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Yoshiko Hara (left) plays basketball with members of her Fukushima Club basketball team.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jul 31, 2023

Pioneer in basketball for disabled people looks to inclusiveness

Through basketball, Yoshiko Hara aims to have players in her club acquire physical strength and stamina, as well as learn about group rules and manners.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 27, 2023

Japan unveils new measures to stop sexual assault against minors

As a part of the measures, the government plans to set up a hotline for male victims of sexual assault so that they can seek psychological support if needed.
Cameron Lew, the 27-year-old behind the California-based music project Ginger Root, crafted a detailed city-pop-inspired universe with a 1980s idol storyline for last year’s “Nisemono” album.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 28, 2023

Ginger Root's modern spin on Showa nostalgia

The California-based project is set to bring its distinct interpretation of city pop to Fuji Rock Festival this weekend.
Jingu Gaien is a famous landmark, park and sports center in Minato Ward, Tokyo. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 26, 2023

Tokyo's tree-razing drama shouldn't stymie transformation

Residents are raging over a redevelopment plan. But while other cities become stuck in time, Tokyo's best projects can combine the spirit of the past with the hope for the future.
Pedestrians hold umbrellas for protection from the sun during a heat wave in New York on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 28, 2023

July set to be world's hottest month on record

We may have to go back thousands if not tens of thousands of years to find similarly warm conditions on our planet.
An apartment building construction site in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, on July 19. Officials at Daito Trust Construction, which oversees the building project, say heatstroke dangers are a top concern given their aging workforce.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Jul 30, 2023

In Japan, extreme heat and an aging population are a deadly mix

Heat waves combined with high humidity are weighing particularly heavily on the nation’s 36 million people age 65 and over, who are at much greater risk of severe illness and death.
Bradley Fighting Vehicles on Jan. 25 at the Transportation Core Dock in North Charleston, South Carolina, ahead of shipment as part of a U.S. military aid package to Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 8, 2023

Is China going unchecked while the West supports Ukraine?

Some have criticized Washington's efforts to help Kyiv as having a negative impact on its ability to deter a possible contingency from Beijing.
A Toyo Safety Industrial helmet with a built-in fan is showcased at Extreme Heat Countermeasures Exhibition in Tokyo in July.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2023

Fan-cooled beds and baby carriers among new gadgets to beat heat

At Tokyo’s annual trade show last week the focus was on how to keep workers in high-temperature environments cool and reduce the risk of heatstroke.
England captain Ben stokes celebrates after catching Australian batter Pat Cummins out during the final Ashes test in London on Monday.
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Aug 1, 2023

Ben Stokes says optimism, experience helped with Ashes pressure

England's turnaround came after the hosts lost the first two tests, won the third and then missed out on a possible win in the fourth due to rain.
The damaged facade of an office building in the Moscow City complex following a reported Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow, on Sunday
WORLD
Aug 1, 2023

Small strikes and big ambitions in Ukraine’s attacks on Russia

The stepped-up drone and missile attacks show a will to hamper the Kremlin’s military logistics, and to remind ordinary Russians of the cost of war.
Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk gets in a Tesla car as he leaves a hotel in Beijing in May.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 1, 2023

Elon Musk’s unmatched power in the stars

The tech billionaire has become the dominant power in satellite internet technology. The ways he is wielding that influence are raising global alarms.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (center) and others, as Britain signs the treaty to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, in Auckland on July 16.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Aug 1, 2023

China entry into trans-Pacific trade pact faces political hurdles

China should be able to meet standards set out in the pact, experts say, forcing members to make a politically uncomfortable decision on letting it join.
Signs hang on a gate as people hike in the Pen y Pass at the foot of Mount Snowdon near Llanberis, Wales, in 2020. For residents of deprived urban areas, going to natural green spaces can be prohibitively expensive.
WORLD
Aug 2, 2023

Isolated from nature, U.K.'s ethnic minorities hit harder by heat

Experts say ethnic minorities will be affected most as they often live in dense, poorly insulated households near fewer parks and less vegetation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 2, 2023

Purge in Chinese nuclear missile force points to graft in ranks

Chinese President Xi Jinping has reshuffled the leadership of the country’s missile forces in an apparent attempt to install more trustworthy officials.
A woman takes a picture of the poster for the new Hayao Miyazaki film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 2, 2023

Hayao Miyazaki’s confusing new masterpiece

Our critics Thu-Huong Ha and Matt Schley discuss what they thought of the new Hayao Miyazaki film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
Migrants at a base near Tripoli hand out food to other migrants after they were detained by the Libyan navy in September 2015.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2023

