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Visitors look at paper cranes hung at Peace Park in Nagasaki on Aug. 8, a day ahead of the 80th anniversary of the World War II atomic bombing of the city.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 25, 2025

Japan ranked one of the most peaceful places in Asia as global tensions rise

Japan’s geography places it in close proximity to some of the biggest current geopolitical tensions and conflicts, but it still ranked highly in the Global Peace Index 2025.
Summers in Japan have grown hotter and hotter, and people have had to spend more money as a result.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 25, 2025

Tokyo household budgets further squeezed by heat wave

On average, monthly expenses are up more than $23 a month as a result of high temperatures.
A journalist holds the blood-covered camera of Palestinian photojournalist Mariam Dagga, who was killed during an Israeli strike on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, during her funeral on Monday.
WORLD
Aug 26, 2025

Israel hits Gaza hospital, killing at least 20 people, including five journalists

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel deeply regretted what he called a "tragic mishap."
Magret John (left) delivers a sack of plastic waste collected in her neighborhood to a Human Needs Project official at a collection point in the Kibera informal settlement of Nairobi on Aug. 11.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 26, 2025

'Restoring dignity': Kenya slum exchange offers water for plastic

The Human Needs Project provides water and sanitation services in a part of Kenya where they are scarce and costly.
An advertisement for McDonald's new protein slice is displayed on an ordering kiosk at a McDonald's restaurant in Bengaluru, India
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Aug 26, 2025

In protein-deficient India, McDonald's, Bollywood and cricket fuel wellness craze

McDonald's has joined India's biggest dairy Amul, startups and a company backed by Bollywood superstar to unleash a marketing blitz with celebrity chefs pushing protein as crucial.
Suyun Ham, an engineering professor at UTA, reviews data from a recent inspection with two other researchers. Ham likens his technology to a “portable MRI,” which can detect cracks and other hidden dangers in a bridge.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 26, 2025

Are bridges near you safe? This MRI-like scan may prevent disaster

An engineering professor from the University of Texas at Arlington is experimenting with a novel approach to inspecting bridges for heat damage.
Kokichi Akuzawa, a 102-year-old Japanese man with a serious hear condition, has been certified as the oldest person to climb Mount Fuji.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2025

Japanese climber, 102, sets Mount Fuji record

"I have been there and seen the view many times, it wasn't anything special," said Kokichi Akuzawa, shrugging off the feat.
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 27, 2025

Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?

Since stepping down, the former prime minister and Liberal Democratic Party president has been raising his public profile and growing his social media presence.
A boy looks at samples of Pokemon toys available with the McDonald's Happy Meal set in Tokyo earlier this month.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 28, 2025

How to complain politely: Lessons from the McDonald’s Pokemon debacle

In Japan, the right phrasing can mean the difference between a request and harassment.
Palestinian families flee their homes in areas north of Gaza City on Monday after the Israeli army announced its intention to expand the scope of the military operation and focus on Gaza City.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 28, 2025

Israel ramps up pressure on Gaza City as Trump eyes postwar plan

Israel is under mounting pressure both at home and abroad to end its campaign in Gaza, where the United Nations has declared a famine.
Nadia, a military radio operator who served until she was eight and a half months pregnant, with her son Pavlo, 6, at their home in Lubny, Ukraine, on Jan. 28.
WORLD
Aug 28, 2025

Expecting on the front lines: Motherhood in Ukraine’s military

Despite the hardships they face, many pregnant soldiers say they are motivated to serve for the future of Ukraine — and their children.
Naomi Osaka celebrates after her win over Hailey Baptiste in the second round of the U.S. Open in New York on Thursday.
TENNIS
Aug 29, 2025

Naomi Osaka shines on way to third round at U.S. Open

Osaka needed just 70 minutes to complete a lopsided win over Hailey Baptiste.
Mourners react during a funeral for Palestinians killed by Israeli fire at Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, on Thursday. Israel has previously rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to self-defense.
WORLD
Aug 29, 2025

Hundreds of U.N. staff pressure rights chief to call Gaza a genocide, letter shows

The letter stated the staff consider the legal criteria for genocide in the war in the Gaza Strip have been met, citing the scale, scope and nature of violations documented there.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during a joint news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2025

At Tokyo summit, India and Japan outline path forward for the coming decade

The leaders of the two countries outlined multiple areas of cooperation, including tech, the environment and health.
The annual number of babies in Japan has been on a downward trend since around 1975, falling below 1 million in 2016, 900,000 in 2019 and 800,000 in 2022.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 29, 2025

Japan births hit fresh low in first half of 2025

The January-June figure, including babies born to foreign nationals living in Japan and Japanese nationals living overseas, stood below 400,000 for the fourth consecutive year.
U.S. President Donald Trump wears a "Trump Was Right About Everything!" hat, as he visits The People’s House: A White House Experience museum in Washington on Aug. 22.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 30, 2025

Seeking more power, Trump uses firings to test presidential limits

The actions underscored Trump's desire for influence in sectors normally seen as independent from overt political control.
Pedestrians walk past a flag that reads “Free DC” hanging on an overpass near the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Aug. 15
WORLD / Politics
Aug 30, 2025

Trump notifies Congress of plan to rescind billions in foreign aid

The maneuver challenges Congress’ spending powers and intensifies an already contentious battle over government funding, which is due to lapse Sept. 30.
Then-U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to board Air Force Two as she departs LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York, in September last year.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 30, 2025

Trump withdraws Kamala Harris' Secret Service protection

The move comes just weeks before Harris is set to go on a tour to promote a new book about her failed presidential campaign against Trump last year.
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Aug 31, 2025

How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat

From limiting their time outdoors to serving frozen food, the staff at Ueno Zoo take a number of measures to help the animals cope with the heat.
Voters look at posters of candidates for an Upper House election outside a polling station in Tokyo on July 20. The young abandoned the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for other conservative and newer parties in the recent poll. REUTERS
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2025

What is a ‘Japanese conservative’ in this day and age?

My view is that younger voters saw the LDP as a group of elderly, self-absorbed elitists who were out of touch with the issues that mattered to them.
The Finance Ministry building in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2025

Japan fiscal 2026 budget requests likely to top ¥122 trillion

The increase is due to surges in debt-servicing costs, including loan repayments and interest payments, and policy-related expenses reflecting rising prices and wages.
Aska Pharmaceutical's emergency contraceptive pill Norlevo
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 31, 2025

Japan panel OKs nonprescription sales of morning-after pill

The panel also agreed that the product will be classified as a drug that must be taken in the presence of a trained pharmacist for safety reasons.
Flood-affected victims rest under a shelter at a makeshift relief camp in the Kasur district of Pakistan's Punjab province on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 1, 2025

Floods leave women struggling in Pakistan's relief camps

Pregnant women are vulnerable to infectious diseases, according to doctors in a medical camp set up by a local NGO.
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Sep 1, 2025

Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm

Pag-asa Island — population 400 — sits on the front line of a simmering territorial dispute between Beijing and Manila in the flash point South China Sea.
Network School’s co-working space in Johor Bahru, Malaysia
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 1, 2025

Techno-utopia rises in Malaysia's $100 billion Forest City flop

Entrepreneurs experiment with "startup societies” defined less by historical territory than shared beliefs in technology, cryptocurrency and light regulation.
Taiwan has launched a 60-day public comment period on easing import restrictions on Japanese food, originally imposed after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2025

Taiwan expected to lift restrictions on imported Japanese food

Random radiation checks will be conducted on imports.
Doctors strike and shout slogans during a rally to protest against government plans to increase medical school admissions and healthcare reform, in Seoul in June 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 2, 2025

South Korean doctors end 18-month walkout in relief to hospitals

The return of the trainees marks the end of one of the longest labor disputes in South Korea’s medical sector.
Experts say staying off your phone and sticking to a sleep schedule can help those who have trouble dozing off.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 2, 2025

Mark Japan’s Sleep Day by making some lifestyle changes

The Japanese are not getting enough sleep. Luckily, everyone from scientists to Shohei Ohtani are offering solutions.
Structural issues — including population decline, job shortages and an insufficient social-safety net — are hampering China's consumption and demand.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Sep 3, 2025

The fissures beneath China’s positive GDP numbers

Despite positive Chinese growth, the world’s second largest economy is plagued by a prolonged real-estate crisis and persistently high unemployment rates.
Jikai Taketomi, director of a private war museum in Kotake, Fukuoka Prefecture, talks about exhibited documents to visitors on July 25.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2025

Private World War II museums in Japan struggle to survive

Experts warn valuable wartime documents and artifacts could be scattered or lost to the public if such museums end up closing their doors.

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