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Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida accepts a gift of 'dekopon' citruses, a specialty product and symbol of Kumamoto Prefecture, from Kumamon, itself a mascot and instantly recognizeable symbol of the region.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Oct 28, 2024

Japan’s ‘meibutsu’-industrial complex is a wonder to behold

If you name a Japanese prefecture, many locals will instantly be able to tell you something that the region is famous for or a product synonymous with that area.
Family members carry the body of Widman Alexander Tax Chinic on June 19 in Yepocapa, Guatemala. He drowned months earlier while trying to cross into the U.S.
WORLD / Society
Oct 26, 2024

In Guatemala, families mourn the migrants who never reached the U.S.

For the families in mourning, the U.S. election campaigning about immigration and the salvos about who is doing what to secure the border are far away.
Georgian oligarch and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili gives a speech Tbilisi on Saturday as Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze looks on.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 27, 2024

Ruling party set to win Georgia election amid opposition protests

If the partial results confirm the victory of the Georgian Dream party, the country could be heading for closer ties with neighboring Russia.
A Tohoku Electric Power official explains the process of loading nuclear fuel into the No. 2 reactor of the Onagawa nuclear power plant in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, on Sept. 6.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 27, 2024

Onagawa No. 2 nuclear reactor set for restart amid mixed local reception

Some living around the power plant have expressed understanding for the restart while others are concerned over the possibility of an accident.
United Nations' vehicles escort a damaged truck that was reportedly used by workers of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, in Gaza last week.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2024

Japan and others concerned over Israeli bill against UNRWA

The bill, now being debated by Israel's parliament, is aimed in part at revoking UNRWA's privileges and immunities.
Katsuko Kurikawa shows the damage done by bears to her chestnut tree.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Chugoku
Nov 4, 2024

Uptick in bear sightings prompts policy shift from conservation to control

Hunting the Asian black bear in the Western Chugoku Mountains has been banned in principle since 1994.
Japanese comedian and Shohei Ohtani impersonator Aki Teriyaki has been to every MLB game Ohtani's teams have played since 2022.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 28, 2024

Meet the tiny, but mighty, Shohei Ohtani impersonator who went to 500 MLB games

Japanese comedian and Shohei Ohtani impersonator Aki Teriyaki has been to every MLB game Ohtani's teams have played since 2022.
"Nenaiko Dareda," a picture book written by author Keiko Sena, in which a night-owl child is spirited away to a world of ghosts, became a bestseller, with cumulative sales exceeding 3 million copies.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 28, 2024

Japanese picture book author Keiko Sena dies at 92

Sena, creator of works such as "Nenaiko Dareda," was popular for her collages that portray characters in an expressive way.
A damaged sign at the headquarters of UNRWA following an Israeli raid in Gaza City on July 12
WORLD
Oct 29, 2024

Israel bans U.N. aid agency as its tanks trap 100,000 civilians in north Gaza

The law banning the U.N. relief agency UNRWA from operating inside Israel alarms some Western allies who fear it will worsen the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israeli soldiers outside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in central Gaza (UNRWA) on Feb. 8
WORLD
Oct 29, 2024

UNRWA's role as a lifeline for Palestinians through decades of conflict

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees was banned from operating in Israel by the Israeli parliament on Monday.
One shortcoming of the Freelance Act — a new law designed to improve the working conditions of freelancers — is that freelancers and clients don't know much about it.
JAPAN / Explainer
Oct 31, 2024

What is the Freelance Act, Japan’s first-ever law to help freelancers?

The law introduces new measures to help self-employed workers. However, some shortcomings remain, experts say.
Boeing workers hold signs during a strike rally for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers at the Seattle Union Hall in Seattle, Washington, on Oct. 15.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 1, 2024

Striking Boeing workers set to vote on union-endorsed 38% wage hike offer

The vote on Monday, if approved, would be a boost for new CEO Kelly Ortberg, who is pushing for a "fundamental culture change" at the beleaguered company.
Cream-filled 'maritozzo' buns are just one of the many sweet treats on offer at Japanese convenience stores.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 3, 2024

Exploring the ‘B-gourmet wonderland’ of Japanese convenience stores

Tourists who obsess over 7-Eleven and FamilyMart can seem a bit absurd, but there's no denying the integral role these stores have in daily life in Japan.
Democratic Party for the People chief Yuichiro Tamaki’s personal YouTube channel has more than 326,000 subscribers, by far the highest number among party leaders.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 1, 2024

How Japan’s new kingmaker party won over young voters

The Democratic Party for the People's election gains can be traced to two different factors: its youth-oriented policies and skillful use of social media platforms.
Suzumi Suzuki’s “Gifted,” translated by Allison Markin Powell, centers on a hostess working in Kabukicho. Rather than focusing on the protagonist’s occupation, the story plunges the reader into her strained relationship with her dying mother.  
CULTURE / Books
Nov 3, 2024

A nuanced glimpse into the cloistered world of Kabukicho

Drawing on her own experience working in adult entertainment, Suzumi Suzuki crafts a fresh, visceral work for her debut novel, "Gifted"
Nobuaki Koga, former president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, speaks about receiving this year's Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2024

Japan recognizes 3,987 people in autumn honors

Among the recipients are Nobuaki Koga, the former president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, and former Environment Minister Sakihito Ozawa.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 20 and former U.S. President Donald Trump in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Aug. 15
WORLD / Politics
Nov 4, 2024

Harris makes last-minute appeals while Trump embraces violent rhetoric

Opinion polls show Donald Trump and Kamala Harris locked in a tight presidential race.
Royal Canadian Navy Commander Vice Adm. Angus Topshee inspects an honor guard with Maritime Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Adm. Akira Saito during a meeting at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 4, 2024

Canada Navy chief sees more chances for multiservice exercises with Japan

Ottawa has been gradually boosting its military engagement with Asian partners since unveiling its Indo-Pacific Strategy in late 2022.
A worker clears away snow as last-minute grocery shoppers leave a Market Basket supermarket during a fast-moving winter storm in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Feb. 13.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 5, 2024

In a changing climate, retailers turn to weather data predictions

Weather data, once used strictly for inventory planning, is now helping retailers localize advertising and decide when to discount seasonal items such as sweaters.
Takao Doi, a former astronaut and professor at Kyoto University, holds an engineering model of LignoSat wooden satellite during an interview at the university on Oct. 25.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2024

World's first wooden satellite, developed in Japan, heads to space

The palm-sized satellite is tasked to demonstrate the cosmic potential of the renewable material as humans explore living in space.
The Tubassadors are (from left) Tomohiro Sosogi, Kazuto Shikada, Soen Tamura and Keisuke Nishibu.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 5, 2024

The Tubassadors hope to change the tuba’s tune

Orchestras aren't known for tuba solos in their performances. However, this Tokyo-based quartet puts the instrument front and center.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks during a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 6, 2024

Elon Musk-led election falsehoods hang over vote as tally begins

Elon Musk has become Republican candidate Donald Trump’s most high-profile donor and supporter.
Unattended picket signs are piled up outside a Boeing facility in Seattle on Monday, after unionized workers voted to end their strike.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 6, 2024

Boeing CEO in battle to mend rifts after bitter strike ends

The strike exposed divides that run right through the company.
A cruel twist of fate upends the life of Jin Ai-hsia (Sylvia Chang) in "Daughter's Daughter," director Huang Xi's meditation on maternal grief.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2024

Chinese ghosts and grief compete at Tokyo International Film Festival

A slate of evocative features at Tokyo's major film event showcased established and upcoming directors from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Gary Perlman has developed a kabuki adaptation of “Madame Butterfly” that he hopes will be performed 100 years from now.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 7, 2024

Gary Perlman: ‘Kabuki is pure entertainment … the characters and themes are universal’

In adapting "Madame Butterfly" for kabuki, the man behind the production hopes to reframe the tale with stronger female characters.
A child looks out of a tent at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) school-turned-camp for internally displaced people in Deir el-Balah on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

U.N. to Israel: Replacing UNRWA relief agency would be your responsibility

The United Nations has repeatedly said there is no alternative to UNRWA.
Indian and Bangladeshi girls rescued from sexual exploitation stand near the window of a house provided by a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Kolkata on Sept. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 7, 2024

Trafficked: The girls sold for sex in India

A 2023 U.S. report on trafficking said that India is making "significant efforts" but still falls below minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
One irony of the U.S. election outcome is that, on almost every issue that voters identified as a priority, Donald Trump’s proposals would likely make matters worse.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2024

Once again, America needs to deal with Donald Trump

Dealing with a reckless president is an exhausting job, but it can and must be done — and it’s a job for members of both parties.
An AI robot is cast into a wild environment and forced to adapt to her surroundings in “The Wild Robot.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 8, 2024

TIFF’s animation entries rediscovered the art of the fable at this year's festival

This year’s animated lineup championed nature, connection and simplicity through stories that revel in the beauty of coexistence.
Beyonce accepts the Innovator award during the iHeartRadio Music Awards at Dolby Theater in Los Angeles in April.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 9, 2024

Beyonce leads Grammy nods after trailblazing country album

This year's awards ceremony, held in February 2025, is shaping up to be a battle of pop titans including Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan.

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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