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Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X, is interviewed at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 1, 2023

More advertisers likely to flee X after Musk tirade at conference

Elon Musk unleashed a profanity-laced rant against advertisers for fleeing the platform and accused the brands of "blackmail."
As well as writing scripts for movies and plays, Taichi Yamada was successful as a novelist, winning many prizes including the Yamamoto Shugoro award, given in 1988 for his novel "Ijintachi tono Natsu."
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 1, 2023

Screenwriter Taichi Yamada dies at 89

Yamada is known for popular TV dramas such as "Fuzoroi no Ringotachi" and "Otokotachi no Tabiji."
Activists dressed up like CEOs take part in a fake banquet near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Monday where they feign the celebration of company profits over climate responsibility.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2023

We already know what will happen at COP28

It’s beyond time to ask whether the COP gatherings work as they should. After all, we’ve had nearly three decades of summits
Rural China is now one place that is providing respite for young people. Zhang Boai, 20, joined a program that positions rural jobs not as stop-gaps but as lucrative commercial opportunities in their own right.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 4, 2023

China's graduates swap city dreams for farm life amid jobs crisis

As the world’s second-largest economy slows, young people are bearing the brunt of an unemployment crisis that’s leaving one of five of them jobless.
Pedestrians cross a street in the Zhongshan district of Taipei. Many voters on the island, especially those in their 20s and 30s, say they are weary of geopolitics and yearn for a campaign more focused on their needs at home.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 5, 2023

The wild card in Taiwan’s election: Frustrated young voters

Beyond geopolitics, they yearn for more focus on bread-and-butter issues such as rising housing costs, slow income growth and narrowing career prospects.
The former lead singer of The Pogues, Shane MacGowan, attends the funeral service of his mother in Silvermines, Ireland, in January 2017.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2023

The life of the Pogues' frontman and the ‘banality of crazy’ in U.S. politics

The current focus on performative acts in politics diminishes serious policy debates, leading to social and political divides.
Taiwan's Chief trade negotiator John Deng. Taipei is seeking to expand U.S. trade talks, as the island faces challenges from China in its effort to join the CPTPP.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 6, 2023

Taiwan looks to expand U.S. trade deal to counter isolation

The island’s trade officials are talking with their U.S. counterparts about broadening the scope of their current arrangement, reached earlier this year.
Tomo Kasajima (left) and Asami Shibuya rehearse a scene in Natsuka Kusano’s striking sophomore feature, “Domains.”
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2023

‘Domains’: Hypnotic and truly original

Natsuka Kusano’s experimental, multilayered drama breaks down a tragic event and probes how performances are constructed.
Yuri Kondo (center), the plaintiff of a dual nationality case, speaks during a news conference Wednesday in the city of Fukuoka after the Fukuoka District Court handed down a ruling on her case.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 6, 2023

Fukuoka court rules ban on dual nationality is constitutional

The court rejected an argument by a Japan-born plaintiff, who lost her citizenship after naturalizing as an American, that the law undermines her rights.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
WORLD / Politics
Dec 7, 2023

Italy withdraws from China's Belt and Road initiative

The long-expected decision was quietly communicated to Beijing three days ago without any official announcement.
The Climate Action Network holds an event at the venue of the U.N. climate change conferences in Dubai on Sunday to give its 'fossil' award to countries including Japan.
PODCAST / deep dive
Dec 7, 2023

Feeling anxious? Wastewater, heat and Japan’s year in climate

In a year that saw Japan release 24,000 tons of wastewater (so far) from Fukushima No. 1 as the planet smashed heat records, it’s no wonder climate anxiety is on the rise. Mara Budgen joins us to break down the year in environment news, where we could see hope, and what we should be worried about....
After becoming a TikTok trend in Japan in 2022, artist imase’s song “Night Dancer” found popularity abroad in 2023, particularly in South Korea, where it became the first Japanese song to ever enter the nation’s Melon Top 100 Song Chart.
CULTURE / Music / 2023 in Review
Dec 8, 2023

J-pop's global ambitions came closer to reality in 2023

Duo Yoasobi's "Idol" was a true international breakout, while a viral trend turned imase into a pop ambassador between Japan and South Korea.
The judges' tower in Teahupo'o in Tahiti, French Polynesia, during a pro surfing event in August. Residents of Teahupo'o have protested plans by Olympic organizers to build a 14 meter aluminum tower ahead of the 2024 Games.
OLYMPICS
Dec 8, 2023

Safety is top priority, Paris Games boss says amid surfing tower row

Last week, a barge bringing the aluminum tower to the Tahiti site of Teahupo'o damaged the coral reef, bringing work to a halt.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange. The volume of management buyouts in Japan has increased to the highest on record this year, jumping 170% from a year earlier to at least ¥870 billion.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2023

