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April 26, 2025
 

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SPACE

Though ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, it was really in 2023 that we started to get a sense of what large language models could do, including diagnosing complex medical issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2023
The 10 most intriguing science breakthroughs over the past year
As 2023 has drawn to a close, let’s look back on some of the astounding breakthroughs we’ve seen in the last 12 months.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 26, 2023
Japan's SLIM precision moon lander enters lunar orbit, JAXA says
If successful, the touchdown would make Japan only the fifth country to have landed a probe on the moon, after the United States, Russia, China and India.
JAXA’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft is expected to land on the lunar surface in early 2024.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 21, 2023
One small step for a JAXA spacecraft, one giant leap for exploration
In 2024, we can look forward to the arrival on the moon of JAXA's SLIM spacecraft. Its groundbreaking accuracy could further propel space exploration.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2018
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Dec 17, 2023
A made-in-Japan solution for space junk that goes against the grain
As space junk clogs Earth's orbit, a Kyoto University team has a new solution: wooden satellites.
Spectators watch as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with a payload of 21 Starlink satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Feb. 27.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 7, 2023
Starlink arctic test paves way for U.S. government contracts
Smooth performance under extreme conditions makes satellite service a crucial asset in an increasingly vital area of competition with Russia and China.
A mosaic image of asteroid Bennu, composed of 12 PolyCam images collected by the Osiris-Rex spacecraft from a range of 24 kilometers
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2023
NASA asteroid sample being analyzed in Japan
The team is also analyzing a sample from asteroid Ryugu brought by the Hayabusa2 explorer of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2023
Satellite imagery startup iQPS surges 82% in Tokyo debut
The stock opened at ¥860 per share versus its IPO price of ¥390, with trading delayed by nearly five hours due to a glut of buy orders.
The Principals’ Board for the Combined Space Operations initiative gather in Ottawa in February 2020 for its annual meeting to formally recognize the addition of France and Germany to the CSpO.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2023
Japan to attend meeting of multilateral space security initiative
Current member countries are slated to discuss Japan's bid to become an official CSpO member, among other topics.
Digitally blurred screens at the Pyongyang General Control Center of the Korean National Aerospace Technology Directorate are seen on Nov. 22, a day after the launch of a rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite, in Pyongyang.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 3, 2023
North Korea spy satellite operator to report findings to military
Pyongyang said that the newly formed reconnaissance satellite operation office had begun its mission on Saturday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter observe an air festival during a visit with the 1st Air Force Division Flying Regiment of the Korean People's Army to commemorate Air Day, at an unknown location on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 2, 2023
North Korea says interference in its satellites would be declaration of war
Pyongyang would respond to any U.S. interference in space by eliminating the viability of U.S. spy satellites, state-run media said.
A screen grab from a video taken by SpaceX shows the Falcon 9 rocket minutes before it launched a South Korean spy satellite on Friday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 2, 2023
SpaceX launches South Korean spy satellite from California
The launch comes shortly after North Korea's successful launch of its own spy satellite.
SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft is launched near Brownsville, Texas, on Saturday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 19, 2023
SpaceX Starship explodes though craft reaches new milestones
SpaceX, known for its iterative approach to rocket development, is likely to view the overall flight as a success given the new milestones it achieved.
China trails Musk in low-Earth orbit — a zone within 2,000 kilometers of the planet’s surface that’s become increasingly attractive for companies such as SpaceX offering high-speed internet access.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 17, 2023
China’s rivalry with Musk’s SpaceX moves to even lower orbit
Beijing is looking to deploy satellites in very low-Earth orbit, a so-far untapped region within an altitude of 450 kilometers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 17, 2023
Ispace to launch second moon mission following crash
The mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as early as the northern hemisphere winter of 2024.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2023
Japan to create ¥1 trillion fund to develop outer space industry
The ¥1 trillion fund will be allocated over a 10-year period for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), as a new global space race heats up.
Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa attends a news conference after returning to Japan following a 12-day journey into space, in Tokyo, in January 2022.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2023
Yusaku Maezawa's lunar orbital trip postponed indefinitely
His craft's development is still incomplete, after the rocket blew up immediately after blasting off in an unmanned test-launch in April.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 29, 2023
Mouse embryos grown in space for first time, Japan researchers say
The researchers sent frozen mouse embryos on board a rocket to the ISS in August 2021.
It’s hard to talk about space-based solar — that is, transmitting the energy — without conjuring images of a death ray. But the team at the California Institute of Technology says the power density of the beam would be comparable to the power density of sunlight.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Oct 27, 2023
Beam solar energy from space? These scientists say yes
The hurdles that have grounded space-based solar in the past aren’t merely technical, they’re also financial.
Chinese astronauts attend a see-off ceremony at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China, on Thursday
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Oct 26, 2023
China's youngest-ever crew of astronauts heads to space station
The spacecraft and its three passengers lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
Asteroid mining only works in a science-fiction world where metals are thousands of times more expensive than they are today.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 25, 2023
Commercial asteroid mining has a astronomical cost issue
Asteroid mining only works in a science-fiction world where metals are thousands of times more expensive than they are today.
Tokyo court fines Amazon Japan ¥35 million over counterfeit products
Takahiro Fujii (center), the president of Try and E, and his lawyers speak during a news conference on Friday in Tokyo after a ruling was handed down in a case against Amazon Japan.
Naked man’s rampage in Saitama linked to one fatality and 10 injured
Police believe Daisuke Nishimura may have been involved in roughly 20 incidents in the 90 minutes leading up to his arrest, including a fatal hit-and-run and multiple assaults.
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
Japan brings forward deadline for electronic travel authorization system
Japan is planning to implement by March 2029 a new online screening system in which foreign visitors who don’t need a visa apply for a certification before entering the country.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

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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