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Manga artist Kazuo Umezu
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 5, 2024

Japanese manga artist Kazuo Umezu dies at 88

Kazuo Umezu started drawing comics from his childhood and made his debut as a manga artist in 1955, when he was a high school student.
The Tubassadors are (from left) Tomohiro Sosogi, Kazuto Shikada, Soen Tamura and Keisuke Nishibu.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 5, 2024

The Tubassadors hope to change the tuba’s tune

Orchestras aren't known for tuba solos in their performances. However, this Tokyo-based quartet puts the instrument front and center.
An exhibition of captured military hardware from NATO countries in Moscow in May.  Whatever the results of the U.S. presidential election, the prospect of improved U.S.-Russia relations seems even more distant.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 6, 2024

Whether Trump or Harris, pessimism reigns in Russia over U.S. election winner

The sentiment is prevalent in a Russia that feels scorned and underestimated by Democrat administrations and betrayed by Trump.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks during a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 6, 2024

Elon Musk-led election falsehoods hang over vote as tally begins

Elon Musk has become Republican candidate Donald Trump’s most high-profile donor and supporter.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office will reinvestigate the case against the former secretary of lawmaker Koichi Hagiuda and consider again whether to seek criminal punishment.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 6, 2024

Citizen panel nixes decision not to indict Hagiuda's secretary

The panel said it is unreasonable not to prosecute the secretary in view of the maliciousness of the acts relating to the Liberal Democratic Party's slush funds scandal.
Hyogo Prefectural Police investigators call on people at a station in Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture, on Oct. 16 to provide information related to the 2007 murder of a girl in the city.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 6, 2024

Inmate hints at involvement in murder of another girl in western Japan

Hyogo Prefectural Police plan to arrest the man soon on suspicion of attempted murder in another case.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani visited a South Korean naval ship in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2024

Japan defense chief visits South Korean naval ship

The visit marks the first time Japan's defense minister has boarded a South Korean military vessel, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry.
Kunihiko Katsuta is taken to Hyogo Prefectural Police's Tatsuno police station on Thursday after he was arrested for an attempted murder.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 7, 2024

Murder inmate arrested for stabbing of another girl in Japan

The inmate has also hinted at his involvement in the 2007 murder of a 7-year-old girl in Hyogo Prefecture.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a news conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

South Korean president says 'not ruling out' direct weapons to Ukraine

South Korea has a long-standing policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, speaks during a party meeting in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

LDP lawmakers urge Ishiba to step down after budget passage next year

But neither the prime minister, nor LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama, said they would step down.
Susie Wiles, 67, will be the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff.
WORLD
Nov 8, 2024

Trump picks Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff

The low-key Wiles, 67, will be the first woman to serve in the post.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a two-day meeting on interest rate policy in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 8, 2024

Powell signals readiness to defy Trump in defense of Fed

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell insisted the incoming president doesn’t have the power to fire him or other senior Fed leaders.
Sanwa Koutsu's Kuroko Taxi service has drivers dressed in traditional stagehand garb communicate with passengers only through gestures and written messages.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 9, 2024

The sound of silence: Japan's no-conversation services

“Constant social interaction can feel like torture for us introverts,” one customer says. "I think it’s a pretty smart business move."
Suspect Kunihiko Katsuta leaves Tatsuno Police Station in Hyogo Prefecture as he is sent to prosecutors on Friday. The waist strap and handcuffs are blurred for privacy reasons.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 8, 2024

Man arrested over 2006 Hyogo stabbing did not know victim, police say

Kunihiko Katsuta has confessed to stabbing the 9-year-old girl with a knife, but he has denied any intent to kill her, police say.
NAND flash memory maker Kioxia plans to use a new method for listing in Japan that would fast-track its oft-delayed initial public offering. Both the price and size of the stake to be floated were undecided, according to a filing Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 9, 2024

Kioxia files for long-delayed IPO as Samsung’s lead grows

The NAND flash memory maker plans to debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange between this December and June next year.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy walk together while meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, on Sept. 26.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 9, 2024

