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A strong quake struck off the Tokara Islands on Thursday afternoon, with the island chain having recorded around 1,000 earthquakes since a burst of seismic activity first began on June 21.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2025

Magnitude 5.5 earthquake jars Tokara Islands amid flurry of seismic activity

Authorities said there was no risk of tsunami and there have been no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
Tributes poured in for Liverpool's Diogo Jota after he and his brother died in a car crash in Spain on Thursday.
SOCCER
Jul 4, 2025

Tributes pour in for Diogo Jota after Liverpool star's shocking death

Jota's last public act as a Liverpool player was taking part in the trophy parade through the city
Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi (right) shakes hands with Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, during their meeting at the foreign ministry in Kabul on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2025

Russia becomes first country to recognize Taliban government

Moscow has taken recent steps to normalize relations with the Taliban authorities.
“Fani Mani” marks Kom_I’s return to music, after leaving the genre-bending J-pop outfit Suiyoubi no Campanella in 2021.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 4, 2025

‘Try first, figure it out later’: Kom_I and Foodman’s beautiful mess

Part philosophy and part performance, the musicians' “Fani Mani” is all party.
Shuhei Nakata, president of Nakata Kogei — a wooden-hanger maker in Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture — says a revised work evaluation system and a strict policy against workplace harassment has helped to attract women to the company.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jul 14, 2025

Fukushima looks to local initiatives to combat population decline

The measures will bring the area in line with other parts of Japan that are proactively trying to retain residents.
Akira Otani's genre-bending novel "The Night of Baba Yaga" takes place in Japan’s 1970s yakuza underworld and centers on the daughter of a mob boss and a ruthless martial arts fighter who serves as her bodyguard.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jul 4, 2025

Queer-coded yakuza story wins prestigious U.K. crime writing award

With “The Night of Baba Yaga,” Akira Otani is the first Japanese writer to win the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Award for crime fiction in translation.
UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogacar rides during the team presentation ahead of the Tour de France in Lille, France, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Cycling
Jul 4, 2025

Tadej Pogacar expresses respect for Tour de France rival Jonas Vingegaard

The 26-year-old Slovenian won the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and world title in 2024 and is the hot favorite again.
Naomi Osaka after losing her third round match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at Wimbledon on Friday.
TENNIS
Jul 4, 2025

Osaka out of Wimbledon as Pavlyuchenkova battles back

Osaka was in a strong position after taking the first set, but her bid to finally make the last 16 imploded as Pavlyuchenkova mounted a comeback.
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2025

Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype

Authorities on Friday evacuated some residents from remote islands close to the epicenter of the 5.5 magnitude quake.
Naomi Osaka serves to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova during their third round match at Wimbledon on Friday.
TENNIS
Jul 5, 2025

Osaka still dreams of glory despite latest Wimbledon disappointment

Osaka blew a golden opportunity to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time as she was beaten by Russian world No. 50 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Children play video games on their mobile phones at an internet cafe in Demoso township in Myanmar's eastern Karenni state.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 5, 2025

Making connections in Myanmar's fractured state

Four years of civil war between Myanmar's military and its myriad opponents have shattered communications networks.
Residential buildings under construction in Shanghai in July 2022. The Chinese government risks long-term decline by repeating Japan’s policy mistakes in handling its real estate and demographic crises.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2025

China’s housing crisis is worse than it seems

Chinese policymakers — who are facing an even more severe housing and demographic crisis than Japan —are at risk of making the same mistakes.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s unilateral tariffs mark a shift toward centralized control, eroding checks and balances and raising risks of corruption and unpredictability.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 7, 2025

Unchecked and unbalanced: The future of U.S. economic policymaking

The U.S. government is defined by its separation of powers, where authority is not concentrated in a single actor but divided between the different branches.
Olympic judoka Uta Abe (second from left) and Hifumi Abe (second from right) with their brother Yuichiro (center) and their parents. “I’m always consciously trying to be a good older brother,” Yuichiro said.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 8, 2025

From the Abes to the Ohtanis: How siblings shape athletic development

Sibling dynamics — whether it’s rivalry, support, or a mix of both — can have a profound impact on an athlete’s development and success.
Utility poles in urban areas such as Tokyo have a high risk of collapsing in the event of a disaster.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2025

Japan eyes new target for replacing utility poles with underground power cables

The main goal is to remove utility poles along urban-area emergency transport routes that have a high risk of collapsing in the event of a disaster.
Lei Jun introduces the Xiaomi YU7 sport utility vehicle during a launch event in Beijing on June 26.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 7, 2025

