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JAPAN
Mar 14, 2024

Hokuriku Shinkansen's Kanazawa-Tsuruga extension set to open Saturday

The opening of the new section is expected to contribute to reconstruction efforts in the Hokuriku region in central Japan.
Pickleball courts in New York's famed Central Park
MORE SPORTS
Mar 15, 2024

Amid boom overseas, when will pickleball land in Japan?

Over the past few years, pickleball has emerged as the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., but it has yet to take off in Japan.
A worker in the factory of Optimax Systems, in Ontario, New York on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 18, 2024

Markets frustrated as Fed drops no hints on post-pandemic economy

With investors having to guess how they will respond, households and businesses are finding it harder to plan.
Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang displays products onstage during the annual Nvidia GTC Artificial Intelligence Conference at SAP Center in San Jose, California, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 19, 2024

Nvidia unveils 'superchip' successor to all-conquering AI processor

The new chip, multiple times faster at handling AI models, will be the basis of new computers being deployed by the world’s largest data center operators.
Lawmakers vote on the new national security law at Hong Kong’s Legislative Council on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

Hong Kong adopts sweeping security laws, bowing to Beijing

The body fast-tracked a major piece of legislation that critics say further threatens the China-ruled city's freedoms.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observs a ground test of a solid fuel engine for a new intermediate-range hypersonic missile, at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on North Korea’s western coast in this digitally altered image released Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 20, 2024

North Korea's Kim oversees hypersonic missile engine test

The isolated country's leader compared "the military strategic value" of the new weapon as being on par with its powerful long-range missiles.
The annual South by Southwest Conference (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, was held on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 20, 2024

Will AI help or hurt workers? At SXSW, that depends on who you ask.

According to a global survey from Slack, 42% of office workers say they’re excited about AI, but some 27% find the prospect concerning.
Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder & CEO of Inflection AI, at the Greylock Partners office in Menlo Park, California in May 2023. Suleyman, a co-founder of Google’s DeepMind artificial intelligence lab, is leaving the startup he was running to lead Microsoft’s consumer AI business, in another sign of Microsoft’s aggressive plans for the technology.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 20, 2024

Microsoft deepens AI focus, hiring DeepMind co-founder for consumer tools

Over a year after unveiling an AI-enhanced Bing search, the company has made few gains in the search market, still dominated by Google.
A protester in New Delhi holds a banner depicting Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who has said he was the target of an assassination plot disclosed by U.S. prosecutors in November 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2024

India’s probe links former intelligence official to U.S. murder plot

At least one person involved in the alleged attempted assassination had worked for India’s main spy agency and is still employed by the government.
A protest against the extradition law in Hong Kong in June 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 22, 2024

Where are Hong Kong’s leading pro-democracy figures now?

In 2019, Hong Kong erupted into the most stunning expression of public anger with Beijing in decades.
Legislative Council lawmakers in Hong Kong unanimously voted in favor of a new national security law on Tuesday. The legislation introduces penalties such as life imprisonment for crimes related to treason and insurrection.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2024

Is Hong Kong headed for a rubber-stamp legislature?

With the unanimous passing of the new national security law, Hong Kong's "patriotic" council has shown that its willingness to toe the government line.
Though renewable energy can significantly reduce carbon emissions, if growth remains the global economic imperative, increased energy use will prevent us from reaching decarbonization goals.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 25, 2024

A call for economic degrowth

To achieve the systemic change needed to tackle the climate crisis, we must abandon GDP as the measure of social progress. This is what degrowth calls for.
Two people try to take a selfie under the illuminated cherry blossoms in Kyoto’s Gion district last year.
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 25, 2024

Sakura stories revisited: Getting in the mood for hanami

We are revisiting some past content on the science, economics and culture of cherry blossom season.
A view of apartment buildings with writing on a wall that reads "Here we build (ourselves)," in the Franc-Moisin neighborhood of Saint-Denis, a northern Paris suburb, on March 13. The Seine-Saint-Denis department north of Paris will host a number of events for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with venues including the Stade de France and Aquatics Centre, as well as the Olympic Village.
WORLD / Society
Mar 26, 2024

Amid Olympic redevelopment, have troubled Paris suburbs won gold?

The Paris Olympics will take place mostly on the other side of a ring road that divides the capital from some of its poorest and most notorious suburbs.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 26, 2024

Hong Kong scraps early release for national security convicts

The new law came into force Saturday, putting into immediate effect tough penalties of up to life imprisonment for certain national security crimes.
Cute characters like Pikachu are deeply ingrained in Japanese culture. The global reach of kawaii has contributed to Japan's soft power and international appeal.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 26, 2024

What does the global power of kawaii say about us?

Kawaii is one of Japan's greatest cultural exports. But cuteness is more than just a fad or a commercial success story: It's part of our evolution.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman rings a ceremonial bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to celebrate the company's initial public offering on March 21.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 28, 2024

Reddit’s IPO is a content moderation success story

Deciding what users are and aren’t allowed to post is something every social media company has to embrace eventually, if it wants to succeed.
Kelly Zong Fuli
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2024

China's ‘Princess of Wahaha’ to lead beverage empire fighting for relevance

Sales at Hangzhou Wahaha Group have fallen in an increasingly competitive market as the firm has proven slow to adapt to consumers’ changing tastes.
Preliminary results from new research offer hope in the fight against glioblastoma, the terrible form of cancer that took the lives of Arizona Sen. John McCain and U.S. President Joe Biden’s son, Beau.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2024

This brain cancer breakthrough should excite you

Recent research shows progress in using the immune system to combat glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer.
Described as “the world’s first cosmic opera,” Jeff Mills’ “The Trip: Enter the Black Hole” is a multimedia spectacle tied together by a concept that teeters on the brink between quantum physics and science fiction.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 29, 2024

Jeff Mills’ trippy techno odyssey comes to Tokyo

The influential techno artist's multimedia 'cosmic opera' features vocals by '80s avant-pop diva Jun Togawa.
A real estate sign advertises powered data center land for sale in Johnstown, Ohio, on March 23.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 29, 2024

Amazon bets $150 billion on data centers required for AI boom

In addition to meeting demand for corporate services, they will provide the massive computing power needed for an expected boom in generative AI.
California’s share of U.S. wine production, around 90% in the 1990s and 2000s, dropped below 80% for the first time on record in 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2024

Who will save the U.S. wine industry? Not California boomers.

California’s share of U.S. wine production, around 90% in the 1990s and 2000s, dropped below 80% for the first time on record in 2022.
Children wash their hands with a new public pump installed as part of a climate resilient water system in Inn Chey in Kratie Province.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Mar 31, 2024

Japan sits at the forefront of climate resilient infrastructure in Southeast Asia

Japanese businesses and government agencies are pouring billions of yen into various programs across Cambodia and Southeast Asia to reduce climate risks.
CrowdTangle, bought by the firm now known as Meta in 2016, offers crucial real-time transparency into the spread of conspiracy theories and hate speech on influential Meta-owned platforms including Facebook and Instagram.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2024

Meta to switch off tool that tracks misinformation months before U.S. vote

CrowdTangle offers crucial real-time transparency into the spread of conspiracy theories and hate speech.
Tugboats guide the Maersk Atlanta container ship at the Port of Newark in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday. The bridge collapse Tuesday that shut the Port of Baltimore and closed a major highway will cause weeks or months of transportation disruptions in the Mid-Atlantic region.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2024

Baltimore ship accident has east coast ports scrambling to absorb cargo

The bridge collapse will accelerate a shift of cargo to the U.S. West Coast in order to avoid potential bottlenecks at trade gateways from Boston to Miami.
As they enter the workforce, the young employees who grew up texting one another have their own rules for communicating.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 2, 2024

Fear of a full stop? Young Japanese say drop the period in your texts.

In addition to "maruhara," or "period harassment," younger employees want to cut down on the unnecessary emails that are a part of work culture.
Virginia-class attack submarine USS Hawaii passes by Diamond Head crater on Oahu in Hawaii in July 2009.
WORLD
Apr 3, 2024

U.S. attack submarines to counter China are up to two years late

Delivery dates for Virginia-class subs are an estimated 24 to 36 months past the contracted dates
Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin,” once the victim of high waves that dragged it into the sea, sits at the end of a pier on the south side of Naoshima.
CULTURE / Art / Longform
Apr 6, 2024

Why is the most exciting art in Japan so hard to get to?

Japan has a unique movement of public art projects and festivals that are a slog to get to — by design. A writer examines the country's “inconvenient art."
Andrew Chafin of the Detroit Tigers pitches during the fifth inning against the New York Yankees at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida, on March 14.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 7, 2024

As more uniform flaws appear, Nike seeks solutions

Andrew Chafin has worn almost every shade and style across 11 seasons in the major leagues. The lefty has pitched in Chicago Cubbie pinstripes and the Kelly green of the Oakland A’s. He has covered his curls with the Detroit Tigers’ D, a timeless classic, and the Milwaukee Brewers’ ball-in-glove,...
A lone Tesla charges in the basement of a commercial property in Tokyo. One of Japan’s biggest obstacles to electric vehicles is subpar charging infrastructure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2024

How three high-tech countries became laggards in electric vehicles

Japan's slow adoption traces back to a decade-old bet on hydrogen fuel-cell technology, while U.S. and South Korea have hit bottlenecks.

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’