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Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a Lower House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Monday
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 29, 2024

Japan's opposition eyes united front on political funds reform

Lawmakers are targeting cross-party cooperation on a variety of issues including the revision of the Political Funds Control Act.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has increasingly focused on hacking from China, Russia and elsewhere.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2024

U.S. disabled Chinese hackers targeting infrastructure: sources

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has increasingly focused on hacking from China, Russia and elsewhere.
A drill simulating a ballistic missile launch is held at the Higashinakano Station on the Toei Oedo Line on Jan. 15.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 30, 2024

Tokyo to create underground missile shelter in Azabu-Juban station

The move comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions, with Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike highlighting the "threat of ballistic missiles."
U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell holds a news conference after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington on Wednesday. Powell signaled that an interest rate cut as soon as in March is unlikely, as the central bank remains data-dependent when mulling its next steps.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 1, 2024

Fed cements pivot but pushes back on timing of cuts

Chair Jerome Powell said officials would move patiently and doused speculation that rate cuts would start at the next meeting.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida waits for the start of the Lower House Budget Committee in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

Parties clash over release of LDP's internal funds scandal probe

The opposition had demanded that the LDP publish a list of all party members responsible for the underreporting of political funds in the last five years.
Taylor Swift (right) cheers on her boyfriend Travis Kelce's team, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the AFC divisional round playoff game against the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York, on Jan. 21. The Chiefs will play the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 6, 2024

Taylor Swift rocks the world and drives the far right crazy

The “Swift effect” has become a force in both U.S. domestic politics and international relations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an interview with U.S. television host Tucker Carlson in Moscow on Tuesday. This is the first time the Russian leader has given an interview to a Western media figure since he ordered the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 9, 2024

Vladimir Putin takes hard line on Ukraine in Tucker Carlson interview

Russian president said he would consider negotiations if the U.S. stops supplying weapons to Kyiv.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro surrendered his passport to police last Thursday and four of his ex-aides have been arrested.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2024

Bolsonaro coup probe weakens Brazil's right-wing opposition

A social media survey showed 58% of posts were critical of Bolsonaro, while 42% were favorable, indicating that he still has considerable support.
Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto votes at a polling station during the general election in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 14, 2024

Prabowo on track to win Indonesia’s presidential election

This is Prabowo’s third time to run for the country’s top job, after losing in 2014 and 2019 to incumbent Joko "Jokowo" Widodo.
Former Giants star Hideki Matsui watches Yuto Akihiro take batting practice at the team's spring camp in Miyazaki on Saturday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Feb 15, 2024

Giants' new Godzilla Yuto Akihiro taps into Hideki Matsui's teachings to level up

Akihiro is the latest player to try and walk in Matsui's footsteps.
Displaced Palestinian children play as they take shelter at the border with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 16, 2024

Egypt setting up shelter area for Palestinians at Gaza border, sources say

Some 1.5 million Palestinians are currently in Rafah. A mass exodus into Egypt due to an Israeli offensive would be "a sort of nightmare."
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Thursday that a visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Pyongyang could materialize, but only if Tokyo met several caveats.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 16, 2024

North Korea-Japan summit push gains steam after remarks by Kim’s sister

A visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Pyongyang could materialize, but only if Tokyo met several caveats, Kim Yo Jong said.
Travelers at Shanghai Hongqiao railway station on Feb. 6. For the Feb. 10-17 period, there were 99.5 million rail trips made in China, a figure 36% higher than the comparable period in 2019.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 19, 2024

China’s new year travel and spending top pre-COVID levels

Some 474 million tourist trips were made around the country during the festival, which began Feb. 10 and concluded Saturday.
Demonstrators hold Iranian flags and a huge inflated figure representing Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei holding a nuclear bomb as they protest against the Iranian regime on Friday in Munich.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 20, 2024

Iran's nuclear enrichment exceeds commercial needs, says IAEA chief

The IAEA warned at the end of 2023 that Tehran already had enough material to make three nuclear bombs if it enriches material now at 60% to beyond 60%.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks on the second day of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 21, 2024

China-Europe ties worsen on Ukraine and disputes over trade

Beijing’s support for Russia has been a sticking point in relations with Europe.
Former economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who served as the Abe faction’s secretary-general for 10 months until August 2022, said the practice of returning portions of the income collected through fundraising parties to individual lawmakers was solely handled by the faction chairman and an administrative secretary.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 1, 2024

As ethics hearing unfolds, Diet falls into chaos over budget approval

The CDP sought to censure budget committee leader Itsunori Onodera over his decision to push through a final vote, and argued for more extensive debate.
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."
A 2015 protest against the construction of military infrastructure in Okinawa Prefecture. Many residents are also worried about the impact of a Taiwan contingency on their islands.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 4, 2024

Okinawa’s peace movement carves its own path

Many Okinawans worry about a Taiwan contingency and are angered by U.S. base relocation: Grievances that have given impetus to the islands' own diplomacy.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said it is already managing to enhance its tolerance to an anticipated rise in yen interest rates.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 6, 2024

Japan’s biggest bank readies for BOJ shift on rate policy within weeks

Hiroyuki Seki, head of global markets business at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, predicts that the BOJ will raise rates not once but twice by October.
Akira Toriyama
CULTURE
Mar 8, 2024

'Dragon Ball' creator Akira Toriyama dies at 68

A post announcing his death said Toriyama was “working on many projects” and that “there was so much more that he wanted to accomplish.”
Italian women are having fewer children — with some eschewing motherhood altogether.
WORLD / Society
Mar 11, 2024

Italian women are burying the myth of the mamma

Italy has one of the lowest birthrates in the world at 1.24 — well below the level needed for the population to sustain itself without immigration.
The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima remains an iconic symbol of the destruction of the atomic bomb on that city.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 12, 2024

Hiroshima grapples with 'Oppenheimer' Oscars success

While locals would have liked to see more Japanese representation in the film, they are at least happy that some discussion is taking place.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gives an interview at the Kremlin in Moscow on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 14, 2024

In preelection messaging, Putin less strident on nuclear war

In a lengthy television interview, Putin struck a softer tone than in his state-of-the-nation address last month.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani(left) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pose for a portrait on media day at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 21.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 14, 2024

See-through baseball pants become eye-opening controversy for MLB

The league's new uniforms have dominated the conversation during spring training.
A concept model of the Global Combat Air Programme's fighter jet is displayed at the DSEI Japan defense show at Makuhari Messe in Chiba in March 2023.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2024

Japan's ruling coalition approves export of future joint fighter jet

The step removes a potentially critical hurdle for the multinational Global Combat Aircraft Program involving the U.K. and Italy.
Pickleball courts in New York's famed Central Park
MORE SPORTS
Mar 15, 2024

Amid boom overseas, when will pickleball land in Japan?

Over the past few years, pickleball has emerged as the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., but it has yet to take off in Japan.
A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Longform
Mar 15, 2024

Akira Toriyama's gift to the world

The artist's impact was such that he should be considered alongside greats such as Walt Disney and Stan Lee when it comes to cultural contributions.
Ai Fukuhara at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Friday
JAPAN / Society
Mar 15, 2024

Ai Fukuhara reaches custody settlement after abduction accusation

Although the physical custody of their son as well as their daughter will be with her ex-husband, the couple will continue to have joint custody over them.
A screen at the headquarters of the Central Election Commission in Moscow shows the preliminary results of Russia's presidential election on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

West decries Putin's reelection while China and India vow closer ties

The contrasting reactions underscore the geopolitical fault lines that have gaped wider since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

Longform

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