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A pipe for transporting carbon dioxide to removal equipment at a carbon capture and storage (CCS) test site in Tomakomai, Hokkaido.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jan 26, 2025

How Japan is looking deep underground to solve its carbon problem

Japan is investing billions of yen to get carbon capture and storage off the ground, but the technology is dogged by high costs and uncertainty.
"We want to welcome many people from all over the world, so we want to make Osaka a city where people feel safe with smoke-free streets," said Hideyuki Yokoyama, mayor of the city of Osaka, in early January.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2025

Osaka bans street smoking ahead of Expo 2025

Expo 2025 has struggled with slow ticket sales and public concern over the construction budget.
Kanoa Igarashi surfs in the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach competition in Oahu, Hawaii, on Feb. 18.
MORE SPORTS / Surfing
Jan 28, 2025

Kanoa Igarashi dreams big as surfing championship tour gets underway

With new tricks up his sleeve, the Olympic silver medalist is eyeing a world title.
Sanjay in front of his home in Texas
WORLD / Politics
Jan 28, 2025

Trump’s birthright citizenship rattles H-1B visa workers expecting a baby

The U.S. is fairly unique in offering unconditional birthright citizenship, creating a special enticement for foreign workers.
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.
Harris English plays his shot from the fairway on the 15th hole during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament in San Diego, California, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Jan 28, 2025

PGA Tour's slow pace rears head after pedestrian start to season

The PGA Tour has said it expects slow play to improve from next year due to smaller fields being introduced for many events.
Customers walk past an Apple logo inside an Apple store in New York in 2018.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 30, 2025

Apple and SpaceX link up to support Starlink network on iPhones

In an under-the-radar move, the latest iPhone software update now supports Starlink satellite technology.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has already indicated that the State Department will be instrumental in helping U.S. President Donald Trump achieve his policy to "curb mass migration."
WORLD / Politics
Jan 31, 2025

Rubio to take up Panama canal and migration in Latam visit

The new U.S. secretary of state will find a region reeling from the Trump administration's shock-and-awe approach to diplomacy.
Dress-up games and dating sims were once forgotten genres, but now expanded player bases are helping to generate major profits.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Feb 1, 2025

Gaming’s feminine side is starting to make big bucks

Two recent releases — a sci-fi dating sim and a souped-up dress-up simulator — are starting to change the conversation around previously dismissed genres.
Destroyed buildings and houses in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Feb 2, 2025

Arab nations reject Trump’s suggestion to ‘clean out’ Gaza

For Palestinians, even the suggestion of such a mass exile evokes painful historical memories.
Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Feb 3, 2025

Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?

They're no substitute for policy, but by providing food and belonging, these safe spaces are filling in the cracks of the nation's fraying communities.
An Iranian couple sits in a park facing the Milad Tower in Tehran on Dec. 27.
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 3, 2025

Vanishing mountains: Winter air pollution smothers Iran

Iran's capital Tehran frequently ranks among the world's most polluted cities, says Swiss-based air quality monitoring company IQAir.
The Old Yokohama District Court
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 3, 2025

Woman pleads guilty over involvement in fatal ‘shady’ burglary

A group of suspects are accused of breaking into the home of Hiroharu Goto, 75, in Yokohama’s Aoba Ward, killing him and stealing about ¥200,000 in cash.
A map of the South China Sea is shown during a Philippine Coast Guard mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, claimed by both the Philippines and China. Each country has its own name for this area, signaling the use of toponyms to stake territorial rights.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2025

What’s in a name? In the South China Sea, a whole lot.

In the South China Sea, disputed territories have been given different names by the states vying for them. Will Trump's moves thousands of miles away validate this approach?
Risshaku-ji Buddhist temple in the snow, with the valley and town in the background.
SATOYAMA CONSORTIUM
Feb 4, 2025

Yamagata’s Zao Onsen Ski Resort is a classic beauty

Each year between mid-November and April, winter sports fans from around the world flock to Japan for the country’s renowned powder snow. Aussie snowboarders, in particular, have made Niseko in Hokkaido and Hakuba in Nagano their winter homes, escaping the hot summers Down Under.
Mizuho’s sustainability report for 2024
ESG CONSORTIUM
Feb 4, 2025

