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While this year will be a year of elections, with voting scheduled in more than 70 countries around the world, all eyes with be on who moves into the White House after November's U.S. presidential election.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 8, 2024

Why the eyes of the world will be on the U.S. presidential election

The future of politics in the U.S., the world’s biggest military and economic power, could cast a giant shadow over international order.
Smoke rises from inside Gaza on Sunday. Gaza health authorities, which do not differentiate between militants and civilians in their tallies, said on Sunday more than 27,300 Palestinians have been confirmed killed since the Israel-Hamas war began.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

Hamas hounds Israeli forces in main Gaza cities

There has been persistent fighting in Gaza City in the north of the densely populated enclave, and in Khan Younis to the south.
Many young people who feel neglected at home flock to the Toyoko area to find a community where they can fit in.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Feb 5, 2024

Toyoko Kids: The lonely street children of Tokyo

Bound together by shared neglect and marginalization, the group have formed a distinct, social media-linked youth subculture on the streets of Shinjuku.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during an interview with KBS at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Sunday. The handbag incident has cast a shadow over Yoon as his conservative People Power Party is trying to wrest control of parliament in an April election.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 8, 2024

South Korean president says Dior bag incident was a political move

Yoon Suk-yeol breaks his silence over a video showing his wife receiving a luxury handbag from a Korean-American pastor in September 2022.
A tsugumi (dusky thrush). Bird-watching increasingly plays a critical role in mapping bird behaviors and paving the way for policy and conservation initiatives.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Feb 11, 2024

How a new flock of bird-watchers is contributing to science

The hobby increasingly plays a critical role in mapping bird behaviors and paving the way for policy and conservation initiatives.
Tourists in Tokyo's Asakusa district ditch their jackets amid unseasonably warm temperatures in the capital and across Japan on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Feb 18, 2024

Preparing for the hottest year Japan has ever seen

In 2023, summer heat persisted across Japan well into the fall. Predictions by scientists indicate 2024 could be even worse.
South Korea has one of the lowest ratios of doctors to population in the developed world, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which shows 2.6 doctors per 1,000 people.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 18, 2024

South Korean doctors warn of ‘catastrophe’ if punished for strike

About 2,700 interns and residents at five major general hospital groups plan to walk off the job.
South Korea plans to increase the number of slots in university medical school programs by 2,000 from the current 3,058 next year to alleviate a shortage of doctors.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 19, 2024

For South Korea’s top students, medical school beats chips

Students are enticed by what many see as better job security and higher pay in the medical field.
Film director Hideo Sakaki leaves the Akasaka Police Station in Tokyo on Wednesday as police take him to prosecutors.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2024

Film director Hideo Sakaki held on suspicion of sexual assault

While allegations of sexual abuse were made against Sakaki as far back as March 2022, this is the first time that the director has been taken into custody.
Pedestrians look at an electronic board displaying the Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on a street in the Japanese capital on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 24, 2024

Record-high Nikkei’s rise just getting started on foreign demand

Investors and strategists are also watching for a broadening of equities gains that may take the wider Topix index to an all-time high this year.
South Korean doctors and other demonstrators march during a protest in Seoul on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2024

South Korea probing if woman’s death linked to doctor walkout

More than 9,000 of the country’s roughly 13,000 trainee doctors, who play a key role in emergency care, have walked off their jobs in labor action.
Demonstrators gather during a protest in Seoul on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 29, 2024

South Korea seeks first talks with doctors as deadline looms

The Health and Welfare Ministry said it has proposed having talks to address the 10-day walkout by about 9,000 trainee doctors.
U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, stands inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his extended pre-trial detention, at the Moscow City Court in Moscow on Feb. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2024

'How much time he's lost': Jailed U.S. reporter's family waits for his return

The parents of Evan Gershkovich are counting on a promise from U.S. President Joe Biden to bring their son home.
Alex “Rami-chan” Ramirez
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Mar 1, 2024

Baseball star Alex Ramirez’s NPO helps special kids

Founder of Vamos Together, Venezuelan Alex Ramirez played for Yakult Swallows and Yomiuri Giants, then became manager of the Yokohama DeNa BayStars
Marcus Rashford has scored just five times for Manchester United this season.
SOCCER
Mar 1, 2024

Manchester United's Marcus Rashford asks critics to have 'more humanity'

Rashford asked his critics to show a "bit more humanity" before they question his commitment to Manchester United
Doctors on Sunday lead thousands of protesters in a rally in Seoul demanding the government to scrap its plan to increase medical school enrollment.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 4, 2024

South Korea to start legal steps to punish doctors in walkout

The health ministry said on its website that some of the doctors in the collective action have been ordered back to work — a procedural first step.
LDP Youth Division leaders Takashi Fujiwara (left) and Yasutaka Nakasone submitted their resignations to the party headquarters last Friday over an event hosted by the party's Wakayama chapter last November that featured female dancers in revealing outfits.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 11, 2024

After slush funds, LDP now faces fresh scandals

An event that featured dancers in revealing outfits and an affair with a Canadian saxophone player have resulted in three resignations in the past week.
A 737 Max 9 under construction at a Boeing production facility in Renton, Washington
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 13, 2024

Boeing tells staff to take 'immediate' action on safety incidents

Of 89 production process audits recently conducted by the FAA, Boeing reportedly failed 33 of them with 97 instances of noncompliance.
While Donald Trump and Joe Biden are both highly unpopular, key economic indicators and recent polls suggest that Biden should be worried about the coming election.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2024

The anatomy of the Biden-Trump rematch

Trump has an energetic base whereas Biden’s re-election bid generates almost no enthusiasm. Still, many Americans strongly oppose a second Trump term.
A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Longform
Mar 15, 2024

Akira Toriyama's gift to the world

The artist's impact was such that he should be considered alongside greats such as Walt Disney and Stan Lee when it comes to cultural contributions.
Awang Suang trims weeds from palm trees on his small plantation in Membakut, Malaysia on Feb. 12. He has been cultivating oil palms for more than 50 years after switching from rubber trees. Palms require less labor and produce more frequent harvests — roughly every two weeks, year round — providing a steadier income, he explained.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Mar 18, 2024

Can Europe save forests without killing jobs in Malaysia?

A new regulation aims to rid the palm oil supply chain of imports that come from former forestland.
"Coffin club" member Kevin Heyward poses next to a coffin he built to resemble a hot rod. It's a task of grave importance, but there's nothing to stop New Zealanders having a laugh as they work on DIY caskets in the country's coffin clubs.
WORLD / Society
Mar 18, 2024

New Zealand's 'coffin clubs' bury taboos about death

The clubs, where people work on DIY caskets, provide a space to open up about death and dying during weekly meetups.
Hedge funds have been consistently short the yen since 2021, according to CFTC, with the trade remaining popular in recent months on expectations that the BOJ’s pursuit of policy normalization will nonetheless remain accommodative.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 23, 2024

Hedge funds boost bearish yen bets after BOJ’s dovish hike

The yen fell more than 1% against the dollar following the conclusion of the central bank’s meeting Tuesday, and is now set for a second weekly drop.
Tesla Model 3 assembly line at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, in 2018. Before the Shanghai plant opened, Fremont was Tesla’s principal factory.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2024

A pivot to China saved Elon Musk. It also binds him to Beijing.

Musk is now treading a fine line, sounding the alarm about Chinese rivals, even as he remains reliant on the Chinese market.
Hitoshi Matsumoto
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 28, 2024

Comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto's defamation trial kicks off

Identities of two women accusing the comedian of forcing them into having sex, as reported by Shukan Bunshun, becomes the focus on Day 1.
California’s share of U.S. wine production, around 90% in the 1990s and 2000s, dropped below 80% for the first time on record in 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2024

Who will save the U.S. wine industry? Not California boomers.

California’s share of U.S. wine production, around 90% in the 1990s and 2000s, dropped below 80% for the first time on record in 2022.
Historian Frederik Cryns’ “In the Service of the Shogun” is a biography of William Adams, the inspiration for the character John Blackthorne (played by Cosmo Jarvis) in “Shogun.” Cryns also served as a historical adviser on the FX TV series.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 4, 2024

'Shogun' adviser dives into main character's real-life counterpart for new book

After working on the FX TV series, historian Frederik Cryns explores the life of William Adams in detail for his biography, "In the Service of the Shogun."
“Extremely Inappropriate!” centers on Ichiro Ogawa (played by Sadao Abe), a crude high school teacher who is chain-smoking his way through 1986. He accidentally ends up on a bus that turns out to be a time machine, which drives him to 2024.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Apr 5, 2024

‘Extremely Inappropriate!’ took a big swing. TV is better for it.

The drama — which features a fish-out-of-water protagonist and satirizes social issues — is the most divisive Japanese TV show of the year so far.
Smoke rising above buildings after an aerial bombardment in Khartoum North, Sudan, in May 2023
WORLD / Politics
Apr 11, 2024

Iranian-made drones may be turning tide to army's favor in Sudan civil war

Residents say newer drones appear to monitor RSF movements, target their positions and pinpoint artillery strikes in a city that forms part of the capital.
Ippei Mizuhara and Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani attend a news conference ahead of MLB's season-opening series in Seoul on March 16.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 12, 2024

Texts between Ippei Mizuhara and bookie show the walls closing in

Federal prosecutors say Ippei Mizuhara stole $16 million from Shohei Ohtani from November 2021 to January 2024.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?