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Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 21, 2023

Kishida takes ‘global green’ initiative to the Middle East

Middle East countries are keen to diversify their economies, reducing their reliance on oil and gas for revenue. Japan hopes to assist in that transition.
Lighting fireworks on Myeongpa Beach, where families can camp near the DMZ border, in Goseong-gun, South Korea, on July 30, 2022. ​In recent years, northern counties of South Korea have become unlikely tourist destinations, attracting people drawn to the history of the DMZ.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 27, 2023

Life along the Korean DMZ, 70 years after the fighting ended

After nearly eight decades of living separated across the tightly sealed border​, many South Koreans see reunification as a distant dream.
The emergency vacuum building sits south of the reactor site at the Darlington Nuclear generating station in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, in April 2016.
WORLD
Aug 1, 2023

Canada turns to nuclear after 30-year pause amid demand surge

There are plans to make a plant the world’s largest and a pledge to add three small modular reactors to a site where another is already being built.
A new high-rise is erected in Beijing in October 2021. The same year, 41% of the assets in China’s banking system were accounted for by property-related loans and credit.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2023

Is Japan’s economic past China’s future?

China is facing a long period of low growth similar to Japan’s experience since the 1990s.
A courtroom sketch shows former U.S. President Donald Trump taking an oath during a court appearance in Washington on Thursday
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 6, 2023

Civics lesson or reality TV? Calls grow to broadcast Trump trial

Lawyers and politicians in the U.S. are lining up to urge that cameras be allowed inside the courtroom.
A participant operates the "Flappy Bird," a self-made flying machine, during an event in Hong Kong in May 2014. Vietnam first caught the attention of global gamers in 2013 after Hanoi developer Dong Nguyen created, Flappy Bird, a simple but addictive game app.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 7, 2023

A decade after Flappy Bird, Vietnam becomes gaming powerhouse

Moving beyond outsourced software and sneaker factories, Hanoi views mobile games as a crucial part of its emerging tech sector.
Japan midfielder Yui Hasegawa controls the ball during a training session in Auckland on Tuesday.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Aug 11, 2023

Rejuvenated Nadeshiko Japan 'ready to fight against anyone'

Japan, a sagging power suddenly revived, might be the most impressive contender remaining in the Women's World Cup.
Workers at a WeWork coworking office in London
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 11, 2023

Flexible work will survive despite gloomy corporate signals

A growing body of research, trend data and surveys show that flexibility matters, and that work is now a thing we do, not a place we go.
At the inaugural World Lambrusco Day held this June, the sparkling wine took center stage beneath the Eiffel Tower.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 20, 2023

Passe or sparkling, Lambrusco can get you through a Tokyo summer

Fizzy, fruity and tantalizingly affordable, the sparkling red wine from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region is a convivial antidote to the summertime blues.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with a payload of 21 Starlink satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 27.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 18, 2023

Starlink lifts off in Asia as satellite internet race heats up

Elon Musk's company has carved out a niche and an opportunity through the region's natural disasters and the vast sweep of its archipelagoes and islands.
Washington is worried that Beijing’s struggles with high unemployment and an aging workforce make China “a ticking time bomb.”
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2023

America’s ‘new’ China narrative: A wounded dragon

The new China narrative is really about the West, its lead in technologies, the free market, wielding power and keeping all challengers at bay.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his remarks during the 2023 BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 26, 2023

Bigger isn’t necessarily better for the future of BRICS

Shared grievances may bind them, but they are not enough to fuel concerted action to challenge the dominace of the West.
An efficient, just-in-time strategy for manufacturing made Toyota’s production system famous.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 30, 2023

Toyota shuts factories, investors shrug. That’s resilience.

An efficient, just-in-time strategy for manufacturing made Toyota’s production system famous.
As China slips into deflation, one word is popping up more and more to describe the gloomy atmospherics: "Japanification."
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 30, 2023

'Japanification' for China? It should be so lucky.

China is not on the path to global dominance nor set for collapse, and observers should consider the various shades of gray in analyzing these countries.
Mizuki Yoneyama is the Kodo taiko troupe's first female odaiko (large-scale drum) player, an indication that things are changing in the traditional community.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 2, 2023

For these women, taiko drumming is no longer a man's art

Ensemble taiko shows were developed in the 1950s, primarily by male leaders. Women taking part in Kodo’s early recitals only performed dance routines.
Southeast Asian officials at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 5, 2023

ASEAN leaders seek to assert bloc's relevance at annual summit

ASEAN is seeking to clarify its relevance as cracks emerge in its response to the conflict in Myanmar.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel talks to local fishermen on Thursday to show his support for the water discharge from the nearby Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 5, 2023

Fukushima water disposal is leadership opportunity for Japan

Some 1,000 storage tanks that hold the water are almost full and more tanks can’t be installed as they would interfere with the plant’s decommissioning.
Panelists led by Kenya's President William Ruto (center) conduct a session during the Africa Climate Summit 2023 in Nairobi on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 6, 2023

'Unfair' global finance system in focus at Africa climate talks

The Nairobi summit hopes to boost investment in renewables, with the UAE pledging $4.5 billion to accelerate Africa's clean energy transition.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference in California on May 2
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 7, 2023

California governor signs executive order to explore AI risks

The directive comes as Washington and other governments struggle with how to regulate artificial intelligence technology.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 11, 2023

North Korean weapons cache gives Kim a role in the Kremlin’s invasion

Kim Jong Un is expected to cross into Russia this week for his first trip outside the peninsula in four years for talks with Vladimir Putin.
Emperor Naruhito greets newly appointed reconstruction minister Shinako Tsuchiya during the attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Wednesday following Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet reshuffle.
EDITORIALS
Sep 15, 2023

Kishida's Cabinet shuffle will make little difference

It will take more than new faces — and inexperienced ministers — to address the issues that bedevil the Kishida government and the country.
Japan's Asaeli Ai Valu (left) and Atsushi Sakate celebrate with a Japanese flag after defeating Chile in their opening game of the Rugby World Cup in Toulouse, France, on Sept. 10.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Sep 16, 2023

Giant-slaying Japan turns attention to England at Rugby World Cup

Japan will have another chance to take down a rugby powerhouse when it meets England at the World Cup.
Striking UAW autoworkers demonstrate at a rally in downtown Detroit on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Sep 18, 2023

How auto executives misread the UAW and ignited a historic strike

UAW president Shawn Fain’s aggressiveness reflects the mood of the American worker: anxious about job security and angry about a ballooning wealth gap.
Mia Lee Sorensen with her Danish mother, Lilian Hansen, 72, and father, Bent Hansen, 74, on the coast of Korsor, Denmark, on July 13. South Korean adoptees have been returning to the country to hold the government accountable for what they call a corrupt and predatory adoption system.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 18, 2023

World’s largest ‘baby exporter’ confronts its painful past

South Korean adoptees have been returning to the country to hold the government accountable for what they call a corrupt adoption system.
Yuki Tsunoda takes part in a practice session on Day 1 of the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Sep 22, 2023

Tsunoda races into Suzuka as his F1 career reaches critical stage

The driver's homecoming to a track he knows all too well comes as his long-term future at the pinnacle of motorsport remains uncertain.
Members of the Writers Guild of America picket outside of Universal Studios in Universal City, California, on Friday.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Sep 25, 2023

Striking Hollywood writers reach tentative deal with studios

The WGA settlement, while a milestone, will not return Hollywood to work. The SAG-AFTRA actors' union remains on strike.
A reporter raises their hand during a Johnny & Associates news conference on Monday. Journalists were limited to a “one question per company” at the event.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 4, 2023

Johnny’s news conference had journalist ‘blacklist,' reports say

Johnny & Associates has said it never made a request that specific journalists be passed over for questions.
Taiwan has become a hot spot that is capable of precipitating a military conflict between China and the United States, and possibly even a nuclear war.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2023

Applying Chinese wisdom to resolve the Taiwan issue

Some 70 years after the Chinese Civil war ended, do the winners of that war still think that violence is the way to achieve unification with Taiwan?
The Singapore skyline
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 6, 2023

The rich are flocking to Singapore as bankers stick with Hong Kong

From Singapore’s earliest years as an independent state, it has aimed to be one of the key locales through which the world’s money flows.
From happōshu to real beer, Japan’s tax changes aim to improve brewing quality and prices.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 6, 2023

Amid rising costs, why is Japan making beer cheaper?

A 350-milliliter can of brew costs drinkers about ¥7 (5 cents) less from October, thanks to changes in the country’s tax system.

Longform

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