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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in Washington
WORLD / Society
Aug 29, 2023

Musk and Zuckerberg set to attend forum on future of AI

The gathering is part of Schumer's strategy to give Congress more influence over the future of AI.
A survey by a health ministry research team has found that a significant proportion of doctors in Japan are at risk of death from overwork.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 29, 2023

Around 20% of doctors in Japan at risk of death from overwork

A survey showed that 20.4% of full-time doctors worked over 60 hours per week, exceeding the weekly legal working hours of 40 hours.
China's Premier Li Qiang (right) speaks with U.S, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2023

U.S. commerce chief says business with China is key, but risky

The comments by Washington’s top trade promoter underscore that commerce has become one of the main strands of tension between the two powers.
Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer from his window at the Vatican on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 30, 2023

Few Catholics in Mongolia, but Pope's visit eyes geopolitics

In going to the sparsely populated, Buddhist-majority nation, the pope may be eyeing Mongolia as a way to help build bridges with China and Russia.
A married couple (Arata Iura, left, and Rena Tanaka) returning to their home village from a posting in occupied Korea become witnesses to a bloodbath in Tatsuya Mori’s historical drama, “September 1923.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 31, 2023

‘September 1923’ stylizes an oft-overlooked brutality

Tatsuya Mori’s drama is an important act of historical reclamation, but it’s practically indigestible.
North Korean leader Kim Jong visits a command training center of the Korean People's Army General Staff at an undisclosed location in North Korea in this image released Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 31, 2023

North Korea holds 'nuclear strike drill' targeting South

The drills were intended to "send a message" to the North's enemies, as large-scale military exercises between Washington and Seoul were set to conclude.
A woman cooks in the old district of Kashgar, in China's Xinjiang region, in 2011.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 31, 2023

Amnesty calls for action on rights in China's Xinjiang region

Group says international community has "shied away from the kind of resolute steps needed to advance justice, truth and reparation for victims."
Demonstrators in Warsaw protest against Vladimir Putin and the war on Aug. 24, Ukraine’s official Independence Day.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2023

It would be wise to not personally humiliate Putin

Defeating autocrats like Vladimir Putin in an aggressive war requires progress on the battlefield, and rhetoric alone is unlikely to achieve the goal.
A fire breaks out in the Yurakucho area of Tokyo after the Great Kanto Earthquake in September 1923.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2023

Century since Kanto quake, expert warns of 'blind faith' in disaster resilience

For many, grasping the potential devastation of a future major quake remains as elusive as it was 100 years ago.
Rough guidelines on gifting cash at a Japanese wedding recommended between ¥10,000 and ¥50,000, depending on your own financial standing and your relationship to the married couple.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 2, 2023

The unwritten rules around cash at Asian weddings

Should a gift reflect the cost of your banquet meal? How do you put a numerical value on a friendship?
A construction site where many tall apartment buildings have been constructed in recent years, in Parramatta, Sydney
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 1, 2023

Build up, not out: The high density housing push for Australian cities

With the construction industry struggling amid elevated costs and decade-high interest rates, housing affordability has become a thorny political issue.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the training command post of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army at an undisclosed location in North Korea in this photo released Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 2, 2023

North Korea fires several cruise missiles toward Yellow Sea

Saturday’s launches come after South Korea and the U.S. wrapped up their 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield summer military exercises on Thursday.
Singer Jimmy Buffett performs during NBC's "Today" show Summer Concert Series in New York City in July 2016.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 2, 2023

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett dies at 76

Jimmy Buffett, the American singer-songwriter who went from Key West beach bum to billionaire behind the always-on-vacation "Margaritaville" commercial empire, has died at the age of 76.
When night comes around, Lovely is more likely to let you give her a cuddle.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Sep 3, 2023

Lovely the cat lives up to her name

A cat named Lovely and a dog named Tillo would both make fantastic additions to the family.
A Burning Man participant walks their bike through mud near the exit, after a severe rainstorm left tens of thousands of revelers attending the annual festival stranded in mud in Black Rock City in the Nevada desert.
WORLD / Society
Sep 4, 2023

Amid rain and mud, climactic ‘burn’ is delayed at Burning Man festival

Events have tested the resolve of participants, who were told to conserve food and water, at the more than three-decade-old festival.
Nestled behind a seawall on the Pacific coast are the Minamisoma Mano-Migita-Ebi solar power plant and the Manyo no Sato wind farm. The 2011 tsunami struck this portion of the coast with a wave that is reported to have been around 18 meters high.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Sep 5, 2023

How a nuclear disaster turned Fukushima into a renewables leader

Following 3/11 — and the cratering of support for nuclear energy — Fukushima positioned itself at the forefront of Japan’s low-carbon transition.
Tohoku University in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture
JAPAN / Society
Sep 5, 2023

Why Tohoku University was picked as first beneficiary of new university fund

The fact it was picked as the sole recipient, and over two prestigious universities seen as front-runners, has shocked Japan's academic community.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel talks to local fishermen on Thursday to show his support for the water discharge from the nearby Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 5, 2023

Fukushima water disposal is leadership opportunity for Japan

Some 1,000 storage tanks that hold the water are almost full and more tanks can’t be installed as they would interfere with the plant’s decommissioning.
Personnel from the Self-Defense Forces take part in a nuclear, biological and chemical weapons exercise at New Chitose airport in Hokkaido in July 2012.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Sep 7, 2023

Japan has plenty to offer in the field of detecting threats

With the spread of chemical, nuclear and biological weapons, the time is right to put domestic tech to good use.
A woman wears traditional Uyghur clothing for a photo shoot in the Old Kashgar tourist area in China's northwestern Xinjiang region.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 6, 2023

State-backed tourism booms in China's troubled Xinjiang

Kashgar, once an ancient Silk Road oasis, was recently on the front lines of Beijing's sweeping anti-terrorism campaign in the northwestern region.
A Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing plant under construction in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2023

Taiwan’s ‘silicon shield’ against China is an illusion

China may be reliant on Taiwanese semiconductors, but that doesn't stop Beijing from harboring a military takeover.
Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi attends the 80th Venice Film Festival for the premiere of his new movie, "Evil Does Not Exist."
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Sep 7, 2023

Ryusuke Hamaguchi revives himself with dark nature film

The Japanese director found solace in nature with his new film "Evil Does Not Exist," which premiered at Venice on Monday.
Cuban American soprano Lisette Oropesa stars as Violetta in a restaging of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata” directed by Sofia Coppola in her opera directing debut in 2016
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 8, 2023

Rome Opera's tragic heroes resonate in modern times

For its Japan tour, the company will perform lavish productions of "La Traviata," directed by Sofia Coppola, and "Tosca," by Franco Zeffirelli.
Kazuki Paul Tsuyukusa with his dog Sunny in Fukuoka
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 9, 2023

Kazuki Paul Tsuyukusa: 'It’s better to live without being noticed everywhere.’

A former rikishi, Kazuki Paul Tsuyukusa has swapped his sumo stable for the life of a salaryman.
Harvard historian Calder Walton says U.S. leaders have ignored China’s massive, multifront intelligence push.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2023

The vulnerability of open societies to foreign espionage

Are Western nations, with their open societies, making the same mistake with China as they did with the Soviet Union?
Residents watch the McDougall Creek wildfire in West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, last month.
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Sep 9, 2023

Conspiracy theories falsely link wildfires to 'smart cities'

Disinformation about deadly wildfires in the United States and Canada has run rampant across social media.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the China-Africa leaders’ roundtable on the closing day of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg on Aug. 24
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2023

China and doubling of BRICS size challenges the U.S.-led global order

Although China is the world’s second largest economy, it still claims to be a developing country and depicts itself as the champion of the Global South.
Destroyed vehicles and damaged buildings in the eastern city of Benghazi, Libya, on Monday
WORLD
Sep 12, 2023

Libya flood leaves 2,000 dead and thousands missing

Videos of Derna showed a wide torrent running through the city center where a far narrower waterway had previously flowed.
Aillis CEO Sho Okiyama receives the first place award from Pegasus Tech Ventues founder and CEO Anis Uzzaman at the Startup World Cup Tokyo preliminary on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 12, 2023

Two Japanese startups to compete in Startup World Cup 2023 final

Smart homes and AI-assisted medical devices took top prizes, with the winners now set to attend the final competition in San Francisco.
According to Justice Ministry statistics, about 20% of the inmates who ended up in prisons and other correctional facilities nationwide in 2021 were suspected of having intellectual disabilities.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2023

'Osaka Model' for aiding disabled lawbreakers reaches crossroads

The "Osaka Model" for aiding lawbreakers with disabilities has reached a crossroads due to challenges with securing welfare and personnel.

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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