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JAPAN / Politics
Jan 22, 2024

Kishida's LDP factions gamble fails to improve his popularity

A Yomiuri Shimbun poll conducted over the weekend found the Kishida Cabinet’s approval rating was 24%, the lowest since the LDP returned to power in 2012.
This year was set to be a tumultuous one for global markets, with unpredictable swings as economic fortunes diverge and voters in more than 50 countries go to the polls. But there’s one unforeseen reversal already underway: a change in perception among investors about China and Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 26, 2024

As China’s markets stumble, Japan soars toward record highs

China has not struggled for economic growth like Japan, but a protracted property market collapse has shredded consumer and investor confidence.
Gold badges distributed to Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly members after the April 2023 election. The prices for both types doubled from four years ago.
JAPAN / Politics / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Feb 19, 2024

Gold assembly badges worth millions of yen unreturned in Kyushu

Each elected member receives a new badge for every election and is supposed to return them on losing an election or retiring from politics.
Japan remains largely unresponsive as the U.S. moves toward the escalation of retaliatory strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen and other Iranian-supported militants in the Middle East.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 2, 2024

As the U.S. and Iran inch toward war, Tokyo bickers about political factions

Japan remains largely unresponsive as U.S. moves toward retaliatory strikes in the Middle East, and possibly war.
A Beijing court heard Yang Hengjun's trial in secret in May 2021 and the case against him has never been publicly disclosed. He has denied working as a spy for Australia or the United States.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 5, 2024

Beijing court gives Australian writer suspended death sentence

Yang Hengjun had been accused of spying for a country China has not identified and the details of the case against him have not been made public.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen holds a welcome ceremony in September 2022 for then-Tuvaluan Prime Minister Kausea Natano in Taipei.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Tuvalu could recognize China, but how much would it affect Taiwan?

Taipei might benefit from shifting its energy and resources away from competing with Beijing over formal recognition.
Today’s Russia is nothing like the citadel of stability and satisfaction nor the bastion of prosperity that the Kremlin tries to claim it is.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2024

Preparing Russia for permanent war

Today’s Russia is nothing like the citadel of stability and satisfaction nor the bastion of prosperity that the Kremlin claims it to be.
Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces
WORLD / Politics
Feb 9, 2024

Ukrainian commander who defended Kyiv early in war takes top job

Oleksandr Syrskyi succeeds Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who was replaced following speculation about a rift with the president.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy takes a video in front of a road sign with the words "Avdiivka this is Ukraine" as he visits in the front-line town of Avdiivka Donets region, Ukraine, on Dec. 29.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 9, 2024

Zelenskyy’s ugly fight with top general exposes split in Ukraine

The Ukrainian president's public fallout with commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi has come at the worst possible time.
Supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party hold a portrait of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Karachi, Pakistan, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 11, 2024

Imran Khan’s candidates defy odds to thrive in Pakistan election

The party's strong performance points to Khan’s enduring popularity among the nation’s 129 million registered voters.
A demonstration against racism and far-right groups, including the Alternative for Germany party, is held in Berlin on Jan. 21.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2024

The case for banning anti-democratic candidates

Barring anti-democratic candidates from elections may be like fighting fire with fire, but it could work in extreme cases, such as in the U.S. and Germany.
Exit polls show Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto (right) decisively winning the first round of voting for the presidency, eliminating the need for a runoff. The size and scale the election means finalizing the count will take weeks.
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2024

Prabowo’s win signals continuity for Indonesia and the region

Prabowo is likely to be more engaged in foreign policy, mostly because outgoing President Joko Widodo had been largely uninterested.
“The Rise and Fall of the EAST” author Yasheng Huang blames the “keju,” the imperial national civil service exam, for the decline in China’s technological innovation. Its influence continues in the “gaokao,” the annual university entrance exam that high school students take in June.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 19, 2024

‘The Rise and Fall of the EAST’: China’s ancient successes paint worrying picture of its future

Economist Yasheng Huang delves into the impact of the "keju" imperial national civil service exam on the ebb and flow of China’s technological innovation.
A general election must take place in the U.K. by late January 2025, which means plenty of time for expats abroad to register and vote.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Feb 26, 2024

As more U.K. expats get the vote, Japan’s ballot box stays closed

As of Jan. 16, Brits abroad — including the more than 17,000 in Japan — are able to register to vote regardless of how long they have lived overseas.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson walks out of a vote on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Feb. 15.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 24, 2024

U.S. House speaker must now confront his own party’s sabotage

Multiple senior House Republicans, granted anonymity to speak frankly, now portray Mike Johnson as an insecure leader who faces a steep learning curve.
Gibran Rakabuming Raka, a son of outgoing President Joko Widodo, attends an election campaign at the Gelora Bandung Lautan Api Stadium in Bandung, West Java, on Feb. 8. By his own admission, Gibran was a "nobody" a few months before Indonesia's elections. Now, he is set to become the country's youngest-ever vice president.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 27, 2024

Once a 'nobody,' Jokowi's son is set to become Indonesia's VP

But Gibran Rakabuming Raka's meteoric rise, fueled by the current president's wild popularity, has critics warning of a return of nepotism in the country.
Donald Trump supporters wait for the former U.S. president to speak at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 29, 2024

Wake up America! What happened to your exceptionalism?

What is tragic is that both the Democratic and Republican parties effectively decided on their final presidential nominees long before the primaries began.
U.S. President Joe Biden discusses his administrationユs immigration and border security policies at a Border Patrol station in Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2024

Trump and Biden both visit U.S.-Mexico border and spar on immigration

With the presidential election less than eight months away, polls show most voters blame U.S. President Joe Biden for the number of illegal entries.
Factions, cliques, caucuses — whatever they may be called, groupings in legislatures are not unusual in many countries.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Perspectives
Mar 2, 2024

Is the funding scandal unraveling the LDP?

The media is caught up in the money-politics scandal of the moment, framing factions as all good or all bad. Things are a lot more nuanced than that.
The Dongmenting night market in Shenzhen, China, on Feb. 12. Hong Kong residents are flocking to nearby mainland cities in record numbers for cheaper shopping and entertainment.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 4, 2024

Young Hong Kongers who defied Xi are now partying in China

Thanks to new infrastructure, they can regularly go to Shenzhen where products and services are cheaper.
Bangladeshi Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus addresses the media as he prepares to leave after filing an appeal for the extension of his bail at the Labor Appellate Tribunal in Dhaka on Sunday.
WORLD / Society
Mar 4, 2024

Bangladesh Nobel winner fears for future as woes mount

Several of Muhammad Yunus' firms have been "forcefully" taken over, weeks after his conviction in a case his supporters say was politically motivated.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, attends a conference in Paris in June of last year.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2024

Led by Musk, Silicon Valley inches to the right

Musk and other tech mavens are pushing themes cherished by Fox News and far-right movements from a place that electorally remains a liberal stronghold.
Several U.S. lawmakers along with TikTok creators hold a news conference to voice their opposition to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in Washington on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Mar 13, 2024

America’s TikTok addiction isn’t just China’s fault

If you’ve spent time on the platform, you will know how addictive TikTok is. With 170 million users, at least one in three Americans have accessed it.
Supporters of TikTok watch a feed of the U.S. House vote as they gather outside the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD
Mar 14, 2024

TikTok devotees say platform unfairly targeted for U.S. ban

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill that would force TikTok to divest from its Chinese owner or be banned nationally.
A police officer walks outside the entrance of the family house of detained Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, Myanmar, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 20, 2024

No bids as Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside mansion auctioned

A decadeslong dispute over the property between the Nobel laureate and her brother prompted the attempted sale.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 29, 2024

The vocabulary of shogi can help you make moves in your conversations

The world of shogi, a game that is often described as a form of Japanese chess, has given us much more than just checkmates.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends an Upper House Budget Committee session on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 28, 2024

Ex-PM Yoshiro Mori may face LDP probe over kickback scheme

The target and scope of such an investigation has yet to be decided, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says.
Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Toshihiro Nikai addresses a news conference Monday after he announced that he will not run in the next general election amid the political funds scandal engulfing his party.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 28, 2024

Why LDP elder Nikai's announcement is a big deal (and isn't)

Despite portraying it as a move to preserve Nikai's legacy, it's seen as a proactive attempt to insulate himself and his associates from further scrutiny.
Jin-Oh Hyun searches for wild king cherry trees and their relatives on Geoje Island, off the coast of South Korea, on March 22.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 30, 2024

Wanted in South Korea: imperialism-free cherry blossoms

Activists want to replace a variety of cherry tree associated with the Japanese colonial era with one they say is Korean. The science is messy.
The National Museum of China following the closing of the Second Session of the 14th National People's Congress in Beijing on March 11
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

China’s advancing efforts to influence the U.S. election raise alarms

The accounts signal a potential shift in how Beijing aims to influence American politics, with more of a willingness to target specific candidates.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years