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Ayumu Hirano competes at the X Games Oslo in 2016.
MORE SPORTS / Snowboarding
Jan 22, 2025

Was that a 900 or 1080 on the halfpipe? X Games can now ask AI.

During the snowboard SuperPipe competitions, video cameras will capture the moves of each athlete, and AI will provide an unofficial score for the routine.
Takashimaya is doubling its range of baked goods with chocolate for Valentine's Day, with treats on offer including madeleines.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2025

Japan's department stores look to unorthodox Valentine's Day treats

According to a pastry shop owner, the total costs for chocolate products, including those for packing materials, "have doubled."
A street in Chitose, Hokkaido. Annual power demand for Hokkaido is expected to increase by 1.2% on average into fiscal 2034, according to a report from the Organization for Cross-Regional Coordination of Transmission Operators.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2025

Japan sees data center-driven power boom in Hokkaido

Annual power demand for Hokkaido is expected to increase by 1.2% on average into fiscal 2034, a report has said.
Regular gasoline was priced at ¥194 per liter at a gas station in Nagano on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025

Japan's average gas price exceeds ¥185 for first time in 17 months

The price hike reflects reduced government subsidies to oil wholesalers.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs documents as he issues executive orders and pardons in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, on Jan. 20.
WORLD / Society
Jan 23, 2025

Trump escalates campaign against diversity, threatening private sector probes

The U.S. president has issued a series of executive orders to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Japan's exports gained 2.8% in December from a year ago, led by chipmaking machinery and semiconductor parts, government data shows.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025

Japan’s exports rose in December ahead of anticipated Trump tariffs

Exports measured in value gained 2.8% from a year ago led by chipmaking machinery and semiconductor parts, although shipments fell in terms of volume.
An oil pump jack. Big U.S. oil companies believe withdrawing from the Paris Agreement only limits Washington's ability to influence an ongoing global energy transition and exposes them to an uneven regulatory environment.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 23, 2025

Trump's climate withdrawal creates rare discord with Big Oil

A shift in the U.S. power industry away from coal has contributed to a roughly 17% decline in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions since 2007.
Tourists visit shops near Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Shrine on Jan. 13. The nation's growing tourism sector, set to hit 40 million visitors in 2025, boosts the economy but is straining the nation's infrastructure.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 23, 2025

Japan has '$100 billion' reasons to welcome more visitors

Japan's growing tourism, set to hit 40 million visitors in 2025, boosts the economy but strains infrastructure, highlighting a need for smarter policies to manage overtourism.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, sentenced to 14 years for corruption, reflects the country's recurring cycle of leaders rising with military backing and then falling out of favor.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2025

Jailing Imran Khan won’t fix Pakistan’s problems

Pakistan’s economic recovery hinges on reforms, stability and military backing.
"We will demand more than in the previous year to fulfill our role as a leading industry in Japan," Masashi Jinbo, head of the union, said in a news conference in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 23, 2025

Japan's electronics unions to seek ¥17,000 pay hike

"We will demand more than in the previous year to fulfill our role as a leading industry in Japan," union group head Masashi Jinbo told a news conference.
The number of new units for sale in the Tokyo metropolitan area fell 14.4% last year to a record low.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025

Tokyo apartment prices retreat in 2024 as market calms

The decrease — the first in six years — came after prices rose nearly 30% to a record high in 2023 when several luxury condos went up for sale.
The Bank of Japan is set decide to raise interest rates at a policy meeting on Friday, according to Jiji Press.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025

Bank of Japan set to raise rates on Friday, report says

The move would mark the central bank's first rate hike since July last year, when it increased rates to 0.25%.
The bus stop in Suzhou, China, where a bus used by a Japanese school came under attack from a man, since identified as Zhou Jiasheng, in June last year
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2025

China sentences man to death over Japanese school bus attack

A Chinese court deemed the death penalty as appropriate in view of the "extremely heinous" nature of the crime, which resulted in the death of a bus attendant.
Marialyce Pedersen cleans burned leaves and debris that accumulated in the sink of her outdoor kitchen made of cob that survived the Eaton fire when her home burned in Altadena, California, on Jan. 20.
WORLD / Society
Jan 23, 2025

Los Angeles wildfires spark interest in adobe and natural building materials

Former homeowners determined to stay want houses that the next fire will not burn easily and that, if burnt, will not turn the soil, water and air into a toxic hazard.
Animated series “Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi” premiered on Cartoon Network on Nov. 29, 2004, and ran for three seasons. The show is based on real-life J-pop band Puffy.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 24, 2025

The cartoon chaos of ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi’ was ahead of its time

Love for the J-pop duo’s zany Cartoon Network series has endured online for over 20 years since its premiere.
Vegetables for sale at a local supermarket in Kyoto.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2025

Japan supermarket sales up for fifth year in 2024

Price increases of rice and vegetables such as cabbage pushed up overall sales while the number of purchased items continued to decrease as customers became thriftier.
Service inflation accelerated a tad to 1.6%, while an index excluding energy costs and fresh food prices advanced 2.4%, unchanged from the pace in November.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025

Inflation in Japan jumps to 3%, supporting the BOJ's rate-hike case

The solid inflation data support the case for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates on Friday, a move widely anticipated by markets and economists.
Mitsubishi Motors is unlikely to join Honda and Nissan's deal to create a holding company together, it was reported Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 24, 2025

Mitsubishi Motors won’t join Honda and Nissan tie-up, Yomiuri says

Mitsubishi Motors hasn’t made any announcements and is considering all options, a spokesperson for the company said.
Katsumi Shinagawa prepares to shred cabbage to serve with pork cutlet dishes at the restaurant Katsukichi in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 24, 2025

Climate change cooks up Japanese 'cabbage shock'

It is the latest pain point for shoppers and eateries in Japan already squeezed by inflation.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda had sounded dovish after the central bank's December policy meeting, which led some analysts to say that rate hikes might only emerge in March.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025

BOJ takes rates to 0.5% amid calm markets after Trump inauguration

The 25-basis-point move marks the first rate increase since July and takes rates to their highest level since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Japan Airlines' chief executive officer and its chairman will be subject to a 30% pay cut for two months over an incident involving two pilots drinking.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 24, 2025

JAL top executives have their pay docked after pilot drinking incident

The punishments stem from an incident last month when two captains caused a flight to be delayed by around three hours after alcohol was found in their systems.
The share of university students who accepted job offers as of Dec. 1 dipped 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier, the first decrease in four years.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2025

Share of university students in Japan who accepted job offers falls

It is the first decrease in four years, as some students who received job offers from several companies apparently hesitated to pick one.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato holds a news conference at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo in October last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025

Finance chief vows to balance economic revival and fiscal consolidation

Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato highlighted the need to improve Japan's fiscal health, which is the worst among major countries.
A woman lays a bouquet of flowers outside Shenzhen Japanese School following the murder of a 10-year-old Japanese child who was on his way to the school, in Shenzhen in September.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2025

Chinese court gives death penalty to man who killed Japanese boy

Friday’s sentence was pronounced on the same day the trial opened in an unusually quick decision.
The start date and production levels for battery-powered Nissan cars to be manufactured at a plant in Canton, Mississippi, will depend in large part on whether U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress follow through on vows to scrap a $7,500 tax credit and other incentives for buyers and makers of EVs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 25, 2025

Nissan looks to Trump-proof North American production plans

Nissan may slow a planned ramp-up of electric vehicles made in the U.S. after halting output at a joint venture in Mexico.
Ben Wikler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, in Milwaukee, last March
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2025

Contenders to lead the Democratic Party scramble to show momentum

As two Midwesterners battle for control of the Democratic National Committee, they are making loud yet unverifiable claims about their levels of support.
U.S. airmen and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency personnel prepare to load undocumented migrants onto a C-17 Globemaster III at Tucson International Airport in Tucson, Arizona, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2025

Trump deploys visible military force to launch migrant crackdown

Long done in the shadows, Trump’s administration is releasing photos and videos of authorities herding migrants onto C-17s, military planes.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference after a two-day monetary policy meeting at BOJ headquarters in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jan 25, 2025

BOJ’s clear guidance on rate hike calms markets but may backfire

For some economists, the latest move was too completely priced in, begging the question of how explicitly the BOJ intends to signal its plans in the future.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo on Friday
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 25, 2025

Central bank appears poised to break through 0.5% rate barrier this year

The central bank's board voted Friday to increase its target for its short-term policy rate to around 0.5% from around 0.25%.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends an event about the economy at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 26, 2025

Trump’s frenzied debut delights base as thornier decisions await

The honeymoon is hardly assured to last, with the U.S. president so far avoiding drastic steps that would tempt backlash from his party, Wall Street or both.

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