Surge in management buyouts gives extra boost to Japanese stocks

The volume of management buyouts has increased to the highest on record this year.
Justinas Stankus, 38, who came to Canada from Lithuania in 2019 and is studying at the University of Toronto, walks his dog in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
WORLD / Society
Dec 11, 2023

Canada's surging cost of living fuels reverse immigration

The rate of immigrants leaving Canada hit a two-decade high in 2019
Rina Gonoi, a former member of the Self-Defense Forces, who has accused colleagues of sexually assaulting her during her time in the military, speaks in Yokohama on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 11, 2023

Former Japanese soldier fights for justice in landmark sexual assault case

A former Self-Defence Forces member's yearslong fight for justice against the men she has accused of sexually assaulting her will reach a climax on Tuesday when a court delivers a verdict in a trial that has drawn international attention.
Gold ornaments on display for sale at a Chow Tai Fook jewellery store in Shanghai.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 11, 2023

Young Chinese spurn traditional investments in favor of gold

The trend underscores uncertainty about growth prospects in the world's second-largest economy, which has not recovered from COVID-19 as fast as expected.
Nio workers inspect a vehicle on an assembly line at the automaker’s factory in Hefei, China. China misjudged the rapid expansion of its electric vehicle sector, leaving a shortfall of skilled technicians as young people shun manufacturing careers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2023

China’s electric car factories can’t hire fast enough

A frenzy of construction and expansion of factories has made electricians and robotics specialists a hot commodity.
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber in Dubai on Monday
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 12, 2023

COP28 summit goes into overtime with new draft deal in works

The UAE's Sultan Al Jaber has the task of getting almost 200 countries to agree to a text that will govern the global fight against climate change.
Parents take their children for infusion treatment at a hospital in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 12, 2023

China’s battle with child pneumonia shows risks of drug resistance

In China nearly 80% of child cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae are resistant to macrolides, compared with under 10% elsewhere.
A Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric vehicle charges at Chaevi Stay Charging Station in Seoul on Oct. 18
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2023

South Korean auto-battery firms cautious on challenging China rivals

Feeding their worries is slowing growth in electric vehicle sales, price competition and the potential for changes in United States subsidies.
Armed men stand on a beach as the Galaxy Leader commercial ship, seized by Yemen's Houthis last month, is anchored off the coast of al-Salif, Yemen, on Dec. 5.
WORLD
Dec 13, 2023

With missiles and ship attacks, Yemen’s Houthis gain regional clout

In a major escalation of Houthi actions against Israel, the Iran-backed militia hit a Norwegian tanker on Monday with a cruise missile.
Shohei Ohtani is joining a franchise that has long been a trailblazer in an increasingly diverse and global game.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 13, 2023

In a land of stars, Los Angeles can’t stop talking about Ohtani

Dodgers fans were still beside themselves days after Ohtani agreed to the most lucrative contract in sports history.
Israeli soldiers light candles to mark the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah near the country's border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 14, 2023

Israelis want Hamas crushed despite Gaza casualties and U.N. rebuke

They consider the ongoing offensive — and the "terrible" cost that comes with it — as necessary in wiping out an existential threat, polls indicate.
Toranosuke Katayama is a photographer who's photo assignments lead him to become a soba researcher with 70 publications on the cuisine.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 22, 2023

Toranosuke Katayama: ‘Soba is about saving history and identity’

A photographer who chose to document soba for a book soon found himself drawn into the deeper world of the buckwheat noodle.
This savory-sweet cake can be made with either fish paste or shrimp — whichever you think will best guide you into 2024.
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Dec 17, 2023

Recipe: Good luck egg and fish rolls

The trickiest part of making “datemaki” is rolling it up — the rolled form is supposed to resemble a paper scroll, representing wishes for the new year.
Afghan youth cricketers take part in a training session at Mohammad Mirza Katawazai Cricket Centre in Kabul on Nov. 25.
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Dec 15, 2023

'Crazy for cricket': Young Afghans inspired by national team's success

From pickup games in dusty parks or narrow alleys to high-intensity training at well-kitted academies, young Afghans have cricket fever.
U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2023

Henoko base relocation project enters new phase in Okinawa

The project to relocate a U.S. military base to the Henoko coastal area is entering a new phase five years after land reclamation began there.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2018
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Dec 17, 2023

A made-in-Japan solution for space junk that goes against the grain

As space junk clogs Earth's orbit, a Kyoto University team has a new solution: wooden satellites.
The Yves-du-Manoir stadium, one of the venues for the 2024 Paris Olympics, after being modernized, in Colombes, northwest of Paris, on Monday.
OLYMPICS
Dec 19, 2023

Paris 1924 'Chariots of Fire' stadium ready for Games a century on

According to the organizers, the Yves-du-Manoir stadium will be the only 2024 Olympic venue to be hosting the Games for a second time.

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