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The computers and smartphones seized by the Metropolitan Police Department on Thursday in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 28, 2025

Three teens arrested over fraudulent subscriptions to Rakuten Mobile

Police believe the suspects obtained at least about 2,500 subscriptions and sold them for a total of about ¥7.5 million in crypto assets.
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.
Shiori Ito is the first Japanese director to have been nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature film. "Black Box Diaries," which tells the story of her quest for justice following her rape in 2015, hasn't been released in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 4, 2025

Can Shiori Ito’s documentary open Japan’s black box?

Concerns about footage in "Black Box Diaries" have stopped its release in Japan. But Shiori Ito's story needs to be brought to people’s attention — in all its harrowing details.
England and Wales Cricket Board signage is seen at Lord's Cricket Ground before the second Ashes test in London on June 28, 2023.
ECB signage before the start of the second test Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Mar 7, 2025

England and Wales Cricket Board apologizes for 'ill-judged' post about pope

"This was an ill-judged post and was swiftly deleted," an ECB spokesman said. "We apologize for any offense."
Globally, women are severely underrepresented among leading roles in cinema, with female directors accounting for just over 10% of the industry in Japan. Achieving gender equality on-set would have far-reaching consequences for the whole of society.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2025

Without women behind the camera, equality stays out of the frame

Cinema isn't only about what stories are told, but who tells them. Overcoming severe underrepresentation, women are reshaping the film industry and cultural narratives.
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.
According to the Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative, there were about 30 cases of bonsai theft last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2025

Bonsai thefts sweep Japan as miniature trees grow more popular

About 30 cases of such theft occurred last year, according to the Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative.
Liu Zhenya and her daughter are escorted by police and immigration officers at Songshan Airport in Taipei on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

Chinese influencer forced to leave Taiwan for supporting invasion

Taiwan authorities ordered Liu Zhenya to leave because she posted videos supporting the idea of a Chinese military takeover.
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.
Billionaire Elon Musk said the value of his X social media network is $45 billion when including $12 billion of debt, describing his xAI artificial intelligence startup's purchase of X as an all-stock transaction.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 29, 2025

Musk’s xAI startup swallows up X social network in surprise deal

Elon Musk said his xAI artificial intelligence startup has acquired the X platform, which he also controls, at a valuation of $33 billion.
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.
The bus stop sign for the Ghibli Museum at Mitaka Station. The viral trend of AI-generated Ghibli-style images reflects both a longing for comfort in uncertain times and the ongoing debate over AI’s impact on art.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 2, 2025

For a brief moment, everything was Ghibli

ChatGPT will make almost anything Ghibli-ish, but it won’t draw Totoro.
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.
Labor Party MP for Bennelong Jerome Laxale and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong pose for pictures with residents in Sydney in February.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 4, 2025

In a tight Australian election, a Chinese app could make a difference

Politicians are turning to Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle app also called RedNote, to appeal to Chinese communities who will be a crucial voting bloc.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday extended by 75 days a deadline for ByteDance to sell U.S. assets of the popular TikTok short video app to a non-Chinese buyer, or face a ban that was supposed to have taken effect in January under a 2024 law.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 5, 2025

TikTok deal put on hold after China indicated it would reject it over tariffs

Trump extended by 75 days a deadline for ByteDance to sell U.S. assets of the popular short video app to a non-Chinese buyer.
The TikTok logo is seen outside the Chinese video app company's Los Angeles offices on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 7, 2025

Trump says China tariff objections stalled TikTok deal

ByteDance is required to divest TikTok’s U.S. unit but the company has balked at selling a business valued in the billions.
Two Japanese men are suspected of helping an IT worker from North Korea create an account for a job-matching service by sending driver's license photos and other information to the IT worker in September and October 2020.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 8, 2025

Pair suspected of helping North Korean IT worker pose as a Japanese citizen

Police in Tokyo believe the IT worker was involved in North Korea's efforts to obtain foreign currency.
A man walks past a board displaying average stock prices at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 8, 2025

Taiwan says China using AI to 'divide' the island with disinformation

In a report to parliament, the security bureau said it had detected more than half a million pieces of "controversial messages" so far this year.
Associated Press photographer Alex Brandon is denied access to the White House "press pool" as journalists move to U.S. President Donald Trump's motorcade at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 9, 2025

Judge lifts Trump White House restrictions on AP while lawsuit proceeds

The White House imposed restrictions on the Associated Press over the news agency’s decision to continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its coverage.
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.
Journalists Sergei Karelin, Antonina Favorskaya and Artem Kriger, accused of taking part in the activities of an "extremist" organization founded by late opposition politician Alexei Navalny, attend a court hearing in Moscow on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2025

Russian journalists jailed for 5½ years for alleged extremist ties to Navalny

Moscow has intensified pressure on domestic and foreign reporters since the start of its war in Ukraine.
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.
The headquarters of Fuji Media Holdings, Fuji TV's parent, in Tokyo's Minato Ward
JAPAN / Media
May 13, 2025

Nakai's lawyer refutes third-party report finding 'sexual violence'

The lawyer demanded that the committee disclose the evidence behind its report, which was released in March, by May 26.

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