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March 28, 2025
The Independent Voice in Asia
March 28, 2025
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Medical workers treat a earthquake survivor on a bed in the compound of a hospital in Naypyitaw on Friday, after an earthquake in central Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC
'Mass casualty' quake rocks Myanmar and Thailand
The quakes wrought widespread damage, particularly in Myanmar, where buildings fell onto their sides and roads cracked open.
Medical workers treat a earthquake survivor on a bed in the compound of a hospital in Naypyitaw on Friday, after an earthquake in central Myanmar.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the Upper House of the Diet on Friday. The clock is ticking for Ishiba's administration to get the budget for fiscal 2025 passed in parliament.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Is it a big problem if the budget fails to clear parliament by the end of March?
By Gabriele Ninivaggi
Government functions won't be significantly hindered, but the ruling government's reputation will take another beating.
A volunteer handles an incoming call at the Tokyo Befrienders call center, a suicide hotline center in Japan's capital.
JAPAN / Society
Student suicides in Japan hit all-time high
By Jessica Speed
The number of suicides among elementary, junior high and high school students exceeded 500 for a third consecutive year in 2024 despite a drop in the overall figure.
How Fuji TV responds to the results of a third-party probe will be crucial to restoring public trust — and could determine whether sponsors, whose TV ads are the company's main source of revenue, choose to return.
JAPAN
Fuji TV returns to spotlight as deadline for scandal probe looms
By Yukana Inoue
How Fuji TV responds to the report will be crucial to restoring public trust — and could determine whether sponsors choose to return.
“The Wakey Show” is NHK’s first new daily children’s program in three years, and it carries on the station’s storied past in youth-centric educational entertainment.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Rise and shine with ‘The Wakey Show’
By Patrick St. Michel
Broadcaster NHK's first new daily children’s show in years puts puppets and positivity up front.
“The Wakey Show” is NHK’s first new daily children’s program in three years, and it carries on the station’s storied past in youth-centric educational entertainment.

JAPAN

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during an Upper House Budget Committee meeting on Friday.
Ishiba to visit Iwo Jima to honor soldiers who died in fierce WWII battle
He will be the first sitting prime minister to visit the island since April 2013, when then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a stopover.
An election poster board in Tokyo in June displays candidates for last year's Tokyo gubernatorial election.
Efforts to curb election chaos face uphill battle
A bill on campaign poster decency has been enacted after inappropriate posters were seen in Tokyo last year.
Japan's imperial family to start YouTube account
Three Japanese banks form alliance to fight population slump
By Taiga Uranaka
Data science helps sake break into wine-dominated market
Japanese regulators seek stricter rules on safe deposit boxes

BUSINESS

A screenshot of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Ghibli-style profile picture on X
Copyright questions loom as ChatGPT's Ghibli-style images go viral
By Thomas URBAIN
The images raised questions about copyright infringement by OpenAI, which already faces lawsuits regarding the use of source material without permission.
While car production helped transform Germany, Italy and France after World War II, its influence in East Asia has been even more profound.
U.S. auto tariffs take aim at pillar of East Asian economies
By Hyunjoo Jin and Kantaro Komiya
Automakers form the nucleus of vast networks of group companies that impact almost every facet of working life in Japan and South Korea.
Japan seeking securities disclosures before shareholders' meetings
Japan FTC warns Chateraise over subcontract law breaches
Ishiba pledges measures to protect jobs from Trump’s car tariffs
By Yoshiaki Nohara
Musk’s Tesla one of the only winners from Trump’s car tariffs
By David Welch, Gabrielle Coppola and Josh Wingrove

WORLD

European leaders pose for a family photo during a meeting on Ukraine at Elysee Palace in Paris on Thursday.
Europeans back strong Ukraine army, differ on future 'reassurance force'
By John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau
Progress on what role Europe might play in providing peacetime security guarantees is proving difficult with the prospect of a ceasefire distant.
A firefighting helicopter carries water during an operation as a wildfire burns in Yeongyang, South Korea, on Friday.
South Korea hopes to use break in weather to contain deadly wildfires
By Minwoo Park and Daewoung Kim
At least 28 people have died and more than 45,000 hectares of largely forest land in the country's southeast have been charred or are burning.
U.S. to deploy more advanced defense capabilities to Philippines
By Gabriel Dominguez
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh fear U.S. aid cuts will deepen crisis
By Ruma Paul
Militants warn against helping Israel with Gaza protests
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Myanmar junta chief to make rare trip abroad to Bangkok

Sports

Miura and Kihara celebrate after winning the world pairs title on Thursday in Boston.
Miura and Kihara edge German pair to win second world figure skating title
The Japanese duo scored 219.79 points to capture the world crown by 0.71 of a point over Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin.
Eala's dream run ends as Pegula sets up final with Sabalenka
By Simon Evans
Ohtani and the Dodgers power past Tigers in Blake Snell's debut
Tsunoda and Lawson both have plenty to prove after swap
By Alan Baldwin
Tsunoda confirmed to replace Lawson at Red Bull from Japanese GP
By Alan Baldwin

Opinion

A guard tower at Manzanar Internment Camp in Independence, California, in July 2013. Nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were removed from their homes on the West Coast by the U.S. Army and sent to Manzanar and nine other internment camps between March 1942 and November 1945.
Use of wartime powers revives internment camp memories
Erika D. Smith
It took more than 40 years for the U.S. government to officially set the record straight that abusing the Alien Enemies Act during World War II was both illegal and immoral.
In the EV race, China's BYD is leading the pack
Inside Turkey’s executive coup
By Umut Ozkırımlı
An Asian democracy collapse amid the new world order
By Joshua Kurlantzick
The art of the deal meets a four-power axis
By Andreas Kluth

ENVIRONMENT

Ice is seen on the Pastoruri glacier in the Peruvian Andes, Peru, in May 2024.
World's glaciers are losing record ice as global temperatures climb, U.N. says
By Alexander Villegas
Glaciers are disappearing faster than ever, with the last three-year period seeing the largest glacial mass loss on record.
Without new countermeasures, Japan’s temperature could rise 4.5 C by 2100
By Jessica Speed
Why we should worry when whales stop singing
By Todd Woody
What the $660 million Greenpeace verdict means for U.S. activism
By Olivia Raimonde and Zahra Hirji
In the remote Amazon, midwives care for women stranded by drought
By Pilar Olivares and Manuela Andreoni

CULTURE

AMKK’s latest exhibition, “X-Ray Flowers,” is the culmination of seven years of work aided by CT technologists, who help with the highly specialized imaging techniques.
Avant-garde botanists AMKK illuminate the inner worlds of flowers
By Kim Kahan
The punk florists' latest exhibition immerses visitors in darkness, bathed only in the glow of X-rays and CT scans of plants and flowers.
Cherry blossom-themed art to see this weekend in Tokyo
By Zoria Petkoska
‘Ravens’: Tadanobu Asano plays troubled photographer with scapegrace charm
By Mark Schilling
‘Boy’: An ambitious portrait of alienated youth
By James Hadfield
'One Hundred Flowers': A moving exploration of loss, love and living with dementia
By Kris Kosaka

LIFE

Japan's ancient capital is now home to 16 two-Michelin-starred restaurants, while nearby Osaka claims 11.
Michelin awards stars to 172 restaurants in Kyoto and Osaka
By Owen Ziegler
Ten restaurants join the two-starred rank, while Milpa earns Japan’s first-ever star for Mexican cuisine.
New York's Brooklyn Kura becomes first U.S. sake exporter to Japan
By Weiwen Lin
11 in Japan win Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant honors, but Gaggan is tops
By Robbie Swinnerton
The art of taking a pause: Discover the 1,000-year-old meditation technique of zazen in Tokyo's temples
By Laura Pollacco
World’s first public bonsai museum reopens after renovations
By Erik Augustin Palm

COMMUNITY

Megumi Koiwai (left) found refuge in writing and storytelling that allowed her to reconcile with her heritage and upbringing.
A community of stories: Making space for reflection and dialogue in Tokyo and beyond
By Megumi Koiwai
Through conversations with an international writing workshop, a writer of mixed heritage finds steadier footing and a sense of self.
A tawny Kai Ken discovers his courage
Edanoshin Katsura: ‘Rakugo and techno are both about rhythm and groove’
By Wakaba Oto
A shy cat looking for a new start
From abandoned houses to ‘creative communities’: An Ishinomaki entrepreneur's vision for rural Japan
By Florentyna Leow

Editors' Picks

JAPAN
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
By Tomoko Otake
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Hanami season to have record ¥1.39 trillion economic impact on Japan
By Yukana Inoue
Cherry blossoms along a road in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 2025 cherry blossom season is expected to have an economic impact of around ¥1.39 trillion on Japan.
BASEBALL
Tokyo Series proves to be big business for MLB — and Japanese companies
By Sam Byford
An advertisement featuring Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
JAPAN
New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says
By Gabriel Dominguez
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
BUSINESS
Japanese wages likely to rise more than 5% again this year
By Kazuaki Nagata
Wages are set for another big increase this year as annual negotiations secure generous agreements.

Podcast

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

Longform

The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Eighty years after the Battle of Manila, old foes forge new ties
By Anton L. Delgado

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WHAT’S TRENDING

JAPAN
Yellow sand blankets cities across Japan
By Francis Tang
The Meteorological Agency forecast the yellow sand to move away from eastern Honshu by 6 p.m. on Wednesday. But it will continue to cover parts of western Honshu and Shikoku until Thursday morning, it said.
BUSINESS
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
By Francis Tang
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
BUSINESS
JR's 'futuristic' Takanawa Gateway complex set to open in Tokyo
By Jessica Speed
The Gateway Park at Takanawa Gateway City on Tuesday
BUSINESS
In the wake of several scandals, Fuji TV ‘emperor’ Hieda steps down
By Yukana Inoue
Hisashi Hieda, a 41-year veteran of Fuji TV’s board of directors and dubbed the broadcaster’s “emperor,” has stepped down.
JAPAN
Hanami season to have record ¥1.39 trillion economic impact on Japan
By Yukana Inoue
Cherry blossoms along a road in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 2025 cherry blossom season is expected to have an economic impact of around ¥1.39 trillion on Japan.