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Noto Tetsudo's Anamizu Station in Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 15. The local railway's services have been fully suspended since a powerful New Year's Day earthquake.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2024

Quake-hit railway vows to resume services

Noto Tetsudo is hoping to bring part of its 33.1-kilometer railway back online in February.
Shitsui Hakoishi, 107, works with researcher Yasumichi Arai (left) while her younger brother, Hidemasa, looks on. Researchers like Arai believe the healthy and active Hakoishi's cells may hold the secret to living a long life.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Jan 27, 2024

Living until 100, if not forever, in good health

Immortality may be out of reach, but can a slew of research projects prolong our natural aging process?
South African officials speak ahead of the International Court of Justice's ruling on emergency measures against Israel following accusations by South Africa that the Israeli military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide, in The Hague on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 27, 2024

South Africa invokes Mandela's legacy with case against Israel

To many South Africans, the country’s outspoken advocacy on behalf of Palestinians has become a point of national pride.
Celebrations mark the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday in Dharamsala, India, in July 2015. The question of who will succeed the Tibetan leader, Tenzin Gyatso, now 88, looms large.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2024

Atheist China should have no say in Dalai Lama's reincarnation

Beijing views the Dalai Lama as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Why, then, is it obsessed with controlling the succession of someone it despises?
Noboru Ito (left) uses well water for a makeshift shower at his Real Hair Cutting You beauty salon in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 24.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 30, 2024

Businesses in quake-hit Japanese city tap well water to reopen

Their return to operations helps restore a sense of normalcy among residents.
Volunteers work at the site of a soy sauce-maker in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Jan 31, 2024

Quake-hit Noto faces a long road to recovery. Here's how you can help.

After initially asking people to refrain from coming as volunteers, municipalities in Ishikawa are now open to outside help.
Shoko Kawata stumps in the city of Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture, last year.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2024

Japan's youngest female city mayor is focused on women's empowerment

The election of Shoko Kawata, 33, was unexpected — but was a welcome change for some.
A soldier stands in front of the grave sites of fallen soldiers in Kinmen, Taiwan, on Aug. 23, 2023. Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered his military to be ready to take Taiwan by 2027, though many analysts see that as an attempt to galvanize his military rather than a timeline for invasion.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 1, 2024

How Washington is preparing for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan

It is looking at a key vulnerability — military logistics — and is setting up hubs in the Indo-Pacific region to ensure supplies are readily available.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers his keynote address at the f8 Developers Conference in San Francisco in 2011.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 1, 2024

Facebook, the social network old-timer, turns 20

"Facebook, when it launched, was revolutionary"
Activists hold placards during a rally ahead of environment day in Jakarta on June 4, 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 1, 2024

Green pledges lack ambition, say Indonesian youth ahead of vote

While candidates have spoken during campaigns about the urgent risks posed by climate change, in a new development, detail is missing from policies.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally ahead of the Republican caucus in Las Vegas on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 1, 2024

Trump says he'd block Nippon-U.S. Steel deal, dubbing it 'terrible'

The former U.S. president aims to win over blue-collar union voters who could play a key role in states like Pennsylvania, where U.S. Steel is based.
A decision by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) could yet take time to implement, but if carried through, is set to disrupt the region's trade and services flows, worth nearly $150 billion a year.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 1, 2024

West Africa's 'Brexit' moment spells trouble for the region

The latest crisis highlights the growing rift between the Western-allied governments and military-run countries increasingly relying on Russia and China.
Villagers and volunteers dig for human remains of victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
WORLD / Society
Feb 2, 2024

Victims of 1994 Rwandan genocide still being found 30 years on

Locating mass graves is an uphill task because only people who took part in the killings or relatives of the killers know their location.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is seen on the surface of the moon in an image released Jan. 25.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 2, 2024

Japan’s historic moon landing was right on target

Japan made history last month when it became the fifth nation to soft land on the moon.
It doesn't snow everywhere in Japan, but when it does, it falls in blankets that must be cleared away, sometimes through unexpected means.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Feb 4, 2024

Rural Japan’s snow removal solutions range from cute to curious

Outside of Tokyo, cities that get a significant volume of snow tend to have better ways of dealing with it than the capital.
Once a scared little kitten, Iko has warmed up to any and all comers.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 5, 2024

Iko is a scaredy-cat no more

Iko is a gentle girl who will let you clip her claws, brush her, whatever you like — as long as it means she’ll get stroked and fussed over.
The Aozora Bank headquarters in Tokyo. The bank surprised investors with losses tied to U.S. commercial property, sending shares down by the limit and heightening concern over global banks' exposure to souring real estate bets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 2, 2024

Gamble on U.S. commercial property blows up for Japan’s Aozora

Shares went down by the limit and heightened concern over global banks' exposure to souring real estate bets.
While this year will be a year of elections, with voting scheduled in more than 70 countries around the world, all eyes with be on who moves into the White House after November's U.S. presidential election.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 8, 2024

Why the eyes of the world will be on the U.S. presidential election

The future of politics in the U.S., the world’s biggest military and economic power, could cast a giant shadow over international order.
People distribute bags of flour to Palestinians in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on behalf of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in November. The agency has come under fire after a few of its employees were accused of supporting terrorism.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2024

Hold UNRWA accountable — but don’t harm those in need

Some 30,000 UNRWA employees serve 5 million people in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, with 13,000 of them working in Gaza alone.
The title monster in “Godzilla Minus One” is a threat, of course, but the real story is about finding community in the wake of destruction.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 3, 2024

‘Godzilla Minus One’ stomps into ‘Oppenheimer’ territory

Those movies, along with “The Boy and the Heron,” are essentially in conversation about the moral weight of American and Japanese actions in World War II.
Elon Musk said that the first human patient has received a brain implant from his startup Neuralink, but experts says his statements raised more questions than they answered about the trial.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2024

Want details on Musk's brain implant trial? You'll have to ask him

Neuralink does not have to divulge even basic details about its trial, including the facility where patients are being implanted.
The People's Liberation Army's Academy of Military Sciences had used an open-source standard known as RISC-V to reduce malfunctions in chips for cloud computing and smart cars.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

China bets on open-source chips as U.S. export controls mount

RISC-V is free to use and has a simpler outline, often leading to more energy-efficient chips, and users can build atop the framework to suit their needs.
Opening up to foreign workers may ultimately be Japan’s best hope for stemming a rapid population decline.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 7, 2024

Record 2 million foreign workers are changing the face of Japan

Opening up to job seekers from abroad may ultimately be the country's best hope of stemming a rapid population decline.
Kazuyuki and Yuki Shimamoto are the executive chef and head patissier chef at Mimi’s Restaurant and Bar in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 10, 2024

Kazuyuki and Yuki Shimamoto: 'When you make things you love, you naturally just get better at it'

A culinary couple share their thoughts on a career in the kitchen and how they approach life in one of Japan's major tourist towns.
In the quest for immortality, some researchers believe mind uploading will be our ticket to an eternal existence.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 8, 2024

Japan’s take on immortality; problems in Palworld

As scientists and technologists attempt to tackle the problem of aging and death, we discuss Japanese ideas about immortality.
Seoul may be a cosmetic surgery mecca, but Tokyo has its fair share of high-quality clinics as well.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Feb 12, 2024

A wrinkles-and-all guide to cosmetic surgery in Japan

Japan is uniquely positioned between two opposing hot spots of the beauty industry: Seoul and Tokyo.
Laurier needs an active friend or family who’s not afraid of romping around.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 12, 2024

Laurier is a big girl with a bigger heart

Laurier also has an endearing way of begging with her front paws — if that doesn’t melt your heart, nothing will.
For the first time in 16 years, Taiwan will have a minority government when Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party is sworn in on May 20.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2024

To Taiwan’s president-elect, here is a proposal for your consideration

For the first time in 16 years, Taiwan will have a minority government when Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party is sworn in on May 20.
Palestinian children wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD
Feb 10, 2024

Israel prepares assault on Rafah as it seeks to allay fears of 'bloodbath'

Aid agencies warned that a military offensive in such a densely populated area could end up killing large numbers of innocent people.
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.

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