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Tadashi Imai, who became Nippon Steel's new president on Monday
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2024

Nippon Steel emphasizes its roots in the U.S. as it pursues deal

The Japanese firm has agreed to buy U.S. Steel for roughly $15 billion but the deal faces an uphill battle to approval in a U.S. election year.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (right) meets with UNRWA head  Philippe Lazzarini in Tokyo on March 28.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2024

Japan resumes funding to embattled Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA

Japan on Tuesday said it will lift its suspension of funding to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) as the relief body works to regain trust after an allegation that some of its staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California, on June 5, 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 4, 2024

Apple shifts focus from EV to home robotics as ‘next big thing’

Apple’s pursuit of the "next big thing” has been an obsession since the Steve Jobs era, but it’s hard to envision a product that could match the iPhone.
A worker inadvertently discovered that the latest version of the open source software program XZ Utils had been deliberately sabotaged by one of its developers, a move that could have carved out a secret door to millions of servers across the internet.
WORLD
Apr 6, 2024

Why a near-miss cyberattack put U.S. officials and the tech industry on edge

Security experts say it’s only because a change was accidentally spotted that the world was spared a digital security crisis.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani needs to find a way to keep his eye on the ball as he plays his first 162-game season without his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 9, 2024

Can Shohei Ohtani achieve Michael Jordan-level mental resilience?

One expert says ensuring that he can pivot smoothly into a new support system is crucial for the player.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets supporters during his roadshow ahead of the general elections, in Ghaziabad, India, on April 6.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 11, 2024

He once sold tea, but now India's Modi seeks his own 'tryst with destiny'

Modi has lofty ambitions for what could be his third and final term in office.
Giants starter Tomoyuki Sugano pitches against the Tigers at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on April 18.
BASEBALL / Sac Bunts
Apr 22, 2024

Resurgent Tomoyuki Sugano off to strong start on mound for Giants

Sugano is off to a 2-0 start in three outings this season.
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 27, 2024

Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo

The largest solo show ever of a Black artist in Japan is an absorbing history lesson that draws a line between Chicago and Aichi.
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2024

Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan

Spending per head soared 52% over the first three months compared with 2019.
Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
LIFE / Style & Design / Longform
May 4, 2024

The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces

Once an exotic curiosity, Japanese gardens have gone on to inspire green thumbs around the world.
While a new Alzheimer’s test offers hope for early intervention, it also raises complex ethical and practical questions about its implementation and potential impact on individuals' lives.
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2024

Do you really want to find out if you'll get Alzheimer's?

Would you want to know there’s something going wrong in your brain — even if there’s no cure?
Sony employees simulate the physical sensations of pregnancy at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo in February. The simple power of numbers can begin to remake workplace cultures, but many Japanese women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024

It took decades, but Japan’s working women are making progress

Employers have taken steps to change a male-dominated workplace culture. But women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 13, 2024

Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet

Having the porn videos in which she featured available to be streamed online causes damage to her image as an artist and dancer now, Miyuki Ariga says.
The wealthy don’t live only in global glamour cities, and family offices are now popping up in places like Perth in Western Australia.
BUSINESS
May 28, 2024

Catering to the ultrarich is a booming business in Western Australia

After an almost two-decades-long mining boom, Perth has 64 centimillionaires, and family offices are now popping up in the city.
Aphelele Vavi (right), 22, who is studying sound engineering, at lunch with fellow students at SAE Creative Media Institute in Rosebank, South Africa, on March 19
WORLD / Politics
May 29, 2024

South Africa’s young democracy leaves its young voters disillusioned

The nation is heading into a pivotal election, in which voters will determine who will pick the president, but voter turnout has been dropping in recent years.
With brightly colored hair and equally colorful attire, the 48-year-old Maaya Orii certainly stands out in a crowd.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 1, 2024

Paging Dr. Maaya, the neurosurgeon doubling as a fashion designer

Maaya Orii works as a neurosurgeon in Tokyo on weekdays and as a doctor in Kushiro, Hokkaido, on weekends. In her spare time, she’ll shift gears and focus on fashion.
The government plans to increase support for the export of anime, manga and other Japanese content while helping content creators expand overseas.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2024

Japan to boost support for anime and manga exports

The government will draw up a strategy to boost the content industry and promote efforts under the strategy through public-private cooperation.
Fumihiko Maki was among a team who designed the 72-story 4 World Trade Center building in New York constructed after the World Trade Center collapsed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2024

Renowned Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki dies at 95

The Pritzker Prize winner was considered one of the most prominent global architects of his generation.
A person uses a tong with a camera and GPS system attached to pick up litter, part of an initiative to boost participation in collecting trash.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jun 16, 2024

Japan’s gamified environment apps target a greener mindset

Government funding has helped drive a boom in environmental and social app development.
Blackstone will look to grow original content from Infocom’s network of manga artists, developing more works around themes enjoyed by its reader base of women.
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2024

Blackstone taps steamy romance manga fans in $1.7 billion deal

The deal will allow the world’s largest alternative asset manager to tap into Japan’s digital manga market.
Kamekichi Fujiwara has been making 'New York-style' pizza in Tokyo's Kichijoji neighborhood since 1967.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2024

At Tony’s Pizza, ‘New York style’ is a state of mind

In 1967, Kamekichi Fujiwara made his first pizza layered with Dutch edam, mozzarella from Germany and Danish Maribo — and it’s what Tony’s Pizza still serves today.
Horror artist Junji Ito adds just a dash of comedy to his work, though he aims for it to be understated. “If it’s truly a horror story, the humor must be restrained and more veiled,” he says.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 29, 2024

Fear still matters to Junji Ito

Currently on view at Tokyo's Setagaya Literary Museum is an extensive collection of the horror master's work, the first large-scale exhibition of it's kind in Japan.
Li Genyuan stands by his wheat fields, which form part of an experiment to turn salty land into arable land, in Nanliuhe village, Shandong province, China, in May. Having returned to farming after working for a decade in construction and textiles, he now manages about 67 hectares of fields where corn and soybeans are also grown.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 12, 2024

Xi’s campaign to feed China is turning wasteland into farms

The Chinese president has placed increased emphasis on self-reliance as ties with the West fray and climate change disrupts harvests.
Musician Yuka Noda’s 1989 album “Karibu no Yume: Light Fusion Fantasy” has developed a cult following among jazz fusion fans, and the album is set to be reissued as a CD and record next week.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 19, 2024

Yuka Noda's sonic escape to a balmy yesteryear

The reissue of Noda's 1989 album “Karibu no Yume: Light Fusion Fantasy" underlines a growing interest in bubble-era nostalgia and Japan's jazz and fusion works.
Dai Nippon Printing's "Midokoro viewer" system displays 3D images of cultural assets on a touch screen.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2024

Japan firms working on digital cultural assets

Major printing company Toppan has produced more than 60 virtual reality images since launching its digital cultural assets project in 1997.
Starbucks mobile app shows an error message on Friday. A botched software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike crashed countless Microsoft Windows computer systems globally.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2024

CrowdStrike meltdown and the price of real security

Catastrophic system failure isn’t part of the equation — until it happens. Which will be occurring with increasing frequency in our deeply interconnected world.
Noriko Ohara, best known for providing the voice of Nobita Nobi in the popular anime series "Doraemon," died on July 12 at 88.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2024

Doraemon's Nobita voice actress dies at 88

Noriko Ohara served as the voice actor for Nobita, the lazy but optimistic boy looked after by robotic earless cat Doraemon, for 26 years from 1979.
Participants of Shomeikai’s Type B employment support workshop take part in a training session at a rental meeting room in the city of Fukuoka in May.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Aug 26, 2024

Welfare workshop helps people with disabilities become IT engineers

Shomeikai leverages on a cutting-edge software development methodology that lets users work in a team and support one another.
Climbers converge in front of Mount Fuji's 5th Station, which leads to the popular Yoshida trail, in Narusawa, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 11.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Aug 20, 2024

Mount Fuji’s new measures bear fruit in tackling dangerous 'bullet climbing'

Restrictions implemented on the popular Yoshida trail have significantly reduced the number of "bullet climbers" and reduced bad behavior associated with the practice.
Medical professionals and students participate in a silent march as they condemn the rape and murder of a doctor, in Kolkata on Aug. 15.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Aug 21, 2024

'Abuse every day': Female medics in India speak out after brutal murder

The rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata cast a spotlight on the chronic issue of violence against women and the failure to provide safe working conditions for them.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?