Smile, flatter and barter: How the world is prepping for Trump part II

Foreign leaders have rushed to ingratiate themselves with Donald J. Trump in recent days, nervously recalling the clashes, insults and feuds of his first presidency.
Donald Trump arrives for an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 10, 2024

Charting the global economy: Trump win reverberates around the world

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Trump’s re-election will have 'no effect' on the central bank’s policy decisions in the near-term.
Japanese organ builder Itaru Sekiguchi is helping to restore the Great Organ at Paris' Notre Dame cathedral.
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2024

Japanese organ builder 'honored' to restore voice of Notre Dame

Itaru Sekiguchi had dreamed of having a chance to work on the "voice" of the masterpiece of Gothic architecture.
Sports motorbikes in various colors are sold at a Yamaha dealer in Chennai, India.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 11, 2024

Yamaha Motor targeting Generation Z in India

There is strong demand for motorcycles in the country of more than 1.4 billion people, and local automakers with cheap products command a sizable market share.
Nigeriens gather in a street to protest against the U.S. military presence, in Niamey, Niger, on April 13.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 12, 2024

Trump inherits waning U.S. strength in Africa

Biden made sweeping political promises to Africa that he has yet to keep, including visiting during his presidency, which ends in January.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump with the then-leader of Vietnam's Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi in February 2019
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 12, 2024

Vietnam may find it harder to profit from new U.S.-China trade war

Its growing trade surplus with the U.S. — which is fourth-largest, after China, Mexico and Canada — will likely put it in U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's sights.
Susie Wiles, Republican Donald Trump's campaign manager, attends a rally in Kinston, North Carolina, on Nov. 3.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 12, 2024

In Susie Wiles, Trump picks quiet competence for chief of staff

The longtime Florida-based Republican strategist's shrewd strategies, low profile, and work ethic are credited with helping Trump stage a stunning political comeback.
Donald Trump attends a town hall moderated by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 14.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2024

Trump’s Day One: Deportations, border wall, scrapping Biden's programs

The sweeping efforts will be led by incoming "border czar" Tom Homan and other Republican immigration hardliners.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi (left) meets the deputy chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, upon his arrival at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 14, 2024

Europe pushes for resolution against Iran at IAEA, diplomats say

Such resolutions risk further diplomatic tension with Iran.
Gaetz speaks at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump in Henderson, Nevada, on Oct. 31.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 14, 2024

Matt Gaetz is Trump’s pick for attorney general

The pick reflects Donald Trump’s determination to choose as the nation’s top law enforcement official a fierce defender who will not resist his directives.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk walks on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 14, 2024

How will Musk's new U.S. government efficiency panel work?

Although the U.S. president-elect has said little about how the group will operate, Elon Musk previously set a goal of cutting $2 trillion of federal spending.
This September, six years after planting, researchers successfully cultivated 12 black truffles totaling 200 grams.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 14, 2024

Japan researchers achieve second success in artificial black truffle cultivation

While black truffles do grow naturally in Japan, cultivation methods are still underdeveloped, prompting ongoing research.
Then-Chinese Vice Premier Liu He presents a letter from his boss, Xi Jinping, to then-U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House following trade negotiations in October 2019.
COMMENTARY
Nov 14, 2024

Trump’s tariffs and inflation fatigue are a toxic brew

Key to Trump's logic is the idea that the U.S. has all the leverage, and that just isn’t true in the current macroeconomic environment.
Mike Tyson (left) and Jake Paul faceoff during a news conference on Wednesday to promote their upcoming bout on Saturday in Arlington, Texas.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 14, 2024

Mike Tyson looking forward to fighting Youtuber Jake Paul as boxing world recoils

The Netflix-backed bout has drawn widespread condemnation from across the boxing world.
Lindsey Vonn poses with her World Cup trophies after the season finale in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in March 2010.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 15, 2024

Lindsey Vonn coming out of retirement to rejoin U.S. Ski Team at age 40

Vonn, a three-time Olympic medalist and four-time overall World Cup champion, retired in 2019 after a bruising 18-year career during which she suffered several injuries.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat