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Manga illustrations displayed in a room of the renovated Former Residence of Theodora Ozaki in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on Thursday
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2024

Tokyo building from Meiji Era to reopen as manga attraction

After renovations, the building will open as a facility with a gallery exhibiting original manga copies and illustrations.
Taylor Swift attends Super Bowl LVIII between the Chiefs and 49ers in Las Vegas on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 12, 2024

Superstar Taylor Swift attends Super Bowl to cheer on Chiefs' Travis Kelce

The Super Bowl got an early jolt of excitement on Sunday when enormous TV screens around the stadium showed Swift arriving about two hours before kickoff.
Singer Taylor Swift celebrates with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce after Kansas City's win in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 12, 2024

Taylor Swift gets share of spotlight as Chiefs win second straight Super Bowl

The 34-year-old was the brightest in a galaxy of stars attending the game.
Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan friar and a professor at the Gregorian, the Harvard of Rome's pontifical universities, in his office at the university in Rome on Jan. 29. Benanti advises the Vatican and the Italian government on navigating the tricky questions — moral and otherwise — raised by artificial intelligence.
WORLD / Society
Feb 14, 2024

The friar who became the Vatican’s go-to guy on AI

Father Paolo Benanti, an ethics professor and self-proclaimed geek, spends his days thinking about the Holy Ghost and the ghosts in the machines.
The SpaceX Starbase in Brownsville, Texas, in August 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2024

SpaceX fined $3,600 over 'near amputation' as safety incidents mount

An investigation late last year found that Musk’s rocket company disregarded worker-safety regulations and standard practices at its facilities nationwide.
A Ukrainian soldier walks next to a howitzer while waiting for it to fire toward Russian positions, in the Donetsk region last month.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 15, 2024

Democracy slides amid wars and political polarization, study says

Standards across the world fell amid the spread of wars, authoritarian crackdowns and declining levels of trust in mainstream political parties.
Singer Crystal Kay reunites with producer Taku Takahashi for her single “That Girl,” which dips into the sounds of the 2000s as well as the modern thump of Jersey Club, a high-energy American style of dance music.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 16, 2024

Crystal Kay's star sparkles anew with Gen Z fans

The singer marks the 25th anniversary of her debut in J-pop with new single, "That Girl."
Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto came onto the scene in 1987 with “Kitchin.” In it, her main character talks about the comfort she finds in her kitchen.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 16, 2024

Take your first dive into Japanese literature from the comfort of your kitchen

There are levels to understanding Japanese literature. First there's basic comprehension, but after that you can take time to appreciate the wordplay.
At the Akan International Crane Center, just north of the city of Kushiro proper, visitors can see the majestic red-crowned crane — a symbol of Hokkaido.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Feb 17, 2024

Faces of the north: A Hokkaido town grapples with depopulation

Residents of Kushiro face an issue that more and more communities in Japan are having to deal with. The city may be young, but it's rich with tradition.
Even after getting married, Sanae (Ai Hashimoto, right) is unable to get over an ex-boyfriend whom she attempted to murder years earlier in “After the Fever.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 17, 2024

‘After the Fever’: Tortured ex-lovers’ drama descends into theatrics

Yasutaka Watanabe’s cinematography elevates Akira Yamamoto’s otherwise exhausting film about a woman’s intense obsession with a former boyfriend.
A young man (Ayumu Nakajima) argues over trivial matters with his love interest in “This Hamburger Has No Pickles.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 17, 2024

‘This Hamburger Has No Pickles’: A hefty helping of awkward heart-to-hearts

Satoshi Kimura’s rambling rom-com offers a peek into the lives of entangled adults struggling to communicate with each other.
Police officers detain a woman during a gathering in memory of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, near the Wall of Grief in Moscow on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2024

Risking arrest, Russians mourn Navalny in small acts of protest

Bouquets at the Wall of Grief become a form of dissent in a country where such action could result in detention.
Tourists in Tokyo's Asakusa district ditch their jackets amid unseasonably warm temperatures in the capital and across Japan on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Feb 18, 2024

Preparing for the hottest year Japan has ever seen

In 2023, summer heat persisted across Japan well into the fall. Predictions by scientists indicate 2024 could be even worse.
“The Rise and Fall of the EAST” author Yasheng Huang blames the “keju,” the imperial national civil service exam, for the decline in China’s technological innovation. Its influence continues in the “gaokao,” the annual university entrance exam that high school students take in June.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 19, 2024

‘The Rise and Fall of the EAST’: China’s ancient successes paint worrying picture of its future

Economist Yasheng Huang delves into the impact of the "keju" imperial national civil service exam on the ebb and flow of China’s technological innovation.
Travelers at Shanghai Hongqiao railway station on Feb. 6. For the Feb. 10-17 period, there were 99.5 million rail trips made in China, a figure 36% higher than the comparable period in 2019.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 19, 2024

