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U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff (left) arrives to meet families of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 as they demonstrate in Tel Aviv's "Hostage square" on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 3, 2025

U.S. envoy meets Israeli hostage families in Tel Aviv

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met anguished relatives of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza on Saturday, as fears for the captives' survival mounted.
A three-generation family, Susumu Sato (center), his daughter Akiyo Nishida (left) and his granddaughter Nanako Nishida, is working to pass on to future generations the memory of a massive air raid in the city of Toyama that occurred 80 years ago.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2025

80 years on: Three generations pass on memory of Toyama air raid

In the air raid, which occurred shortly before the end of World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers destroyed 99.5% of Toyama's urban area.
The Bishu Maru LNG tanker, owned by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, next to the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Aug 3, 2025

How Trump is gaslighting on climate change — with Japan’s help

As the U.S. president ramps up high-polluting LNG projects, Japan is among the nations he's pressuring for investments. The economic case for the push, however, is far from clear.
A memorial to two Japanese soldiers killed in combat with anti-Japanese forces in Phrae Province, northern Thailand
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2025

80 years on: Thai man wants to return soldiers' remains to Japan

During the war, Japan was an enemy to the Free Thai group, but the soldiers were victims of the war, which was unnecessary, Puchong said.
Participants take part in the Pride March in Amsterdam on July 26.
WORLD / Society
Aug 4, 2025

Going Dutch: LGBTQ+ Americans find Trump-free life in Netherlands

In the face of rolled back rights, some LGBTQ+ people have voted with their feet.
The newly developed drug, Adriana, is a groundbreaking painkiller, which works on a completely different mechanism to morphine and other existing synthetic opioids.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2025

Kyoto University team develops pain reliever comparable to morphine

Morphine, often administered to cancer patients, can cause serious adverse effects such as breathing issues and addiction.
Pallets are prepared on a Royal Canadian Air Force CC-130J Hercules transport aircraft before airdropping aid over the Gaza Strip, at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 5, 2025

Canada airdrops aid into Gaza and again accuses Israel of violating international law

Canada said last week it plans to recognize the a Palestinian state at a meeting of the United Nations in September, ratcheting up pressure on Israel as starvation spreads in Gaza.
Sumitomo Pharma applied to Japanese regulators for manufacturing and marketing authorization aimed at treating patients with advanced Parkinson's disease.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 5, 2025

Drugmaker in Japan seeks approval for stem cell treatment for Parkinson's

A trial led by Kyoto University researchers indicated treatment using induced Pluripotent Stem cells was safe and successful in improving symptoms of the disease.
A displaced Sudanese mother and one of her children sit inside a camp shelter in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, on July 30.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 6, 2025

Funding cuts reducing Sudanese children to 'skin, bones': UNICEF

Children were being cut off from life-saving services due to funding cuts, while the scale of need is staggering, UNICEF said.
A dog looks through the bars of a cage at the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control as the shelter struggles with overcrowding caused by pets abandoned during recent immigration raids, in Downey, California, on July 29.
WORLD / Society
Aug 6, 2025

Trump's immigration raids in LA affecting pets too

Dogs and cats are finding themselves in Los Angeles County's care centers after their owners get detained or deported.
Otake <i>oyakata</i> and his wrestlers at Otake stable in April 2018
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Aug 6, 2025

Fresh start for stable founded by legendary yokozuna Taiho

In a historically significant move, the Otake sumo stable will be taken over by someone without a direct connection to its founder.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive economic policies during his second term — including sweeping tariffs — risk triggering long-term damage to U.S. competitiveness and trust in the dollar.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 6, 2025

The true costs of Trump’s economic agenda

President Donald Trump’s efforts to bring back manufacturing jobs have yielded little progress so far and are jeopardizing U.S. competitiveness.
A carrier-based Type 52 Zero fighter marks the entrance foyer of Yasukuni Shrine's Yushukan, a museum that tells a more nuanced story of Japan's experience in World War II than the controversies around the shrine might suggest.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 8, 2025

Tokyo’s WWII museums hold diverse views on war and peace

From detainees in Soviet labor camps to last-ditch efforts to develop miracle weapons, the capital’s war museums tell a multitude of stories of a country in crisis.
A chicken stands in a garbage dump filled with plastic in Rodriguez, Rizal province, the Philippines, on Nov. 28, 2024.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 7, 2025

Trump administration memo urges countries to reject plastic production caps

The U.S. stance broadly aligns with the positions laid out by the global petrochemicals industry.
Palestinians sit on a hill looking out over the Mediterranean Sea and a camp for displaced people in Gaza City on June 2.
WORLD
Aug 8, 2025

'How much worse could it get?' Gazans fear full Israeli occupation

Fear and despair have spread in the enclave amid rumors that Israel might decide on a full occupation of Gaza.
The government revised its real growth projection for fiscal year 2025 to 0.7%, down from the previous forecast of 1.2%.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 8, 2025

Japan lowers this year’s growth forecast as tariffs kick in

The downgrade partly reflects a darkening global economic outlook as a result of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
Chugai Pharmaceutical shares sank as much as 20% in Tokyo on Friday after a study revealed that an obesity drug it licensed to Eli Lilly & Co. resulted in lower weight loss and higher rates of nausea and vomiting than anticipated.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2025

Chugai stock drops the most since 1977 on disappointing obesity drug data

A study showed the drug, which it has licensed to Eli Lilly & Co., resulted in lower weight loss and higher rates of nausea and vomiting than anticipated.
A protest in solidarity with children in Gaza in Berlin
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 9, 2025

As Gaza faces starvation, reluctant Germany starts to curb support for Israel

The shift reflects how Germany's support for Israel, rooted in its historical guilt over the Nazi Holocaust, is being tested like never before.
Einav Zangauker, mother of Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker, sits on the shoulders of Michel Illouz, father of deceased hostage Guy Illouz, as they attend a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday calling for the release of hostages.
WORLD
Aug 10, 2025

Thousands rally in Tel Aviv against Netanyahu’s new Gaza plan

A day earlier, Israeli officials had decided to seize Gaza City, expanding military operations in the devastated Palestinian territory.
Kunishige Kamamoto waves after a match commemorating his retirement in Tokyo in 1984.
SOCCER
Aug 10, 2025

Japanese soccer legend Kunishige Kamamoto dies at 81

Kamamoto scored a record 75 goals for the national team and was widely considered the greatest striker in Japanese soccer history.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a press conference in Jerusalem on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 11, 2025

Netanyahu defends Gaza plan condemned at home and abroad

Foreign powers are already upset about the hunger crisis besetting Palestinians in Gaza, while relatives of hostages are calling for a general strike to protest the latest plans.
Kazuto Uchida, president of the Government Pension Investment Fund, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on July 23.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2025

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund is hiring amid ballooning assets

GPIF has an unusually small headcount despite being one of the world’s largest retirement funds.
Yu Zidi after heat 2 of the women's 400m medley at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Aug. 3
MORE SPORTS / Swimming
Aug 12, 2025

China's 12-year-old swimming phenom Yu sparks wonder and concern

Even as the swimming world marvels at Yu Zidi's talent, her age has raised questions about the ethics of someone so young competing at the highest level.
Flags from the Pacific Islands countries wave on the breeze in Yaren, Nauru, on the last day of the 2018 Pacific Islands Forum.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 12, 2025

China, U.S. pledge funds for Pacific Islands ahead of meet they are barred from

The Solomon Islands, which hosts an annual leaders meeting for the region blocked 21 donor countries from attending after pressure from Beijing to exclude Taiwan.
The U.S. State Department's 2024 Human Rights Report was delayed for months as appointees of President Donald Trump altered an earlier draft dramatically to bring it in line with "America First" values, according to government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2025

U.S. State Department softens criticism of some countries in human rights report

The 2024 Human Rights Report's section on Israel was much shorter than last year's edition and made no mention of the severe humanitarian crisis or death toll in the Gaza Strip.
Akio Kuroi holds a photograph of his father, Keijiro, as he speaks during an interview in Tokyo in April about how his father had changed after World War II.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 13, 2025

'War trauma' transformed caring father into a complete stranger

A growing number of family members of former Japanese servicemen are sharing their experiences, prompting the government to launch a survey to document such realities.
Palestinians wait to collect food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City on Aug. 4.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2025

Palestinian mother 'destroyed' after image used to deny Gaza starvation

For Faiza Najjar, the fact that her family's reunion got caught up in a misinformation campaign was devastating.
Among the middle school students who admitted to abusing over-the-counter medication, the majority — around 64% — said they got them from pharmacies while a third said they had access to them in their own households.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 13, 2025

1 in 55 Japanese middle schoolers abuse over-the-counter drugs, survey shows

Most of them got the drugs from pharmacies and their own households.
Shinto priests holding traditional umbrellas walk to the main shrine for a ritual to cleanse themselves during the annual Spring Festival at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo in April 2016.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 13, 2025

Dispelling the myth of Yasukuni Shrine

The shrine has been a lightning rod — especially as it has been used by some of Japan's neighbors as a convenient means to shift attention away from their domestic issues.
Venus Williams will be making her 25th appearance in the singles draw at the U.S. Open this year.
TENNIS
Aug 14, 2025

Venus Williams receives wild card for U.S. Open

The 45-year-old American recently returned from a 16-month layoff after a serious health scare.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight