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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) sits next to digital minister Taro Kono while speaking at a government review meeting on the My Number national identification cards.
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 10, 2023

Why is modernizing Japan so darn tough?

Reporter Gabriele Ninivaggi joins us to break down how Japan’s digitalization hiccups risk exposing how backward things are.
Tomohiko Sato (center) wrote a book titled "Yamakei Shinsho Tokyo Bon Odori Tengoku Odoru Meguru Tanoshimu" ("Tokyo Bon Dance Heaven").
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 12, 2023

Tomohiko Sato: 'The only rule is to dance the way the locals do'

Tomohiko Sato may be Japan’s only “Bon-bassador,” and his love for the Bon dance makes him a true representative for this summer tradition.
The U.S. Federal Reserve building in Washington
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 14, 2023

The Fed is playing a waiting game to try to avoid a recession

An increasing number of economists — including the Federal Reserve’s own staff — are predicting the U.S. will escape a recession.
A harvesting combine burns after hitting an anti-tank mine in a wheat field near the village of Vilkhivka, in Ukraine's Kharkiv Region, in July 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2023

Feed the people, not the factory farms

There can be no excuse for Russia, in pursuit of its war of aggression against Ukraine, to target that country’s grain exports.
Researchers have developed a new method to analyze climate history and their findings align with current climate models.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 6, 2023

Science offers closer look at the Medieval Warming Period

Medieval Warming Period saw a population boom in Europe and the collapse of civilizations in the Americas
Chinese leaders seem to believe the country has a narrow window of opportunity to achieve global preeminence before unfavorable demographic and geopolitical trends catch up with it.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2023

China’s dangerous secrets

China's secretive approach to projects and activities, including its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, should be a significant concern.
A playful photo of Japanese female politicians on a work trip to Paris drew much criticism back home. The backlash may be one of the reasons women choose to avoid public service.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2023

Japan has a misery-loves-company problem

The backlash to government officials' lighthearted moment is a prime example of how to undermine workers.
If you've come to the realization that divorce is the only way forward, there are a host of details about the Japanese marriage system to confirm before you're finally ready to cut ties.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Aug 21, 2023

Navigating the notorious gauntlet of divorce in Japan

Everyone wishes for “happily ever after” no matter where you’re from, but Japan recorded 1,671 bicultural divorces in 2021.
The color of a red torii gate in Bushidaira, Saitama Prefecture, still stands out against a vibrant green backdrop.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Aug 18, 2023

Exploring the eerie beauty of Japan's abandoned villages

Depopulation and an aging society have turned parts of the countryside into tourist attractions for those eager to explore a forgotten era.
The wedded rocks of Meoto Iwa in Mie Prefecture.
JAPAN / History
Aug 20, 2023

Good and evil defined by God … or gods

Much of our understanding of good and evil can be traced to definitions created by religion. Which religion (and definition) depends on where you live.
It is still unclear whether BA.2.86 will be able to out-compete other strains of the virus that causes COVID-19, or have any advantage in escaping immune responses from prior infection or vaccination.
WORLD / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Aug 21, 2023

What you need to know about BA.2.86, the new COVID variant

Scientists are keeping an eye on the new lineage because it has 36 mutations that distinguish it from the currently dominant XBB.1.5 variant.
With temperatures around the world reaching record highs this summer, you may want to reconsider which sunscreen you are using, experts say, as not all sunscreens are the same.
WORLD / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Aug 21, 2023

Extreme heat may mean using a different sunscreen

The two major types — mineral and chemical — handle the sun's ultraviolet rays differently and during extremely hot weather, those differences can matter.
The Chinese Ministry of State Security said Monday it is investigating a 39-year-old ministry official identified by his surname Hao for providing information to the CIA in exchange for money.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 21, 2023

China deepens espionage crackdown targeting spies for the CIA

China said it found another case of an individual informing the CIA, adding to a series of espionage accusations between the two nations.
Rice planting in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki Prefecture. Satellite data could greatly improve how global farmers respond to climate change.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 21, 2023

How satellites are helping farmers adapt to global warming

Farther than the eye can see, advances in satellite data are giving global farmers the tools to better manage their fields in a rapidly changing climate.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Aug. 18. Putin’s authority as a guarantor of stability has taken a big hit in the wake of the mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 21, 2023

