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Nearly half of married couples in Japan are “sexless,” a recent survey shows.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 18, 2024

Nearly half of Japanese married couples are 'sexless,' survey finds

The most common reasons include “my partner doesn’t respond to my advances" for men, and “it’s too much hassle” for women.
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.
Known in Hokkaido business circles as an internationalist due to his close ties with the United States and the International Olympics Committee, Yoshiro Ito headed dozens of Hokkaido and national organizations during his decadeslong career.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Mar 25, 2024

Hokkaido mourns Yoshiro Ito, promoter of Japan-U.S. ties

Ito was known in Hokkaido business circles as an internationalist due to his close ties with the United States.
The Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho hotel and office complex in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 22, 2024

Seibu may sell 36-story Tokyo office building for ¥300 billion, sources say

Japan's highest value property transaction is currently the ¥436 billion sale by the government in 2022 of its stake in another Tokyo office building.
People lay flowers at a makeshift memorial near Crocus City Hall, a concert venue outside Moscow that was the site of a mass shooting on Friday night.
WORLD
Mar 24, 2024

Deadly Moscow attack shatters Putin’s security promise to Russians

The tragedy outside Moscow is a blow to a leader riding an aura of confidence only days after a stage-managed election victory.
People lay flowers at a makeshift memorial Saturday near the Crocus City Hall, a popular concert venue where more than 130 people were killed Friday night in an attack outside Moscow.
WORLD
Mar 24, 2024

Russia mourns victims of deadly concert hall attack as airstrikes rock Ukraine

A national day of mourning over the attack was declared as Russian forces unleashed a fresh large-scale missile barrage against Ukraine.
Takeru Satoh (right) and Masami Nagasawa play an engaged couple whose relationship is put to the test by memories of an earlier romance in Tomokazu Yamada’s “April, Come She Will.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 28, 2024

‘April, Come She Will’ promises more than it delivers

Tomokazu Yamada’s ruminative romantic drama sets out to interrogate love story cliches, but ends up succumbing to them.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (left) and Yuichiro Tamaki (right), leader of the Democratic Party for the People, hold a party leaders' debate in June 2021.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 28, 2024

Is Japan-style 'question time' facing abolition in parliament?

Both ruling and opposition parties have shown a lack of enthusiasm for holding such events, with some forces even advocating for its abolition.
China coach Li Tie reacts during a soccer match between China and Australia in Qatar in September 2021.
SOCCER
Mar 29, 2024

Former China coach pleads guilty to taking millions in bribes

"Li Tie made his final statement, pleaded guilty and expressed remorse," a court said.
Instead of entering its recent operating loss as negative retained earnings, the European Central Bank treated it as a positive asset on its balance sheet, which is being criticized as misleading.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2024

Central banks need to be more transparent about losses

The ECB, Fed and other central banks would do well to abandon financial machinations, work out recapitalization agreements and prepare for large losses.
Both Godzilla and Kong have a rich screen history to draw on, but “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” feels like a desperate attempt for the crossover franchise to justify both its existence and its continuation.
CULTURE / Film
Apr 4, 2024

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’: Running out of steam

The latest in the Warner Bros. Monsterverse franchise shows signs of an anemic imagination.
Transfers usually take place in March at the end of the Japanese business year, but each family's reasons for living apart are different.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 8, 2024

When your job separates the family

Japan's “tanshin funin” system sees married company employees leaving their families behind when they are transferred to faraway posts.
Yuki Tsunoda attends a promotional event ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, in Tokyo on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 5, 2024

Japan favorite Tsunoda looks to shift career into higher gear at Suzuka

Without a race seat yet for 2025, the driver's future is up in the air.
Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin,” once the victim of high waves that dragged it into the sea, sits at the end of a pier on the south side of Naoshima.
CULTURE / Art / Longform
Apr 6, 2024

Why is the most exciting art in Japan so hard to get to?

Japan has a unique movement of public art projects and festivals that are a slog to get to — by design. A writer examines the country's “inconvenient art."
Takuya Yokota, the representative of the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, gives a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 5, 2024

Relatives of Japanese abducted by North Korea hope Kishida raises issue in U.S.