An immigration wake-up call

Well-designed immigration policies in advanced economies could ease inflationary labor-market shortages and preventing humanitarian tragedies.
More than 30 samples of drugs made by Synokem, including generic abortion pills, have failed quality tests conducted by Indian regulators and public health researchers since 2018.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2023

Global abortion pill provider buys from maker with poor quality record

More than 30 samples of drugs made by Delhi-based Synokem Pharmaceuticals have failed quality tests conducted by Indian regulators.
Australian Ambassador to Japan Justin Hayhurst (center) walks beside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right) during the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima in May.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2023

Tokyo-Canberra ties key to Indo-Pacific’s future: Australian envoy

"We’ve never been more important to each other," says Justin Hayhurst, Australia’s new Ambassador to Japan.
China and India both began liberalizing their economies around the same time in the 1980s. But China invested more in human-capital and is now benefiting from that decision.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2023

Unlike China, India cannot be an economic superpower

In the 1980s, the belief among observers was that an authoritarian Chinese regime would mismanage its economy while a democratic India would thrive.
The Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant in Singapore on July 21. Public Utilities Board, which is responsible for Singapore's water management, has a long-term goal of reducing the energy use of water desalination to 1 killowatt-hours per 1,000 liters.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 3, 2023

Singapore is building the technology it needs for new climate era

Building renewables like solar and wind requires a lot of land, one thing Singapore doesn’t have.
A Shein office in Singapore. The meteoric rise of shopping platforms selling Chinese-made goods has been fueled by a decades-old loophole that allows cheap products to land in U.S. mailboxes tariff-free.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2023

Key trade loophole keeps cheap Chinese products flowing to U.S.

The fact that Chinese goods and China-founded companies are benefiting from the loophole has frustrated some U.S. lawmakers.
Inter Miami's Lionel Messi scores against Orlando City during the first round of the Leagues Cup in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Aug 5, 2023

Lionel Messi getting plenty of room to put on show for Inter Miami

Still saddled with the worst record in the league, Inter is playing with panache, and Messi, at times, looks unstoppable.
Japanese lawmaker Masatoshi Akimoto visits a high-speed rail project site in Ahmedabad, India, in May 2018.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2023

Scandal-tainted Japanese lawmaker sought money to buy horse

Japanese lawmaker Masatoshi Akimoto is suspected of receiving ¥30 million from the president of a company between 2021 and this year.
Junon used to be too timid to come out from his blanket. Now he loves to get a little attention.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Aug 7, 2023

A dog, two cats and more are looking for new places to chill

A dog named Loquat and two cats named Junon and Whiskey are hoping to find new human friends to get to know.
As synonymous with summer as fireworks and sweltering temperatures, mosquitoes are ubiquitous in Japan. However, will rising temperatures lead more dangerous species of the bug to call Japan home?
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / Longform
Aug 7, 2023

The mosquito: Summer’s unwelcome little bloodsucker

An outbreak of dengue in Yoyogi Park nine years ago could be a sign of things to come if the wrong mosquito makes it into Japan.
Hiroshi Mikitani, co-chief executive officer of Rakuten Medical, speaks at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's meeting in Yokohama on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023

Rakuten’s Mikitani spends a fifth of his time on biotech startup

Rakuten Medical, based in San Diego, employs about 200 people and specializes in a therapy that uses light and immunotherapy drugs to fight cancer.
Even as some countries have moved to legalize or decriminalize marijuana, Japan has maintained a zero tolerance policy on the drug, prohibiting its possession or sale.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Aug 7, 2023

Navigating Japan's maze of cannabis-related laws

Japan has maintained a zero tolerance policy on cannabis, but the legality of other products on the market, including ones sold as CBD, is murkier.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2023

Scores of horses suffer sunstroke at samurai festival

Organizers may move the annual event — featuring over 400 participants dressed as samurai on horseback — to a cooler time of year.
Oliviero Morelli
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Aug 8, 2023

MSC Cruises' Morelli aims to sail the ocean green

We grew up with Japanese anime and manga in Italy. Many companies found it cheaper to buy the rights from Japan than from the USA
People lie passed out on a sidewalk in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco in February 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2023

Is America’s soft power eroding?

San Francisco has changed from a hub of hippie culture and freedom in the 1960s and '70s, suggesting America's soft power is abating.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell