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Kuaishou Technology has attracted tens of millions of younger viewers who habitually scroll screens for new stories and trending videos.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2025

Mini dramas have supplanted movies in China. Is the U.S. next?

Professionally produced series for the web, mini dramas have clear storylines and big cliffhangers, with episodes running just 60 to 90 seconds each.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito responds to an interview on Friday at the prefectural office.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 7, 2025

Hyogo governor’s reelection sparks investigation into PR firm payments

Authorities are examining seized materials to determine the nature of financial transactions between the governor’s camp and the company.
After gaining a record number of Oscar nominations for a foreign-language movie, "Emilia Perez" has become embroiled in scandal linked to past social media posts by star Karla Sofia Gascon.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 7, 2025

Oscars frontrunner 'Emilia Perez' suffers awards season crash

Actor Karla Sofia Gascon has seen her path to glory seriously compromised by her past social media posts about Islam, U.S. anti-racism protests and even the Oscars themselves.
German conservative candidate for chancellor and Christian Democratic Union party leader Friedrich Merz speaks during a campaign event ahead of the upcoming 2025 general election, in Neubrandenburg, Germany, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

Russian-linked bots sow fear and distrust ahead of German vote: researchers

The bot networks' messaging seemed designed to help the second-placed, Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany.
Visitors look at information promoting Saudi Arabia's Neom megaproject at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22.
WORLD
Feb 13, 2025

Why are TikTok 'momfluencers' lauding Saudi Arabia's desert megacity?

One Thai "momfluencer" shared a video of her "typical afternoon in Neom." The video has been viewed around 800,000 times. The city it shows is almost deserted.
A White House reporter for the Associated Press is told by a member of the Trump administration that AP is barred from joining White House press pool coverage, in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 22, 2025

Associated Press sues White House officials to restore access

Last week, the White House barred AP reporters from pooled events, objecting to the wire service's references to the Gulf of Mexico in articles.
Visitors line up to take photos in front of a convenience store with Mount Fuji in the background at the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Jan. 29.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 25, 2025

Japan’s ‘hidden gems’ overwhelmed as social media drives influx of tourists

Local stakeholders struggle to cope with the surge in visitor numbers whenever a location suddenly goes viral.
Yarn shortages are a sign that hobbies like knitting and crochet are gaining in popularity.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 4, 2025

‘Granny hobbies’ are the new self-care

Pastimes long associated with Japanese grandparents are booming on social media as young people look for new (old) ways to relax.
Elon Musk, head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, wears a shirt that says "Tech Support" as he speaks during a Cabinet meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Feb. 26.
WORLD
Mar 11, 2025

Elon Musk says X hit by major cyberattack

The attack raises questions as to whether the politically divisive billionaire — and top adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump — is being targeted.
An election poster board in Tokyo in June displays candidates for last year's Tokyo gubernatorial election.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 28, 2025

Efforts to curb election chaos face uphill battle

A bill on campaign poster decency has been enacted after inappropriate posters were seen in Tokyo last year.
A conceptual image of the official YouTube channel screen to be operated by the Imperial Household Agency starting April 1
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2025

Japan's imperial family to start YouTube account

The channel, which goes live on Tuesday, follows the imperial family's social media debut last year on Instagram, which now has nearly 2 million followers.
The headquarters of Fuji Media Holdings, Fuji TV's parent, in Tokyo's Minato Ward
JAPAN / Media
Mar 31, 2025

Fuji TV bears heavy responsibility over Nakai's 'sexual violence': panel

A third party panel's probe on a series of scandals involving the broadcaster and the TV star acknowledged the nature of his "trouble" with a woman for the first time.
Lawyer Akira Takeuchi (center), the head of a third-party panel commissioned by Fuji TV to investigate a series of scandals at the broadcaster, fields questions along with other panel members at a news conference on Monday in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Apr 1, 2025

What the Fuji TV third-party probe uncovered

The panel concluded that TV personality Masahiro Nakai committed "sexual violence" against a female newscaster and that there is a culture of harassment at the broadcaster.
Among those arrested, 1,011 were ringleaders or individuals who gave instructions. About 90% were perpetrators, including people who received defrauded money, and around 40% became involved in the crimes through recruitment via social media.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2025

New ‘tokuryū’ crime groups outpace yakuza in arrests

The term was coined by the National Police Agency to describe a new form of criminal group that has emerged as an alternative to traditional yakuza organizations.
Protestors demand the conviction and imprisonment of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, in Quezon City, Philippines, last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 11, 2025

