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China’s tech firms were caught off guard by breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence — Beijing’s regulations and a sagging economy aren’t helping.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024

China’s rush to dominate AI has a twist: It depends on U.S. technology

Even as the United States has tried to slow China’s advancements, it has not held back the practice of openly releasing software to encourage its adoption.
Passengers line up for security at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024

The five most exciting innovations coming to an airport near you

Updating an existing airport terminal is time-consuming, expensive work that often costs hundreds of millions of dollars — and sometimes billions.
Intuitive Machines' Odysseus spacecraft passes over the near side of the moon following lunar orbit insertion on Wednesday.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Feb 23, 2024

Why it took the U.S. 51 years to get back on the moon

Intuitive Machines has landed a robotic spacecraft on the moon, becoming the first private firm to place a vehicle intact on the lunar surface.
With the wars in Ukraine and Gaza claiming America’s attention and the world undergoing a broader geopolitical reconfiguration, China might see a window of opportunity in forcing its claim on Taiwan.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2024

A Taiwan crisis is coming

Already, Xi Jinping has been stepping up intrusions into Taiwan's air defense zone and encircling the island with warships.
Demonstrators protest the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in front of the Russian Embassy in Berlin on Feb. 16.
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2024

Vladimir Putin must be shown the limits of his power

Navalny’s death deprives Russia of its most thoughtful and powerful opposition to President Vladimir Putin and his criminal clique.
A relative of a missing passenger on MH370, in Beijing on the one year anniversary of the aircraft's disappearance.
WORLD
Feb 23, 2024

A decade after MH370, planes still at risk of vanishing off the map

An industrywide push to eliminate the chances of a similar case has been stymied by bureaucracy and financial pressure.
Padres starter Yu Darvish throws during a spring training workout in Peoria, Arizona, on Feb. 13.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 24, 2024

Padres star pitcher Darvish aims to be ready for series in Seoul

The 37-year-old threw 32 pitches in a simulated inning on Friday and wants to take the mound when the Padres play the Dodgers in South Korea next month.
Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and Republican presidential candidate, speaks at her election night watch party in Charleston, South Carolina, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2024

Trump campaign dismisses Haley after South Carolina win

The former president has easily swept all five Republican nominating contests thus far, winning states in the Midwest, Northeast, South and West.
Asahi Group Holdings chief executive Atsushi Katsuki
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2024

Asahi eyes overseas acquisitions to quadruple sales of Super Dry beer

Spurred on by the need to seek growth outside of the shrinking home market, Japanese firms went on an overseas buying spree worth ¥8.1 trillion last year.
Flags of the Solomon Islands and China near the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing in last July
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 26, 2024

China’s expansive diplomatic network still outstrips that of U.S.

Beijing had a larger footprint last year than Washington in key areas of geopolitical interest including the Pacific, East Asia and Central Asia.
Koichi Kondo plays the harmonica. Playing harmonica was like life itself for members of the Bluebird Band, according to his words.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Mar 4, 2024

Harmonica melodies of Hansen's disease patients live on

A band featuring the instrument was founded in 1953, at a time when prejudice against the disease was still strong
Britain's Andy Murray in action during his round of 32 match against Canada's Denis Shapovalov in the Dubai Tennis Championships on Monday
TENNIS
Feb 27, 2024

Murray drops retirement hint after 500th hardcourt win in Dubai

Murray has failed to go beyond the third round of a Grand Slam since reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2017.
Organizers say they hope that the 2024 Paris Paralympics attracts packed audiences.
PARALYMPICS
Feb 27, 2024

Paralympics chief hopes for full stadiums and extensive TV coverage

Fewer than one million tickets out of a total of 2.8 million have been sold so far.
Hankyu's new PRiVACE carriages will feature spacious seats arranged in three rows, equipped with partitions, reading lights, and power sockets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2024

Hankyu railway to launch new premium seat service on Kyoto Line

The new PRiVACE carriages will feature spacious seats arranged in three rows, equipped with partitions, reading lights, and power sockets.
Apple started working on a car around 2014, setting its sights on a fully autonomous electric vehicle with a limousine-like interior and voice-guided navigation.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 28, 2024

Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

Many employees on the team will be reassigned to focus on generative artificial intelligence projects, an increasingly key priority for the company.
A Honda CR-V e:FCEV on display at H2 & FC Expo in Tokyo on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 28, 2024

Honda to sell plug-in hydrogen vehicle in North America, Japan

Japan's second-largest carmaker hopes to ease drivers’ anxiety over finding hydrogen stations by adding electric recharging capabilities.
While Tokyo and Washington have maintained strong ties under U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida amid intensifying concern over China’s regional ambitions, Japanese officials are still hedging their bets by sending out feelers in the event of another term under Donald Trump.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 28, 2024

Ex-senior Trump official reassures Tokyo over possible comeback

A former deputy assistant to the ex-president swatted away concerns, saying Trump's 2024 White House bid "is a very different effort than 2016."
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara speak with the media at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, on Thursday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 1, 2024

Shohei Ohtani reveals few details after surprise marriage announcement

The superstar, who fiercely guards details about his personal life, said the announcement's timing was to avoid any potential distractions going forward.
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.
U.S. President Joe Biden discusses his administrationユs immigration and border security policies at a Border Patrol station in Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2024

Trump and Biden both visit U.S.-Mexico border and spar on immigration

With the presidential election less than eight months away, polls show most voters blame U.S. President Joe Biden for the number of illegal entries.
Elon Musk arrives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington to participate in the A.I. Forum in September of last year.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2024

Elon Musk sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for violating the company’s principles

Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, accusing them of breaching a contract by putting profits ahead of the public good.
When Japanese American makeup artist Kazu Hiro first started experimenting with makeup as a teenager in the 1980s, one face leapt out at him from books and magazines he saw in shops: legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2024

Oscar-nominated makeup genius Kazu Hiro comes full circle with 'Maestro'

Nominated for his fifth Academy Award, Kazu Hiro faced some criticism for the way he depicted Bradley Cooper as conductor Leonard Bernstein in "Maestro."
John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy on climate issues, gestures as he attends a news conference in Beijing in July 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 4, 2024

John Kerry bolstered U.S. climate reputation, but trust still elusive

Kerry is credited with restoring U.S. climate ties with China and courting private capital for climate action.
A formal conclusion that famine has arrived in the Gaza Strip could come as early as next week.
WORLD / EXPLAINER
Mar 6, 2024

Famine looms in Gaza: How will the world know it has arrived?

The U.N. has said that more than a quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million people are "estimated to be facing catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation."
AI Medical Service's artificial intelligence-based endoscopic diagnostic support system is designed to help detect stomach cancer at an early stage.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 7, 2024

Tokyo startup looks to AI to boost gastrointestinal cancer detection

AI Medical Service thinks it can use Japan’s strengths in endoscopy to boost diagnosis of a condition responsible for 1 in 3 cancer deaths globally.
American rapper and noted anime fan Megan Thee Stallion presented the award for anime of the year to director Shota Goshozono for “Jujutsu Kaisen: Hidden Inventory/Premature Death” at the Anime Awards on March 2
CULTURE / Film
Mar 8, 2024

Crunchyroll's Anime Awards build on star power

The streamer's event upped the glamor with celebrity attendees such as Megan Thee Stallion and Rashmika Mandanna, and "Jujutsu Kaisen" won 11 prizes.
Demonstrators hold a banner as they take part in a march to call for gender equality and protest against gender discrimination as part of an International Women’s Day march in Tokyo in 2021.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 8, 2024

Recognizing the vocabulary surrounding International Women’s Day

Many of the terms describing issues women are facing in Japan have a string of complex kanji. Knowing the basics can go a long way in aiding understanding.
Americans, who by nearly every measure are hungering for a new direction, are confronted with the choice between a continuation with U.S. President Joe Biden or a restoration with former leader Donald Trump.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2024

The Biden-Trump rerun: A nation craving change gets more of the same

Americans love a candidate who promises something new. But when a sitting president runs against a former one, can either claim the mantle of change?
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Fukushima No. 1 plant. Tepco has a long way to go to achieve its profits target for financing compensation, reconstruction and the decommissioning of the plant, following the eruption of the March 2011 nuclear crisis.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2024

Tepco profit goal remains elusive, 13 years after triple meltdown

The total costs related to the nuclear crisis are estimated at ¥23.4 trillion, including ¥8 trillion for decommissioning the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
Masaki Takahashi, Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya and Tatsuji Nojima celebrated winning the Oscar for best visual effects on the Dolby Theatre stage in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 11, 2024

Oscars 2024: A night to remember for Japanese cinema

Filmmaking peers in Hollywood honor the excellence of two Japanese titans: Studio Ghibli and Godzilla

Longform

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