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Yuji Takahashi says there is a culture of passing down good furniture for generations in places like northern Europe. He wants such practice to be the norm in Japan as well.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Mar 25, 2024

Craftsman’s works spreads nationwide through furniture with no nails

Yuji Takahashi uses a traditional technique called "sashimono," by which grooves are carved and joints fitted together.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Philippines' president, speaks during an interview in Manila on Tuesday. Marcos said the threat to his nation from China's sweeping claims in the South China Sea is growing but argued that his government's efforts to assert sovereignty over disputed areas aren't meant to start a conflict by "poking the bear." 
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 20, 2024

Marcos warns on China threat, says he’s not ‘poking the bear’

But since the threat has grown, Manila "must do more" to defend its territory, the Philippine president says.
The Bing website on a smartphone. Microsoft has received a wave of criticism from human rights groups on how its search engine works in China.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 21, 2024

Microsoft is attracting growing criticism for censoring Bing in China

Bing is reportedly removing information about human rights, democracy, climate change and other topics.
European Council President Charles Michel during a news conference in Brussels on Feb. 1
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2024

EU leaders to discuss using profits from Russian assets to arm Ukraine

EU leaders have voiced alarm about the state of the war in recent weeks, with ammunition-starved Ukrainian forces struggling to hold back Russian troops.
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.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, received an outpouring of global sympathy after her video message on Friday revealed she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy.
WORLD / Society
Mar 25, 2024

Wild theories persist despite U.K. royal Catherine's cancer revelation

Conspiracy theorists continue to push claims of digital manipulation, cancer misinformation and anti-vaccine myths on social media.
A worker helps assemble the fuselage of a BK117 helicopter at Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ Gifu plant in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 1, 2024

Kawasaki Heavy’s Gifu plant produces helicopters for disaster aid

The company's BK117 aircraft has been adopted by Gifu Prefecture and many other municipalities for disaster aid.
As of December 2022, the village of Zamami, Okinawa Prefecture, had in its stockpile six of the nine items listed in a survey as necessary for women and 10 of the 11 items listed as necessary for babies and infants, doing much better than other municipalities in the prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Apr 1, 2024

Municipalities push gender-inclusive disaster risk management

Some areas in Okinawa involve more women in decision-making and make an effort at stockpiling relevant items.
High school students visit seawalls in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, on Thursday during a weeklong tour of areas hit by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in the prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 26, 2024

Students from wildfire-struck Hawaii learn about disaster recovery in Miyagi

The students visited four municipalities in Miyagi Prefecture to study their efforts to rebuild following the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami.
An online army of Chinese nationalists have taken it upon themselves to punish perceived insults to the country — including from some of China’s leading business figures.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 27, 2024

Why are China’s nationalists attacking the country’s heroes?

Many of the grievances seem to be fueled by discontent over China’s economic malaise, potentially making it harder for authorities to quell public anger.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman rings a ceremonial bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to celebrate the company's initial public offering on March 21.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 28, 2024

Reddit’s IPO is a content moderation success story

Deciding what users are and aren’t allowed to post is something every social media company has to embrace eventually, if it wants to succeed.
Elon Musk, X's owner, has been open about his belief that X should carry almost all content that isn’t illegal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 29, 2024

Elon Musk’s X is testing ‘adult content’ groups for users

Openly offering "NSFW” groups may be another way for X to try to differentiate itself from other mainstream social networking services.
California’s share of U.S. wine production, around 90% in the 1990s and 2000s, dropped below 80% for the first time on record in 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2024

Who will save the U.S. wine industry? Not California boomers.

