Search - 2023

 
 
Samsung workers chant slogans during a walkout outside the company’s semiconductor plant in Hwaseong, South Korea, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2024

Samsung union steps up pressure over pay with three-day strike

The union has spent weeks preparing for the walkout, after negotiations over pay and vacation time collapsed last month.
Omoide Yokocho in Shinjuku, Tokyo. According to data recently published by Mercer, Tokyo fell 30 places from 2023 and is now the 49th most expensive city in the world, just ahead of Houston.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 9, 2024

Tokyo is cheaper to live in than San Juan, according to global survey

The capital fell a full 30 places from 2023. It was No. 3 in 2020 and No. 1 as recently as 2012.
Suzu General Hospital suffered a significant loss in the last fiscal year due to a decline in the number of patients.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 9, 2024

Public hospitals in quake-hit Okunoto area bleed red ink

The area in Ishikawa Prefecture was hit especially hard by the 7.6 magnitude quake that shook the peninsula on Jan. 1.
A conceptual design of a potential Hokkaido Spaceport (HOSPO). HOSPO is aiming to become one of Japan’s major domestic spaceports for launching satellite-equipped rockets and spacecraft as well as for the aerospace industry to conduct research and development.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jul 22, 2024

Small Hokkaido town looks to the stars for future growth

Taiki, population 5,300, is home to what is billed as Asia’s first privately operated spaceport — Hokkaido Spaceport.
Electronic waste — also known as e-waste — from computers in a junk shop in Metro Manila, Philippines
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 11, 2024

U.N. warns digital economy drive is damaging the environment

The U.N. agency called for sustainable strategies to counter the growing environmental toll digitalization creates, particularly in developing countries.
The Clippers' Kawhi Leonard will skip the Paris Olympics to focus on his preparations for the upcoming NBA season.
OLYMPICS / Basketball
Jul 11, 2024

Kawhi Leonard withdraws from Olympics; Derrick White added to Team USA roster

Celtics guard Derrick White will play for Team USA in place of the Clippers star.
An empty street in Fukiya, Okayama Prefecture. Japan may be both experiencing overtourism in some places and witnessing the opposite in others.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2024

Japan doesn't have too many tourists, statistics suggest. It just feels that way.

The country received 0.2 tourists per capita in 2023, compared with France's 1.5, Greece's 3.4, Portugal's 2.5 and Spain's 1.8.
The Veolia Southwark Integrated Waste Management Facility in London.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 11, 2024

Nestle quietly shifted recycling goals as plastics problem grows

Nestle changing its plastics goal means 280,000 metric tons of additional nonrecyclable plastic waste a year, according to the latest available data for 2022.
Tokyo police have arrested four people for allegedly luring their targets into multilevel marketing, using dating apps, last year, despite orders for the suspension of network marketing-related business.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2024

Four arrested in Japan over multilevel marketing using dating apps

The police believe that the four collected a total of some ¥850 million from about 2,000 people in 42 prefectures, including university students.
The domes and spires of Myanmar's temple city of Bagan mark an island of calm in the country's raging civil war, but with conflict keeping tourists away locals are struggling to make ends meet.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 12, 2024

Myanmar temple city pines for tourists as conflict rages

In the year after the coup, Myanmar saw around 200,000 international visitors, down from 3.4 million five years earlier, according to the junta's tourism ministry.
Armin Papperger, CEO of German weapons producer and automotive supplier Rheinmetall, during a virtual news conference. The United States foiled a Russian plot earlier this year to assassinate Papperger, CNN has reported.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 13, 2024

Germany says it won't be cowed after reported Russian plot to kill arms firm CEO

U.S. intelligence officials warned German authorities that Russia was plotting to kill Armin Papperger, the head of Europe’s biggest weapons producer.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic hits a return against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti during their Wimbledon men's semifinal match on Friday in London.
TENNIS
Jul 13, 2024

History 'fuels' Djokovic's Wimbledon title bid against Alcaraz

Just five weeks after undergoing surgery on his right knee, Djokovic can become the oldest Wimbledon champion of the modern era.
The production plant of GCL Technology in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, China, on July 2
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 16, 2024

Xi Jinping’s great economic rewiring is cushioning China’s slowdown

Tech advances and a resulting export boom have helped to keep economic growth within reach of its targeted pace of around 5%.
A flag waves in the wind as law enforcement conducts an investigation into the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Monday.
WORLD / Society
Jul 17, 2024

Four in five Americans fear country is sliding into chaos, poll finds

Eighty percent of voters surveyed — including similar shares of Democrats and Republicans — said they think the country is spiraling out of the control.
The number of teachers in their 20s on leave due to mental conditions has risen, highlighting the need to reduce burdens on young teachers.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 17, 2024

Japan to boost support for young teachers to secure staff

The package addresses concerns about a decline in interest in teaching jobs among young people and aims to reduce teachers' overtime work to 20 hours per month.
Sue Mi Terry, then director at Bower Group Asia, speaks on a panel at the Asia Society in New York in 2017.
WORLD
Jul 17, 2024

Former White House official accused of acting as South Korea agent

In exchange for gifts, a foreign policy specialist is accused of giving South Korea information on the United States government, among other things.
Protesters mark the eighth anniversary of the 2016 arbitration ruling over China's claims in the South China Sea, in Quezon City, Philippines, on Friday. Beijing still refuses to abide by the ruling.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 17, 2024

South China Sea ruling anniversary and the disregard for the rule of law

Last Friday marked the eighth anniversary of the Philippines-China South China Sea arbitral tribunal ruling. That decision was a win for Manila.
U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage, stands inside a glass defendants' cage during the verdict announcement at the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 20, 2024

Russian court jails U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich for 16 years in spy case

Gershkovich went on trial in the city of Yekaterinburg last month after being accused of trying to gather sensitive information about a tank factory.
Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jul 21, 2024

As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals

Can a 700-year-old dance have an effect on extreme heat or torrential rain? Probably not. When you're feeling powerless, though, any little thing helps.
The annual number of Self-Defense Forces personnel quitting mid-career has reached around 6,000, accounting for around 2% of all SDF staff.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 22, 2024

Defense ministry concerned as more SDF staff quit citing workplace issues

The government's Defense Buildup Program, formulated in 2022, emphasized curbing mid-career resignations of SDF personnel as an "urgent issue."
Smoke from a fires in the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland, in Corumba, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil, on June 12.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 24, 2024

From floods to fire: On Brazil's climate front line

Brazil faces months of record wildfires, with devastation already under way and set to worsen in coming months as high heat and winds tear through the midwest.
TikTok has deployed Washington power brokers and $1,500-an-hour attorneys to fend off a new law barring the app unless its Beijing-based parent, ByteDance, divests.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jul 27, 2024

TikTok’s survival is at stake in all-out fight against U.S. ban

TikTok has deployed Washington power brokers and $1,500-an-hour attorneys to fend off a new law barring the app unless ByteDance divests.
Railway workers and French police officers inspect the scene of an attack on the country's high-speed railway network on Friday.
WORLD
Jul 28, 2024

More trains, but few answers, after railway sabotage in France

While rail workers are claiming success, a key question still remains: Who did this and why?
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (center) attends a ceremony with military veterans to mark the 71st anniversary of the end of the Korean War in Pyongyang on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 29, 2024

North Korea may stage nuclear test near U.S. election, South Korea warns

Pyongyang has a habit of timing its provocations to coincide with major political events.
Upper House lawmaker Megumi Hirose enters her house in Tokyo after it was raided on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 30, 2024

Tokyo prosecutors raid LDP lawmaker's home on suspicion of salary fraud

Megumi Hirose, 58, is suspected of providing one of her secretaries with a state-paid salary even though they reportedly did no real work.
A man walks next to an office building of FSD (Fondation Suisse de Déminage), a nongovernmental humanitarian organization, damaged during a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on July 24.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 1, 2024

Russia vs Ukraine: the biggest war of the fake news era

More than three-quarters of the Ukrainian population get their news from social media, far more than any other source of information.
Algeria's Imane Khelif (left) punches Italy's Angela Carini in the women's 66-kg last 16 bout at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
OLYMPICS / Boxing
Aug 2, 2024

Italian boxer quits bout, sparking furor over gender at Olympics

The issue has become the latest flashpoint in the politically charged debate over gender and fair play in sports.
Kingdom Hearts-inspired action-adventure game Luminous Nights was one of many indie titles that had to fight for attention on an increasingly crowded show floor.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Aug 3, 2024

Bigger than ever, BitSummit’s indie spirit wears thin

As the indie game show grows, the question looms as to whether its current trajectory continues to be true to its original spirit.
Students inside a clean room of a college of technology in Kumamoto Prefecture. The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association started holding special classes at colleges of technology to attract more people to the semiconductor industry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 5, 2024

Japan chip industry talent race heats up

Job opportunities have expanded notably in Kyushu and Hokkaido.
The International Boxing Association holds a news conference in Paris on Monday, with the association's president, Umar Kremlev, appearing on a video feed from Moscow.
OLYMPICS
Aug 6, 2024

A chaotic news conference offers little clarity on an Olympic boxing dispute

The International Boxing Association’s Russian president delivered wild accusations, personal attacks and used questionable language when detailing the two women's cases.

Longform

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