Mizuho report aims to spur action to move into alternative energy

To achieve carbon neutrality in an increasingly uncertain world, Japanese companies should focus on innovations for alternative energy and shift their business models toward building a carbon-neutral economy, Mizuho Financial Group says in a recent report.
Carlos Alcaraz reacts as he competes against Botic van de Zandschulp during their men's singles round of 32 match at the ATP Tour Rotterdam Open tennis tournament at the Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam on Tuesday.
TENNIS
Feb 5, 2025

Alcaraz battles through in first match since Australian Open

The top seed had to dig deep to overcome the wildcard ranked 81 places below him.
Protestors gather outside of the headquarters for United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday ahead of a news conference by Congressional Democrats.
WORLD
Feb 5, 2025

U.S. aid agency places global staff on leave as part of Trump's purge

The move is part of the Trump administration's radical drive to shrink the U.S. government, which has shocked Washington and caused angry protests.
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi (left) describes a detail of a mawashi presented as a gift to French President Jacques Chirac at the Elysee Palace in 1999.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 5, 2025

No Paris Syndrome for Japan’s national sport

Despite an up and down history, sumo and France remain amorous.
A cargo ship full of shipping containers at the port of Oakland in Oakland, California, as trade tensions escalate over U.S. tariffs on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 6, 2025

Economists brace for Trump's new trade war to rekindle inflation worldwide

Stubborn growth in consumer prices was bothering much of the world even before U.S. President Donald Trump entered the White House.
"Uketsu" is a completely anonymous writer and YouTuber whose odd books — which blend mystery and horror — have become a smash-hit publishing phenomenon in Japan.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 7, 2025

'Uketsu': The internet phantom haunting Japan's bestseller lists

Anonymous author and YouTuber "Uketsu" deals in a quiet horror that has delighted millions of readers.
Palestinians collect food handouts from a free kitchen run by volunteers in Khan Younis, in the central Gaza Strip, on Jan. 17.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 7, 2025

Halt in U.S. aid cripples global efforts to relieve hunger

The pause impairs programs that aim to prevent mass starvation and, more immediately, hobbles those meant to respond to crises and save lives.
Together, Shinsuke Yamagai (right) and his younger brother, Ryota, have elevated the cuisine at Shintaku, putting it on the map as one of Niigata Prefecture’s premier gastronomic destinations.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Feb 9, 2025

Brothers’ local focus lifts Shintaku to Niigata’s highest rank

From the ashes of a devastating 2005 fire, Shinsuke and Ryota Yamagai have remade their family’s historic Niigata restaurant into a beacon of Japanese gastronomy.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declares martial law in Seoul on Dec. 3. Yoon is currently facing charges related to his actions over that two-day period.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2025

Was there an insurrection in Seoul on Dec. 3, or is that happening now?

Yoon can now be held for up to six months in prison simply at the behest of the prosecutors.
“Light Court” (2024) is based on the “Lightcourt” space at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by metabolist architect Kisho Kurokawa (1934-2007).
CULTURE / Art
Feb 9, 2025

Yuki Harada's contemplative artworks ponder vanishing

The artist spent time researching Japanese migrants who left Hiroshima and Yamaguchi prefectures for Hawaii, and the U.S. island state often features in his art.
Construction for a new Microsoft data center in East Wenatchee, Washington, in November 2024.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 10, 2025

What DeepSeek? Big Tech keeps its AI building boom alive.

After DeepSeek’s breakthrough rattled markets, U.S. tech giants doubled down on massive data center investments to stay ahead in AI.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi flashes a victory sign as he arrives at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters to celebrate the party's win in the Delhi legislative assembly election in New Delhi on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

Anti-Muslim hate speech surged in India's election year, led by Modi

At rallies Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to Muslims as "infiltrators" and claimed the main opposition party would redistribute the nation's wealth to them if it won.
"I hope skaters who train here will go on to shine on the world stage," Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada told the Japan Times at Mao Rink Tachikawa Tachihi, a skating rink in Tachikawa, Tokyo, whose establishment she was involved in, on Jan. 28.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Feb 11, 2025

Mao Asada sets out to safeguard the future of Japanese skating

Mao Rink Tachikawa Tachihi, a project that involved the three-time world champion, has become a dream destination for skaters.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the AI Action Summit in Paris on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2025

France and EU promise to cut red tape on artificial intelligence technology

European lawmakers last year approved the bloc's artificial intelligence law, the world's first comprehensive set of rules governing the technology.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping hold a bilateral meeting during the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2025

Trump’s initial moves will benefit China

And while Trump has claimed that his policies will strengthen America, in reality, thus far, the biggest winner of many of his actions has actually been China.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes