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South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol delivers a speech during a ceremony on the 105th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement Day in Seoul on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 1, 2024

South Korea's Yoon says better Japan ties helping deter North Korea threat

Under Yoon's conservative administration, Seoul has sought better ties with Tokyo, which have been fraught with historical baggage for years.
A housing development next to the Sasol’s petrochemicals plant in Sasolburg, South Africa.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 2, 2024

What it's like to live in the most polluted place on Earth

Coal and steel plants offer steady work for residents in South Africa's Vaal Triangle, yet they’re also pumping out harmful emissions.
Six months have passed since Japan started releasing treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 4, 2024

Fukushima water release still vexing China-Japan ties

China-bound exports of Japanese fishery products in 2023 plunged by some 30% from the previous year in value terms.
A recent $1 billion donation to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine will make the school tuition-free indefinitely, but greater systemic changes would better serve students and society.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2024

Free tuition is no panacea for medical schools

An historic $1 billion donation paves the way for debt-free medical education.
A protest against the extradition law in Hong Kong in June 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 22, 2024

Where are Hong Kong’s leading pro-democracy figures now?

In 2019, Hong Kong erupted into the most stunning expression of public anger with Beijing in decades.
High-end tourism is becoming more about the kinds of experiences that Japan's lesser-known places can provide.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Mar 25, 2024

Can Japan lure the jet-set class off the beaten path?

High-end travelers are looking for sustainability, wellness and adventure when they head abroad. Japan hopes to deliver in places other than Tokyo.
A Palestinian boy walks on the site of an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 27.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 2, 2024

How the Israel-Hamas war is changing the international security order

The divide within the international community over the conflict is set to become even more serious.
The 2024 grand prix winner was Zerogravity, a marine activity provider with a focus on accessible tours and accommodation.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 29, 2024

Japan Travel Awards promote inclusive tourism

While currently far from a global player, the Japan Travel Awards is filling a void for recommendations on forward-looking travel-centric organizations.
Elon Musk, X's owner, has been open about his belief that X should carry almost all content that isn’t illegal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 29, 2024

Elon Musk’s X is testing ‘adult content’ groups for users

Openly offering "NSFW” groups may be another way for X to try to differentiate itself from other mainstream social networking services.
Cardboard beds at an evacuation center in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 31. Because evacuation shelters are operated by municipalities, the quality of disaster relief varies depending on the strength of each local government, one expert points out.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024

Over 8,000 still in evacuation centers three months after Noto quake

The patchy progress of Japan's decentralized disaster relief shows that lessons from past disasters have not been learned, experts say.
People hold candles as they attend a night vigil and prayer at the Amahoro Stadium as part of the 25th Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide, in Kigali, Rwanda, on April 7, 2019. Rwanda will soon commemorate the 30th anniversary this year.
WORLD
Apr 3, 2024

Rwanda marks 30 years since genocide

During the 1994 genocide, Hutu extremists targeting the Tutsi minority slaughtered around 800,000 people in a massacre lasting 100 days.
The "disaster" of Oct. 7 would have killed off any other politician. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hold over the ruling Likud party has been likened to Donald Trump's over U.S. Republicans.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

Bye, bye Bibi: Is the game up for Israel's great survivor Netanyahu?

With thousands of protesters on the streets every night this week demanding he resign, many wonder how long the veteran escapologist can survive.
The American and Japanese flags are posted on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington in preparation for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's state visit to the United States this week.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 8, 2024

More investment is needed to strengthen U.S.-Japan collaboration

Despite the countries' shared challenges, investment in U.S.-Japan intellectual exchange programs and expertise building is at a historic low.
The U.S. military’s Kawakami Ammunition Depot in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture. High levels of PFAS have been detected in well water around the facility.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Apr 15, 2024

U.S.-Japan pact hampers PFAS survey at U.S. facility in Hiroshima

The bilateral Status of Forces Agreement gives exclusive authority to the U.S. forces over the management of their facilities in Japan.
A protester demands the United Kingdom make reparations for slavery, outside the British High Commission, in Kingston, Jamaica, in March 2022.
WORLD / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2024

Slavery tribunal? Africa and Caribbean unite on reparations

A tribunal was proposed last year, and it has now gained traction within a broader slavery reparations movement.
Paolo Pasco, winner of the 2024 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
LIFE
Apr 14, 2024

How Gen Zers made the crossword their own

A younger generation of constructors is using an old form to reflect their identities, language and world.
Israeli soldiers conduct an operation in the Gaza Strip against Hamas fighters in late March.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2024

Concluding the conflict in Gaza is in Israel’s best interest

Iran’s attack should remind the Israelis that their war with Hamas is not being fought in an international vacuum and support from the outside matters.
Finding capital needed to start a business can be challenging. But for many women in the Global South, it’s not just difficult — it’s often impossible.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2024

Women entrepreneurs could make the world $6 trillion richer

When a woman walks through the door with a good idea, a smart business plan and a dream to improve her future, lenders too often see only risk.
Rainbow flags were flown through the capital's busy Shibuya and Harajuku areas for Tokyo Rainbow Pride events this weekend as organizers hailed 30 years of one of Asia's largest LGBTQ celebrations.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 21, 2024

Tokyo Rainbow Pride lights up capital as organizers celebrate 30 years

Under the theme “Until it changes, don’t give up,” this year’s Tokyo Rainbow Pride was held after an eventful 12 months for Japan’s LGBTQ movement.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet inspects an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony in Putrajaya, Malaysia, in late February.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2024

The threat posed by Cambodia’s new strongman

The West must use the tools at its disposal to hold Cambodia’s dynastic autocracy accountable for its abuses.
Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
CULTURE / Books / Longform
Apr 22, 2024

The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores

Shops without staff, shelves for rent, cafes and meetups are some of the ways the country's dwindling bookstores are trying to survive.
Delegates meet for the Development Committee Plenary during the World Bank and IMF 2024 Spring Meetings in Washington on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2024

Negotiating a bigger, better World Bank

Recent changes at the global lender are important steps toward making the World Bank’s financial model fit for “ending poverty on a livable planet.”
A scene from "The Maiden Benten and the Bandits of the White Waves" ("Benten Kozo") at the University of Hawaii at Manoa
CULTURE / Stage
May 5, 2024

Students from Hawaii to perform English-language kabuki in Japan

The group will perform "Benten Kozo," a play depicting the twists and turns of five thieves following their own code of honor.
A traditional Ainu preserved food called <i>satchep</i> (dried fish) being made at the government-run National Ainu Museum and Park, nicknamed Upopoy, in the town of Shiraoi, Hokkaido, on Dec. 25. The Sapporo District Court ruled last month that the Raporo Ainu Nation's rights as an Indigenous people did not extend to having an inherent right to fish for commercial reasons.
JAPAN / Society
May 3, 2024

Sapporo court ruling on Ainu fishing rights presents tough questions

A Sapporo court ruled last month that an Ainu group only has the right to engage in salmon fishing for cultural — but not commercial — reasons.
Karan Brar (left),  Karanpreet Singh (center) and Kamalpreet Singh, the three individuals charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to the killing in Canada of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar
WORLD
May 5, 2024

Canada's prime minister hails 'rule of law' after arrests in Sikh separatist murder

Three Indian nationals, two aged 22 and one aged 28, were arrested Friday on first-degree murder and conspiracy charges in killing of Sikh leader.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal greets Chinese leader Xi Jinping at Orly Airport, south of Paris, on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 6, 2024

France's Macron seeks to sway China's Xi on Ukraine

Xi Jinping is making a state visit to France marking 60 years of diplomatic relations between France and China. The trip is his first to Europe since 2019.
A Cambridge research fellow's dismissal is sparking outcry amid a freedom of speech debate about the university's diversity, equality and inclusion policies.
COMMENTARY
May 7, 2024

Will Cambridge support free speech?

Cambridge research fellow's dismissal sparks outcry amid a freedom of speech debate at the university and its diversity, equality and inclusion policies.
The Kioke Summit on Shodoshima has seen a steady rise in participants from dozens in its early days 12 years ago and about 100 in 2019 to more than 600 this past February.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 8, 2024

On Japan’s island of olives, age-old shoyu secrets survive

Each Kioke Summit features many activities including a "kioke" auction — shoyu fermentation barrels that fetch anywhere from ¥60,000 to ¥450,000.
Supporters of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the city of Ayodhya, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
May 7, 2024

In election videos, India's BJP depicts opposition favoring Muslim minority

The videos reflect a shift in BJP campaign focus, accusing Congress of plans to redistribute Hindu wealth among "infiltrators" who have "more children."
A police officer from the Metropolitan Police Department visits a homeowner in Tokyo to increase awareness of roof inspection scams. The number of complaints made to the National Consumer Affairs Center in relation to such scams tripled between 2018 and 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 9, 2024

Tokyo police warn against costly roofing scams

Deceitful contractors coax homeowners into undertaking costly and unnecessary repairs by falsely claiming their roofs are damaged.

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