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Fuji TV President Koichi Minato speaks at a news conference on Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Media
Jan 20, 2025

What went wrong at Fuji TV's news conference on allegations against Nakai?

The broadcaster, which imposed various restrictions for the event that included denying access to many media agencies, ended up worsening the scandal.
Fuji Media Holdings' headquarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward. The company will hold an extraordinary board meeting on Thursday over the firestorm sparked by TV host Masahiro Nakai's alleged sexual misconduct.
JAPAN / Media
Jan 22, 2025

Fuji TV scandal sparks probes on exploitation within TV industry

The sexual misconduct allegations against TV host and former SMAP member Masahiro Nakai have thrown a spotlight on the TV industry's culture and ethics.
Mark Zuckerberg’s push to loosen moderation policies at Meta puts the company on a collision course with regulations in Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2025

Zuckerberg's newfound libertarianism is worrying Brazil

Meta's loosened moderation policy puts it on a collision course with regulations in Latin America’s largest economy.
Fuji Television's poor handling of sexual misconduct allegations against celebrity Masahiro Nakai has led to an exodus of sponsors from the broadcaster.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Jan 24, 2025

What are the real issues behind the Fuji TV scandal?

Fuji TV's handling of sexual misconduct allegations against TV personality Masahiro Nakai led to a firestorm of public disapproval. Where did it go wrong?
Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Jan 26, 2025

Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick

Discover the hometown of the Yoshiwara publisher who helped shape Japan’s artistic legacy and inspired NHK’s latest period drama.
Fuji TV President Koichi Minato (left) and Chairman Shuji Kanoh, also chairman of the broadcaster's parent company Fuji Media Holdings, bow during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday. The two have announced their resignations.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 28, 2025

Fuji TV president resigns over handling of Masahiro Nakai scandal

Koichi Minato has been the target of criticism following the revelation that he became aware of the incident involving Nakai right after it occurred in June 2023.
The Tiffany & Co. store on Fifth Avenue in New York in 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 28, 2025

Tiffany workers mock forced 'joy' that exacerbated staff exits

When Tiffany & Co. executives were looking for ways to boost staff morale, they rolled out an internal social app called "Tiffany Joy.” It didn’t take long to turn into a chore.
Members of the media raise their hands for questions as outgoing Fuji TV President Koichi Minato attends a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Jan 28, 2025

What we learned at Fuji TV's marathon Nakai scandal news conference

Longtime executive of Fuji TV Hisashi Hieda, who has been dubbed the “emperor” of the broadcaster, was not present at the news conference and did not resign.
Members of the media crowd the venue before the start of a news conference at Fuji TV's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Society / First person
Jan 28, 2025

Yelling and random tangents: What it was like covering Fuji TV's 10-hour presser

The once-in-a-lifetime news conference showed what would happen when the Japanese press was given total freedom with no time limits.
Fuji TV President Kenji Shimizu speaks to reporters at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday following a board meeting.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2025

Fuji TV expects ¥23 billion dent in revenue over Nakai scandal

The broadcaster, projecting its ad revenue to total ¥125.2 billion in the year through March, expects to fall into the red.
Fuji TV executives take questions during a news conference on Monday in Tokyo in which some participants became unruly.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 31, 2025

Fuji TV’s go-big PR strategy wins grudging praise globally

Fuji TV held a marathon 10-hour news conference on Monday to address allegations of sexual misconduct by Masahiro Nakai, a celebrity and former presenter for the broadcaster.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosts his first cabinet meeting with Elon Musk in attendance in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025

White House bars reporters from covering Trump cabinet meeting

The White House denied access to an Associated Press photographer and three reporters from Reuters, HuffPost and Der Tagesspiegel, a German newspaper.
Taishi Fuwa (left), the general manager at World Woman Pro-wrestling Diana, and his lawyer Kazuhito Ozawa at a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2025

Settlement reached in female pro-wrestler sexual harassment case

The lawsuit was filed "to raise awareness and prevent similar incidents from happening," said the general manager of the pro-wrestling agency involved.
The Eastern District of New York Court Federal Court House in New York on Feb. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 6, 2025

Judges face rise in threats as Musk blasts them over rulings

In recent weeks, Musk, congressional Republicans and other top allies of U.S. President Donald Trump have called for the impeachment of some federal judges.
Women's March Tokyo, a demonstration march against sexual violence and discrimination against women, is held on International Women's Day in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on March 8.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2025

Women remain underrepresented in Japan's news industry

Correcting the gender gap is an urgent issue in the industry, with such a change expected to bring women's perspectives to newsrooms.
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2025

A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers

Syndicates are increasingly targeting middle- to upper-class individuals from across the world through something as harmless as online video games.
Social engineering scams thrive on poorly monitored social media platforms, and while the UK is pushing tougher laws to hold tech companies accountable, the U.S. resists stricter rules, believing individuals should bear responsibility for avoiding fraud.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2025

The U.K. is trying to fight social scams. The U.S. not so much.

