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People walk under flags of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, on Queen's Road in Hong Kong.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 20, 2024

What's in Hong Kong's new national security law?

The law's broadly defined provisions have drawn condemnation from Western countries, which had urged Hong Kong to reconsider it.
Security personnel guard trucks carrying aid as they arrive in the southern Gaza Strip on Jan. 17.
WORLD
Mar 20, 2024

Palestinian clans and factions step in to protect Gaza aid

Numerous clans, civil society groups and factions — including Hamas' secular political rival Fatah — have stepped in to help provide security.
Japan fans during the women's team's Olympic qualifier against North Korea in Tokyo last month.
SOCCER
Mar 20, 2024

Japan warns football fans not to go to North Korea for World Cup qualifier

Japan and North Korea play in Tokyo on Thursday as part of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, before the return fixture next week.
Artisan Suzanne Ross says Japanese lacquerware is a "treasure that belongs to the world."
JAPAN / Society
Mar 20, 2024

Wajima artisan’s livelihood, four decades in the making, upended by disaster

Lacquerware artist Suzanne Ross' life was upended by a massive earthquake. Now, she's determined to keep her craft alive.
Protesters hold up placards demanding the release of detained Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration against the military in March 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 21, 2024

Myanmar junta facing 'existential threat,' says U.N. expert

"Those who have bet on the junta to restore order and stability in Myanmar have made a losing bet," said Tom Andrews.
Palestinians walk past the ruins of houses destroyed during Israel's military offensive in Gaza City on March 20.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2024

The war in Gaza has left a power vacuum, and scant planning to fill it

Experts have dismissed a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as vague and an unrealistic effort to procrastinate on serious action.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visits army bases ahead of the Lunar New Year in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Feb. 6.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 21, 2024

Citing safety risk, Taiwan president skips South China Sea visit

The official said the South China Sea had been highly militarized, and that the trip may cause international controversy.
Kumamoto-based sakura researcher Toshio Katsuki  says Japan's interpretations of the cherry tree have evolved over the course of history.
COMMUNITY / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 22, 2024

Toshio Katsuki: 'The cherry blossoms have been my vehicle to find new relationships'

A sakura researcher tells us what drew him to the flowering trees, how their significance has changed over time and his tips on the best way to enjoy them.
Japan's Ao Tanaka in action with North Korea's Yu-Song Kim during Samurai Blue's win over North Korea in World Cup qualifying on Thursday in Tokyo.
SOCCER
Mar 22, 2024

Japan earns scrappy win over North Korea in World Cup qualifier

The Samurai Blue now have three wins from three in their group and are firmly on course to reach the next stage of qualifying.
Kaori Yamada grew up surrounded by bonsai her whole life and was expected to carry on her family's 170-year-old legacy when she became an adult.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 23, 2024

The bonsai master working to branch out an age-old craft

Kaori Yamada grew up surrounded by bonsai her whole life and was expected to carry on her family's 170-year-old legacy or otherwise end it.
Runners fill the street in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building at the start of the 2023 Tokyo Marathon.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Mar 25, 2024

Medals, jewelry and veggies: Japan’s race prizes run the gamut

Japan's marathons try everything to offer runners experiences they can’t get elsewhere.
Despite a difficult past and a skittish temperament, Brexit is not immune to a little bribery in the form of treats.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 25, 2024

Brexit needs someone to stand by his side

If you can get past the missing welcome mat, you’ll soon be enjoying this dog’s special charm.
According to one of the researchers, Sune Lehmann, the algorithm can be used predict health outcomes such as fertility or obesity, who will or will not get cancer, and even whether one is going to make a lot of money.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 22, 2024

How long you got? Danish AI algorithm aims to predict life, and death

It analyses variables such as birth, education, social benefits or even work schedules to predict a wide range of health or social "life events."
Hisashi Yagi is full of enthusiasm as he reopens Iroha Bookstore at a temporary location in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 22, 2024

Beloved bookstore in quake-hit Ishikawa reopens at temporary site

The reopened Iroha Bookstore, which has a 75-year history, is lined with picture books taken from the original store and manga related to the prefecture.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference on Tuesday after the central bank ended its ultra-aggressive monetary stimulus program and scrapped the world's last negative interest rate.
EDITORIALS
Mar 22, 2024

The BOJ's rate hike is both more and less than it seems

There are some fears that the BOJ's return to a positive interest rate environment threatens weak companies.
Containers transporting coal at a dock in Cam Pha, Vietnam. Enthusiasm for Vietnam’s renewables boom is dampened by factors such as its underdeveloped electricity grid and patchy regulatory framework, while the country’s major source of electricity remains coal.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET
Mar 25, 2024

With Japan’s help, is Vietnam headed for a flawed energy transition?

The climate-vulnerable nation is looking to renewables, but also questionable solutions promoted by Tokyo, for its energy needs.
Globally, the area covered by mines has doubled over the past three years, driven by demand for critical minerals, according to a 2023 study.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 25, 2024

For mineral-rich Philippines, green metals rush is a balancing act

The county has the world's fourth-largest copper reserves, fifth-biggest nickel deposits and is also rich in cobalt — which are important for clean energy.
Legislative Council lawmakers in Hong Kong unanimously voted in favor of a new national security law on Tuesday. The legislation introduces penalties such as life imprisonment for crimes related to treason and insurrection.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2024

Is Hong Kong headed for a rubber-stamp legislature?

With the unanimous passing of the new national security law, Hong Kong's "patriotic" council has shown that its willingness to toe the government line.
Two people try to take a selfie under the illuminated cherry blossoms in Kyoto’s Gion district last year.
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 25, 2024

Sakura stories revisited: Getting in the mood for hanami

We are revisiting some past content on the science, economics and culture of cherry blossom season.
Nvidia Corp Chief Executive Jensen Huang speaks at the COMPUTEX forum in Taipei on May 29, 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 26, 2024

Google, Qualcomm and Intel launch bid to break Nvidia’s grip on AI

Almost as important to Nvidia as its hardware is its CUDA software platform, relied on by more than 4 million global developers to build AI and other apps.
The Cultural Affairs Agency in the city of Kyoto
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2024

One year on, benefits of culture agency's move to Kyoto unclear

The relocation of the Cultural Affairs Agency was decided in 2016
Jim Rauh, founder of Families Against Fentanyl, holds a photograph of his son Thomas in Akron, Ohio, on March 4. How Trump and Biden address a lethal chapter of the U.S. drug-overdose epidemic will be pivotal in swing states that are likely to decide the election.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2024

270,000 overdose deaths thrust fentanyl into heart of U.S. presidential race

More than 4 in 10 Americans personally know someone who has died from a drug overdose.
A Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The Jan. 5 blowout incident plunged Boeing into a new crisis five years after the second of two fatal crashes grounded the MAX.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2024

How Boeing's leadership was 'fired' by its own customers

With Boeing's major U.S. customers calling for a meeting without CEO Dave Calhoun, the company preempted their demands with a major upheaval.
Wildlife researcher Amelia Hiorns says Japan's bears feel the pressure of human presence and have learned that encountering us is not worth their time.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 30, 2024

Amelia Hiorns: 'Guiding and introducing people to Japan's nature has been rewarding'

Wildlife researcher Amelia Hiorns shares how separate interests in Japan and in bears culminated in conservation work in the mountains of Nagano.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who chairs the German parliament's defense committee, argues that the security of Europe is inseparable from that of the Indo-Pacific.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 28, 2024

German MP warns of complacency amid growing Indo-Pacific threats

Closer attention need to be paid to the often-belligerent rhetoric coming from places such as China and North Korea, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said.
A shogi board game with human pieces is played out in Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture, last year.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 29, 2024

The vocabulary of shogi can help you make moves in your conversations

The world of shogi, a game that is often described as a form of Japanese chess, has given us much more than just checkmates.
Grigio is 5 years old, a hefty 4.5 kilograms and a breed called a Munchkin characterized by extremely short legs.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Apr 1, 2024

Grigio is as complex as the wine he's named for

Grigio is understandably confused and standoffish right now, but he’s mellowing amid unfamiliar surroundings.
Demand for infertility treatment is high in Japan, where the number of live births fell for eight straight years to another record low last year.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 30, 2024

Fertility startups in Japan step in as treatment demand soars

In Japan, shortages of treatment options plague patients as the country grapples with one of the world’s lowest birthrates.
Antony Blinken
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 30, 2024

U.S. to impose new visa curbs on Hong Kong officials over rights crackdown

The U.S. plans to impose the restrictions "on multiple Hong Kong officials responsible for the intensifying crackdown on rights and freedoms."
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at the Chavis Community Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 30, 2024

Kamala Harris pushes the envelope as Biden struggles with some Democrats

The U.S. vice president's new role is seen as part of a high-profile effort to persuade the fractious coalition of voters to give them a second term.

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