean gymnast has apologized after receiving criticism for posting a video of herself doing pullups on a torii gate.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2024

Chilean woman slammed over viral clip of pullups on torii shrine gate

The woman has since deleted the post, saying she did not realize that she was in a sacred place and acted without thinking.
Draft guidelines on take-home bags drawn up by the health ministry aim to change the behavior of both customers and restaurants, and reduce food waste.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2024

Health ministry drafts to-go bag guidelines to cut down on food waste

Draft guidelines on take-home bags drawn up by the health ministry aim to change the behavior of both customers and restaurants, and reduce food waste.
Yankees slugger Juan Soto rounds the bases after hitting a three-run home run in the 10th inning on Saturday as New York clinched a place in the World Series with a win over Cleveland.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 20, 2024

Soto homer lifts Yankees over Guardians and into World Series

The 25-year-old Dominican outfielder crushed a fastball from Cleveland pitcher Hunter Gaddis over the center-field wall to score the deciding runs.
The emotional impact of constant news about wars and disasters is weighing heavily on many in the younger generations, causing them to seek ways to cope with their distress and anxiety.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2024

Is the apocalypse making you too anxious to work?

A poll reveals that a significant portion of the Gen Z and millennial generations feel unable to function at work due to distress over current events.
Having learned from the experience of losing in the last election and from actions taken by similar movements elsewhere, another Trump administration would be far more effective at wielding — and maintaining — power.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2024

Why another Trump term would be worse than the first

A political movement with autocratic tendencies often becomes more ruthless and effective after experiencing electoral defeat.
ASEAN leaders pose for a group photo during the 21st ASEAN-India Summit in Vientiane on Oct. 10. U.S. President Joe Biden was notably absent once again from this years ASEAN gathering.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2024

The U.S. risks irrelevance in Asia

While the Biden administration has boosted U.S. influence in the short term, the long-term outlook for Washington is one of increasing irrelevance in Asia.
Items confiscated by police in connection with several girls bars in Tokyo that operated without authorization in violation of the adult entertainment business law
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2024

17 Vietnamese women arrested over illegal girls bars in Tokyo

The Metropolitan Police Department has received a total of 23 complaints since 2020 about the five bars where the women were arrested.
The members of Mareo! (Francisca Silva, Ernesto Duboy and Camila Sanchez) are on their second tour of Japan. And among the performances this time around was a gig at an Osaka high school.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 21, 2024

Chilean trio Mareo! is on a lengthy tour to help grow its Latin-inspired sound in Japan

Latin sounds are taking off in the world's biggest music markets, but this indie group thinks you need to be a bit more present in order to grab opportunities.
Built by Russian energy giant Gazprom, the pipeline from Comprehensive Gas Treatment Unit No.3 runs about 3,000 kilometers from the Chayandinskoye and Kovyktinskoye gas fields in the coldest part of Siberia to Blagoveshchensk, near the Chinese border.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 22, 2024

China overtaking Europe as top market for Russia’s pipeline gas

Russia’s Gazprom exported 23.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China in January-September, compared with 22.5 billion cubic meters to European customers.
Asako Osaki attends the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York in March.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Nov 3, 2024

How global lessons can improve prospects for women in rural Japan

Through motherhood, education and work, Asako Osaki worked to bring global standards to the front lines of gender issues.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, former prime minister and founder of the Georgian Dream party, waves during a pro-government rally in support of a bill regarding "foreign agents" in Tbilisi, Georgia, on April 29.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 22, 2024

Georgia's shark-owning billionaire tells voters: Don't risk war with Russia

Memories are fresh of a 2008 war with Russia over the Moscow-backed breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which lasted five days and ended in Georgia's defeat.
Apple CEO Tim Cook
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 22, 2024

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s other job: Helping Nike turn things around

Cook has carved out a role as one of Nike’s closest outside advisers over the last 19 years and is the company’s lead independent director.
China's strategic government support has enabled it to lead in the production and supply chains for renewable technologies, including wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2024

What happens when China becomes the green tech superpower?

What should be of more concern is the “soft power” that Beijing will acquire by mastering the green tech sector.
The Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant in Middletown, Pennsylvania
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 23, 2024

Three Mile Island nuclear plant gears up for Big Tech reboot

Giant cooling towers at the plant have sat dormant for so long that grass has sprung up in the towers' hollowed-out bases and wildlife roam inside.
Yahya Sinwar gives a speech in Gaza City in April 2023. Israeli forces cornered and killed the leader of Hamas in a ruined house in Gaza on Oct. 16.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2024

The killing of Sinwar presents a tricky opportunity

It’s always a mistake to speak of "solutions” in the Middle East, but plausible grounds for optimism can do a lot to dissolve the allure of fanaticism.
Taiwanese chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has halted shipments to a client after discovering semiconductors delivered to them found their way into Huawei products.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 24, 2024

TSMC cuts off client after discovering chips sent to Huawei

It’s unclear whether the TSMC client was acting on Huawei’s behalf, or where it’s based.
Kamala Harris speaks during a CNN Town Hall in Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 24, 2024

Harris calls Trump a fascist in bid to sharpen 2024 contrast

The town hall comes amid a frenzied media and campaign blitz less than two weeks before Election Day.
Sayaka Ishii will compete in the quarterfinals of the Pan Pacific Open on Friday.
TENNIS
Oct 24, 2024

Sayaka Ishii making name for herself in tennis while cheering on famous father and BayStars

Like the BayStars, Ishii has battled past higher-ranked opponents and will be hoping to continue to thrive in the role of underdog.
Andrijana Cvetkovikj is the senior programmer for the Women’s Empowerment section at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. The former ambassador also works to promote young filmmakers in Japan’s film industry.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Oct 24, 2024

Andrijana Cvetkovikj: ‘We have to create more opportunities for women to be playing on equal ground’

The former Macedonian ambassador to Japan is also playing a part in promoting younger film directors in the country's movie industry.
A cyclist cools off at a fountain at Madrid Rio park during a heat wave in Madrid in July.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 25, 2024

U.N. says world is on course to warm up to 3.1 degrees Celsius

Little progress has been made over the past few years despite repeated calls for stronger action plans.
Neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump has outlined a comprehensive platform on climate, an issue that remains far from the center of the U.S. campaign despite the country being the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 25, 2024

Trump vs. Harris: Competing visions for a warming world

The U.S. is the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China.
Amit Chhetri opened Yeti Roastery Coffee in Tokyo's Todoroki neighborhood in 2020 as a way to promote Nepalese coffee in Japan.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 27, 2024

Yeti Roastery Coffee is elevating Nepalese java in Japan

“Nepal has rich soil and a huge potential for growing coffee in its mountains, which are also unbelievably gorgeous,” says Yeti Coffee Roastery's Amit Chhetri.
Yukio Hattori was an integral part of "Iron Chef" broadcasts, though his impact on food culture in Japan went far beyond the TV screen.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 27, 2024

Remembering Yukio Hattori, the voice of ‘Iron Chef’

Yukio Hattori was best known to international audiences as the expert commentator on the original Japanese version of the popular TV program “Iron Chef,”
A demonstration calling for the return of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Lucerne, Switzerland, in June. Securing detainees' fair treatment and release isn't important only for resolving the Russia-Ukraine war, but to uphold human rights writ large.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Oct 25, 2024

Human rights are key to resolving the war in Ukraine

The war against Russia can't be won without clear political objectives. This also means not losing sight of the need to uphold human rights in Ukraine, and beyond.
Sofia Kenin celebrates her quarterfinal win over Daria Kasatkina at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Friday.
TENNIS
Oct 25, 2024

Sofia Kenin into Pan Pacific Open semis while home favorite Sayaka Ishii withdraws

Ishii, the last Japanese player in the singles draw, pulled out of her semifinal against Diana Shnaider with an abdominal injury.
Kaori Sakamoto competes in the short program at Skate Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Oct 26, 2024

World champion Sakamoto takes Skate Canada lead over Liu

Sakamoto, the defending Skate Canada champion, won the short program with 74.97 points, while compatriot Hana Yoshida sits in fourth.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.