Social engineering is one of the hardest parts of the trillion-dollar online scam industry to block or disrupt.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg departs after attending a Federal Trade Commission trial at a U.S. District Court in Washington on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 16, 2025

Zuckerberg defends strategy behind Instagram, WhatsApp deals

The Federal Trade Commission alleges the acquisitions of the two apps give Meta Platforms a social media monopoly, and is fighting to break up the company.
A video circulating on Chinese social media depicting a "U.S. sweatshop"
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 18, 2025

Chinese vent anger at Trump's trade war with memes and mockery

Chinese online warriors have taken advantage of the massive strides in AI to create memes highlighting that many of the goods bought by Americans are made in their country.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has long jostled with the press and questioned the editorial rules that prohibit interference in government-funded media, issued an executive order on March 14 to eliminate Voice of America and other U.S.-funded media.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 23, 2025

U.S. judge orders preliminary VOA funding restoration in blow to Trump

It remains to be seen if the order is enough to put the outlets back on air.
Podcast hosts Terence Chia (left) and Haresh Tilani discuss their show "Yah Lah But" in their studio in Singapore.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 30, 2025

Mic check: Singapore's podcast boom amplifies opposition voices

Mainstream election coverage of Singapore's opposition parties has improved over the past decade, with its news podcasts showing a willingness to feature alternative voices.
Japan climbed four positions from last year, with Reporters Without Borders noting that "the principles of media freedom and pluralism are generally respected" in the country.
JAPAN
May 3, 2025

Japan ranks 66th in press freedom, lowest among G7

Reporters Without Borders noted that "the principles of media freedom and pluralism are generally respected" in the country.
The imperial family attends a spring garden party at the Akasaka Imperial Gardens in Tokyo on April 22.
JAPAN
May 5, 2025

Imperial Household Agency’s YouTube channel surpasses 100,000 subscribers

Launched on April 1, the channel surpassed 100,000 subscribers in just a week.
U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that Catholics, who have criticized an artificial intelligence-generated image of him dressed in white papal vestments, were not offended, and said that anyone who was "can’t take a joke.”
WORLD / Politics
May 6, 2025

Trump calls AI pope image a joke, but experts say it’s no laughing matter

For many Catholics, the image of the U.S. president dressed as God's representative on Earth was offensive.
Men read newspapers with front-page articles on the India-Pakistan conflict, in Amritsar, India, on May 8, a day after India launched strikes on Pakistan.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2025

No truce in India-Pakistan disinformation war

Platforms such as Facebook and X are still flooded with misrepresented footage of the attacks that killed at least 60 people and sent thousands fleeing.
Meta’s rapid AI chatbot rollout is raising safety concerns as critics cite inappropriate responses and poor accountability despite its access to vast user data.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 14, 2025

Meta’s defense of its rogue AI sounds painfully familiar

The social media platform Meta is going on the attack instead of worrying about its users. How did that work out the last time?
Wendy McMahon, CEO of CBS News, speaks during the Axios BFD event in New York on Oct. 12, 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 20, 2025

CBS News boss resigns amid tensions with Trump admin

"The past few months have been challenging," CEO Wendy McMahon wrote in a goodbye letter to staff. "It's become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward."
Elon Musk said he was looking to change Twitter's logo, tweeting: "And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds."
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 24, 2023

Elon Musk says Twitter to change logo and bid adieu to 'all the birds'

In a tweet Sunday, the social media platform's billionaire owner added: "If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we'll make go live worldwide tomorrow."
Elon Musk has changed Twitter's logo, replacing its signature blue bird with a stylized X as part of the billionaire's vision of transforming the 17-year-old service into an "everything app."
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 25, 2023

Twitter turning into X is set to kill billions in brand value

Musk’s move wiped out anywhere between $4 billion and $20 billion in value, according to analysts and brand agencies.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb