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Members of a freelancers group opposing Japan's new invoice system hand documents requesting its abolition to Finance Ministry officials in Tokyo on Nov. 13.
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2023

Manga artists and taxi drivers hit as tax frustrations mount

About 4.6 million businesses that were previously exempt from paying sales tax have been impacted by a new invoice system.
Takakeisho (seated, left) following his loss to Asanoyama on Sunday in Fukuoka.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Nov 22, 2023

Takakeisho falters as sumo’s wait for next superstar continues

The good news for Takakeisho is that slip-ups elsewhere mean he remains in the title race.
Pedestrians walk past a screen displaying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un celebrating after the launch of a military reconnaissance satellite, in Tokyo's Akihabara district on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 23, 2023

North Korea ends 2018 military accord with South after launch

Pyongyang said its first military spy satellite is in orbit, with the rocket passing over the Japanese archipelago late Tuesday.
Ecuador's new President Daniel Noboa gestures to the crowd from the balcony of Carondelet Palace after being inaugurated at the National Assembly, in Quito, Ecuador, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 24, 2023

New Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa pledges reforms

The country is facing deep economic challenges that have pushed thousands to migrate.
Analysts say that the election of brash Argentine upstart Javier Milei shows that an anti-incumbent trend over the past decade is becoming a fixture.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 24, 2023

Fed-up voters put Latin American leaders on thin ice

From Chile to Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, voters have simply opted to boot out the government of the day in favor of someone new.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a Budget Committee session in the Lower House in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Nov 24, 2023

Why is Fumio Kishida called 'the four-eyed tax-hiker'?

The prime minister hasn’t actually raised taxes for the public at large since he took office over two years ago — at least, not yet.
Indian leader Narendra Modi greets Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Group of 20 Summit in New Delhi in September.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2023

Are India and Thailand revising their diplomatic balancing acts?

New Delhi and Bangkok share an 'omnidirectional' approach to diplomacy, the limits of which are being tested.
Workers prepare to cull chickens at a farm in Kashima, Saga Prefecture, on Saturday after a case of bird flu was detected there.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 25, 2023

Japan confirms season's first bird flu case in Saga

The Saga Prefectural Government has started to cull around 40,000 chickens raised at a farm in the city of Kashima.
Ukrainian military members fire a howitzer at Russian forces in the Zaporizhzhia Region of Ukraine in December. Ukraine’s war effort is highly dependent on the U.S. and the other Western nations who comprise the country’s largest military and economic backers. 
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2023

The wars shaping the new world order

From Gaza to Urkaine to Taiwan, there is an unfolding geopolitical drama and global rebalancing among the great-powers.
Argentine President-elect Javier Milei greets people on the day of his visit to the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, at the Old Montefiore Cemetery in the Queens borough of New York City on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2023

Argentine President-Elect Javier Milei to prioritize Israeli ties

Milei will convert to Judaism, and began his first trip abroad as president elect with a visit to the tomb of a famous orthodox Jewish rabbi in New York.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chats with senior officials during a banquet to celebrate the launch of a reconnaissance satellite, at the Mulan Pavilion in Pyongyang, in this image released Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 28, 2023

North Korea says satellite took photos of White House and Pentagon

The assertions by the nuclear-armed country were the latest about its new spy satellite's capabilities — though it has yet to release any images.
With COP28 taking place during a year set to be the hottest on record, the need for more progress has never been greater.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 29, 2023

Japan's relationship with coal likely to be in focus at COP28

With the climate talks taking place during a year set to be the hottest on record, the need for more progress has never been greater.
Construction is underway at the venue for the 2025 Osaka Expo on Yumeshima, a man-made island, in the city of Osaka on Monday.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 29, 2023

Russia becomes latest country to pull out of Osaka Expo

The announcement is more bad news for the troubled event, which already faces pavilion construction delays, skyrocketing costs and little public support.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Sanae Takaichi (center) and Taro Kono attend a Lower House session in Tokyo last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 29, 2023

Despite low approval ratings, Kishida likely to keep top job

While the situation around the government warrants no optimism, experts agree the prime minister has no reason to fret.
Mourners at a funeral on Nov. 19 carry the body of a Palestinian shot dead earlier during a raid by Israeli forces on a refugee camp near the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2023