Takuya Yokota, who represents a group of family members of abductees, said the matter is a human rights and humanitarian issue.
Jockey Kota Fujioka died on Wednesday, four days after falling from his horse and sustaining head and chest injuries
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
Apr 12, 2024

Tributes pour in after jockey Kota Fujioka dies following fall

The JRA said Fujioka was the first jockey to die in Japan as a result of a racing accident since 2004.
Aston Villa's Leon Bailey (right) and Arsenal's Declan Rice vie for the ball during their match in London on Sunday.
SOCCER
Apr 15, 2024

Mikel Arteta challenges Arsenal to 'show character' after title hopes take hit

The Gunners' title hopes suffered a blow in a 2-0 defeat against Aston Villa.
A acting torch bearer participates in a torch relay test in Troyes, France, on March 22.
OLYMPICS
Apr 15, 2024

Paris' Olympic flame to be lit in Greece

Spectators will be able to attend the torch relay events for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
An exterior view of Qasr al-Basha in 2021 in Gaza City, where Napoleon Bonaparte slept for several nights during his campaign in Egypt and Palestine.
WORLD
Apr 15, 2024

Gaza's historic treasures saved by 'irony of history'

Invaluable artifacts remain intact thanks to the blockade that made life in the Gaza Strip such a struggle for the past 16 years.
Spectators watch the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai in April 2019. The event will return to the city this weekend for the first time since the pandemic.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 16, 2024

Pride and hype as F1 roars back to China after COVID-19 absence

Fans will get to see Shanghai native Zhou Guanyu drive at his home track in Formula One for the first time.
Lee Hsien Loong might not stray far from politics, having said previously that he will remain at the "new PM’s disposal” after the handover.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 16, 2024

Singapore charts new path after half-century of Lee family rule

Lee Hsien Loong announced that he will step aside next month after 20 years as prime minister and hand the reins over to Lawrence Wong.
Workers clean argeli bark in the Ilam district of eastern Nepal. Thousands of miles away, in Japan, the bark will be used to make yen notes.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 16, 2024

On Himalayan hillsides grows Japan’s cold, hard cash

One of the poorest pockets of Asia supplies a primary ingredient for the economy in one of the richest.
Lakers star Lebron James drives to the basket during a game against the Pelicans on Sunday.
OLYMPICS / Basketball
Apr 17, 2024

James and Curry among U.S. NBA stars set for Paris Olympics: reports

Warriors star Stephen Curry will make his first Olympic appearance while Lakers superstar Lebron James, 39, will try to win his third Olympic gold.
Caitlin Clark poses with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert after she was selected with the No. 1 pick by the Indiana Fever on Monday in New York.
BASKETBALL
Apr 17, 2024

Caitlin Clark helps WNBA obliterate previous draft viewership mark

The audience was more than four times as many viewers when compared to the 2023 draft, which drew 572,000.
Junji Ito
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 17, 2024

Ex-Kanebo chief and JAL Chairman Junji Ito dies at 99

Ito, who served as president of Kanebo, currently Kracie, and chairman of Japan Airlines, died in December 2021.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry dribbes around a defender during a game against the Pelicans earlier this month.
BASKETBALL
Apr 18, 2024

LeBron, Curry and Durant head U.S. Olympic 'Dream Team'

USA Basketball confirmed a formidable 12-man roster bristling with NBA talent that also includes reigning MVP Joel Embiid.
Children give a presentation on volcano studies during a workshop at Tairadate Elementary School in Hachimantai, Iwate Prefecture, in February.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Apr 29, 2024

Raising awareness over Mount Iwate eruption urged as memories fade

Interest in preparing for possible volcanic eruptions is difficult to muster in a nation prone to other natural disasters.
Resistance to adopting digital technologies, restrictive EU regulations, and energy-price shocks are potential explanations for Europe's lagging productivity.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2024

Why is Europe losing the productivity race?

A forthcoming report from Mario Draghi will recommend removing barriers to competition, which would intensify the pressure on firms to innovate.
Sauber's Zhou Guanyu poses for pictures with fans after the world premiere of a documentary about his life in Shanghai on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 19, 2024

Local hero Zhou Guanyu expects to feel 'mix of emotions' at Chinese GP

Formula One is returning to China for the first time in five years after previous editions were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Josh Rawitch, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, holds a baseball thrown by former Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo during a no-hitter in 1996 while seated next to a Dodgers uniform used by Shohei Ohtani this season during a news conference at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Tokyo
BASEBALL
Apr 19, 2024

Baseball Hall of Fame to highlight history of Japan-U.S. ties in new exhibition

The exhibition, "Yakyu/Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game between Japan and the United States," is slated to open in July 2025.

Longform

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