Search - 2020

 
 
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 4, 2023

Japan top court upholds ruling against Okinawa over Futenma move

The decision may accelerate the relocation effort, as it requires the prefectural government to approve design changes.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 4, 2023

Ex-Recruit employee given 25 years by Tokyo court for raping 10 women

Kenshiro Maruta sexually assaulted the women, including a job-hunting college student, between April 2017 and October 2020.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 5, 2023

Suspect in 2019 Kyoto Animation arson attack admits setting blaze

The focus of the trial will now shift to the defendant’s motive and whether he can be held criminally responsible for the attack.
Women work in a warehouse in on the outskirts of Chennai, India.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 5, 2023

India's women gig workers organize with WhatsApp and secret meetings

Once seen as promising greater autonomy and higher earnings for women in India, the system is now riddled with issues.
A woman shops for medicine at a drugstore in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 5, 2023

More young women overdosing on over-the-counter drugs

In a country where illicit drugs are hard to obtain, many have begun to abuse cough and cold medications, which are legal and easily accessible.
A statue of Lady Justice is seen at the Court of Final Appeal building in Hong Kong on Tuesday as the city's top court ruled in favor of same-sex partnerships, including civil unions, though it stopped short of granting full marriage rights in a partial win for the city's LGBTQ community.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 5, 2023

Hong Kong's top court rules to recognize same-sex civil unions

The ruling, a partial win for the city's LGBTQ community, stopped short of granting full marriage rights.
The Huawei Technologies Co. booth at the Smart China Expo in Chongqing, China, on Monday
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 6, 2023

Huawei's new chip breakthrough likely to trigger closer U.S. scrutiny: analysts

The most advanced chip that chipmaker SMIC had previously been known for making was 14 nanometers.
A lifesaver keeps watch at Sunset Beach in Chatan, Okinawa prefecture. Around 6 billion metric tons of sand and other sediment are extracted from the ocean every year, wreaking havoc on coastal communities and biodiversity.
ENVIRONMENT / Oceans
Sep 6, 2023

Extracting sand from world's oceans devastates biodiversity: U.N.

The United Nations Environment Program warned that the scale of dredging was growing, with dire consequences.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2023

Hokkaido tour boat sinking caused by safety gaps, report says

The operator of the Kazu I sightseeing tour boat, which sank off Hokkaido last year, had no safety management system, according to a government report
Part of the deserted Legend of Sea project developed by Country Garden
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 7, 2023

China’s credit wreck exposes governance failings to the world

"Foreign money managers still have willingness to invest in China, but how much we invest is in flux.”
People make their way through Tokyo's Ameyoko shopping district. In a sign rising inflation is already taking a toll on consumption, Japan's household spending suffered its biggest drop in nearly 2½ years in July.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Sep 7, 2023

China's economic gloom hangs over Japan's long-awaited recovery

If Beijing fails to shore up demand with meaningful stimulus, that could potentially delay an exit from the Bank of Japan's ultraloose monetary policy.
World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz plays a shot against Alexander Zverev during their quarterfinal match at the U.S. Open in New York on Wednesday.
TENNIS
Sep 7, 2023

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev win to set up semifinal clash

Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev are the last two U.S. Open champions.
Kohei Saito, a philosophy professor at the University of Tokyo who appears regularly in Japanese media to discuss his ideas, at home in Tokyo on March 16.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 7, 2023

Can shrinking be good for Japan? A Marxist bestseller makes the case.

Saito has tapped into what he describes as a growing disillusionment in Japan with capitalism’s ability to solve the problems people see around them.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2023

Taiwan’s ‘silicon shield’ against China is an illusion

China may be reliant on Taiwanese semiconductors, but that doesn't stop Beijing from harboring a military takeover.
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.
Naomi Osaka participates in a forum on mental health during the U.S. Open in New York on Wednesday.
TENNIS
Sep 7, 2023

Naomi Osaka makes U.S. Open return. But not for tennis.

Naomi Osaka returned to the U.S. Open to participate in a forum on mental health and sports alongside former Olympian Michael Phelps.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 7, 2023

Ex-LDP member and offshore wind advocate arrested over bribery

Masatoshi Akimoto is suspected of receiving ¥60 million from Masayuki Tsukawaki, then-president of Japan Wind Development.
An Apple store in the Huangpu district in Shanghai
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 8, 2023

Apple grapples with turmoil in China days before iPhone 15 launch

The bans may just be part of a longstanding trend.
More cooks are pursuing careers in cooking for wealthy clients, but the glitz that makes it into viral TikTok videos isn’t always the whole picture.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 10, 2023

Private chefs toe the line between occupation and isolation

A new chapter in the age of food celebrity is unfolding online as more cooks take up careers as private chefs and go public with the perks of the job.
Johnny & Associates President Julie Keiko Fujishima (second from right) acknowledged that company founder Johnny Kitagawa had sexually abused agency employees for decades during a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 7.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Sep 9, 2023

What’s in a name? A lot of baggage and trauma, unfortunately.

Johnny and Associates' recognition of abuse is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done to move forward.
Residents watch the McDougall Creek wildfire in West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, last month.
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Sep 9, 2023

Conspiracy theories falsely link wildfires to 'smart cities'

Disinformation about deadly wildfires in the United States and Canada has run rampant across social media.
China's exports fell by 14.5% year on year in July, a stark contrast from the robust 17.2% export growth recorded in July 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2023

Why hasn’t China rushed to bail out its economy?

China's reluctance to unveil a massive stimulus package despite the ongoing economic slowdown has puzzled foreign observers and the Chinese public alike.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 11, 2023

Economists question the wisdom of Kishida's new minimum wage target

Japan aims to lift the minimum wage to ¥1,500 by the mid-2030s, but macroeconomic factors could undermine that target.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 12, 2023

Japan steps up efforts to prevent suicides among children

The number of suicides among elementary, junior high and senior high school students has been on the rise, reaching 514 in 2022.
"Football Leaks" whistleblower Rui Pinto had been extradited to Portugal following his January 2019 arrest by Hungarian police in Budapest.
SOCCER
Sep 12, 2023

Portuguese court convicts 'Football Leaks' hacker

The biggest information leak in sports history sparked criminal investigations in Belgium, Britain, France, Spain and Switzerland.
Gold prices in Japan are hovering around a record high of ¥10,000 per gram — up around 18% since January.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 12, 2023

Gold bugs in Japan reaping rewards as yen weakness persists

Domestic prices for the precious metal are now hovering around a record high of ¥10,000 per gram — up around 18% since January.
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.
Nadia Umana, a Colombian environmental leader threatened by criminal gangs, poses for a picture during an interview in Bogota on Aug. 30.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Sep 13, 2023

Colombia deadliest country for green activists in 2022: report

Many of those targeted were Indigenous people, members of Afro-descendant communities, small-scale farmers and environmental activists.
According to Justice Ministry statistics, about 20% of the inmates who ended up in prisons and other correctional facilities nationwide in 2021 were suspected of having intellectual disabilities.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2023

'Osaka Model' for aiding disabled lawbreakers reaches crossroads

The "Osaka Model" for aiding lawbreakers with disabilities has reached a crossroads due to challenges with securing welfare and personnel.
JAPAN / Politics / Notebook
Sep 13, 2023

What Kishida’s reshuffle says about female participation in politics

Political family ties of most of the female appointees speaks to the difficulty women face in entering the political arena.

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