Search - 2017

 
 
The color of a red torii gate in Bushidaira, Saitama Prefecture, still stands out against a vibrant green backdrop.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Aug 18, 2023

Exploring the eerie beauty of Japan's abandoned villages

Depopulation and an aging society have turned parts of the countryside into tourist attractions for those eager to explore a forgotten era.
A Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile is launched from an undisclosed location in North Korea in this image released on July 13.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 19, 2023

Latest North Korean missile sparks debate over Russian links

The Hwasong-18 solid fueled ICBM has highlighted possible Russian links to nuclear-armed Pyongyang's dramatic missile development.
Tottori Gov. Shinji Hirai (left) with Shinsuke Nakajima, executive chef at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo
ESG CONSORTIUM
Aug 18, 2023

Tottori, home of premium wagyu, offers great diversity of delicacies

Western Japan’s Tottori Prefecture, lying on the Sea of Japan and boasting the famous Mount Daisen and other peaks, has been a major beef-producing area since the Edo Period. Japan’s least populous prefecture is blessed with rich nature and clean air, abundant groundwater and high-quality straw —...
U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles (right) beats the field to the finish line to win the 100-meter final at the world championships in Budapest on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Aug 21, 2023

U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles eager to pick up baton Usain Bolt left behind

Noah Lyles is ready to take aim at Usain Bolt's 200-meter world record after winning the 100 at the word championships.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida enters his office on June 15, just before telling reporters that he had no intention to dissolve the Lower House.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 22, 2023

CDP eyes bill to limit PM's power to dissolve Lower House

By introducing stricter procedures, the main opposition force aims to highlight its efforts to prevent the prime minister from abusing such powers.
Shinobu Yamanaka, a mom of three sons and director of a day care facility in Konan, Kochi Prefecture, serves up to eight "members" six days a week.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Aug 22, 2023

Kochi dementia care center aims to set new paradigm in Japan

A new generation of people with Alzheimer’s in Japan are trying to change not only dementia care but also social attitudes toward patients.
Takeshi Kimura, special adviser to the board for Nippon Life Insurance Co.
ESG CONSORTIUM
Aug 28, 2023

PRI’s global ESG investing talks in Tokyo to tackle ‘sense of crisis’

The leading global conference on responsible investment will be held in Tokyo for the first time this fall, focusing on what investors can do to make society sustainable at a time when many industries are struggling to meet their targets for combating climate change.
Takakia lepidozioides, a type of moss found mainly in the U.S., Japan and Tibet, has survived for at least 165 million years. Now it’s disappearing in the wild due to climate change.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Aug 25, 2023

This moss survived millions of years. Warming is killing it

Takakia lepidozioides, found mainly in the U.S., Japan and Tibet, has survived for 165 million years. Now it’s disappearing due to climate change.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 26, 2023

U.S. accuses Russia and China of covering for North Korea at U.N.

During an emergency Security Council meeting, 13 of the 15 members — all but Moscow and Beijing — condemned the launch.
Ryan Christopher Palmeter, 21, is shown in a still image from a surveillance video, holding a rifle outside a Dollar Store in Jacksonville, Florida.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 28, 2023

Florida shooter killed Black shoppers with legally purchased guns

Authorities have described the shooting as racially motivated, saying the man had authored "several manifestos" detailing his hatred for Black people.
A concept model of the Global Combat Air Programme's fighter jet is displayed at the DSEI Japan defense show at Makuhari Messe in Chiba in March.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 31, 2023

What the trilateral fighter jet program means for Japan

The program, also involving the U.K. and Italy, is the first such project with countries other than the U.S.
Noah Lyles of the U.S. celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the Men's 4x100m final at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 28, 2023

Noah Lyles takes tentative steps into Usain Bolt's big shoes

The question now is whether Lyles will be able to continue his fine form into next year's Paris Olympics.
Steam rises from the Roosevelt Hot Springs, near the FORGE and Fervo geothermal sites outside of Milford, Utah, on July 31. FORGE and Fervo are drilling a few miles from the Roosevelt Hot Springs, which are created by underground heated rocks relatively near the Earth's surface.
WORLD
Aug 31, 2023

The race is on to tap a source of clean energy beneath our feet

The growing interest in geothermal is driven by the fact that the United States has gotten extraordinarily good at drilling since the 2000s.
A child stands in front of the Hibiya Music Hall, which collapsed during the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 31, 2023

The earthquake that turned Tokyo to ash

This week we commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake.
Students at Wakaura Elementary School in the city of Wakayama eat lunch in 2019. Wakayama Prefecture's school lunch program began in April 2017.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 3, 2023

Why a movement for free school lunches is spreading across Japan

By the end of this year, most of Tokyo’s wards will have policies to make lunch free in some form.
A rainbow at the site of this year’s Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada
WORLD / Society
Sep 4, 2023

What is Burning Man, and why have Paris Hilton and Elon Musk shown up?

The festival has been described as a site of countercultural revelry that draws both hippies and Silicon Valley types.
A building that houses the Tokyo District Court
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 4, 2023

Ex-Recruit employee given 25 years by Tokyo court for raping 10 women

Kenshiro Maruta sexually assaulted the women, including a job-hunting college student, between April 2017 and October 2020.
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates after beating Matteo Arnaldi of Italy on day eight of the 2023 U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York on Monday. Alcaraz is aiming to defend his title after winning the U.S. Open last year.
TENNIS / Tennis
Sep 5, 2023

Alcaraz into U.S. Open last eight as Pegula and Jabeur crash out

The 20-year-old Alcaraz is bidding to become the first man since Roger Federer in 2008 to successfully defend the U.S. Open.
Employees work on the assembly line at an electric vehicle plant in Shanghai. Cutting salaries is illegal in China, but complex pay structures offer loopholes.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 5, 2023

China's auto workers bear brunt of price war as fallout widens

Cutting salaries is illegal in China, but complex pay structures offer ways around this.
A woman wears traditional Uyghur clothing for a photo shoot in the Old Kashgar tourist area in China's northwestern Xinjiang region.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 6, 2023

State-backed tourism booms in China's troubled Xinjiang

Kashgar, once an ancient Silk Road oasis, was recently on the front lines of Beijing's sweeping anti-terrorism campaign in the northwestern region.
Indians celebrate the successful lunar landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the south pole of the moon at a rally in the city of Ahmedabad on Aug. 24.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2023

India has every right to be proud of its space program and lunar triumph

In 2014, after the Mars Orbiter Mission, known as Mangalyaan, made India the first Asian country to reach Mars' orbit and the first country ever to do so in its maiden attempt,
Part of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System near Delta Junction, Alaska, on May 5
WORLD / Politics
Sep 7, 2023

Biden to cancel oil field leases in Arctic reserve sold by Trump

Territory in northern Alaska long prized for its oil and gas potential, but also as home to waterfowl, caribou, polar bears and other wildlife.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is 5-0 in Week 1 games.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Sep 7, 2023

Chiefs hope to continue streak of fast starts against Lions in NFL opener

Head coach Andy Reid is 9-1 in Week 1 since taking over in Kansas City.
World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz plays a shot against Alexander Zverev during their quarterfinal match at the U.S. Open in New York on Wednesday.
TENNIS
Sep 7, 2023

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev win to set up semifinal clash

Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev are the last two U.S. Open champions.
Coco Gauff celebrates next to former tennis champion Billie Jean King after winning the U.S. Open against Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday.
TENNIS
Sep 10, 2023

U.S. teen Coco Gauff fights back to win U.S. Open

Coco Gauff, 19, clinches her first Grand Slam title, overpowering Aryna Sabalenka in the U.S. Open final to become the first American win since 2017.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the China-Africa leaders’ roundtable on the closing day of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg on Aug. 24
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2023

China and doubling of BRICS size challenges the U.S.-led global order

Although China is the world’s second largest economy, it still claims to be a developing country and depicts itself as the champion of the Global South.
U.S. President Joe Biden holds a news conference in Hanoi on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 11, 2023

Biden doubts China able to invade Taiwan amid economic woes

The U.S. president said China "has a difficult economic problem right now for a whole range of reasons."
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves as he departs by train from Pyongyang for a visit to Russia in this image released Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 12, 2023

North Korea's Kim arrives in Russia for talks with Putin

Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia aboard his luxury armored train Tuesday, with a possible arms deal likely at the top of the meeting's agenda.
An Apple store in Beijing. The iPhone has increased its percentage of total smartphones sold around the world while expanding its share of sales in four of the world’s largest regions: China, Japan, Europe and India.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 12, 2023

As smartphone industry sputters, the iPhone expands its dominance

The iPhone has about one-fifth of the world’s smartphone sales, up from a low of 13% in 2019.
Aillis CEO Sho Okiyama receives the first place award from Pegasus Tech Ventues founder and CEO Anis Uzzaman at the Startup World Cup Tokyo preliminary on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 12, 2023

Two Japanese startups to compete in Startup World Cup 2023 final

Smart homes and AI-assisted medical devices took top prizes, with the winners now set to attend the final competition in San Francisco.

Longform

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