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“The Wakey Show” is NHK’s first new daily children’s program in three years, and it carries on the station’s storied past in youth-centric educational entertainment.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Mar 27, 2025

Rise and shine with ‘The Wakey Show’

Broadcaster NHK's first new daily children’s show in years puts puppets and positivity up front.
Junko Koeda, a new member on the Bank of Japan's policy board, holds her inaugural news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 27, 2025

BOJ’s newest board member avoids sending signal on timing of next rate hike

Junko Koeda's remarks are likely to keep market speculation alive over the odds of a rate change at the next meeting.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a meeting of the Upper House Budget Committee on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Ishiba’s remarks on inflation relief measures draw ire as budget deadline looms

Confusing messages about an economic package to counter rising prices came as negotiations were heating up on when to hold a vote on the budget.
U.S. President Donald Trump
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2025

China, Japan and South Korea to meet as Trump tariffs take shape

South Korea’s Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun will host the meeting with Japan’s Yoji Muto and China’s Wang Wentao.
Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson prior to a practice session at least year's Qatar Grand Prix.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Mar 28, 2025

Tsunoda and Lawson both have plenty to prove after swap

For Tsunoda the task at Red Bull is clear: Score substantial points toward the constructors' championship and support Verstappen's bid for a fifth successive drivers' title.
Miura and Kihara celebrate after winning the world pairs title on Thursday in Boston.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Mar 28, 2025

Miura and Kihara edge German pair to win second world figure skating title

The Japanese duo scored 219.79 points to capture the world crown by 0.71 of a point over Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin.
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 29, 2025

Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air

Linking mountainous Matsumoto and coastal Kanazawa, this clunkily named route includes nonetheless fantastic sites.
Kazuki Morohashi showcases rice "kōji" at a Japanese sake fair held in Chongqing, China, in November.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2025

Data science helps sake break into wine-dominated market

To preserve the environment for sake production, some breweries are endeavoring to expand their sales channels overseas.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba emphasizes the need to consider measures to help Japanese companies with financing while the government tries to grasp the entire scope of the impact on the nation’s key industry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 28, 2025

Ishiba pledges measures to protect jobs from Trump’s car tariffs

Ishiba emphasized the need to consider measures to help Japanese companies with financing while the government tries to grasp the entire scope of the tariffs' impact.
Alexandra Eala waves to the fans after her defeat in the semifinals of the Miami Open on Thursday.
TENNIS
Mar 28, 2025

Eala's dream run ends as Pegula sets up final with Sabalenka

In an enthralling battle over nearly 2½ hours, fourth-seeded American Pegula emerged with a 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3 win over Eala.
Learning the ropes of Japan’s online marketplaces can yield hidden treasures and also help you freshen up your home or closet from time to time.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 31, 2025

How to navigate Japan’s e-commerce platforms and online flea markets

Looking to refresh your wardrobe or home with the arrival of spring? Check out our tips for how to make the most of Japan’s online marketplaces.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (left) meets with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Malacanang palace in Manila on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 28, 2025

U.S. to deploy more advanced defense capabilities to Philippines

The move comes as Washington seeks to reassure its oldest treaty ally in Asia of its “ironclad” defense commitment amid heightened tensions with China.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the Upper House of the Diet on Friday. The clock is ticking for Ishiba's administration to get the budget for fiscal 2025 passed in parliament.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Mar 28, 2025

Is it a big problem if the budget fails to clear parliament by the end of March?

Government functions won't be significantly hindered, but the Ishiba administration's reputation will take another beating.
U.S. President Donald Trump's deal-focused approach to diplomacy may prevent a hostile China-Russia-North Korea-Iran alliance, but weakens U.S. global leadership.
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2025

The art of the deal meets a four-power axis

Trump's deal-focused approach may prevent a hostile China-Russia-North Korea-Iran alliance but weakens U.S. global leadership.
Demonstrators gather in front of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, on Thursday, during a rally in support of Istanbul's arrested mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2025

Inside Turkey’s executive coup

After 23 years in power, and with Turkey’s economy collapsing, Erdogan knows that no election — even a rigged one — is safe.
The Tokyo National Museum’s garden is open to the public in springtime, when 10 different varieties of cherry trees are blooming.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 28, 2025

Cherry blossom-themed art to see this weekend in Tokyo

With the cherry blossoms’ ephemeral beauty immortalized in art and literature for centuries, there's plenty of artworks to gaze upon on rainy days.
Graduation ceremonies in Japan will usually include a performance of the Japanese national anthem, “Kimigayo.”
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 28, 2025

Attempting the classics: The world of waka poetry

The origins of this poetry style stretch back to at least the seventh century, when one of the emperor's wives composed it at court ceremonies.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (left) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo ahead of their talks Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 30, 2025

In Tokyo, Pentagon chief provides assurances that Japan-U.S. alliance remains robust

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth described Japan as an “indispensable partner” in confronting China and sought to dispel lingering unease in Tokyo.
Gold medalist Alysa Liu (center) is flanked by silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto and bronze medalist Mone Chiba during the medal ceremony for the women's singles event at the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Mar 30, 2025

Resurgent Liu wins women's figure skating world title over Sakamoto

Liu, who walked away from the sport in 2022 at the age of 16 and returned just a year ago, defied the pressure Sakamoto piled on with a brilliant free skate of her own.
Rescue personnel work at the site of a building that collapsed following a strong earthquake, in Bangkok on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 30, 2025

In Bangkok, grim vigils as people seek word of relatives at collapsed building

Eight bodies were recovered from the scene Friday but only one Saturday.
A pagoda that was damaged after a strong earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 30, 2025

A question in quake-wracked Myanmar: Does this augur the end of the junta?

The earthquake, known to have killed at least 1,000 and probably many more than that, struck a day after Myanmar’s military regime celebrated the country’s 80th Armed Forces Day.
A meeting of the Lower House Special Committee on Political Reform is held at the Diet in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 30, 2025

Interparty talks sought over Japan corporate donation rules

Officials from the LDP, Komeito and the DPP are stressing the need for continued interparty talks over the issue.
Both houses of the U.S. Congress have effectively become a subordinate branch of government, ceding power to the executive, especially when the president's party also controls Capitol Hill.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2025

U.S. Congress began ceding power to presidents long before Trump

Since the turn of the century, Congress has increasingly functioned as a quasi-parliament rather than as an independent branch of government
Christian worshippers take part in a Good Friday procession as they carry a cross with a Jesus statue in the town of Klayaa, in southern Lebanon, on March 29, 2024.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2025

Can the Jesus of history support the Christ of faith?

I would not expect a non-Christian writer to simply embrace the thesis that events in the New Testament did mostly happen as related.
U.S. President Donald Trump departs for Washington from West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 31, 2025

Trump says he’s ‘not joking’ about seeking a third term in defiance of Constitution

Any attempt to seek a third term would run afoul of the 22nd Amendment, which begins, 'No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.'
Ryuji Matsumoto pats one of the sheep at his farm in the town of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Apr 14, 2025

The man behind Fukushima town's 'Strawberry Sheep'

Ryuji Matsumoto, 54, incorporates dried strawberries into the feed for his sheep, which gives their meat a certain sweetness.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is seen on a screen in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, on March 14.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 31, 2025

After Duterte's arrest, Philippine drug war victims face abuse and online falsehoods

A surge of false claims has swept social media since the arrest of Rodrigo Duterte, with supporters claiming the ICC had no jurisdiction and calling it a "kidnapping."
A ceremony is held to mark the completion of the Japan Pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka on Saturday.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2025

Osaka Expo's Japan Pavilion completed

The host country pavilion is expected to attract many foreign dignitaries and will feature exhibits linked to the expo's theme of "designing a future society for our lives."
Moore has seen firsthand the powerful impact that a Montessori learning environment has on students-including his own children.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Mar 31, 2025

Montessori head educates Tokyo’s children for life

British James Moore’s next goal is method’s first high school in Japan
Jakub Mensik hits a forehand against Novak Djokovic in the Miami Open final at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday. Mensik beat Djokovic to win the title.
TENNIS
Mar 31, 2025

Teenager Jakub Mensik stuns Novak Djokovic in Miami Open final

Nineteen-year-old Czech Jakub Mensik beat his childhood idol Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4) in an upset for the ages on Sunday, claiming his first ATP title at the Miami Open while also denying the former No. 1 in his bid for a milestone 100th title.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past