California’s share of U.S. wine production, around 90% in the 1990s and 2000s, dropped below 80% for the first time on record in 2022.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at the Chavis Community Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 30, 2024

Kamala Harris pushes the envelope as Biden struggles with some Democrats

The U.S. vice president's new role is seen as part of a high-profile effort to persuade the fractious coalition of voters to give them a second term.
Workers prepare processed crickets at Hygente Technology in Shinjo, Yamagata Prefecture, in November.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Apr 8, 2024

Next-gen protein sources explored as meat replacements in Tohoku

While proponents tout the benefits of edible insects and plant-based meat, getting consumers to change their eating habits remains an uphill task.
An audio work by Saga University's Art Works to Listen and Imagine project is available on the internet.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Apr 8, 2024

Experiencing art exhibitions through listening

Events and exhibitions are being held to encourage visitors to appreciate artworks with their ears and imagination.
A woman views the National COVID-19 Memorial Wall, a dedication of thousands of hand-painted hearts and messages for those in the U.K. who have died from COVID-19, in London on Jan. 9, 2022.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 3, 2024

Countries worldwide face extra round of talks to save pandemic accord

A planned final round of negotiations missed its target of finishing the accord ready for its adoption by the World Health Organization at the end of May.
Recent research suggests that within developed countries, the old positive relationship between status and fertility is re-emerging.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2024

The wealthy are starting to have more babies than the poor again

After a century during which higher income and status meant fewer children, the current trend is potentially a momentous change.
Assembly engineers work on a lithography system at ASML in Veldhoven, Netherlands in June.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 5, 2024

Targeting Chinese chips, U.S. to push Dutch on ASML service contracts

The U.S.' export policy chief is set to meet in the Netherlands next Monday with officials from the Dutch government and ASML.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen meets China's Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Guangdong Zhudao Guest House, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2024

U.S. and China to start new talks on balanced growth, Yellen says

The top priority of her four day visit to China was to persuade Beijing to rein in excess production capacity for clean energy technology.
James Schoff, senior director at Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA, speaks in an interview in Washington last week.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2024

Expert cites need for stronger U.S. military command in Japan

A U.S. expert has stressed the urgent need for strengthening the functions of the U.S. military command in Japan.
The U.S. military’s Kawakami Ammunition Depot in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture. High levels of PFAS have been detected in well water around the facility.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Apr 15, 2024

U.S.-Japan pact hampers PFAS survey at U.S. facility in Hiroshima

The bilateral Status of Forces Agreement gives exclusive authority to the U.S. forces over the management of their facilities in Japan.
A portrait of the 13th Ryukyu King Sho Kei, which was returned to the Okinawa Prefectural Government from the United States
JAPAN / History / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Apr 22, 2024

Artifacts missing after Battle of Okinawa returned from U.S.

Items that include portraits of kings from the Ryukyu Kingdom have returned after going missing in 1945.
Tokyo-based artist valknee has stood out as part of a wave of underground acts eager to tear down genre walls.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 12, 2024

Four up-and-coming music acts to start spring off right

Give your algorithms a nudge to put you in the mood for warmer weather with acts such as valknee, Uilou, Cho Co Pa Co Cho Co Quin Quin and kinoue64.
A woman in the Tokai region posts her meals on social media and gives advice to young people suffering from eating disorders.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 22, 2024

Woman with eating disorder looks to help young sufferers via social media

The woman is letting people know that a person’s value is not determined by their body shape.
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.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (from left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok hold a trilateral meeting at the Treasury Department in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Apr 20, 2024

Political heat prods Japan and South Korea to team up on weak currencies

The matter is all the more urgent with Middle East tensions threatening to push up oil prices and accelerate cost pressures.
A young supporter of presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 2
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 22, 2024

In chance for Trump, youth at rally see him as answer to economic woes

If Trump, 77, stays close to Biden, 81, in this demographic all the way to Election Day on Nov. 5 it would be a major gain compared with 2020.
The smartphone screen of a man in his 70s from the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture shows exchanges with a person claiming to be a woman from Taiwan discussing investment in gold.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 6, 2024

Online predators seduce elderly victims into investment scams

Cases of people being swindled out of money show working-age people are also falling victim.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday
WORLD / Politics
Apr 26, 2024

Top U.S. and China diplomats talk tough amid warnings of new ‘downward spiral’

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi did not mince words when addressing a raft of contentious topics, including trade, Ukraine and Taiwan.

Longform

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