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Yoshiko Hara (left) plays basketball with members of her Fukushima Club basketball team.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jul 31, 2023

Pioneer in basketball for disabled people looks to inclusiveness

Through basketball, Yoshiko Hara aims to have players in her club acquire physical strength and stamina, as well as learn about group rules and manners.
A memorial for Brodee Champlain Kingman on the corner of El Camino Real and Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas, California, on Thursday. The e-bike industry is booming, but many vehicles are not legal for teenagers, and accidents are on the rise.
WORLD / Society
Jul 30, 2023

‘A dangerous combination’: Teens’ accidents expose e-bike risks

The e-bike industry is booming, but a spate of fatal accidents has raised questions about how safe e-bikes are, especially for teenagers.
Japan's industrial production in June climbed 2% from the previous month, led by brisk output of new automobiles amid strong demand at home and abroad.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2023

Japan’s production rebounds, signaling continued modest recovery

Factory output rose 2% from the previous month, rebounding from the previous month and led by increases in cars and electronic devices.
Chef and restaurant owner Rikuo Morimoto, who runs the restaurant Andante in Tokyo, on May 1. A 2019 government report estimated that about 1.27 million small business owners would be 70 or older by 2025 and have no successors.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 6, 2023

'Era of mass closures': The Japanese firms with no successors

A 2019 government report estimated that about 1.27 million small business owners would be 70 or older by 2025 and have no successors.
Kazuyuki Tanioka, the owner of Japanese cuisine Toya restaurant, prepares fish a sashimi dish during an interview in Beijing on July 25.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2023

Japanese eateries in China fear ruin over Fukushima water release

Shortly after the 2011 disaster hit the Fukushima No. 1 plant, China banned the import of food and agricultural products from five Japanese prefectures.
After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Alexey Sossinsky left with two suitcases in the middle of the night. But as it did decades ago, exile still makes him feel restless.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 2, 2023

A Russian mathematician finds himself in exile once again

Alexey Sossinsky's family story is a microcosm of Russia's history of upheaval, war and repression going back more than a century.
Migrants at a base near Tripoli hand out food to other migrants after they were detained by the Libyan navy in September 2015.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2023

An immigration wake-up call

Well-designed immigration policies in advanced economies could ease inflationary labor-market shortages and preventing humanitarian tragedies.
A new study suggests that the benefits from shifting to a four-day week may last and grow stronger over time, rather than dissipating.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2023

Employee health benefits of four-day weeks persist, study shows

Self-reported physical and mental health scores held steady over a full year of the pilot program, while work-life balance continued to improve.
Superconductors are materials that exhibit no electrical resistance and eliminate magnetic fields. South Korean researchers think they may have created a compound that achieves that at room-temperature.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2023

LK-99 and the desperation for scientific discovery

The new room-temperature superconductor LK-99 could change the world. Or not.
A participant operates the "Flappy Bird," a self-made flying machine, during an event in Hong Kong in May 2014. Vietnam first caught the attention of global gamers in 2013 after Hanoi developer Dong Nguyen created, Flappy Bird, a simple but addictive game app.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 7, 2023

A decade after Flappy Bird, Vietnam becomes gaming powerhouse

Moving beyond outsourced software and sneaker factories, Hanoi views mobile games as a crucial part of its emerging tech sector.
A landscape worker from Mexico takes a break during a heat wave in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 27. A thermal camera registered surface temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius, with an air temperature of 42 C.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 8, 2023

Thermal camera captures record heat wave scorching Phoenix

The southwestern U.S. city has shattered its 1974 heat-wave record with temperatures above 43 degrees Celsius for 31 straight days.
Shohei Ohtani's free agency is expected to be among the wildest pursuits of a player in baseball history.
BASEBALL
Aug 9, 2023

Angels hoping to stay in the Shohei Ohtani business

Whether the two-way phenom remains an Angel for two more months, or the rest of his career, is an open question.
Tomohiko Sato (center) wrote a book titled "Yamakei Shinsho Tokyo Bon Odori Tengoku Odoru Meguru Tanoshimu" ("Tokyo Bon Dance Heaven").
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 12, 2023

Tomohiko Sato: 'The only rule is to dance the way the locals do'

Tomohiko Sato may be Japan’s only “Bon-bassador,” and his love for the Bon dance makes him a true representative for this summer tradition.
Sydney Swail and Jolly, a young tabby cat, at an adoption event at Manhattan’s Animal Care Center in New York on Aug. 4
WORLD
Aug 13, 2023

Too many cats, too few vets: New York city animal shelters are bursting

Because of overcrowding, dogs at the Manhattan shelter are being kept in makeshift kennels in offices and stacks of cat cages line the halls.
Liudmila Sezonova, a honey merchant, with her son Albert, in their home in Kupiansk, Ukraine
WORLD
Aug 14, 2023

They endured one Russian occupation. Now, they fear a second.

The Ukrainian city of Kupiansk was liberated last year. With fighting at their doorstep, residents fear what a second Russian occupation would mean.
Thousands of Afghan women run microenterprises from their homes.
WORLD / Society
Aug 15, 2023

Afghan women set up secret businesses to escape Taliban bans

The administration has banned women from most jobs, barred girls from secondary and higher education, and restricted their movement.
Michael Oher (right) was drafted in 2009 by the Baltimore Ravens, with whom he won the Super Bowl in 2013.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Aug 16, 2023

Former NFL 'Blind Side' star sues over 'adoption'

Former Raven Michael Oher is also seeking to receive a share of profits he claims not to have been paid in addition to financial and compensatory damages.
A father-daughter duo keeps a beloved local tofu shop running despite disagreements and obstacles in Mitsuhiro Mihara’s “Takano Tofu.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 17, 2023

'Takano Tofu': Cranky craftsman serves up heartwarming drama

In Mitsuhiro Mihara’s touching drama, Tatsuya Fuji adds layered nuance that sets his tofu-making protagonist apart from the typical cinematic elder.
Michael Oher (left) has accused Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy of cheating him out of earnings from "The Blind Side," a film based on his life story.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 17, 2023

'Blind Side' couple responds to Michael Oher's lawsuit

Oher, whose life story was the subject of the film "The Blind Side" accused the pair of tricking him into signing away control of his financial affairs.
A neighborhood destroyed by last week’s wildfire in Lahaina, on the island of Maui, Hawaii
WORLD
Aug 17, 2023

After Maui’s wildfire horror, residents search for a way forward

Maui's residents are trying to balance rebuilding the community and dealing with grief with the tourism work needed to support themselves.
In 1990, there were five times as many men who had alcohol use disorder than women — now it’s two times, according to the director of a research institute on alcoholism and alcohol abuse.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2023

Women are drinking more alcohol and it’s killing them

Analysis of data from the CDC found that alcohol-related deaths among women increased by nearly 15% per year between 2018 and 2020.
“Days at the Morisaki Bookshop” centers on a woman who overcomes past difficulties by finding comfort and human connection at her uncle's charming bookstore.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 19, 2023

Satoshi Yagisawa’s novel has all the charm of a Jimbocho bookshop

“Days at the Morisaki Bookshop" is a heartwarming coming-of-age tale that will delight fans of Japanese literature.
A lifeguard asks a young man to leave the beach in Los Cabos in Mexico's Baja California state as Hurricane Hilary brings heavy rains to the area.
WORLD
Aug 20, 2023

Hurricane Hilary hits Mexico and California with heavy rains

The storm had weakened Saturday from a powerful Category 4 to Category 2, but it was still deemed capable of "extensive damage."
Nihon University's American football team restarts training on Aug. 11 in Tokyo after it was suspended.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Aug 23, 2023

Nihon University scandal puts focus on 'collective responsibility'

Critics of the approach of punishing an entire team for wrongdoing by some say it can unfairly affect athletes that weren't involved.
An internet influencer (Tina Tamashiro) loses her identity to AI in Daisuke Miyazaki’s “#Mito.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 24, 2023

‘#Mito’: Sharp satire riffs on the dark side of AI and social media

Daisuke Miyazaki’s drama offers an intimate look at an influencer’s life and career stripped of surface glamour and glitz.
The remains of the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 12, 2001
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 27, 2023

U.S. plea proposal for 9/11 suspects splits victims' relatives

Some say a deal without trial means the whole truth might be lost — others say that every year the trial is delayed, there are fewer left to see justice.
Materials derived from cabbage (left), iyokan (center) and onion by Tokyo-based startup Fabula, which is working to develop new materials that can replace concrete.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Aug 27, 2023

Japan’s scrap-and-rebuild culture faces an environmental reckoning

The nation's tendency toward new construction — rather than renovation — is coming under renewed scrutiny amid concerns over sustainability.
Residents embrace after a deadly shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, killed three.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 27, 2023

Florida gunman driven by racial 'hate' kills three

The deadly incident in Jacksonville is the latest in a series of racially motivated shooting sprees in the United States.
A child visits the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 6.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 30, 2023

Concerns raised over the 'dangerous' ideology shaping AI debate

Long-termism, and linked ideologies like transhumanism and effective altruism, holds huge sway in universities and throughout the tech sector.
A man in a jacket with a Wagner patch visits an impromptu memorial to Yevgeny Prigozhin and other Wagner "heroes,” near the mercenary group’s headquarters in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 30, 2023

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin buried quietly in St. Petersburg

The mercenary leader died two months to the day after he staged a brief mutiny against Russia's defense establishment.

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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