Xiaomi founder’s bold EV bet is paying off where Apple’s failed

The tech firm's success in the EV space has burnished founder Lei Jun’s reputation, making it one of the most valuable companies in China.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been recruiting top artificial intelligence engineers for the company’s new superintelligence division.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 8, 2025

Apple loses top AI models executive to Meta’s hiring spree

The departure of Ruoming Pang marks another setback in the iPhone maker’s struggling efforts in the emerging space.
Carlos Alcaraz celebrates after winning his Wimbledon quarterfinal match against Cameron Norrie on Tuesday in London.
TENNIS
Jul 9, 2025

Alcaraz and Sabalenka take contrasting routes into Wimbledon semis

The Spanish second seed dropped four sets in a series of scrappy displays during his run to the last eight, but was at his best on Tuesday.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic drives to the basket against the Thunder during a playoff game on May 13.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jul 9, 2025

Nuggets' Nikola Jokic reportedly to wait until next summer for contract talks

A three-time MVP, Jokic is eligible for a three-year, $206.4 million contract extension, but could wait and sign a max deal next summer.
U.S. F-35 stealth fighters fly side by side with South Korean F-35s as part of a bilateral exercise over the Yellow Sea in July 2022. The U.S. Air Force is grappling with whether to prioritize air superiority or air denial in response to lessons from Ukraine and the growing threat from China.  
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 9, 2025

Air superiority vs. air denial: Redefining U.S. airpower strategy

The strategic debate is centering on whether to prioritize offensive or defensive airpower. The decision will determine how U.S. air resources are allocated.
A Beijing store selling merchandise based on the "boys’ love" genre of graphic novels on June 16
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2025

China detains female writers of 'boys' love' content in porn crackdown

The detentions since March have triggered debate on social media about the limits of free speech and the apparent sexist nature of the crackdown.
Shoya Narita, a physical education teacher at Obu Minami Junior High School, gives a lecture about water safety in a classroom.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jul 22, 2025

Swimming lessons disappearing from Japan's public junior high schools

Aging pool facilities are prompting teachers to switch to giving classroom lectures on water safety.
A team of technicians from climate startup Recoolit work to capture emissions from a large air conditioning unit in the basement of a housing complex in Jakarta on June 10.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 10, 2025

In Indonesia, a startup captures coolants to stop global warming

With cooling demand increasing as the planet warms, concern is growing over highly polluting refrigerants. Enter the Recoolit startup.
Kirin Holdings said that it will stop selling Beaujolais Nouveau in Japan due to rising freight costs and the shifting preferences of wine drinkers in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 10, 2025

Beaujolais Nouveau’s fanbase finally dries up in Japan

Kirin Holdings’ wine unit will stop selling the early-release wine in the country amid soaring costs and changing tastes in what had been a holdout export market.
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 12, 2025

‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’

The Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society almost shuttered earlier this year, but a flood of support has buoyed efforts to save games on extinct media.
Jane Birkin’s original Hermes Birkin bag displayed at Sotheby’s in Paris, on July 3
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 11, 2025

Hermes’ original Birkin bag sells for $10 million at auction to a Japanese buyer

The price shattered the previous record for a handbag at auction, a rare Himalaya Kelly bag in crocodile with a diamond that sold for about $510,000.
Pick up some country-style bread from Boulangerie Aman on your road trip in Kamikawa, Hokkaido.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 13, 2025

Road-tripping through central Hokkaido? Don't miss these bakeries

Slice through lavender fields and flaky croissants on your drive through the scenic region of Kamikawa.
Women represent 26% of the AI workforce, according to a UNESCO report, and men hold 80% of tenured faculty positions at university AI departments globally.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 12, 2025

Tech's diversity crisis is baking bias into AI systems

Built-in viewpoints and bias, unintentionally imbued by its creators, can make the fast-growing digital tool risky to use.
Israeli-American businessman Moti Kahana holds a flag during a mission to evacuate 200 Jews in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, in March 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 13, 2025

How a U.S. mission to push a Trump deal in Congo unraveled

The story of the ill-fated venture, which has not previously been reported, provides a glimpse of how the Trump administration is prepared to work through unconventional channels.
A volunteer carries a cross during a Good Friday "Stations of the Cross" procession in front of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral on April 18.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 13, 2025

Catholic Church draws ire for promoting priest jailed for rape

Victim support groups and traditionalists have expressed outrage over the case of Dominique Spina, who was found guilty of raping a 16-year-old boy in 2006.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years