Search - travel

 
 
Thailand's parliament passed a same-sex marriage bill on Wednesday, paving the way for the kingdom to become the first Southeast Asian nation to recognize LGBTQ marriage equality.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 28, 2024

Thailand passes bill to legalize same-sex marriage

Legalizing same-sex marriage could also have positive impact on tourism, which contributes about 12% to the nation’s $500 billion economy.
Described as “the world’s first cosmic opera,” Jeff Mills’ “The Trip: Enter the Black Hole” is a multimedia spectacle tied together by a concept that teeters on the brink between quantum physics and science fiction.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 29, 2024

Jeff Mills’ trippy techno odyssey comes to Tokyo

The influential techno artist's multimedia 'cosmic opera' features vocals by '80s avant-pop diva Jun Togawa.
People take photographs of cherry blossoms at a park in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 3, 2024

Hanami budgets soar as cherry blossoms sweep Japan

People are spending the most on cherry blossom viewings in six years, with more traveling for the annual event, a survey has found.
“Extremely Inappropriate!” centers on Ichiro Ogawa (played by Sadao Abe), a crude high school teacher who is chain-smoking his way through 1986. He accidentally ends up on a bus that turns out to be a time machine, which drives him to 2024.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Apr 5, 2024

‘Extremely Inappropriate!’ took a big swing. TV is better for it.

The drama — which features a fish-out-of-water protagonist and satirizes social issues — is the most divisive Japanese TV show of the year so far.
The American and Japanese flags are posted on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington in preparation for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's state visit to the United States this week.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 8, 2024

More investment is needed to strengthen U.S.-Japan collaboration

Despite the countries' shared challenges, investment in U.S.-Japan intellectual exchange programs and expertise building is at a historic low.
Summer averages in eastern Hokkaido float in the high teens and low 20s, not necessitating widespread air conditioning usage in homes and businesses.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 12, 2024

Fear the impending heat? Escape to Kushiro, the land of no summer.

A once mighty fishing port, Kushiro now aims to capture the hearts of tourists seeking escape from sweltering urban jungles for a misty paradise.
An electronic board shows stock indexes at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai on March 21, 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 17, 2024

China's money managers lament loss of quality research amid analyst cutbacks

A prolonged market slump has reduced trading commissions as authorities tighten limits around what research analysts are allowed to publish.
The Oxford English Dictionary contains 552 Japanese loanwords in English, a small number compared to the near 25,000 borrowings from French.
LIFE / Language
Apr 18, 2024

The unexpected ways in which Japanese words 'make it' into English

Thanks to new entries in the Oxford English Dictionary, pretty soon even your grandparents will know what "onigiri" and "omotenashi" mean.
The weak yen impacts the airline industry multiple ways, as it boosts foreign currency revenue from international flights but negatively affects travelers from Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 2, 2024

Japan firms reach pain threshold as yen keeps testing lows against the dollar

The currency's sustained decline makes planning difficult for all firms and can add costs across the whole supply chain.
Mikuni Minato is not a town that has recently fallen on hard times — it's been that way for a century.
LIFE / Travel
May 7, 2024

48 hours in Mikuni Minato, Japan’s port town that time forgot

A trip to Mikuni Minato may not appeal to the average tourist, but well-traveled residents will find it fascinating.
Visitors in Macau on May 2. More than a year since China reopened its borders, some 63% of its residents say they’re ready to return to exploring the world, according to a survey published on April 24.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 7, 2024

China’s thrifty travelers show consumer confidence is weak

While more traveled over the five-day Labor Day break in comparison with 2019, each of them spent less on average.
A meteor is seen in an aurora borealis above Lausanne and the Jura from the Tour de Gourze in Riex, Switzerland, on Saturday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 11, 2024

First 'extreme' solar storm in 20 years brings spectacular auroras

The "extreme" geomagnetic storm is the first since the so-called Halloween Storms of October 2003.
After his family loses its political influence, Prince Takaoka leaves his life in Japan behind and embarks on an adventure across Asia in Tatsuhiko Shibusawa’s “Takaoka’s Travels.”
CULTURE / Books
May 14, 2024

‘Takaoka’s Travels’: The fantastical romp of a real-life royal turned monk

Tatsuhiko Shibusawa’s outlandish novel is based on a real-life Japanese prince who set out for India, only to go missing along the way.
Penny Sackett, a former director of the Australian National University’s Mount Stromlo Observatory, in the remains of the observatory, which was destroyed by a wildfire in 2003, just outside Canberra on May 6.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 14, 2024

Alarmed by climate change, astronomers train their sights on Earth

Seeing how climate change has impacted the earth, many astronomers have left science to become full-time activists.
Tesla's charging network is widely viewed as a signature achievement for the EV maker and a key driver of its sales. Tesla Superchargers account for more than 60% of U.S. high-speed charging ports, federal statistics show.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 16, 2024

The inside story of Elon Musk’s mass firings of Tesla Supercharger staff

Former charging chief met Musk expecting the go-ahead for a massive expansion of the charging network, but ended up getting fired along with her 500-member team.
A slogan reads "Accelerate Industrial Transformation With AI" at the Microsoft booth at the Hannover Messe 2024 trade fair in Hannover, Germany, on April 22.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 16, 2024

Microsoft’s AI push imperils climate goal as carbon emissions jump

The company’s total planet-warming impact is about 30% higher today than it was in 2020.
People hold anti-war placards before a rap concert for Ukraine by Russian rapper Oxxxymiron in Istanbul on March 15.
WORLD / Politics
May 22, 2024

Another Russian exodus: Many who fled to Turkey move on again

When the war began in February 2022, Turkey emerged as a magnet for Russians, but now, many are moving on to nations like Montenegro and Serbia.
The increase in foreign student numbers in Japan came after the government started to gradually lift its COVID-19 travel restrictions in 2022.
JAPAN / Society
May 24, 2024

Foreign student numbers in Japan grew in 2023

A survey found 279,274 foreign students in the country as of May 2023, up 20.8% from a year earlier but still below prepandemic levels.
Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture will host one of three ryokan Hyatt is set to launch with Kyoto-based developer Kiraku in 2026.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 2, 2024

Hyatt doubles down on Japan with line of luxury ryokan

The first three locations are scheduled to start opening in 2026 in Kanagawa, Oita and Kagoshima prefectures.
Fans cheer after Japan's men's volleyball team qualified for the Paris Olympics on Oct. 7 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo.
MORE SPORTS / Volleyball
Jun 4, 2024

Japanese volleyball’s fastest growing fan base — female superfans

More than 80% of the fans at men’s domestic competitions are said to be women in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
The Grand Kremlin palace in Moscow
WORLD / Politics
Jun 12, 2024

How a Russian operative worked to shape Moscow’s story in Europe

The operative has contacted at least six European journalists and at times appears to have offered to pay for planted news articles.
A statue of Santoku Taneda stands at Hofu Station in Hofu, Yamagata Prefecture,  where the Zen monk was born in 1882.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jun 14, 2024

The joy of Zen — Part 2: Poetry

Ryokan and Santoka lived in different times, connected by a knack for words but polar opposites when it came to the monk's life they both chose.
People await the arrival of the Dalai Lama in New York on Sunday. The Tibetan spiritual leader is in the U.S. to undergo knee surgery.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2024

China must not choose the next Dalai Lama

The 14th Dalai Lama, who is in the U.S. to undergo knee surgery, should leave instructions to choose his successor, therefore delegitimizing any Beijing-anointed figure.
Narita Airport is facing a jet fuel shortage and has requested that domestic distributors ensure a stable supply.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2024

Japan’s jet fuel crunch hits Narita

Narita Airport said the fuel crunch was affecting operations of six Asian carriers and the plans of some 57 flights a week currently.
To be the best of the best, according to the exclusive Relais & Chateaux group, Japan's 'ryokan' inns need to leave guests with "a transcendental feeling."
LIFE / Travel
Jun 29, 2024

To Relais & Chateaux, not all ‘ryokan’ inns are created equal

In Japan, this exclusive association has partnered with just 13 hotels and traditional 'ryokan' inns and seven stand-alone restaurants spread across the country.
Belgium fans cheer before their team's match against Ukraine at Euro 2024 in Stuttgart, Germany, on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Jun 28, 2024

Fans take center stage at Euro 2024 in Germany

Three years after the soulless experience of Euro 2020, played amid sparse crowds and restricted travel due to COVID-19, Germany is hosting a soccer festival at Euro 2024 as fans from across the continent take over the country.
U.S. President Joe Biden greets agency employees after a press conference on extreme weather at the D.C. Emergency Operations Center in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 3, 2024

Biden to meet with governors and sit for an interview to calm backlash

The hope is to counter brewing discontent among leading Democratic donors, aides and elected officials over U.S. President Joe Biden's debate performance.
U.S. President Joe Biden has seen Republican Donald Trump take a lead of six points, according to two prominent national polls, intensifying pressure on the beleaguered Democratic incumbent to drop out of the presidential race.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2024

Biden struggles to contain mounting pressure to drop out of race

Numerous Democratic lawmakers are contemplating signing a letter urging Biden to withdraw from the race, according to a senior party official.
Lufthansa planes in Frankfurt on March 7
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2024

EU's airline deal demands fuel doubts over further attempts

While the deal expands Lufthansa's footprint in southern Europe, the combined group will have to cede some routes and slots to rivals for it to proceed.
Tens of thousands of young people have fled Myanmar since the military junta introduced conscription, rights groups say, to shore up its depleted ranks.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 5, 2024

'No safe place': Women flee conscription risk and hardship in Myanmar

Following the military junta's conscription, some have risked their lives to trek through jungles and ford rivers to escape.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami