Search - 2023

 
 
Women's March Tokyo, a demonstration march against sexual violence and discrimination against women, is held on International Women's Day in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on March 8.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2025

Women remain underrepresented in Japan's news industry

Correcting the gender gap is an urgent issue in the industry, with such a change expected to bring women's perspectives to newsrooms.
The film to beat for the Niigata International Animation Film Festival’s top prize seems to be Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s “Look Back,” one of the two Japanese features in competition.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2025

Indie films vie for views at Niigata animation festival

From Satoshi Kon tributes to indie gems, this year's Niigata International Animation Film Festival continues its dedication to feature-length animation.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, at the White House on Feb. 24. American conservatives want Europe to take on more military responsibility but often scorn its structure, making France the strongest candidate for leadership.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2025

Why U.S. conservatives should fall in love with France

For American conservatives who sincerely want a capable Europe, just supporting European populism is not enough.
Behind Mixue’s growth is an army of franchisees. The company barely manages any stores itself. Rather, almost all of its revenue came from selling store supplies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2025

How to make billions selling $1 lemonade

Behind Mixue’s growth is an army of franchisees. The company barely manages any stores itself. Rather, almost all of its revenue came from selling store supplies.
Elsie, a 45 year-old aid worker, who uses a pseudonym to protect her anonymity, used to spend her days wandering the narrow streets of Msogwaba township, near the South African city of Mbombela, to visit hundreds of children living with HIV.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 20, 2025

U.S. aid cuts threaten South Africa's young HIV patients

Around 13% of South Africa's population live with HIV, and about 640,000 children were orphaned by the virus in 2023.
Newly-elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry during her first news conference in Costa Navarino, Greece, on Thursday.
OLYMPICS
Mar 21, 2025

Kirsty Coventry enjoys 'extraordinary moment' as she becomes IOC's first female leader

The 41-year-old from Zimbabwe is also the youngest person to hold the most powerful position in sports governance.
Ice is seen on the Pastoruri glacier in the Peruvian Andes, Peru, in May 2024.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 21, 2025

World's glaciers are losing record ice as global temperatures climb, U.N. says

Glaciers are disappearing faster than ever, with the last three-year period seeing the largest glacial mass loss on record.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russian forces and seen from across the Dnipro River, in Ukraine.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 21, 2025

Financial folly or pressure tactic? Trump eyes Ukraine's occupied nuclear plant

The vast plant is beset with problems and it would be years before there is even a hope of it making a return on investment.
JNTO Delhi office head Ryo Bunno (fourth from left), exchanges views with major local travel agencies at a travel trade show held in Mumbai on Jan. 30.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2025

India to showcase space prowess at Osaka Expo

Some Indian officials say Japan isn’t doing enough to drum up excitement for the expo.
Natsue Kondo (left) assumes the post of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's vice admiral commanding the MSDF's Ominato District, based in Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, in December 2023.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2025

Natsue Kondo: The female vice admiral who broke the glass ceiling at Japan's SDF

The MSDF vice admiral remains the only female SDF officer holding any of the top ranks.
A maternal handbook used by Heba Jibril in northern Gaza
JAPAN / Society
Mar 21, 2025

In Gaza, Japan-backed maternal handbooks a vital source for child care

The health handbooks provide crucial information for women at a time when medical facilities are closed and digital information is scarce.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are scheduled to meet in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 21, 2025

Japan and Brazil eye mutual visits by leaders every two years

The plan is expected to be adopted during a summit between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who visits Japan next week.
Celtics guard Jaylen Brown celebrates with the Larry O’Brien Trophy after Game 5 of the NBA Finals on June 17, 2024.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Mar 21, 2025

Reigning NBA champion Celtics agree to record-breaking $6.1 billion sale

The sale, which is still pending approval from the NBA Board of Governors, would break the record for most expensive sports team purchase in North America.
Firefighters douse the flames of a fire that broke out at a substation supplying power to Heathrow Airport in Hayes, England, on Friday.
WORLD
Mar 21, 2025

Heathrow closed after huge fire at power station, disrupting global flights

Travel experts say the disruption would extend far beyond Heathrow, the world's fifth-busiest airport.
More companies are offering tailored solutions for the unique health and wellness needs of men.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 21, 2025

