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Hugh Jeffrey, the Australian Department of Defence’s deputy secretary for strategy, policy and industry, says the next 18 to 24 months will see Tokyo and Canberra not only test and share new technologies and capabilities, it will also see increased military deployments to each other’s territories.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 29, 2024

Japan and Australia gear up for boosted defense tie-ups over next two years

In an interview, a senior Australian defense official spoke about cooperation in the industrial and technical fields in addition to military-to-military ties.
Today's religious thinkers face the challenge of demonstrating that faith offers deeper meaning and understanding in an increasingly secular world.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 30, 2024

Is the world ready for a religious comeback?

Individuals are seeking meaning through alternative avenues, suggesting a readiness for religious discourse.
Nguyen Thanh Bien gets a massage with medicated oil from his father to help with injuries from being beaten by the Chinese authorities while fishing in the South China Sea, in Quang Ngai, Vietnam, on Oct. 18.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 30, 2024

Bullied by China at sea, with the broken bones to prove it

China’s aggressive policing of disputed territory has produced the latest clash in a long, complex relationship.
Shopify, whose key selling point is lower prices for its suite of e-commerce services, has been cheekily calling out Salesforce’s penchant for wining and dining potential clients.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 30, 2024

Shopify is winning Salesforce clients, stoking e-commerce rivalry

The Canadian company — for years the go-to for mom-and-pop businesses looking to set up shop online — is setting its sights on larger companies in a dramatic shift.
The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra on stage during its launch in Beijing on Tuesday. The Chinese tech company made its foray into the EV industry earlier this year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 30, 2024

Xiaomi launches faster version of flagship EV in a challenge to Tesla

Xiaomi entered China's crowded EV market in March with the launch of its hit SU7.
Onosato pushes out Hoshoryu during the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo last month.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Oct 30, 2024

Onosato hogs spotlight, but there are big changes in latest sumo ranks

With his name writ large as ozeki on the latest banzuke, sumo’s hottest ticket took another step toward what looks like a procession to yokozuna.
Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris along with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff attend a rally on the National Mall in Washington one week before the Nov. 5 national election.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 30, 2024

The U.S. election is happening too soon

The upcoming U.S. election is unlikely to lead to national renewal or a decisive defeat of MAGA populism.
Appi Geothermal Energy's power plant in Hachimantai, Iwate Prefecture, began commercial operations in March.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Oct 31, 2024

Geothermal power slowly gains steam in Japan

Development of the energy source has long stalled, partly because they tend to lie beneath national parks, which are protected for wildlife conservation.
Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 31, 2024

Trump factor bringing uncertainty to Asian firms' U.S. investment outlook

The former president has criticized the Inflation Reduction Act as a "scam” and the CHIPS and Science Act as a bad deal.
Images of semiconductor wafers at the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) Museum of Innovation in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on April 18, 2023. Taiwan's stock market emerged as the hottest major bourse in Asia over the past year, led by TSMC and Hon Hai Precision Industry.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 31, 2024

AI’s $1.3 trillion future increasingly hinges on Taiwan

Thousands of businesses, executives and entrepreneurs rely on the island's unparalleled combination of talent, cost and speed.
A local resident watches Ukrainian rescuers clear debris on the site of a Russian missile strike in Dnipro, Ukraine, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 31, 2024

U.S. sanctions entities in India, China and Turkey over Russia war supplies

The U.S. and its allies have piled thousands of sanctions on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, yet Russia’s GDP is projected to grow 3.5% to 4% in 2024.
The government will introduce a new business trip allowance system for civil servants in April, under which up to ¥19,000 will be paid for a stay in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2024

Up to ¥19,000 eyed to cover Tokyo hotel costs for government workers

The payment cap will be set at ¥19,000 for hotels in Tokyo and at ¥13,000 for those in Osaka Prefecture.
A woman mounts a flag to a stack of cinderblocks in the aftermath of flooding from Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, North Carolina, on Oct. 6.
WORLD / Society
Oct 31, 2024

Misinformation is turning American disasters into toxic battlegrounds

Deep political polarization, weakened trust in institutions and a lack of content moderation on social media allow false claims to flourish.
Democratic Party for the People Secretary-General Kazuya Shimba (left) and Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama meet in the Diet building in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2024

LDP and DPP inch closer together on economic policy cooperation

If their arrangement is successful, it would mean a majority of parliamentary votes for issues especially important to the DPP.
Yuko Mohri uses “invisible forces” — gravity, weather, air, magnetic fields — to create jazzy kinetic sculptures.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2024

Yuko Mohri is a maestro of unstable elements

After a banner year at the Venice Biennale, the creator of jazzy kinetic sculptures opens her first large-scale exhibition in Japan.
Vietnamese technical interns work at a food processing factory in Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2024

Criteria revealed for technical interns in Japan looking to change jobs

Applicants can select from a wide range of specific "unavoidable" situations, such as being the victim of harassment, set out in a list attached to the application form.
Korey Kito, left, stands with his father Brian Kito in front of their confectionery, Fugetsu-Do, in Los Angeles.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 4, 2024

How Fugetsu-Do survived the evolution of Little Tokyo in LA

In addition to selling mochi and other treats out of the storefront, Fugetsu-do also stocks other Japanese specialty food stores across California.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (right) shakes hands with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell before their meeting at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Friday morning, ahead of the announcement of Japan and the EU's new defense and security partnership.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 1, 2024

Japan and EU launch defense and security tie-up amid mutual China concerns

The move is aimed at developing, deepening and strengthening cooperation and dialogue across all areas of security and defense, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya says.
In recent years, anglophone publishers have perked up to the potential of “healing fiction,” driven by a healthy appetite for East Asian literature. Japan figures prominently in this literary landscape, and a fondness for felines in the "iyashikei" (healing type) genre has proven commercially viable abroad.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 2024

Cat companions and the 'healing fiction' boom

Japan's "iyashikei" (healing type) cultural products are gaining audiences, and non-Japanese readers are craving cozy feline literature in translation.
The seaside town of Shika on the Noto Peninsula, where the local power provider, Hokuriku Electric, has been fighting for a decade to restart a nuclear power plant in the town’s center.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 2, 2024

Can quake-prone Japan ever embrace nuclear energy again?

The government, its makeup in flux after the LDP lost seats this week, will soon need to make decisions that will shape Japan's future nuclear policy.
The closing session of the United Nations' COP16 summit in Cali, Colombia, on Friday
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Nov 2, 2024

Talks on halting nature loss run into extra time in Colombia

A closing plenary session started more than four hours late as groups of negotiators huddled behind closed doors seeking to iron out their differences.
David Cooper (left), executive secretary of COP16, Colombian Environment Minister and COP16 President Susana Muhamad (center), and Astrid Schomaker, secretary of COP16, attend the closing session of the conference in Cali, Colombia, on Saturday.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Nov 3, 2024

U.N. talks on saving nature stumble on finance hurdle

COP16 was suspended after negotiations ran nearly 12 hours longer than planned and delegates started leaving.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at an event in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 3, 2024

Biden left the presidential race, but his legacy depends on it

A Harris loss would prompt questions over Biden's time in the race while likely dooming much of his work in clean energy, health insurance and foreign policy.
Polling has failed spectacularly in recent U.S. presidential elections and the country can only hope it navigates this year's volatile race with its credibility intact.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2024

Broken political polling failing American democracy

To restore confidence in polling, pollsters must recognize the limitations of traditional random sampling and improve methods for diagnosing nonresponse bias.
The Indonesian Navy's KRI Karel Satsuitubun-356 frigate. Jakarta and Moscow have different maritime goals, with Indonesia facing threats of smuggling and piracy while Russia is looking for willing allies.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 3, 2024

Joint Russia sea drills signal start of Indonesian foreign policy shift

Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or U.S.-China rivalry
While NATO membership is unlikely until the war concludes, some NATO members are open to allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia, though U.S. President Joe Biden remains hesitant.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 4, 2024

Biden has a crucial decision to make on Ukraine

Biden may not be the U.S. president to make the congratulatory call to Ukraine's leader when peace is declared, but he can help keep him in the fight until it happens.
Colombian Environment Minister and COP16 President, Susana Muhamad, attends the last plenary session of the COP16 Summit in Cali, Colombia, on Saturday.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Nov 4, 2024

U.N. nature summit ends in limbo as countries spar over funding

Notwithstanding the last-minute drama, the summit did achieve some of its goals.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a live interview with U.S. commentator Tucker Carlson in the finale of the Tucker Carlson Live Tour at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 4, 2024

Election falsehoods take off on Youtube as it looks the other way

The largest video platform has become a home for election conspiracy theories, half-truths and lies, which provide it with revenue.
Chinese solar panel manufacturer Trina Solar's facility in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, on Aug. 30
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 4, 2024

Chinese solar firms, ever-nimble, go where U.S. tariffs don't reach

Chinese solar firms have repeatedly sidestepped tariffs to dominate the global markets despite U.S. efforts over more than a decade to rein them in.
Royal Canadian Navy Commander Vice Adm. Angus Topshee inspects an honor guard with Maritime Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Adm. Akira Saito during a meeting at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 4, 2024

Canada Navy chief sees more chances for multiservice exercises with Japan

Ottawa has been gradually boosting its military engagement with Asian partners since unveiling its Indo-Pacific Strategy in late 2022.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes