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Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Historic Greenbrier Farms in Chesapeake, Virginia, on June 28.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 6, 2024

Trump distances bid from second-term agenda pushed by allies

Project 2025 is an effort proposing a sweeping shake-up of government and a slew of conservative policies if Trump defeats President Joe Biden in the November election.
"Shogun" features Hiroyuki Sanada as the warlord Toranaga. The series is generating major buzz ahead of the announcement of Emmy nominations on July 17.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jul 6, 2024

All hail the era of Japan-themed prestige TV

With shows like "Shogun" and "Tokyo Vice" vying for Emmy nominations this month, it's safe to say the streamers are having a bit of a "Japan moment."
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrive to deliver a joint statement following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 6, 2024

Kyiv and allies slam Hungary's Orban for Ukraine talks with Putin

Hungary's six-month EU presidency gives the central European country sway over the bloc's agenda and priorities for the next six months.
Newly appointed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy leaves No. 10 Downing St. following the results of the election, in London, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 6, 2024

David Lammy: Friend of Obama now U.K. foreign minister

The 51-year-old's ancestors were enslaved in Guyana, South America — a family history that Lammy says will inform his approach to foreign policy.
Several support networks have launched to help startup founders in Japan whose native language isn't Japanese.
BUSINESS / Companies / Longform
Jul 8, 2024

As Japan's startup ecosystem grows, so does a supportive community of entrepreneurs

Interest in startups is outpacing ecosystem capabilities, which has led more founders to turn to each other for guidance and support.
A voter picks up ballot papers at a polling station in Noumea in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 7, 2024

Far right bids for power as France holds parliamentary election

Marine Le Pen's RN scored historic gains to win last Sunday's first-round vote, raising the specter of France's first far-right government since World War II.
Ground Self-Defense Force personnel take part in a joint amphibious landing exercise with Philippine and U.S. troops in San Antonio, in the Philippines' Zambales province, in October 2018.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 8, 2024

Japan and Philippines ink key military pact in defense ties upgrade

The agreement — Tokyo's first with a Southeast Asian nation — will facilitate mutual military visits.
Samsung workers chant slogans during a walkout outside the company’s semiconductor plant in Hwaseong, South Korea, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2024

Samsung union steps up pressure over pay with three-day strike

The union has spent weeks preparing for the walkout, after negotiations over pay and vacation time collapsed last month.
Lee Yi-yang, former vice president of Taiwan's Examination Yuan, is expected to be named as the next de facto ambassador to Japan.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2024

Taiwan to name Lee as de facto ambassador to Japan

Lee worked as a news reporter and Taipei City Council member before becoming a DPP secretary-general and interior minister under Chen's administration.
Hisashi Takazawa, the fifth-generation owner of Takazawa Candle, has put up messages of support from crowdfunding backers on the window of the temporary shop for his business in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture. The Noto Peninsula earthquake caused the roof of its original storefront to collapse.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 8, 2024

Crowdfunding boosts post-quake rebuilding efforts in Noto

Some 330 projects related to the Noto Peninsula earthquake had been launched on three platforms by the end of May, raising a total of around ¥1.39 billion ($8.7 million).
Coal piles at Jera's Hekinan thermal power station in Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, in October 2021
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jul 8, 2024

Japan should phase out coal power by 2035, climate group says

The nation should adjust its national targets and slash emissions by two-thirds by the middle of the next decade, according to the Japan Climate Initiative.
A nine-member refugee team is set to take part in the 2024 Paris Paralympics, with athletes competing in taekwondo, athletics, triathlon, power lifting, table tennis and wheelchair fencing.
OLYMPICS
Jul 9, 2024

Largest refugee team to compete at Paris Paralympics

Athletes will take part in taekwondo, athletics, triathlon, power lifting, table tennis and wheelchair fencing.
Pichamon Yeophantong from the U.N. Human Rights Council's Working Group on Business and Human Rights is interviewed in Tokyo last week.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 9, 2024

U.N. expert urges Japan to tackle structural discrimination

Structural discrimination that stems from harmful norms are "something that needs to be dismantled as soon as possible," Pichamon Yeophantong said.
U.S. President Joe Biden looks at his watch as he stands on the balcony during an Independence Day celebration on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 9, 2024

Biden tells wavering Democrats he will not abandon campaign

President Joe Biden faces a critical week as he tries to shore up a campaign that has been on defense since a shaky June 27 debate.
A man watches a large screen showing news coverage of Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Beijing on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 9, 2024

Orban’s shuttle diplomacy angers EU and whiplashes allies

The Hungarian prime minister made trips to Moscow and Beijing after his country took over the EU's rotating presidency on July 1.
A lesbian couple, consisting of a 35-year-old woman (left) and 40-year-old woman, cover their faces with bouquets as they pose for wedding photos in Yokohama on Nov. 1.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 14, 2024

Amid same-sex marriage ban, LGBTQ couples opt for 'photo weddings'

These carefully choreographed images are often kept hidden in conservative Japan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during a bilateral meeting at the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 10, 2024

U.S. intelligence official indicates Russia prefers Trump as election victor

The U.S. has not seen Russia shift on its preference from previous U.S. presidential elections on who it prefers to win this year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin decorates Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called during a ceremony following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 10, 2024

Global ‘outcast’ Putin meeting a lot of world leaders

In just two months since he began his fifth presidential term in May, Putin has held more than 20 meetings with world leaders.
Interceptions of rockets launched from Lebanon to Israel over the border on June 27
WORLD
Jul 10, 2024

Pagers and drones: How Hezbollah aims to counter Israel's surveillance

Stepped-up attacks on Lebanon's southern border in recent weeks have intensified concerns it could spiral into a full-scale war.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 10, 2024

Japan’s megabanks are said to seek deep cuts to BOJ bond buying

The bank’s ¥585 trillion bond stockpile exceeds the world’s fourth-largest economy, making bond players watchful for the BOJ’s next move.
Yoshiyuki Enomoto, president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India, speaks during an interview in New Delhi on June 27.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 10, 2024

More Japanese firms urged to expand into India's market

JCCII aims to help more small and midsize Japanese firms enter India
A woman is rescued by a helicopter on Wednesday off the coast of Chiba Prefecture after drifting at sea for 36 hours.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2024

Woman rescued off Chiba 36 hours after going missing in Shizuoka

The woman, who is a Chinese national in her 20s, was dehydrated but conscious and did not require hospitalization.
A Yamato Transport delivery center in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture. Japan's parcel delivery firms are expanding drop-off services amid a rise in their redelivery rate and a shortage of truck drivers.
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2024

Availability of parcel drop-off services increasing in Japan

The services are expected to help reduce redeliveries to lessen the heavy burden on delivery vehicle drivers.
Durian Lollobrigida and his co-hosts — actors Megumi and Chiaki Horan, singer Thelma Aoyama and former “Terrace House” panelist Yoshimi Tokui — offer in-studio commentary on the contestants’ footage in Netflix’s new reality dating show, “The Boyfriend.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jul 13, 2024

'The Boyfriend' host Durian Lollobrigida puts a face to queer joy

Involvement in Netflix's new reality dating show is just the latest success in the Japanese drag queen's rise.
Members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces take part in a military review at Camp Asaka in October 2018. The nation’s public is currently favorable to the SDF, but if scandals aren’t handled correctly, that opinion may change. 
EDITORIALS
Jul 12, 2024

A multitude of scandals threaten Japan’s national defense

Individually, recent scandals are troubling. Together they are reflective of a problematic culture within the defense forces and bureaucracy.
NewJeans members (from left) Hanni, Haerin, Danielle and Minji attend an event at which they were named tourism ambassadors to South Korea.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jul 13, 2024

South Korea names K-pop group NewJeans tourism ambassadors

The quartet take on the role previously held by "Squid Game" star Lee Jung-jae and K-pop megastars BTS.
U.S. President Joe Biden reacts to the audience during a campaign stop in Detroit on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 13, 2024

'I'm not going anywhere,' Biden says as campaign struggles

The 81-year-old president is trying to shift the conversation from his mental sharpness to the impact of another Donald Trump presidency.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 is pictured in space after it lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, in this screenshot from video released on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 13, 2024

SpaceX's Falcon 9 grounded after failure dooms batch of Starlink satellites

The incident marks the first failure in more than seven years of a rocket relied upon by the global space industry.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Watford, England, in December 2019.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 13, 2024

Whether it’s Biden or Trump, Europe knows it must stand alone

European officials say they’re expecting both Trump and Biden to concentrate more on China at the expense of Europe.
Maritime Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Adm. Ryo Sakai says during a news conference Friday that he will step down on July 19 to take responsibility for a string of scandals involving MSDF members.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 14, 2024

Crisis grips Japanese government over Defense Ministry scandals

Some believe such scandals may influence the debate over tax hikes that were proposed to finance the five-year defense spending boost through fiscal 2027.

Longform

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