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Monks at the temple of the golden Buddha Dordenma in Thimphu, Bhutan, in 2023
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2025

Japanese-made AI Buddha to make debut in Bhutan

Monks in the country will use the chatbot on a trial basis to further improve its functions and create guidelines on its use.
“Light Court” (2024) is based on the “Lightcourt” space at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by metabolist architect Kisho Kurokawa (1934-2007).
CULTURE / Art
Feb 9, 2025

Yuki Harada's contemplative artworks ponder vanishing

The artist spent time researching Japanese migrants who left Hiroshima and Yamaguchi prefectures for Hawaii, and the U.S. island state often features in his art.
Recording artist Kendrick Lamar speaks at a press conference for the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 9, 2025

Kendrick Lamar promises 'storytelling' at Super Bowl show

Speculation abounds as to whether the rapper will perform his award-winning diss track, "Not Like Us."
A set of miniature "hina" dolls from the late Edo Period (1603-1868), collected by hina furnishings researcher Yumiko Kawauchi
CULTURE
Feb 10, 2025

Miniatures bring hidden worlds to life at Tokyo cultural site

A set of dolls from the late Edo Period is among the items on display on the premises of Hotel Gajoen Tokyo.
Firefighters work at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

Trump funding freeze threatens Ukraine probe of alleged Russian war crimes

At stake are six U.S.-funded projects at the Prosecutor General's Office valued at $89 million, according to a Ukrainian document on the U.S. funding and cuts.
Rory McIlroy celebrates on the 18th hole after winning the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Pebble Beach, California, on Feb. 2.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Feb 13, 2025

Rory McIlroy had conversation with Donald Trump about PGA-LIV deal

McIlroy said he played golf with Trump in early January and felt Trump supported the PGA over Saudi-backed LIV.
Toyohara Kunichika experimented with established norms of composition and began spreading a single figure over three full sheets, as seen in this “Kabuki Play 'Kagamiyama Gonichi no Iwafuji'” triptych.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 15, 2025

Kunichika's vibrant ukiyo-e gets a chance to shine at anniversary exhibit

An underappreciated ukiyo-e master is the focus of the largest-ever retrospective of his work in Japan, marking the 190th anniversary of his birth.
All Nippon Airways aircraft at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in August 2024. ANA has staked a lot on greener kinds of jet fuel, with 70% of the emissions reductions under its net-zero emissions plan coming from them.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Feb 16, 2025

Sky not the only limit for JAL and ANA’s climate goals

The airlines' similar but different carbon neutrality plans highlight the difficulty of decarbonization, especially as the sector is now growing again.
U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza proposal is a reckless plan that would forcibly displace Palestinians, destabilize neighboring countries, empower Iran and and hinder any long-term peace efforts.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

Trump’s Gaza plan is a crazy answer to a valid question

It is a propsal that will love Israel to death, revive Iran to life and destabilize every American friend.
The Chip Mong Insee cement factory in Kampot province, Cambodia, on Jan. 9. An investigation has shown that the plastic credits sector relies heavily on the polluting cement industry to burn collected waste, despite concerns about health risks and carbon emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Feb 20, 2025

'What would you have us do?': The plastic credits problem

Credits place no obligations on buyers to stop producing or using unrecyclable plastic that ends up in the environment.
Yamanote Jijosha has a long history of staging Shakespeare plays, and in celebration of its 40th anniversary, the company will present “Othello” and “Macbeth.” Previously, it toured productions like “Titus Andronicus,” which premiered in Tokyo in 1999, saw multiple revivals and had a homecoming in 2015.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 21, 2025

Directing is never a monologue at the experimental Yamanote Jijosha theater company

To mark its four decades of existence, the company stages two Shakespearean tragedies for a triumph.
David Moreton, a former professor at Tokushima University, originally came to Japan as a missionary in 1988. He is now one of the world’s foremost experts on the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 24, 2025

How a Canadian missionary found spiritual transformation in Shikoku

David Moreton has devoted decades to researching southern Japan’s famed 88-temple pilgrimage, established by influential monk Kobo Daishi.
China's recent naval exercises near Australia and New Zealand, though legal, highlight Beijing’s growing reach and willingness to test other nations' responses.
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2025

China pushes the military envelope with power projections

This week, Chinese ships conducted military exercises, including live-fire drills, in waters near Australia and New Zealand. While legal, the moves expose its hypocrisy.
Taiwanese comic artist Rishiazao and interpreter Yun-wen Huang greet an attendee at the 2025 Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2025

Taiwan comics on the rise: Local storytellers, global aspirations

A supportive ecosystem and eager audiences — both domestic and global — are boosting the soft power of illustrated narratives from Taiwan.
Some 230 million people globally thought to be affected by long COVID. The effects range from mild to disabling, and there are no proven diagnostic tests or treatments.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 1, 2025

'Going mad': Lack of data plagues Asia's long COVID patients

Some 230 million people are thought to be affected by long COVID — defined as symptoms persisting for three months or more after the initial infection.
Lydia Ko poses with the trophy after winning the HSBC Women's Championship in Singapore on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Mar 2, 2025

Lydia Ko adds 'Asia's Major' to trophy haul with Singapore crown

Ko, a three-time major winner, started the final round with a one-shot lead over a tightly packed field.
Ai Narabayashi, a member of the editorial department of Iwanami Shoten, the publisher of dictionary "Kojien," speaks during an interview in Tokyo in February.  Narabayashi said the dictionary has the duty to record the Japanese language without hiding anything and accurately explain the meaning behind words and phrases.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 7, 2025

Why an iconic Japanese dictionary chooses to retain misogynistic words

Publisher Iwanami Shoten considers it a duty for its "Kojien" dictionary to record and accurately explain the meaning and background of words and phrases.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's arrest on an ICC warrant for crimes against humanity related to his brutal drug war is a victory for affected families, but it may plunge the country into political chaos.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2025

The law finally caught up with Rodrigo Duterte

A reckoning for Duterte — the man they called "The Punisher” — is long overdue. The former Philippine president’s anti-drug crusade killed thousands of people.
Bookshelves storing disaster-related documents at the Sendai City Archives in Sendai in February
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2025

Local governments struggle to preserve records of March 2011 disaster

Fourteen years later, securing storage space has become a growing obstacle as the volume of records continues to increase.
The BayStars used data analytics to inform the decision to have Hayato Horioka pitch against the Giants last fall. The bet paid off, with Horioka helping to seal the game and Yokohama advancing to the championship.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 17, 2025

'Moneyball' disciples aim to upend Japanese baseball for second year

Yokohama is honing its indicators that predict how well a pitcher will perform at any given moment.
Instead of spending billions to resurrect woolly mammoths, we could focus on preserving endangered species, saving ecosystems, and securing biodiversity for the future.
COMMENTARY
Mar 17, 2025

Got $10 billion? Don’t blow it cloning a woolly mammoth.

Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based biotechnology and genetic engineering startup valued at $10 billion, has raised $435 million to "de-extinct” the woolly mammoth.
Japan forward Mina Tanaka dribbles during a SheBelieves Cup match against Australia in Houston on Feb. 20.
SOCCER
Mar 20, 2025

How Mina Tanaka evolved into a prolific striker for Nadeshiko Japan

Mina Tanaka is having a moment. The Nadeshiko Japan and Utah Royals striker dominated the SheBelieves Cup, winning both MVP and top scorer as Japan defeated the U.S.
The peculiar combo of curry with green tea over rice topped with a pork or chicken cutlet is Haraiso Sparkle's signature dish.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 23, 2025

At Osaka's Haraiso Sparkle, curry with a side of city pop

What began as a simple spice curry shop has now morphed into an offbeat, funky eatery.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani was the most popular player during MLB's Tokyo Series.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 21, 2025

Tokyo Series generates company-record $40 million in sales for Fanatics

According to the company, over 200,000 fans shopped at the official MLB stores operated by Fanatics
Orix Buffaloes pitcher Taisuke Yamaoka speaks to reporters in the city of Osaka on Friday for the first time since he was reported to have participated in a poker tournament run by a foreign casino website.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2025

Cabinet approves strategy to battle illegal online casinos

A National Policy Agency survey released earlier this month showed that nearly 3.37 million Japanese are estimated to have used overseas online casinos to illegally gamble.
Marui Group's Museum Epos Cards — where donations are made to art museums based on the amount spent on the card — sit on display in Tokyo's Taito Ward on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 23, 2025

Marui launches museum-supporting credit card

The company has partnered with the National Museum of Art, the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage and the National Museum of Nature and Science.
Associate professor Soko Aoki (right) and her sociology students at Tohoku University have helped compile documents in the recently published “50th Year of Menstrual Products” book.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Mar 31, 2025

Menstruation and gender equality: Student movement revisited 50 years on

As "period poverty" has become a social issue, former members of the group have self-published a reference book about their activities.
Students attend a job fair at Makuhari Messe in the city of Chiba on March 1.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2025

About 30% of major Japanese companies using AI for recruiting, poll says

The results show that companies are looking to AI to increase the efficiency of recruitment efforts as competition for human resources heats up.
“The Wakey Show” is NHK’s first new daily children’s program in three years, and it carries on the station’s storied past in youth-centric educational entertainment.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Mar 27, 2025

Rise and shine with ‘The Wakey Show’

Broadcaster NHK's first new daily children’s show in years puts puppets and positivity up front.
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 29, 2025

Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air

Linking mountainous Matsumoto and coastal Kanazawa, this clunkily named route includes nonetheless fantastic sites.

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