China’s new year travel and spending top pre-COVID levels

Some 474 million tourist trips were made around the country during the festival, which began Feb. 10 and concluded Saturday.
Anastasiia Pelykh (left) and Daria Datsenko talk about their lives in Japan after evacuating from Ukraine during an interview in Kyoto earlier this month.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 19, 2024

Two years after invasion, Ukrainians in Japan forge their own paths

A pair of women have taken different paths, but echoed the same refrain: They want the war to end as soon as possible so they can see their families.
Italy's Ange Capuozzo in action with Ireland's Craig Casey at Dublin's Aviva Stadium on Feb. 11.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Feb 20, 2024

Capuozzo defends Italy's place in Six Nations ahead of France test

Italy heads to Lille on Sunday to play France, facing the possibility of earning another Six Nations wooden spoon.
A man who struggles with a panic disorder (Hokuto Matsumura, left) and his colleague (Mone Kamishiraishi) who suffers from severe premenstrual syndrome learn to support each other in “All the Long Nights.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 22, 2024

‘All the Long Nights’: Leads’ chemistry delivers in heartwarming drama

Sho Miyake’s observant film, which explores the healing powers of a heartfelt friendship, is enhanced by evocative visual and aural beauty.
A bloody demonic outbreak strikes Japan in “Visitors: Complete Edition.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 22, 2024

‘Visitors’ revels in all its gory glory with deadpan humor

Kenichi Ugana’s extended version of his brilliant splatter short is endearingly shaggy — and messy.
After stints working in New Zealand and Germany, Yoshitada Katsuki opened his winery in his home prefecture of Miyazaki in order to work with grapes his own way.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 24, 2024

Despite ‘inhospitable’ Miyazaki, Katsuki Wines stays au naturel

For pest control, Yoshitada Katsuki applies to vines a solution of vinegar, sugar and local shōchū that he jokes “lets bugs get drunk before dying.”
Yasuhiro Otomo and Miku Narisawa during one of Odyssey Nature Japan's educational fishing programs.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 22, 2024

A young 3/11 survivor and her vow to protect the ocean

At 12, Miku Narisawa experienced a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami that destroyed her home. Now she is working to protect it.
Zazen Boys (from left: So Yoshikane, Shutoku Mukai, Miya and Atsushi Matsushita) released “Rando,” its first original album in 12 years, last month. The 13-song collection features the sonic hallmarks of the band while also reflecting a new focus on the everyday, informed by frontman Mukai’s bike rides through Tokyo’s residential areas and sleepy side streets.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 23, 2024

Character studies of city folk reinvigorate Zazen Boys

Frontman Shutoku Mukai brings a newfound focus on ordinary life and youth to his rock project's first original album in 12 years.
An adult Natsuki (Manami Goto, center) and her husband (Hiromichi Aramaki, right) enter into a twisted relationship with her cousin (Mittsun, left) in “Earthlings.”
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 24, 2024

Sayaka Murata's 'Earthlings' is a fittingly wild ride on stage

The book’s gore and guts make for a fun, zany stage adaptation.
Vocalist Adam Lambert (center) and original Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor hit Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo and Tokyo for the final leg of their marathon Rhapsody Tour.
CULTURE
Feb 24, 2024

Queen wraps marathon Rhapsody Tour in Japan

The final leg of the global tour hit four Japanese cities, providing fans with an appropriately grandiose send-off from the rockers on Valentine's Day.
The low proportion of women in paid employment in India is a matter of serious concern and policymakers should focus more on generating demand for female labor
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2024

Are social norms really the main cause of low female employment?

The proportion of women in paid work remains very low in India, despite the economy experiencing high rates of growth and rapid poverty reduction.
Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson receives information that Hungary's parliament has voted yes to ratify Sweden's NATO accession, at the government headquarters in Stockholm on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2024

The NATO welcoming Sweden is larger and more determined

The alliance's expansion was a consequence from the invasion of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin may not have calculated.
Lawyer Hiroshi Kawahito, who represents the bereaved family of a Takarazuka Revue member who died last year, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 28, 2024

Takarazuka Revue admits power harassment against dead member

According to the lawyer, Takarazuka Revue has indicated its readiness to apologize.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 29, 2024

Politicians betting the earth on climate backlash in election year

Moves to roll back green policies and downplay climate change within the world's top climate polluters follow the hottest year on record.
Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada attends the red carpet event for FX's "Shogun" at the Academy theater in Los Angeles on Feb. 13.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 27, 2024

Disney’s ‘Shogun’ has a lot to teach the West

Walt Disney returns "Shogun" to the screen and reinvents an epic tale for a new generation.
Even if a solution for peace is found to end the conflict between Hamas and Israel, any transitional authority will need to reckon with the militant group's large footprint in Gaza.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2024

A total 'de-Hamasification' of Gaza may be a bad idea

A peace plan needs to reckon with many difficult questions: Who will rebuild Gaza; who will pay for reconstruction and who will adjudicate any war crimes.

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