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Joseph S. Nye (center), an advocate of stronger U.S.-Japan relations and father of "soft power," died Tuesday at the age of 88.
JAPAN / Politics
May 8, 2025

Joseph Nye, advocate of stronger U.S.-Japan relations, dies at 88

The former U.S. assistant secretary of defense, known for coining the term "soft power," coauthored reports that influenced the direction of U.S.-Japan ties.
Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique has learned to control his emotions during matches.
SOCCER
May 8, 2025

Luis Enrique believes PSG's mentality helped fuel run to Champions League final

Enrique revealed that a turning point in PSG’s campaign came earlier in the season when results in the Champions League fell short of expectations.
Tokyo-based satellite maker Axelspace's initial public offering is expected to be approved by the Tokyo Stock Exchange later this month, people with knowledge of the matter said.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 8, 2025

Axelspace is latest Japan space startup to seek IPO, sources say

If successful, it would be the fifth such listing of a Japanese spacecraft venture over the last two years.
Fever guard Caitlin Clark reacts during the first quarter of a game against the Brazilian national team in Iowa City, Iowa, on Sunday.
BASKETBALL
May 9, 2025

Caitlin Clark entering second WNBA season with more experience and desire to win

Clark said there's no comparison between her rookie year and the upcoming season.
Panasonic is targeting 10,000 job cuts worldwide as part of efforts to boost profitability.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 9, 2025

Panasonic targets 10,000 job cuts worldwide

The cuts will focus on positions at consolidated companies — 5,000 in Japan and 5,000 overseas.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during the announcement of a trade agreement with Britain in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 10, 2025

China and the U.S. to talk trade war ceasefire — not peace

Ahead of the meeting, the two sides seem much further apart and at greater risk of a major fallout than during their first trade war in Trump's previous term.
The entrance to discount retailer Don Quijote's store in Tokyo's Shibuya district, known as Don Don Donki outside the country
BUSINESS / Companies
May 11, 2025

'Treasure hunt': Tourists boost sales at Japan's Don Quijote stores

Revenues at Don Quijote in Japan are "around 1.7 times higher than before the pandemic," said Motoki Hara, a manager at the retailer.
South Korean 50,000 won banknotes are prepared at the Bank of Korea headquarters ahead of the Lunar New Year in Seoul on Jan. 14.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 12, 2025

Seeking emerging currency bargains, investors take fresh look at Asia

Asian currencies are finding their cheapness has become an asset as traders seek to capitalize on the dollar’s eroding premium status.
An electric vehicle factory in Ningbo, China, on April 9, 2024. For years, Xi Jinping, the leader of China, has planned to make the world dependent on its exports and know-how, but the strategy has costs for his own country.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 12, 2025

This is the trade conflict Xi Jinping has been waiting for

A willingness to weaponize the supply chain may be one of the starkest examples of how Xi is redefining China’s relationship with the world.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on cars and car parts imported to the U.S. have been painful to most global brands, but crippling in Nissan’s case.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2025

Nissan shares surge as carmaker set to cut 20,000 jobs in huge overhaul

The heavily indebted company, one of the top 10 automakers by unit sales, is expected to log a record annual loss of around $5 billion later in the day.
A humanoid robot walks as an employee conducts tests, on the production line at the AgiBot factory in Shanghai on March 20.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 13, 2025

China's AI-powered humanoid robots aim to transform manufacturing

Beijing is aiming for a new industrial revolution where many factory tasks would be performed by humanoid robots.
A small boat transits through the Bay of Balaklava near the Crimean Peninsula city of Sevastopol on the Black Sea coast. Plans to dump bundled biomass into the Black Sea have raised concerns about environmental risks.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2025

Dumping biomass in the ocean is not a climate solution

Plans to dump bundled biomass into the Black Sea as part of a carbon-sequestration project have raised concerns about environmental risks.
Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa in Tokyo as the company releases its results
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2025

Nissan gets ‘wake-up call’ with $4.5 billion annual net loss

The company plans more than 10,000 job cuts globally in addition to the 9,000 cuts announced previously.
Scientists are increasingly exploring mechanisms that can help the body adapt to rising temperatures affecting our sleep and leading to health complications.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 13, 2025

Scientists exploring how to beat heat for better sleep

The human brain is very sensitive to heat, with higher temperatures raising the body's central thermostat and activating stress systems.
Supervisor David Lindsay in the chilling plant beneath the headquarters of the United Nations in New York
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 13, 2025

As world heats up, U.N. cools itself the cool way — with water

As more and more people want to stay cool in a planet that is steadily heating up, energy experts point to this kind of water-based system as a good alternative.
A staff member holds a barocaloric material used by Barocal in their solid state cooling technology, at their headquarters in Cambridge.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 13, 2025

U.K. lab promises air conditioner revolution without polluting gases

Approximately 2 billion air-conditioner units are in use worldwide, and their number is increasing as the planet warms.
Trade Minister Yoji Muto will skip the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, a decision that will likely lower Tokyo’s chances of securing an opportunity for bilateral talks with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 14, 2025

Japan’s key officials to skip APEC meet attended by U.S. trade representative

This won’t be the first time Japan’s trade minister will miss the APEC gathering in recent years, but sending a lower-ranking official may make it harder to hold one-on-one talks.
Nippon Life Insurance is diversifying its investments to enhance yields, although it’s a tricky time to invest with U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war fueling global market volatility.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2025

Japan’s biggest insurer weighs riskier overseas CLO investments

Japan’s biggest life insurer is considering taking on a little more risk with its investments in collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), as it looks for ways to eke out better returns abroad.
A 15-year-old boy, arrested for fatally stabbing an elderly woman in the city of Chiba, told authorities he committed the crime in hopes of being sent to a juvenile detention center to escape his difficult home life, according to investigators.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 14, 2025

Teen suspect in Chiba stabbing wanted to escape his home life, police say


The junior high school student allegedly attacked 84-year-old Yayoi Takahashi from behind with a knife at around 5 p.m. on Sunday.
South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung speaks in Goyang, South Korea, on April 27.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 14, 2025

South Korean think tank halves 2025 growth forecast to 0.8%

The revised outlook reflects the fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign on the trade-reliant nation as its presidential race hits full swing.
Wang Chuanfu (center left), chairman and chief executive officer at BYD, waves to a humanoid robot at the Chery Automobile booth at the Shanghai Auto Show on April 24. China’s EV sector is touting big gains, but much of the hype rests on inflated range claims, shaky infrastructure and growing state support.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2025

Why China’s EV claims aren’t as revolutionary as they seem

Companies once treated with benign neglect by Beijing are becoming major recipients of government funding.
New research by a U.S. climate scientists’ group reveals that extreme heat has increased the risks of preterm births and other pregnancy complications in Japan, nearly doubling the number of days that are harmfully hot for pregnant women over the past five years.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 14, 2025

Harmfully hot days for pregnant women in Japan nearly doubled over past five years

Heat stress can raise the risks of stillbirths, miscarriages, preterm births and low-weight births, as well as congenital abnormalities for the babies.
Cars on display at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on Tuesday. The automaker posted a massive annual net loss and confirmed that it plans to cut thousands of jobs worldwide.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2025

Japanese automakers looking at a ¥1 trillion hit from Trump tariffs 

No matter what happens, they expect the new levies to cost them a lot.
Aso serves as the head of the LDP's task force on Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
JAPAN / Politics
May 14, 2025

Conservative heavyweights join forces in LDP panel on Indo-Pacific

The panel has prompted speculation it could serve as an occasion to coalesce support against the government in the upcoming months.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said the government will do all it can to raise wages, particularly for small and midsize businesses, which account for 70% of employment in Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 15, 2025

Japan to target 1% real wage gains within the next five years

The goal is based on the premise that stable and sustainable 2% inflation is in place.
According to a survey, some 70% of children from Japanese households with an annual income of less than ¥3 million take no after-school private lessons.
JAPAN / Society
May 15, 2025

Children from low-income families take fewer after-school private lessons

The proportion of children who take after-school private lessons and the frequency of doing so are higher as household income increases, a survey shows.
Walking along Osaka's Kanjosen brings you closer to a different side of the city that the head-in-the-clouds Expo 2025 misses.
LIFE / Travel
May 17, 2025

Fighting Osaka Expo fatigue? Walk the 21-km Loop Line for a cure.

Officially completed in 1961, the Osaka Kanjosen runs through the city’s most famous and less touristed neighborhoods alike.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump as first lady Melania Trump and Akie Abe look on while on board the Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Kaga, stationed at the Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 28, 2019.
JAPAN
May 16, 2025

SDF activities expand 10 years after key security legislation

Japan has enhanced cooperation with the United States and other friendly nations in the face of challenges such as China's maritime expansion.
The draft of the government's defense white paper says China's moves to strengthen its cooperation with Russia are a serious concern for Japan's security, describing Beijing's military moves as the biggest strategic challenge ever.
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2025

Japan government paper to express concern over China-Russia ties

A draft of the defense white paper described Beijing's military moves as the biggest strategic challenge ever.
Ice calves off from the Perito Moreno glacier into the Lago Argentino (Argentine Lake), in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, on April 21
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 16, 2025

Huge ice falls at Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier stir awe and concern

Recently the size of the ice chunks breaking off — a process called "calving" — has been starting to alarm local guides and glaciologists.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji