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May 04, 2025
 

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The next 12 months will be more challenging, with some countries pursuing quick interest-rate cuts while others will proceed cautiously.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2024

A view to 2025: Enough with the central bank hawks and doves

Interest-rate cuts will be a feature, including at institutions that resisted easing in 2024. But mind the nuances.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 28, 2024

Ishiba hints at possibility of double election next summer

An Upper House poll is scheduled for next July, and Ishiba hinted at the possibility that a Lower House election might coincide with that poll.
Makino Milling Machine's headquarters in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 27, 2024

Japan's Nidec takes aim at Makino Milling with $1.6 billion unsolicited bid

Nidec said Makino's board had not agreed to the ¥11,000 per share offer, a 42% premium to Thursday's closing share price, as it had not proposed the bid before announcing it.
Nick Kyrgios serves during a training session ahead of the Brisbane International on Saturday.
TENNIS
Dec 28, 2024

Kyrgios says tennis' integrity 'awful' in wake of Sinner and Swiatek doping cases

"The tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it, but no one wants to speak about it, is awful. It's not okay," the Australian player said.
A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in October.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 29, 2024

Meiji Seika Pharma files suit against lawmaker over 'unfounded' vaccine claims

CDP Lower House lawmaker Kazuhiro Haraguchi has said that the drugmaker's replicon vaccine is "akin to a biological weapon."
China's solar industry, hit hard in 2024 by overcapacity and financial losses, is expected to recover in 2025 with tighter market conditions and a 25% revenue growth forecast.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2024

Here’s the best climate news you missed this year

There are plenty of positive trends out there once you peer past the alarmist headlines.
Former President Jimmy Carter, furthest right, in a group photo with his successors at the White House in 2009. From his re-election defeat in 1980 until his death on Sunday, he was the odd man out, distant from the Republicans and Democrats who followed him.
WORLD
Dec 30, 2024

In the presidents’ club, Carter was the odd man out

Jimmy Carter’s relationship with his successors in the Oval Office, both Republicans and fellow Democrats, was generally tense because of his outspokenness.
Although meat consumption has been dropping, it's not happening quickly enough to meet climate targets, something to keep in mind over the holidays.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2024

Why are my vegan friends going back to meat?

Helping people eat healthier diets with more fruit, vegetables and fiber would have enormous benefits for human well-being and the planet.
Indonesia's plan to increase biodiesel mandates to 50% by 2028 could require clearing 5.3 million hectares of forest for palm oil plantations by 2042, an area larger than Denmark.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2024

The year’s worst climate news you haven’t heard about

Not enough floodwaters for dams, more coal burning and demand for Indonesian palm oil show efforts to slow global warming are flagging.
Yasushi Dozen, chief investment officer at Kepple
BUSINESS
Jan 2, 2025

Japan's ¥10 trillion startup investment target more improbable than ever

Investors and startup supporters say Japan is still in the seed-planting phase of startup development and must address some structural issues.
Japan's 2024 Word of the Year, "futehodo," is a phrase tied to a Netflix show and highlights the broader decline in the cultural significance of such awards, with recent selections often seen as superficial or promotional.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 31, 2024

Japan’s 2024 word of the year has no rizz

Some critics wondered why the word of the year award was, essentially, functioning as advertising for a TV show that is still available on streaming.
After a dramatic 2024, where Japan saw political upheaval, a record stock market, a major quake and a plane crash and dramatic escape, 2025, with events like major anime sequels, the Osaka World Expo, rising foreign acquisitions, we should expect a transformative year.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 2, 2025

Anime, M&A and the expo: What to watch for in Japan’s 2025

No doubt 2025 has more surprises in store for Japan after an unusually intense 12 months.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has expressed support for allowing for married couples to retain different surnames.　
JAPAN / Society
Jan 3, 2025

Japan's dual-surname option could see turning point in 2025

Support for allowing spouses to retain separate surnames is strong among the opposition, and even within the Liberal Democratic Party, which rules as a minority government.
A recovery in the olive harvest in Spain and elsewhere is easing the olive oil crisis, but depleted stocks and rising global demand mean prices will likely stay higher than pre-crisis levels.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2025

The olive oil crisis is over — but fears continue to linger

Prices for the golden commodity are set to drop thanks to a bountiful harvest this season. That doesn’t solve all its problems.
Asian tech leaders are spearheading AI's shift to robotics, with China, Japan and South Korea leading global innovation in hardware.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2024

AI robots are coming, and they’ll be made in Asia

Citigroup projects that there would be 1.3 billion AI robots globally by 2035 and 4 billion by 2050, doing everything from household chores to delivering parcels.
Head of Peoples Party (OEVP) and Chancellor Karl Nehammer addresses reporters during a presentation of his party's election platform in Vienna in September.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 5, 2025

Austria's chancellor to step down after coalition talks collapse

The move by conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer comes after breaking off coalition talks with the Social Democrats over disagreements on key issues.
Tech in 2025 will face growing resistance to AI, social media and streaming saturation alongside political and cultural shifts driven by Elon Musk, Trump and controversies like a potential U.S. TikTok ban.
COMMENTARY
Jan 5, 2025

AI, Musk and Trump add up to a turbulent 2025 for tech

If the steady stream of tech CEOs visiting Mar-a-Lago is any indication, we can expect Silicon Valley to be more willing to do Trump’s bidding in 2025.
Hogwarts Castle at Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California. There are influential American works of fantasy like “The Wizard of Oz” and “American Gods,” but they lack the cohesive, enduring impact of European counterparts such as the “Harry Potter” and “The Chronicles of Narnia” series.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2025

America needs a 'Great American Fantasy'

There is a lack of a distinctly "Great American Fantasy" in literature and popular culture.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Nov. 13. Trump’s presidency is expected to disrupt U.S. energy transition efforts through weakened policies and heightened trade tensions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2025

Can Biden’s green boom survive Trump’s wrecking ball?

The incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump promises to undo at least some of the progress made on decarbonization under President Joe Biden.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on Monday to announce his resignation.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2025

Canada's Trudeau resigns after nine years in power as Liberals force him out

Trudeau, 53, currently the longest-serving leader of any Group of Seven country, bowed to sagging approval numbers and a rebellion within his political party.
Some people are questioning the U.S. decision to block Nippon Steel’s takeover of U.S. Steel, citing the lack of clear evidence of any national security risk from Japan — a country that hosts over 50,000 U.S. troops and relies on America for defense.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 7, 2025

Biden's Nippon Steel move: A troubling snub of a key ally

Preventing the takeover of U.S. Steel is bad enough. Declaring Japan a national security risk is worse.
Jannik Sinner hits a return during an exhibition in Melbourne on Tuesday.
TENNIS
Jan 8, 2025

Sinner turns focus to Australian Open defense after 'amazing' year

The Italian is coming off a breakthrough year in which he backed up his maiden Grand Slam title at Melbourne Park by winning the U.S. Open and ATP Finals.
The myth that the West provoked Russian aggression in Ukraine overlooks Russia's expansionist history, the complex dynamics of NATO expansion and the true nature of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2025

What you think you know about Ukraine is probably wrong

It’s more important than ever to fact check the Kremlin's claims and excuses for the war
U.S. President Jimmy Carter and then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan greet each other before their U.S. presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, in October 1980.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2025

What if Reagan's vision had been more like Carter's?

Yes, Carter had his share of missteps, but he was way, way, way ahead of his time on clean energy.
"This is a year of elections," Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (center) told peer LDP executives at a party meeting held Tuesday to mark party members' start of work for this year, at LDP headquarters in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 10, 2025

Talk of summer double election persists in Japan

The Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito have agreed to begin preparations for the next Lower House election.
Kaz Shiomi is looking forward to the Osaka Expo this year, which will be held from April 13 to Oct. 13.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 10, 2025

Kaz Shiomi: ‘I want to show people … how to color outside the lines’

Producing toys under her kiko+ & gg* brand, the business owner hopes to encourage children to find their own unique paths in life.
Olaf Scholz, Germany's chancellor, during the SPD party congress in Berlin on Saturday
WORLD / Politics
Jan 12, 2025

Scholz steps up criticism of Trump’s expansionist rhetoric

In power since 2021, Scholz’s SPD party has slumped as an early election looms for Europe’s largest economy on Feb. 23.
Houses destroyed in the Palisades Fire along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, on Thursday
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2025

California fires expose a $1 trillion hole in U.S. home insurance

Santa Ana winds and wildfires are natural to California, but climate change and human development have made them far more destructive.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a statement after meeting with the National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 13, 2025

Canada has counter-tariffs ready if Trump launches trade war, Trudeau says

Canada buys more U.S.-made goods than any other country, according to U.S. Commerce Department export data — about $320 billion in the first 11 months of last year.
A man casts his ballot during the general election at a polling station in Tokyo on Oct. 27.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 13, 2025

Ishiba keeping eye on Lower House multiseat constituency talks

The prime minister is believed to be eyeing cooperation with opposition parties by using electoral system reform as an opportunity.
Britain responds after Expo 2025 afternoon tea brews outrage
The café space at the Osaka Expo's British pavilion
Woman says archbishop of Tokyo ignored her pleas after priest allegedly raped her
In a news conference in Tokyo on Friday, Tokie Tanaka, 64, details her allegations of sexual abuse against a Catholic priest.
Israel protests after Kyoto inn seeks war crime declaration from tourist
A street in Kyoto in March 2023. An Israeli tourist was asked to sign a document stating that he had not committed war crimes when he checked in at a Kyoto guesthouse in April, prompting a response from Israel's ambassador.
Second round of U.S.-Japan tariff talks ends inconclusively in Washington
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (far left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator. The second round of tariff negotiations between Japan and the United States were held on Thursday in Washington.
Inflation and high hotel prices curtail Golden Week travels
Travelers in front of a flight information panel in a departure hall at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on April 26
Japan’s ‘tabi’ sock mecca runs on thread and memories
A seamstress at Kineya Tabi sews together split-toe "tabi" socks, once a major industry for the town of Gyoda, Saitama Prefecture.
Despite shifts in Japan's political landscape, constitutional revision still far off
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has been a staunch advocate for constitutional reform.
'Ukiyo-e in Play' showcases traditional art carved anew
The Adachi Institute has been working on creating brand new ukiyo-e prints in collaboration with contemporary artists such as Yayoi Kusama, whose “Mt. Fuji in Seven Colours: When life boundlessly flares up to the universe” (2014) can be seen on display at “Ukiyo-e in Play.”
Ishiba hears advice from across the aisle on how Japan should handle Trump
Prime Minister Shigaru Ishiba and CDP head Yoshihiko Noda at a parliamentary session in Tokyo on April 23.
Don't send in the clones: AI event nixed as Alt accounts get reality check
A screenshot from the website for Alt's AI conference, which was canceled after the company disclosed an investigation into its sales figures.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones
Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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