While Gaza burns, the West Bank is at a boiling point

Mideast violence spreads beyond Gaza into the West Bank causing the U.S. to take a stand against extremist Israeli settlers.
A Japan Coast Guard ship and helicopter search the area on Thursday where a U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashed off Yakushima in Kagoshima Prefecture a day earlier.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2023

Japan asks U.S. to suspend Osprey flights until safety is confirmed

The U.S. air station in Futenma continued its operation of Osprey aircraft after Wednesday’s incident, causing local residents to voice their concern.
Israeli supporters hold flags hostages arrive at Ofakim army base in southern Israel on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2023

Israel and Hamas extend their war truce for another day

The agreement was confirmed minutes before the ceasefire was set to expire at 7 a.m. local time.
A newly released prisoner (right) hugs a relative during a welcome ceremony following the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in exchange for Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas since the Oct. 7 attacks, in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2023

Mediators race to extend Israel-Hamas truce ahead of expiry

The six-day halt to fighting ends on Thursday morning local time, with a last hostages freed from Gaza overnight in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks with Angolan President Joao Lourenco during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 1, 2023

Biden’s unfulfilled vow to visit Africa renews fears of neglect

Work to revitalize U.S.-Africa ties to counter growing Chinese and Russian influence may be taking a back seat to the Ukraine war and Gaza conflict.
A CV-22 Osprey at the U.S. military's Yokota Air Base in Tokyo in September 2018
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2023

U.S. Osprey crash rekindles safety concerns in Japan

The unique aircraft has had its share of incidents, but still has a relatively safe record compared to other military aircraft.
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip on Friday, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel.
WORLD
Dec 2, 2023

Israel tells Arab states it wants buffer zone in postwar Gaza, sources say

Israel detailed its plans to its neighbors Egypt and Jordan, along with the United Arab Emirates, which normalized ties with Israel in 2020.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks at a high-level segment at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 3, 2023

U.S. lays out plan at COP28 to slash methane emissions from oil and gas

The rules, two years in the making, were announced by U.S. officials at the United Nations COP28 climate change conference in Dubai.
Narendra Modi celebrates at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in New Delhi on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 4, 2023

Narendra Modi’s party wins key state polls, boosting re-election bid

Opposition parties' fairly comprehensive losses will buoy the ruling party and the "exceptionally popular" Indian prime minister ahead of national polls.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike speaks during a Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly meeting on Monday.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 6, 2023

Tokyo aims to make high school tuition free of charge for all

For families in the capital with an annual income of less than ¥9.1 million, current financial aid essentially makes high school tuition free.
U.S. military Ospreys and helicopters are lined up on a runway at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Dec. 1
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 7, 2023

U.S. military grounds all Osprey aircraft after Japan crash

A preliminary investigation into the crash last week indicated that problems with the aircraft — not a mistake by the crew — had led to the deaths.
A field study by elementary school students takes place in the Izawa River basin in Shiso, Hyogo Prefecture.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 24, 2023

Unveiling Shiso, a hidden gem of nature and coexistence

With 90% of its area covered by forest, the Hyogo city boasts picturesque streams and a bounty of access points to refreshing natural spring water.
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in November 2018.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 7, 2023

If Kissinger was serving as the U.S. secretary of state

There was no other U.S. diplomat whose reputation in Japan and China was as polar opposite as that of Henry Kissinger.
Japan’s economic recovery from the pandemic is losing momentum as overseas economies slow and sticky inflation weighs on domestic consumption.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 8, 2023

Japan’s deepest economic contraction since pandemic clouds path for BOJ

Gross domestic product contracted at an annualized 2.9% in the three months through September from the previous quarter as households reined in spending.
A radar facility set up for coastal surveillance by the Ground Self-Defense Force's Yonaguni base on Yonaguni island in Okinawa Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Dec 14, 2023

Acquiring counterstrike capabilities is no simple matter for Japan

Under its defense and security strategies, deterrence by denial and deterrence by punishment are the essence of Japan’s deterrence capabilities.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s future is uncertain as a fund-raising scandal casts a shadow over who will lead the Liberal Democratic Party. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 8, 2023

Unpacking the scandal rocking the LDP to its core

What may be termed as the “faction parties scandal” is a shock to the system that will have deep implications for the Japanese political landscape.

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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