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A battery charge technology display at the Engie pavilion at the Paris Motor Show on Tuesday. Japan's EV market share remains significantly lower than in other countries, with only 2.2% of cars sold being battery EVs, compared to 18% in France and 25% in China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 18, 2024

Japan hopes electric cars are just a bad dream

Automakers face many setbacks in electrification, but Japan uniquely argues that the shift is not only logistically challenging but fundamentally misconceived.
Having learned from the experience of losing in the last election and from actions taken by similar movements elsewhere, another Trump administration would be far more effective at wielding — and maintaining — power.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2024

Why another Trump term would be worse than the first

A political movement with autocratic tendencies often becomes more ruthless and effective after experiencing electoral defeat.
Chieko Tsukahara, former head coach of the Japanese women's gymnastics team, died from stomach cancer on Sept. 1.
SPORTS
Oct 21, 2024

Former Olympic gymnast Chieko Tsukahara dies at 77

Olympic gymnasts Maiko Morio, Mari Kosuge and Koko Tsurumi are among those who trained under Tsukahara.
Men called seko watch bulls fight during the ushi no tsunotsuki event in the Yamakoshi district of Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, on Oct. 13.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 23, 2024

Bullfights continue as symbol of reconstruction after Niigata quake

The former village was devastated by a quake that struck the region in October 2004, killing 68 people and injuring 4,805 others.
Protesters, including supporters of Georgia's opposition parties, hold a rally to dispute the result of a recent parliamentary election won by the ruling Georgian Dream party, in Tbilisi, Georgia on Monday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 29, 2024

Georgia and Moldova votes show challenges of EU enlargement push

The EU has been making a renewed push to bring in new members since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
People ride scooters in heavy rain as Typhoon Kong-rey approaches Taiwan, in Yilan County on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 30, 2024

Taiwan battens down for Super Typhoon Kong-rey

The storm is expected to unleash "destructive" winds when it makes landfall on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration said.
A child holds on to their belongings while crossing from Lebanon into Syria at the Masnaa border crossing, Lebanon, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 31, 2024

Lebanon and Israel could agree to cease-fire within days: Lebanese PM

The statement comes as Israel's public broadcaster published what it said was a draft agreement providing for an initial 60-day truce.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris during a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday
WORLD / Politics
Nov 3, 2024

Harris and Trump nearly cross paths in final days of U.S. election campaign

The encounter was an apt illustration of how the two candidates are focusing on a handful of swing states in the final days of the campaign for president.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (center) visits the U.S.-Mexico border in Douglas, Arizona, on Sept. 27.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 4, 2024

The seven states that will decide the U.S. presidency

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump are hurtling toward their Nov. 5 election showdown.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) meets with President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in Moscow on Nov. 2.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2024

Russian sends 200 military instructors to Equatorial Guinea in West Africa push

The deployment fits into a wider pattern of waning Western influence in the region while offering Moscow funding opportunities.
Lindsey Vonn poses with her World Cup trophies after the season finale in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in March 2010.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 15, 2024

Lindsey Vonn coming out of retirement to rejoin U.S. Ski Team at age 40

Vonn, a three-time Olympic medalist and four-time overall World Cup champion, retired in 2019 after a bruising 18-year career during which she suffered several injuries.
Hiromi Yamamoto
ESG CONSORTIUM
Nov 25, 2024

Oji seeks optimal approaches to nurturing and utilizing forests

Oji Holdings, Japan’s leading paper maker, owns and manages 635,000 hectares of forests across the globe. Forest resources — for wood, paper and wood-derived materials or for biomass power generation — are attracting increased attention as sustainable resources. However, their sustainability hinges...
"Les Gouttes de Dieu" ("Drops of God") took home the award for best drama at the 52nd International Emmy Awards in New York on Monday. Starring Fleur Geffrier (left) and Tomohisa Yamashita, it's available on Hulu Japan, France Televisions and Apple+.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 26, 2024

French-Japanese series takes best drama at International Emmys

The joint French-Japanese-American production “Les Gouttes de Dieu” (“Drops of God”) is set in the world of wine and fine dining.
Discovered in the 1930s, the Geisha coffee plant came to worldwide fame in the early 2000s and now represents some of the best coffee on the planet — Tokyo's top cafes included.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 30, 2024

The Geisha bean is the leading lady of Tokyo's coffee scene

Named for a region of Ethiopia (and not Japan’s kimono-clad performers), Geisha has become the crown jewel of Tokyo’s flourishing specialty coffee scene.
Pete Hegseth, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be secretary of defense, speaks to reporters at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington on Nov. 21.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2024

Pete Hegseth’s mother accused her son of mistreating women for years

She said on Friday that she regretted the 2018 email and had apologized to him.
Charles Kushner attends the funeral for Ivana Trump, socialite and first wife of former U.S. President Donald Trump, at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in New York in July 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 1, 2024

Trump taps Charles Kushner, father of his son-in-law, as envoy to France

The choice is in keeping with Trump's pattern, so far, of selecting people, often wealthy, who are close to his family or of proven loyalty.
Sharp's plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, that has ceased production of large liquid crystal display panels for television, a symbolic end to the company's signature business.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 1, 2024

Sharp marks end of era with halt to large LCD panel production

Now owned by a Taiwanese investor, Sharp has also scaled back production of small and medium-sized LCD panels used in smartphones and personal computers.
Kim Seongmin, president of Free North Korea Radio, edits content for the station at his home on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul, on Nov. 21. Kim has cancer and was recently told that he has months to live.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 3, 2024

A North Korean voice that Kim Jong Un would like to silence

North Korean defectors have been infiltrating the North with outside media for two decades, through balloons floated across the border or radio broadcasts.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has, in rapid-fire fashion, named a spate of ideological warriors, conspiracy theorists and now even family members to senior government positions.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 3, 2024

Trump doubles down on defiance after collapse of Matt Gaetz selection

Trump, in rapid-fire fashion, has kept naming more ideological warriors, conspiracy theorists and now even family members to senior government positions.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who lost his bid for the Republican presidential nomination to Trump, was on an earlier list of potential defense secretary candidates but U.S. President-elect Donald Trump decided to go with Pete Hegseth, a report said Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 4, 2024

Trump considers replacing Hegseth with DeSantis to run Pentagon, report says

Pete Hegseth's nomination has run into trouble over allegations about his personal and professional life.
A TV screen broadcasts a news report of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law and a following announcement that he will lift the martial law after the measure was voted down by parliament, at a railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / EXPLAINER
Dec 5, 2024

How to impeach a South Korean president

A two-thirds majority in parliament needs to pass an impeachment motion, and the Constitutional Court will conduct a trial to either confirm or reject it.
An NBA logo on the facade of its flagship store in Beijing in 2019.
BASKETBALL
Dec 6, 2024

NBA to return to China for first time since 2019 fallout

No NBA games have been held in China since 2019 after a tweet from then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in support of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
People in cities across Japan will pop into their local convenience store for any number of products they believe will help them with a night of drinking.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Dec 6, 2024

Hangover cures are everywhere in Japan — but do they work?

Japan’s suspect remedies make up 20% of the world’s market for hangover cures, but their success lies more in marketing than science.
Naoya Inoue practices at the Ohashi Gym in Yokohama on Dec. 4
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Dec 14, 2024

Inoue world title fight off after Goodman suffers cut in training

Sam Goodman, the mandatory challenger for Inoue's WBO and IBF titles, needed four stitches and was told he could not fight for four weeks.
A rebel fighter inspects writings on a jail cell wall at the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate (GID) Branch 251, also known as Al-Khatib branch, in the capital Damascus on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 16, 2024

'Torture after torture': Turkish inmate recalls time in Syria's jails

The man said he paid the price for the hatred Syria's authorities bore for Turkey's president, who early in the war urged the Syrian president to leave.
Adriano gestures during his friendly farewell match at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium on Sunday.
SOCCER
Dec 17, 2024

Brazil's fallen 'Emperor' Adriano bids farewell to soccer

After the 2006 World Cup, he gradually lost his place in the national team and club soccer, plagued by weight and alcohol issues.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is launched for the Europa Clipper mission to study one of Jupiter's 95 moons, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Oct. 14.
WORLD
Dec 18, 2024

Power failed at SpaceX mission control before September spacewalk

The outage, which hasn't previously been reported, meant that SpaceX mission control was briefly unable to command its Dragon spacecraft in orbit.
Sammy Sosa hit a franchise-record 545 home runs for the Cubs.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 20, 2024

Sammy Sosa and Cubs set to reconcile after slugger apologizes for "mistakes"

Sosa, beloved among Cub fans during his 13 years with Chicago, has remained distant from the team since his final season with the club in 2004.
Protesters behead a statue of Saddam Hussein's predecessor, Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr, president of Iraq from 1968 to 1979, in Baghdad's al-Mansur district in May 2003, erasing one of the last symbols of the Baath Party's 35-year regime.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2024

Can lessons from Iraq's regime change be applied in Syria?

If regional tensions escalate, disruptions to energy supplies could impact global markets, including Japan, which remains disengaged despite the mounting crisis.
JR Kyushu concluded that it will not be able to guarantee the safety of the Queen Beetle high-speed passenger ferry operations even after safety measures are taken.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 24, 2024

JR Kyushu to end passenger ship operations after water leak incident

JR Kyushu Jet Ferry covered up a water leak incident on its high-speed passenger ferry linking Hakata Port with the city of Busan in South Korea.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan