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“Ravens” stars Tadanobu Asano as Masahisa Fukase, a real-life figure who was known for his photos of the psychedelic party scene of 1960s Shinjuku, portraits of his wife and images of the ravens of his home prefecture of Hokkaido.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 14, 2025

‘Ravens’ is a portrait of art, love and inner demons

Director Mark Gill brings the turbulent life of celebrated photographer Masahisa Fukase into focus in his new film.
Thames Water's Beddington Sewage Treatment Works near Croydon, south London, on Friday. Thames Water, and other British water companies privatized since 1989, are under fire for allowing the discharge of large quantities of sewage into rivers and the sea.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 15, 2025

A stain on Britain: Sewage contaminates its waterways and seas

Failings with the most basic services in British society, such as water and sewage, have been harming the broader U.K. economy.
An aerial view of Thames Water's Beddington Sewage Treatment Works near Croydon, south London on Friday. Thames Water — and other British water companies privatized since 1989 — are under fire for allowing the discharge of large quantities of sewage into rivers and the sea.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 17, 2025

A stain on Britain: Sewage contaminates its waterways and seas

The pollution affects the seafood and tourism industries, while delaying construction projects and hampering the economy.
A Russian soldier at an artillery position in the Kursk region of Russia on Dec. 2. Ukrainian forces have pulled almost entirely out of the Kursk region of Russia, ending an offensive that had stunned the Kremlin last summer with its speed and audacity.
WORLD
Mar 17, 2025

How Ukraine’s offensive in Russia’s Kursk region unraveled

At the height of the campaign, Ukrainian forces controlled some 1,300 square kilometers of Russian territory. Now they hold just a small sliver of land along the border.
Israeli soldiers work by military vehicles, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, near the border with Gaza, in Israel, on Feb. 15.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 21, 2025

In Israel, reservist burnout and little public appetite for more war in Gaza

A full-scale ground war against Hamas could prove more complicated amid waning public support, exhausted military reservists and political challenges.
Sachiko Asakawa (left) and her brother Kazuo Asakawa at a news conference in Tokyo in November 2009
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2025

Man recalls effects of Tokyo subway sarin attack on sister

Kazuo Asakawa's sister, Sachiko Asakawa, died in 2020 at the age of 56 after suffering severe aftereffects from the attack.
Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Mar 31, 2025

The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan

A growing industry quietly erases the final traces of those who die alone, exposing deep societal fractures.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 31, 2025

Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?

Concerns over the stability of the LDP-Komeito minority government are fueling talk of a possible new arrangement, and maybe even a new prime minister.
Kaori Sakamoto performs her free skate during the world championships in Boston on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Mar 31, 2025

Kaori Sakamoto breathes sigh of relief after world championships

Sakamoto finished in second place behind American Alysa Liu, who made a surprising run to the world title.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (right) and teammate Yuki Tsunoda (second from right) alongside Racing Bulls drivers Isack Hadjar (second from left) and Liam Lawson at the F1 Tokyo Fan Festival 2025 in Odaiba, Tokyo, on Wednesday
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 2, 2025

Red Bull and Racing Bulls display unity in Tokyo ahead of grand prix

Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda has moved up to replace Liam Lawson, who was demoted to the junior team.
A man recycles electronic waste from computer power supplies at a scrap yard in Ahmedabad, India
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2025

From Daikin to Samsung, companies fight Modi over e-waste policy

India wants to tackle its mounting e-waste problem. Global electronics companies say the cost is too high.
Takaaki Nezu, executive director of Maruto Group Holdings, says it is the company’s social responsibility to help tackle the falling birth rate.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 5, 2025

Fukushima firms seek ways to encourage marriages

One supermarket chain has said such moves reflect a corporate responsibility to tackle the nation’s chronically low birth rate.
A farmhand prunes trees on a 4-year-old cocoa plantation, replanted after swollen shoot disease, in Enchi, Ghana, on March 4.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 23, 2025

Cocoa crunch isn’t over yet as top growers struggle with supply

Africa’s cocoa heartland has long grappled with blight and aging trees, leaving farms vulnerable as severe weather hammered crops in recent years.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a campaign rally in Laval, Quebec, Canada, on Tuesday. Carney was the subject of at least 16 books published in March and listed on Amazon, according to a review of the site on April 16.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2025

AI floods Amazon with strange political books before Canadian election

The development adds to concerns about how new technologies are affecting the information voters receive during the election campaign.
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
LIFE / Style & Design
Apr 24, 2025

Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability

Architects of country pavilions speak on the challenges that shaped their design choices.
Since 2017, Kotomi Li has won some of Japan’s top literary awards and built a formidable career in the face of persistent online harassment. “Authors are tenacious creatures to begin with,” she says.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
May 5, 2025

Kotomi Li: 'I refuse to choose death'

The Taiwanese writer reflects on the importance of queer community, her ascent in Japan’s literary world and her ongoing battles against online harassment.
For centuries, artisans have unraveled strands of the fibrous bark of "shuro" trees to create a medley of everyday objects. Designer Kazuki Nagasawa is now transforming the traditional material into ethereal contemporary pieces.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 9, 2025

Kazuki Nagasawa's sustainable designs are rooted in tradition

The recent SaloneSatellite Award-winner transforms a humble bark, long used by artisans to craft everyday objects, into ethereal works of contemporary design.
Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold will leave the club at the end of the season. He is expected to move to Real Madrid.
SOCCER
May 12, 2025

Liverpool fans boo departing star Trent Alexander-Arnold

Alexander-Arnold confirmed his impending exit on Monday ahead of a widely expected move to Real Madrid.
"Jinsei," which follows its protagonist over a century, probes themes of identity and societal issues with a dark comic touch. The director, however, says he created the story without knowing where it would lead.
CULTURE / Film
May 16, 2025

For his first feature film, director Ryuya Suzuki created a masterpiece

With no script or crew, the animator created "Jinsei," a bold debut inspired by classics such as "Citizen Kane" and "Scarface."
Palestinians carry their belongings through the town of Jabalia as they flee the southward toward Gaza City on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2025

Trump plan or not, Israel is letting more Palestinians leave Gaza

The easing of restrictions parallels the Israeli government's stated goal of facilitating the resettlement of Gaza's population in other countries.
Jony Ive, left, is collaborating with OpenAI’s Sam Altman as part of a nearly $6.5 billion deal.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 22, 2025

OpenAI to buy AI startup from Apple veteran Jony Ive in $6.5 billion deal

The purchase — the largest in OpenAI’s history — will provide the company with a dedicated unit for developing AI-powered devices.
Mervat Hijazi washes clothes inside the tent they took shelter in after being displaced in Gaza City.
WORLD / Society
May 24, 2025

Diary of a Gazan family's descent toward starvation

The family's plight is a snapshot of the misery plaguing the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet, presented a vision of AI that was at once optimistic about the technology’s possibilities and sober-minded about some of its present limitations, at an event at the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 5, 2025

Alphabet CEO expects to keep hiring engineers while AI advances

Alphabet's CEO presented a vision of AI that was at once optimistic about the technology’s possibilities and sober-minded about some of its present limitations.
Novak Djokovic plays a forehand return to Italy's Jannik Sinner during their men's singles semifinal match on day 13 of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on June 6, 2025.
TENNIS
Jun 11, 2025

No rest, no gain: Novak Djokovic’s go-to tools for a mind and body reset

Japan residents with deep pockets now have a chance to replicate Djokovic’s wellness and longevity routines at Aman Tokyo.
Eating locally grown food could be part of a decokatsu lifestyle that's both good for the planet and your wallet.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jun 15, 2025

Decokatsu could save you money and help the planet. But you probably haven't heard of it.

The ambitious government program aims to get people to live in ways that are healthier for the planet without being restrictive about it.
Tobias Bieker settled in Osaka in 2018 and started "Unpacking Japan" as a side project with ZenGroup five years ago.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 11, 2025

Tobias Bieker: ‘A good interviewer helps the guest shine’

The host of the "Unpacking Japan" podcast offers his take on Osaka life, Japanese jazz and writing fiction.
Reporters and photographers, including long-time baseball beat writer Keizo Konishi, swarm around Ichiro Suzuki during the World Baseball Classic in San Diego in 2009.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 27, 2025

Three decades and a pile of notebooks: The beat writer who chronicled Ichiro’s career

For nearly three decades, this journalist's job revolved around one man — Ichiro Suzuki. But covering the baseball legend was never boring.
Kunshiro Kiyozumi, 97, who was the youngest crew member of the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58 in World War II, on his way to a restaurant to have lunch in Matsuyama, Japan, on April 29.
JAPAN / History
Jul 29, 2025

Last soldiers of Imperial Japanese Army have a warning for younger generations

"In their last breaths, no one shouted for the long life of the emperor,” said one veteran about his comrades. "They called out for their mothers, whom they would never see again.”
Masayuki Yamauchi teaches junior high school students about the history of Okunoshima, an island in Takehara, Hiroshima Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2025

80 years on, former teacher conveys history of hidden island in World War II

The tiny island in Hiroshima Prefecture hosted a poison gas plant of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, leading to its removal from maps for confidentiality purposes.
A shipwreck of a boat, used by refugees in the past, is stranded at a shore in the northern part of Lesbos island, Greece
WORLD
Aug 1, 2025

On Europe's hardened frontier, Greek island keeps migrants at bay

Ten years after it was a hot spot for migrants, Lesbos shows how far government responses have hardened against people seeking refuge in Europe.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building