Search - 2023

 
 
Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki pitches during a spring training workout in Glendale, Arizona, on Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 13, 2025

Dodgers expect Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki to pitch in Tokyo

The defending champions will face the Cubs at Tokyo Dome in March to open the MLB season.
Japan has effectively exited deflation, but Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s reluctance to acknowledge it reflects outdated economic fears rather than current reality.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 13, 2025

It’s time for Japan to admit victory over deflation

The last time prices declined was in July 2021, the same month the Tokyo Olympic Games took place.
Following weeks of talks after Nissan Motor President Makoto Uchida and Honda President and CEO Toshihiro Mibe's December announcement of a possible merger, the two automakers confirmed on Thursday that the deal is officially off.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 13, 2025

Honda and Nissan cancel megamerger after weeks of negotiations

The automakers failed to find the common ground needed to reach an agreement, though they still intend to work together in other areas.
Rory McIlroy celebrates on the 18th hole after winning the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Pebble Beach, California, on Feb. 2.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Feb 13, 2025

Rory McIlroy had conversation with Donald Trump about PGA-LIV deal

McIlroy said he played golf with Trump in early January and felt Trump supported the PGA over Saudi-backed LIV.
Vissel's Daiju Sasaki (right) and Sanfrecce's Sho Sasaki jump for a ball during their Super Cup match on Feb. 8.
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 13, 2025

Vissel hoping for J. League three-peat as rivals aim to spoil party

Sanfrecce Hiroshima has come back stronger and is one of the clubs that can spoil Vissel's bid for a three-peat.
The treated water storage tanks planned for dismantling, shown to members of the press at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Thursday
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2025

High wind halts dismantling of Fukushima nuclear plant's water tanks

The dismantling had been seen as a milestone in Tepco's decades-long project to decommission the stricken plant, which went into meltdown after it was hit by a tsunami in 2011.
Xuan, a Vietnamese migrant, speaks during an interview in London.
WORLD
Feb 13, 2025

'Trapped': Vietnamese slavery victim's ordeal on U.K. dope farm

Vietnamese migrants are among the most exposed to modern slavery, with more than 1,000 presumed victims reported to British authorities in 2023.
Chelsea striker Sam Kerr arrives at Kingston Crown Court in London on Tuesday.
SOCCER
Feb 14, 2025

Chelsea has no plans to discipline star player Sam Kerr after acquittal

Kerr was found not guilty by a jury at Kingston Crown Court in London on Tuesday after calling a British police officer "stupid and white" during an incident in January 2023.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, on Feb. 1
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Japan, China and South Korea planning foreign ministers' meeting on March 22

Japan and China are also considering holding a ministerial-level economic dialogue.
Federica Brignone celebrates on the podium after winning the women's giant slalom at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach, Austria, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Alpine skiing
Feb 14, 2025

Federica Brignone scorches to giant slalom gold as Mikaela Shiffrin sits out

Alice Robinson, who became the first New Zealander to win a world ski medal, finished second, and American Paula Moltzan claimed bronze.
An uprooted tree as Cyclone Zelia made landfall in a suburb of Port Headland, Western Australia
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 14, 2025

Powerful tropical cyclone hits Australia's iron ore hub

The weather bureau warned the system could bring record-breaking rainfall to the region.
The U.S. Steel Mon Valley Works Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2025

Nippon Steel wants 100% of U.S. Steel, not a minority stake, report says

Last week, the deal appeared effectively dead after a meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump.
No South American fare is complete without empanadas, one of the traditional recipes in Kiera Wright-Ruiz's cookbook.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 16, 2025

Chewing on race, culture and 'okonomiyaki' quesadillas

Kiera Wright-Ruiz’s debut cookbook serves up deep thoughts on her biracial heritage alongside delicious recipes.
Volunteer Nhoun Niyok shows villagers how to use a mosquito net to prevent malaria in Cambodia's northeastern Mondulkiri province on Jan. 16.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Feb 14, 2025

Cambodia nears Khmer Rouge survivor's dream of eradicating malaria

The hope is for zero cases this year — a remarkable turnaround for a country that was formerly an epicenter of multi-drug resistant strains.
Leaders of patients' groups submit signatures opposing the move by the government to raise the medical copayment ceiling on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2025

Japan to rethink medical copayment hike amid patient outcry

Many patients, especially those undergoing costly but effective cancer therapy, say a hike might force them to abandon their treatments.
The government's stockpiled rice in Tokyo in 1999. Since 1995, the government has been stockpiling around 200,000 tons of rice from the annual harvest to ensure that there is enough to go around during emergencies.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2025

Government taps rice stockpile to reverse price increases

This will be the first time the stockpile has been used to reduce prices instead of due to emergencies.
While Valentine’s Day in the West is traditionally associated with men giving flowers to women, in Japan the day has typically involved women giving gifts of chocolate to men.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 14, 2025

A sweet Japanese Valentine's Day tradition is nearly dead

The custom of giri-choco, loosely meaning "obligatory chocolate,” was once commonplace in offices around the country.
In a 2024 survey, a total of 14.7% of respondents said they had more or less friendly feelings toward China, up 2.0 percentage points from 2023, and 56.3% said they had such feelings toward South Korea, up 3.5 percentage points.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 14, 2025

Japanese sentiment on China and South Korea improves, survey shows

A total of 14.7% of respondents said they had more or less friendly feelings toward China while 56.3% said they had such feelings toward South Korea.
China frequently shifts between warming and freezing relations with Japan, driven by its domestic issues, often using softer rhetoric while masking aggressive actions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 14, 2025

Are China-Japan relations truly 'warming,' or is this just fool’s gold again?

As the trade war between the U.S. and China heats up, Beijing is turning to its familiar playbook, using softer language to court American allies and partners while offering things like greater cooperation and more dialogue — part of its ongoing divide-and-conquer strategy.
U.S. Steel workers rally outside the company's headquarters in Pittsburgh in support of the takeover by Japan's Nippon Steel back in September.
EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2025

The Nippon Steel deal’s lessons for the world

Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s stiff opposition to the deal may have created space, if not impetus, for President Donald Trump to resurrect the acquisition.
The Trump administration has fired scores of the Centers for Disease Control's "disease detectives," the researchers are hired annually through a competitive process that each year whittles down hundreds of applicants — including doctors, nurses, scientists and more — to a class of a few dozen.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 15, 2025

Trump admin fires CDC 'disease detectives' as bird flu fears rise

Established in 1951, the Epidemic Intelligence Service is a two-year post-doctoral training program whose officers have been on the front line of investigating outbreaks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a video conference with the Sevastopol governor in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 15, 2025

Putin assembles team of heavyweights to negotiate Ukraine deal

U.S. President Donald Trump’s team by contrast lacks the same depth of background on Ukraine and has little experience negotiating directly with Russia.
The top lid of a tank at the "J9" area is removed at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 15, 2025

Tepco takes on challenge of making space for Fukushima nuclear debris

Workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have started dismantling water storage tanks to free up space for tons of nuclear debris.
Group of Seven top diplomats, including Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya (second from left) and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right), meet on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in the German city on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 16, 2025

Japanese FM asks U.S. counterpart to exempt Tokyo from Trump tariffs

The foreign minister also said that he had broached the issue of Trump’s planned tariffs on automobiles imported to the U.S.
Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani is expected to return to the mound in May.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 16, 2025

Dodgers president envisions 5-man rotation until Shohei Ohtani returns

Andrew Friedman told reporters on Friday that five off days in April, combined with the Dodgers' depth in rotation candidates, can make the altered plan work.
Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2025

Himeji Castle entrance fee to go up 2.5-fold for nonresidents

The city plans to use the resulting windfall for maintenance, online ticket sales, bag check services and guided tours for foreign visitors.
Taliban representatives Abdul Latif Nazari (center) and Mutiul Haq Nabi Kheel (right) attend a meeting of international special representatives in Oslo in January 2022.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2025

Taliban officials visit Japan

The Afghan delegation left Kabul in a visit that local media said would last one week.
Japan's gross domestic product grew by an annualized rate of 2.8% in the October-December period, far more than the 1% forecast.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 17, 2025

Japan’s economic boomlet continues with strong fourth-quarter growth

Gross domestic product grew 2.8% in the three months to December, compared with a median market estimate of a 1% gain.
The construction site for an underground station at the Stuttgart 21 railway and urban development project in Stuttgart, Germany, in November 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2025

Late trains, old bridges, no signal: Germany's infrastructure woes

Germany's reputation for efficiency no longer holds true, critics contend.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) is pictured during his meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2025

Israel and U.S. vow to counter Iran's nuclear ambitions in Jerusalem talks

Speaking after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Rubio in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Netanyahu said they discussed a number of issues, "none more important than Iran."

Longform

The building of new high-rise residential buildings has some alarmed that they could empty and fall into disrepair as Japan's population shrinks.
The high cost of letting Japan's condos crumble