Putin turns to ruble and ballot to shore up shaken authority

Despite growing misgivings among Russia’s elites, for the regular voter, Putin remains wildly popular.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a ministerial meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 22, 2023

Japan to begin releasing treated Fukushima water Thursday

Despite fishing cooperatives' lingering worries of reputational damage, the government will go ahead with its plan.
Shinobu Yamanaka, a mom of three sons and director of a day care facility in Konan, Kochi Prefecture, serves up to eight "members" six days a week.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Aug 22, 2023

Kochi dementia care center aims to set new paradigm in Japan

A new generation of people with Alzheimer’s in Japan are trying to change not only dementia care but also social attitudes toward patients.
An office worker in London. A new report found that 36% of so-called workpoints — cubicles and desks — are never occupied, "indicating a general oversupply.”
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 23, 2023

More than one-third of desks globally sit empty all week long

The dearth of desk usage could prompt employers to rethink their real estate needs.
A demonstration is held in Hong Kong on Thursday over the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 24, 2023

The Fukushima hysteria has a lesson for the nuclear renaissance

From the reaction prior to the Fukushima release across Asia, you’d think Tokyo was embarking on a program to poison the region’s water supplies.
Matt Daniels of the Buffalo Bills Wheelchair Football Team moves with the ball during a scrimmage against the Cleveland Browns Adaptive Sports team in Cleveland on Aug. 5, 2023.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 24, 2023

Wheelchair football provides camaraderie amid metal-on-metal clashes

Dawson Broad was instantly drawn to wheelchair football after attending a game in Buffalo.
The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% in March, the lowest level ever recorded in the monthly data, but then rose to 6% in June, showing how erratic it can be.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2023

The mysterious fall and rise of Black unemployment

After a roller-coaster move this spring, it’s now essentially back to where it was in February. How much is statistical noise?
Karen Hill Anton's “A Thousand Graces" centers on a young woman who takes her first steps toward adulthood by leaving her home in the countryside to go to college and live on her own terms.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 27, 2023

An intimate portrayal of resisting society’s expectations

Set in the 1970s, Karen Hill Anton’s novel captures a woman’s emotional struggle to bear the pressures of Japanese society while pursuing her dreams.
The biggest search for the Loch Ness Monster in five decades takes place in the Scottish Highlands on Saturday, as researchers and enthusiasts from around the world meet to try to track down the elusive Nessie.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 26, 2023

Loch Ness set for biggest monster hunt in decades

The expedition will deploy drones with thermal scanners, boats with infrared cameras and an underwater hydrophone to try to unravel the mystery.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Kursk during World War II in Russia's Kursk region on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 26, 2023

Russia pushes long-term influence operations aimed at U.S. and Europe

Russian spy agencies are using the techniques to hide the Kremlin’s involvement in cultivating pro-Russia messages, a U.S. analysis has shown.
A leaf of a sorghum plant after it was eaten by a crop-eating armyworm at a farm in Settlers, South Africa
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 26, 2023

Climate change is helping pests and diseases destroy our food

Pests and diseases are exacerbating crop shortages that have sent prices for goods like cocoa, olive oil and orange juice soaring.
Since Waifu began, inclusivity goals have become more common in clubs across Tokyo.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 26, 2023

Queer clubbing moves beyond Ni-chome

Those looking for a safe space to party don't have to stick to one neighborhood in the capital.
Residents embrace after a deadly shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, killed three.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 27, 2023

Florida gunman driven by racial 'hate' kills three

The deadly incident in Jacksonville is the latest in a series of racially motivated shooting sprees in the United States.
Ukrainian servicemen fire small multiple launch rocket systems toward Russian troops near a front line in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Aug. 19.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 28, 2023

Ukraine’s slow offensive buoys Putin and worries allies

More than two months into its counteroffensive, Kyiv has so far managed to make only tactical advances against heavily dug-in Russian forces.
Mount Fuji has seen a large increase in the number of hikers, prompting a local government to devise new ways to control visitor numbers.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2023

Yamanashi governor proposes light rail system for Mount Fuji

The rail system, intended to address over-tourism, would replace the Fuji Subaru highway, which leads to one of the Mount Fuji’s fifth stations.
Czech firefighters watch smoke rising as a wildfire burns at the Dadia National Park in the region of Evros, Greece, on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 30, 2023

Wildfire-preparation tactics every community should consider

Looking at lessons from past disastrous fires, here are steps that can help reduce fire risk at the home and community level.

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