'Mentech' starts gaining traction in Japan

Inspired by products and services catering specifically to women, mentech aims to provide tailored solutions to meet the health and wellness needs of men.
Midwife Tabita dos Santos Moraes prepares cassava flour in Tefe in Brazil's Amazonas state last October. Tabita's great-grandmother taught midwifery to her aunts, who taught her mother, who taught her, starting at the age of 15.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 21, 2025

In the remote Amazon, midwives care for women stranded by drought

Years of extreme droughts in the Amazon rainforest have made river journeys to and from remote communities perilous.
An employee works at a production line of 155 mm artillery shells at the plant of German company Rheinmetall, which produces weapons and ammunition for tanks and artillery.
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2025

Europe is short of gunpowder and TNT when it needs them most

European governments dug into their munitions stockpiles to arm Ukraine, exposing how shallow their reserves were.
Palestinians look on during the handover by Hamas of deceased Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 20
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 22, 2025

Hamas remains potent threat to Israel despite muted response to strikes

Israel has inflicted serious damage on Hamas, but sources say the group has shown it can absorb major losses and still fight and govern.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks toward Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 23, 2025

Trump plans his tariff ‘Liberation Day’ with more targeted push

Trump is preparing a "Liberation Day” tariff announcement on April 2.
An elderly man walks past rubble in Gaza City on Saturday.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2025

Israeli airstrike reportedly kills Hamas political leader in southern Gaza

Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel's main aim is to destroy Hamas as a military and governing entity.
The Tokyo District Court is expected to present its decision regarding the dissolution the Unification Church on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 23, 2025

Tokyo court may decide on Unification Church dissolution on Tuesday

The fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shed light on the Unification Church's controversial practices.
Yuma Kagiyama performs during the men's free skate at Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki in November.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Mar 23, 2025

Top skaters prepare to do battle at worlds as 2026 Olympics loom

From Kaori Sakamoto to the "Quad God," here are five skaters to keep an eye on over the next week in Boston.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the White House on Thursday directing the secretary of the Department of Education to take steps to close the agency.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2025

Cutting the department of education is theater, not a plan

Despite all the pomp, Trump is focused on fixing the wrong problem and that presents Democrats with a perfect opportunity.
A Palestinian boy rides a bicycle in an abandoned and partially constructed house, which his family inhabited after being displaced from the Jenin Camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Thursday.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2025

Israel's Security Cabinet approves independence for 13 West Bank settlements

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry criticized the approval of the separation of the neighborhoods and their recognition as independent settlements.
Shoko Kanazawa, a renowned Japanese calligrapher with Down syndrome, serving a customer at Atelier Shoko Cafe in Tokyo's Ota Ward on Feb. 28. The artist aims to “bring energy and happiness to the community” in her new role as a waitress at the cafe.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 24, 2025

From brush to barista: Artist with Down syndrome shares warmth through cafe

Renowned calligrapher Shoko Kanazawa hopes to "bring energy and happiness to the community" through her new cafe in Tokyo.
Police officers use pepper spray on a demonstrator wearing dervish clothes, during a protest on the day Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was jailed as part of a corruption investigation, in Istanbul on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 24, 2025

Turkey jails Erdogan’s top rival, risking more unrest

The arrest suggests Turkish authorities won’t be deterred by mass protests that have broken out in cities including Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
Children play with trading cards featuring "local heroes" created by a local community council in the Saidosho district of Kawara, Fukuoka Prefecture, in January.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Apr 7, 2025

'Local hero' trading cards nudge children toward community activities

The cards, which feature real people, are helping to break the ice between children and adults in Kawara, Fukuoka Prefecture.
Officials of the National Public Safety Commission inspect the Kabukicho area of Shinjuku, Tokyo, in June 2024, as crimes committed by unscrupulous host clubs have surfaced.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 24, 2025

Crimes by 'tokuryu' anonymous groups pose serious issue in Japan

Police have made capturing the ringleaders a top priority but are struggling in their investigations, largely due to the criminals' use of highly encrypted communication apps.
Japan has become one of the biggest markets for activist investors, with the government and institutions such as the Tokyo Stock Exchange pushing companies to pay more attention to stock prices and shareholder returns.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 24, 2025

Elliott said to have built up significant stake in Sumitomo Realty

The size of the stake in isn’t known but the activist investor has engaged with the Tokyo-based real estate developer on measures to improve shareholder value, sources say.
U.S. Sen. Steve Daines meets with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 24, 2025

Xi must stop fentanyl flow before tariff talks, Trump ally says

Steve Daines laid out the condition in meetings with Chinese officials in Beijing over the weekend.

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it