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An activist in Seoul protests Japan’s plan to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 7, 2023

Anger at Fukushima’s wastewater; hope in its renewables

Good news and bad news out of Fukushima.
A family plays the Monster Catcher crane game at Happy Land Marina amusement arcade in Hiroshima.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Sep 18, 2023

Crane games win hearts at amusement arcades with limited-edition prizes

Thanks to the growing popularity of anime, crane games have become a popular family pastime and are also attracting foreign visitors.
Ren Matsumoto, 18, serves as an umpire at a baseball game.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 18, 2023

Fukushima baseball federation seeks young umpires amid shortage

The recent shortage of umpires is attributable to their aging and the difficulty of keeping their schedules open on weekends.
A screen shows an image of Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers in Beijing in August last year. The PLA's newspaper recently explained to its readers how ChatGPT can be used for military purposes.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Sep 12, 2023

Will generative AI hold power in international relations?

The technology has the ability to create influential text and imagery, giving it power to potentially sway public opinion.
Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki speaks during an interview in his Tokyo office on September 7
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 12, 2023

Japan's opposition struggles to move beyond political fragmentation

The leadership race for the DPP has reignited debate over the state of the opposition, with calls for a united front clashing with divisions over policy.
Monkey D. Luffy (Inaki Godoy), a young wannabe pirate who leads a crew of misfits driven by personal missions, is defined by his ability to stretch his body, making him elastic and indestructible in every way.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 16, 2023

‘One Piece’: Netflix tries to translate the anime magic (again)

Based on a remarkably endurable manga and anime franchise, the live-action series may satisfy fans, but most of the personality of the original is gone.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Sep 16, 2023

Rugby turns 200: A history of the sport in Japan

As the sport of rugby turns 200, Japan hopes to celebrate its own success in a game that first arrived in the 1860s.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva walks after attending an interview at the International Media Center at the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi on Sept. 10.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 16, 2023

IMF to urge China to shift growth model toward consumption

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva plans to ask China to address a number of issues that are dragging down both Chinese and global growth.
A document from archives on Pope Pius XII, who reigned from 1939-1958, containing the names of people who were executed during the Ardeatine massacre in Italy in March 1944
WORLD
Sep 17, 2023

Letter shows Pope Pius XII probably knew about Holocaust early on

A letter found in the Vatican archives on the church's knowledge of the Holocaust conflicts with the Holy See's official longtime position.
Mia Lee Sorensen with her Danish mother, Lilian Hansen, 72, and father, Bent Hansen, 74, on the coast of Korsor, Denmark, on July 13. South Korean adoptees have been returning to the country to hold the government accountable for what they call a corrupt and predatory adoption system.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 18, 2023

World’s largest ‘baby exporter’ confronts its painful past

South Korean adoptees have been returning to the country to hold the government accountable for what they call a corrupt adoption system.
China with its government subsidies has become a dominant player in the EV market, causing concern in Europe and the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2023

EV leadership means more than just sales figures

EV dominance matters because electric vehicles are the future.
A cross-section illustration of the second Seikan Tunnel proposed by the Japan Project-Industry Council
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Sep 25, 2023

Is the plan to build a second Seikan Tunnel realistic?

Advocates suggest shorter travel times and revitalized communities, while critics worry about the price tag.
Hou Yu-ih, Taiwan presidential candidate and mayor of New Taipei City, speaks during a news conference in New York on Sept. 16. The Kuomintang, Taiwan's main opposition party, picked Hou Yu-ih, a popular local leader with little foreign policy experience, as its candidate for next year's presidential election.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 21, 2023

Taiwan’s former top cop wants China talks if voted president

"I have participated in countless gun battles and I always stood on the front line.”
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 21, 2023

Hokkaido University admits misconduct by chemistry research team

Unnatural gaps and signs of data manipulation were found in research related to artificial catalysts used to facilitate chemical reactions.
Leaves of marijuana plants from which hemp fibers are extracted at Japan's largest legal marijuana farm in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, on July 5, 2016
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 21, 2023

Does a university cannabis scandal point to a larger trend?

A drugs scandal at Japan’s biggest university draws attention to a troubling statistic: Cannabis use among young people is on the rise.
A sign at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 6. AI and quantum information science have recently become a major issue in international politics.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Sep 26, 2023

How emerging technologies can bring power to states

While the technologies are expected to largely change how militaries, economies and societies are operated, many of their social impacts remain unclear.
A nurse pushes a bed at the COVID-19 ward at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 23, 2023

Long COVID linked to multiple organ changes, research suggests

A third of people hospitalized with COVID-19 have "abnormalities" in multiple organs months after getting infected, the study said.
Rupert Murdoch in his office in New York in 2007. Murdoch's decision to step down from the boards of News Corp. and Fox Corp. marks the end of a decadeslong media career.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2023

Rupert Murdoch, the last of the press barons

No living person has influenced the media landscape like Rupert Murdoch. Should we view his career in a favorable light, or is his legacy one of darkness?
An iceberg floats near Two Hummock Island, Antarctica, in 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Sep 26, 2023

Antarctic winter sea ice at record low, sparking climate worries

Researchers warn the shift can have dire consequences for animals like penguins who breed and rear their young on the sea ice.
Students from Yanagawa High School and its Thai-affiliated junior high school pose for a photo during an exchange event in August.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Oct 2, 2023

Pioneering Thai-Japanese school aims to nurture global minds

Yanagawa Junior High School Thailand is affiliated with a school in Fukuoka Prefecture.
Aoi Suzuki and her two sons head back down to a barbecue after watching the sun set.
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 28, 2023

Traveling Okinawa with a broken heart

Writer and photographer Lance Henderstein reads us his article on traveling Okinawa during the rainy season.
From left: Prin, Sen and jiGook of QI.X call themselves one of the first openly queer, transgender K-pop acts.
CULTURE
Sep 30, 2023

Queer K-pop group QI.X wants to change South Korea

In conservative South Korea, few LGBTQ entertainers have ever come out. The young members of QI.X don’t see the point of staying in.
Victor Salinas, who was recruited to travel to Russia in a military support role but eventually changed his mind, at his home near Havana on Sept. 12.
WORLD
Sep 30, 2023

How Cubans were recruited to fight for Russia

Cubans can earn a windfall for enlisting with the Russian army amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
A Ukrainian sniper with the call sign Bart patiently waits at an abandoned building overlooking a Russian position, in southern Ukraine, on Sept. 21.
WORLD
Oct 1, 2023

Four seconds to impact: On the front line with Ukraine’s snipers

Overshadowed by high-tech killing tools, Ukraine’s snipers are no less essential than those of World War I were more than a century ago.
Smer-SSD party leader Robert Fico (center) celebrates his victory in general elections alongside party members, in Bratislava on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2023

Slovak populists opposed to Ukraine aid win election

Analysts predict a Robert Fico government could radically change Slovakia's foreign policy to resemble that of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Elderly people experience taking part in esports in Ono, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Oct 16, 2023

Fukushima town turns to esports as a health tool for the elderly

Ono and Fukushima Medical University have been holding trial sessions and analyzing the effects of gaming experience on cognitive functions.
Taiwan has become a hot spot that is capable of precipitating a military conflict between China and the United States, and possibly even a nuclear war.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2023

Applying Chinese wisdom to resolve the Taiwan issue

Some 70 years after the Chinese Civil war ended, do the winners of that war still think that violence is the way to achieve unification with Taiwan?
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting near Moscow on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 8, 2023

On Russian nuclear threat, Putin lets others rattle the saber

While hard-liners voice provocative proposals about nukes, Putin presents himself as a moderating force — while never taking the option off the table.
Passengers at a railway station in Seoul watch a news report on North Korea firing a space rocket, on Aug. 24.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 10, 2023

Satellite key amid U.S. 'space militarization,' says North Korea

An article in state media singled out a recent trip by the U.S. Space Force commander to Tokyo and deployment of a Space Force component in South Korea.
European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. European nations have been dealing with a range of geoeconomic changes.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Oct 12, 2023

European Union being shaken by geoeconomic changes

European countries previously did not see China as a security threat due to their geographical distance. That is starting to change.

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