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According to Yano Research Institute, Japan's supplements market grew about 30% in the span of three years.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2024

Supplements market in Japan showing steady growth

Improved health awareness sparked by COVID-19 is a major factor fueling the growth, market research firms say.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has expressed his eagerness to revise the political funds law in the current session of parliament, slated to end on June 23.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 29, 2024

Spotlight on political reform after budget clears Japan's parliament

Ruling and opposition parties are eager to outline a bolder plan for reform to raise their profile among voters amid growing political disenchantment.
Thailand has taken its first step toward legalizing casinos, as the government looks to attract high-spending tourists to support the nation's economy.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 29, 2024

Thailand takes first step to legalize casinos to aid economy

Thailand is the latest nation to consider entering the global casino industry, which is estimated to have generated $263.3 billion in revenue last year.
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attends a European Union leaders summit in Brussels on March 22.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 29, 2024

Meloni-Le Pen rift mars far right's prospects of wielding EU power

Divisions within Europe's nationalist right that may stymie efforts to wield power at an EU level despite record support.
Formula E drivers prepare for the Tokyo E-Prix during a practice session on Friday in the capital's Odaiba district.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Mar 29, 2024

Formula E set to electrify Tokyo

The series' arrival in Tokyo comes as Japanese manufacturers start to take a greater interest.
Japan’s Cabinet agreed to ease defense export rules for the nation’s next-generation fighter jet, a concept model of which is seen on display here at a defense show in Chiba in March 2023.
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2024

Japan greenlights its defense industry

The government's steps on easing defense export rules will allow Japanese companies to participate more fully in the global market for defense equipment.
Commercial and residential buildings are seen on Ishigaki Island, in Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2024

Japan to set up new shelters on southwestern islands

The central government has picked five municipalities on the Sakishima southwestern islands in Okinawa Prefecture.
U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell laughs during the Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in San Francisco on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 30, 2024

Powell reiterates Fed doesn’t need to be in hurry to cut rates

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell repeated that the U.S. central bank will await more evidence that inflation is contained before cutting rates.
Jin-Oh Hyun searches for wild king cherry trees and their relatives on Geoje Island, off the coast of South Korea, on March 22.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 30, 2024

Wanted in South Korea: imperialism-free cherry blossoms

Activists want to replace a variety of cherry tree associated with the Japanese colonial era with one they say is Korean. The science is messy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attend a meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's far eastern Amur region last September.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 31, 2024

What does Russia's veto on North Korea sanctions monitoring mean?

Ending the U.N.'s monitoring will provide North Korea's Kim Jong Un with a major win, experts say.
Children wash their hands with a new public pump installed as part of a climate resilient water system in Inn Chey in Kratie Province.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Mar 31, 2024

Japan sits at the forefront of climate resilient infrastructure in Southeast Asia

Japanese businesses and government agencies are pouring billions of yen into various programs across Cambodia and Southeast Asia to reduce climate risks.
A woman pays her respects at a makeshift memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall in Moscow on Friday, a week after a deadly attack by gunmen there killed at least 143 people.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2024

Putin's conspiracy theories make Russians less safe

The Kremlin hopes that blaming Kyiv and the West for the attack will turn a difficult domestic political situation to its advantage.
Cans of Asahi Super Dry beer move on the production line inside an Asahi Breweries plant in Moriya, Ibaraki Prefecture, in April 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2024

With U.S. push, Asahi aims to sate evolving tastes

The drink-maker is placing its “premium” offerings and low-alcohol and nonalcoholic beverages front and center in a bid to differentiate itself.
OpenAI plans to open an office in Tokyo in April, which will be its first in Asia, a source said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2024

OpenAI to open Tokyo office as part of global expansion

The office will be the third international location, and the first in Asia, after the opening of offices in London and Dublin last year.
The Justice Ministry in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 1, 2024

Japan puts new legitimacy presumption rules into effect

The new Civil Code will allow mothers and children to be able to file for a denial of legitimacy.
The Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association has brought in a new definition for Japanese whiskies, officially in use from Monday in an industry push to deter foreign-made imposters.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2024

New Japanese whisky rules aim to deter imposters

Japan has over 100 distilleries, whose whisky has commanded global respect since the early 2000s.
A woman walks past a TV showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at the main railway station in Seoul on March 18.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

North Korea launches intermediate-range missile as elections loom for South

The Defense Ministry said the weapon had traveled some 650 kilometers before splashing down in waters outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.
Joseph Schooling of Singapore celebrates after winning the men's 100m Butterfly final at the 2016 Rio Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016.
OLYMPICS
Apr 2, 2024

Singapore's only Olympic champion Schooling retires

The swimmer was mired in controversy in 2022 after confessing to taking cannabis overseas.
New recruits of the Ukrainian military's 1st Da Vinci Wolves Separate Mechanized Battalion take part in a military exercise in an undisclosed location in central Ukraine on March 12.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 7, 2024

Ukraine war has brought new challenges for international security

Democracies are being forced to confront the idea of hybrid warfare and the danger of full-scale conflict.
South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee during a ceremony in Amsterdam on Dec. 12, 2023
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

South Korea's first lady avoids limelight ahead of high-stakes election

Kim Keon-hee has not made any public appearances since December 15.
People attend a vigil in memory of the victims of a shooting attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow, in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

Russian conflicts with Islamists key to Moscow attack, analysts say

Russia's conflicts with Islamist forces over half a century are key to understanding the likely motives behind concert hall attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has a long-running feud with Qatar-based channel Al Jazeera.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

Israel's Netanyahu vows to ban Al Jazeera broadcasts

The Qatar-based broadcaster slammed the ban as "part of a series of systematic Israeli attacks to silence Al Jazeera."
An audio work by Saga University's Art Works to Listen and Imagine project is available on the internet.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Apr 8, 2024

Experiencing art exhibitions through listening

Events and exhibitions are being held to encourage visitors to appreciate artworks with their ears and imagination.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (left), Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (center), and Taro Aso, the party's vice president, meet in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

LDP’s formal punishment likely to spark discontent

Exempting Kishida and Nikai from any reprimands over the slush funds scandal will likely deepen rifts within the party, experts say.
A seafood restaurant at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. In a proposal to the government's top economic council, the panel urged policy changes in the face of rising domestic prices and interest rates, as well as wage growth at a 30-year high as companies face job shortages.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 2, 2024

Japan panel calls for shift away from stimulus-driven economy

The panel urged policy changes amid rising domestic prices and interest rates, as well as wage growth at a 30-year high as companies face job shortages.
Former Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Hakubun Shimomura attends a Lower House plenary session on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

LDP eyes membership suspension for Shimomura and Nishimura

It also plans to ask Shionoya and Seko to leave the party over the slush funds scandal involving certain factions.
The National Museum of China following the closing of the Second Session of the 14th National People's Congress in Beijing on March 11
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

China’s advancing efforts to influence the U.S. election raise alarms

The accounts signal a potential shift in how Beijing aims to influence American politics, with more of a willingness to target specific candidates.
Virginia-class attack submarine USS Hawaii passes by Diamond Head crater on Oahu in Hawaii in July 2009.
WORLD
Apr 3, 2024

U.S. attack submarines to counter China are up to two years late

Delivery dates for Virginia-class subs are an estimated 24 to 36 months past the contracted dates
Leftover premium-brand chocolate, originally slated for disposal, is made available for purchase at a discount in Tokyo's Chuo Ward on Feb. 15, the day after Valentine's Day.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 3, 2024

Efforts to reduce food waste find support in Japan but still face challenges

Initiatives are being introduced to avoid the waste of seasonal delicacies, but challenges such as entrenched commercial customs persist.
It would be dangerous for Kyiv to negotiate with Moscow at this stage of the war as Russia occupies 18% of Ukraine's territory.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 3, 2024

Negotiating with Putin now won’t end the war

The surest way to end the war is for Japan, and others, to support Kyiv militarily. Negotiating with Putin at this stage is dangerous and unrealistic.

Longform

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