Fake accounts drove Duterte praise and now target Philippine election

New research says around a third of accounts discussing Duterte's arrest on X, mostly praising the former president, were fake.
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta, departs federal court in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 17, 2025

Meta saw TikTok as ‘highly urgent’ threat, Zuckerberg says at trial

Zuckerberg was composed, but occasionally evasive, when challenged to explain past messages indicating a concerted effort to muscle out competitors.
The proposal reportedly calls for a legal framework that would obligate telecom operators to store communication records for a fixed period.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025

LDP proposal would require telecom companies to store usage records

The proposal calls for a legal framework that would obligate telecom operators to store metadata and usage records for a fixed period.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a government meeting on crime prevention measures at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025

In fight against fraud, Japan seeks new weapon: undercover bank accounts

The government is looking to allow the police to set up bank accounts under false names to track the movement of funds obtained by fraudsters.
A Sudanese soldier prays in front of a burned-out armored vehicle in Khartoum, Sudan, on March 28.
WORLD
Apr 24, 2025

'No one else will': Sudan's journalists risk all to report the war

Since fighting erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, at least 28 reporters have been killed, according to Sudan's journalist union.
Climbers gather on the first day of the climbing season on the Yoshida Trail at the fifth station on the slopes of Mount Fuji in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, on July 1, 2024.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2025

Man rescued from Mount Fuji twice in one week, local media reports

Police could not immediately confirm reports saying the man had returned on Friday to retrieve his phone.
The café space at the Osaka Expo's British pavilion
JAPAN
May 2, 2025

Britain responds after Expo 2025 afternoon tea brews outrage

Earlier this week, a post deploring the overall quality of the pavilion's tea set — including "a tea bag stuck in a paper cup" — went viral on X.
Doug Cifu speaks during an event in New York in 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Ice Hockey
May 14, 2025

NHL suspends Panthers co-owner over social media posts

The NHL said in a statement Cifu had been indefinitely suspended following a barbed exchange on X.
Ousted FBI Director James Comey listens during a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill in Washington in June 2017.
WORLD
May 17, 2025

Ex-FBI director James Comey meets with Secret Service over '8647' post

In U.S. slang, the number 86 can be used as a verb meaning to throw somebody out of a bar for being drunk or disorderly. Trump is the 47th U.S. president.
A projected 8 million deepfakes — manipulated video or audio made using artificial intelligence — will be shared worldwide in 2025, about a fifth of which will be part of romance scams, according to cyber firm McAfee.
WORLD / Society
May 19, 2025

Deep love or deepfake: Dating in the time of AI

Scammers are increasingly using deepfakes — manipulated video or audio made using artificial intelligence — to look and sound real on dating apps.
Mixue, a Chinese bubble tea chain, has become the world’s largest food and beverage chain, with tens of thousands of stores all over Asia. The company is just one example of the increasing reach and popularity of Chinese cultural exports across the globe.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 23, 2025

How China’s soft power is rewriting Asian culture

Chinese cultural exports are becoming increasingly popular across the world and especially Asia. Do they promote cross-border understanding or are they tools for propaganda?
Requiring journalists to have escorts in much of the Pentagon building is the latest in a series of restrictions placed on the press by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
WORLD / Politics
May 24, 2025

Trump administration puts new limits on reporters at Pentagon

The move is the latest in a series of restrictions placed on the press by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio buttons his jacket at the start of a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington on May 21.
WORLD / Politics
May 28, 2025

U.S. suspends student visa processing as Trump ramps up social media vetting

A U.S. diplomatic cable has ordered embassies and consulates not to allow "any additional student or exchange visa ... appointment capacity until further guidance is issued."
A woman near the Kremlin in Moscow on May 19
WORLD / Politics
Jun 9, 2025

Russian intelligence says it collects WeChat data. What does that mean?

The disclosure highlights the rising level of concern about Chinese influence in Russia as the two countries deepen their relationship.
Kimiko Nishimoto poses next to a picture of her on a sliding window at her house in the city of Kumamoto in January 2018.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 13, 2025

Japan's 400,000-follower 'Insta-gran' dies age 97

Dubbed the "selfie queen" by Japanese media, Kimiko Nishimoto's posts showed her in various candid poses.
Citing challenges such as a declining workforce and rising costs, four major newspapers will discontinue their Saturday evening editions from August, in a shift away from a publishing tradition that has endured for decades in Japan.
JAPAN / Media
Jun 18, 2025

Four newspapers in Japan to cease Saturday evening editions from August

The announcements mark a shift away from a publishing tradition that has endured for decades in Japan, where evening newspapers had been a staple of the media landscape.

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