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Despite Shinzo Abe's numerous achievements as prime minister, including job creation and efforts to promote workforce gender equality, recent controversies surrounding his tenure, including ties to controversial groups and scandals within his political faction, have tarnished his image.
COMMENTARY
May 7, 2024

The economic legacy of Japan's longest-serving prime minister

Under Abenomics and the BOJ's monetary policy, employment rose more than under any other Japanese government in the 21st century.
A police officer from the Metropolitan Police Department visits a homeowner in Tokyo to increase awareness of roof inspection scams. The number of complaints made to the National Consumer Affairs Center in relation to such scams tripled between 2018 and 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 9, 2024

Tokyo police warn against costly roofing scams

Deceitful contractors coax homeowners into undertaking costly and unnecessary repairs by falsely claiming their roofs are damaged.
With a rise in the number of single elderly people in Japan, local governments are offering support for their end-of-life preparations.
JAPAN / Society
May 9, 2024

Japan local governments offering support for end-of-life preparations

According to a health ministry survey, the number of single-person households with members aged 65 or older came to 8.73 million in 2022.
The growing divide between U.S.-led and China-aligned blocs is taking a toll on the global economy as trade and investment flows are redirected along geopolitical lines in ways not seen since the Cold War.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 9, 2024

Cold War-type divide puts trade and investment at risk, top IMF official warns

After years of shocks, countries are reevaluating their trading partners, an IMF official has said.
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.
JAPAN / History / FOCUS
May 9, 2024

How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan

Experts say a series of surprise finds at the burial mound could help untangle the many mysteries surrounding the rulers of fourth-century Japan.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (second from right) and his Komeito counterpart Keiichi Ishii (second from left) hold a signed agreement on political funding reform, on Thursday in parliament.
JAPAN / Politics
May 10, 2024

Japan's ruling parties find agreement on political reform, but gaps remain

The parties' plan lacks specifics on key contentious issues.
A host promotes lipstick on TikTok Shop
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
May 10, 2024

Livestream shopping foils high-tech tools from stopping counterfeits

The sheer volume of violations means e-commerce infringement enforcement can feel like a game of "whack-a-mole" for those who monitor the internet.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son in 2019. Son is said to be selling off assets from the Vision Fund’s portfolio as he prepares for possible forays into AI and related hardware.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024

SoftBank's Vision Fund lightens asset load as Son pivots to AI and chips

Son has moved on to new obsessions, inspired in part by the success of Arm — which has soared in value to around $106 billion since its market debut.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chairs a session of the virtual Saudi-Bahraini Coordination Council in Riyadh in December 2020.
JAPAN
May 10, 2024

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit Japan

The visit to Japan by Saudi Arabia's de-facto leader, known by his initials MBS, will be his first since 2019.
Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, in Kharkiv on Friday.
WORLD
May 11, 2024

Russian forces attack Ukraine's Kharkiv region, striking on new front

Moscow's latest attack in the northeast opens up a new front in a war that has long been waged in the east and south.
Current AI systems, designed to be honest, have developed a troubling skill for deception, from tricking human players in online games of world conquest to hiring humans to solve "prove-you're-not-a-robot" tests, a team of scientists argue in the journal Patterns on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 11, 2024

AI systems are already deceiving us — and that's a problem, experts warn

Current AI systems have tricked human players in online games and even hired humans to solve "prove-you're-not-a-robot" tests.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow on April 11.
WORLD
May 11, 2024

Satellite images reveal where Russian nukes could be stored in Belarus

A New York Times analysis shows security upgrades unique to Russian nuclear storage facilities at a Cold War-era munitions depot.
A woman speaks of her experience of being sent to Macau by an overseas prostitution broker during an interview in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on April 8.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 12, 2024

Three men rearrested over brokering of overseas prostitution

The men sent between 200 and 300 Japanese women to brothels in the United States, Canada and Australia over three years, bringing in roughly ¥200 million.
Military paramedics treat a wounded Ukrainian service member, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv region of Ukraine on Sunday.
WORLD
May 12, 2024

Ukraine's military chief warns of difficult situation in Kharkiv region

Ukraine is currently on the defensive against Russia, which has a significant advantage in manpower and munitions.
Evacuees from the Ukrainian village of Liptsi, near the Russian border, arrive at an evacuation point in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on Sunday.
WORLD
May 13, 2024

Russian forces bear down on Ukraine border town in Kharkiv region

Moscow troops smashed into the Kharkiv region on Friday, opening a northeastern front in the 27-month war that has long been waged in the south and east.
Former U.S. Marines Corp pilot Daniel Duggan, who is facing extradition to the United States for allegedly breaking U.S. arms control law after he trained Chinese pilots, poses for a picture in this undated handout picture.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 13, 2024

Former U.S. Marine pilot held in Australia 'worked with Chinese hacker'

But the hacking case had nothing to do with him and there is no evidence that the pilots he trained in China were members of the military, his lawyer says.
Kai-Fu Lee, chairman of Sinovation Ventures
BUSINESS / Tech
May 13, 2024

Tech pioneer Kai-Fu Lee's AI venture aims to deliver China's ChatGPT moment

Beijing bars foreign AI models in part due to strict censorship, but that also ensures domestic players have a big local market without global competition.
The widespread adoption of renewable energy sources and implementation of energy efficiency are key to reducing emissions and, in turn, fueling economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2024

We need economic growth to avert a climate catastrophe

The degrowth movement doesn't offer solutions to tackle global warming. Not only are its proposals unrealistic, but they may not even be effective.
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.
Japan’s custody system may soon change with the introduction of joint custody, though issues like a lack of protection against domestic violence and abuse must also be tackled.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 10, 2024

Joint custody alone won’t fix Japan’s flawed system

Japan could be on the verge of adopting joint custody. While to some this is a step in the right direction, it may not be enough to protect families.
Major Japanese companies are increasing ventures in the United States, with Toyota investing $13.9 billion in North Carolina alone.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 13, 2024

Japan’s gamble to hedge against U.S. political risks

As Japanese companies increasingly invest in U.S. states like North Carolina, friend-shoring ensures economic resilience in the face of political change.
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi (left), and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul walk with other officials during their talks in Beijing on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 14, 2024

South Korea and China's top envoys eye trilateral summit with Japan

Seoul has not formally announced the date for the summit — the first since 2019 — but media reports have said it will take place on May 26 and 27.
Natural gas burns on a domestic kitchen stove in London.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2024

As war stems Russian gas, Norway's Equinor gains outsized market impact

Norway now supplies 30% of Europe's gas, and roughly two-thirds of Norway's exports last year were sold by Equinor.
Scottie Scheffler makes his final putt during the final round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament in Hilton Head, South Carolina, on April 22.
MORE SPORTS
May 14, 2024

Golf's No.1 Scottie Scheffler arrives at Valhalla for PGA Championship

The 27-year-old American, who captured his second Masters title last month, has won four of his past five starts.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is greeted by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink after arriving by train at Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi station on Tuesday in Kyiv.
WORLD / Politics
May 14, 2024

As war rages on, Blinken visits Ukraine with reassurances on support

Delays in billions of dollars of military aid forced Ukraine to ration munitions and prompted fears the U.S. would abandon its partner.
An employee at Otsuka Foods has filed a damages suit against the company with the Otsu District Court in Shiga Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 14, 2024

Otsuka Foods whistleblower sues company for work-related depression

The man has claimed he suffered from depression after being reassigned and given little work following a report over the company's alleged wrongdoing.
Members of the 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade at a workshop where they repair tanks and other armored vehicles, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on May 3. When Russian soldiers suddenly showed up in the small town of Ocheretyne in the east, it was clear that something had gone wrong.
WORLD
May 14, 2024

How one crack in the line opened a path for the Russians

The sudden Russian advance through Ocheretyne in late April illustrates how even a small crack in the line can have cascading effects.
An image provided by I.J. Glasspool shows a microscopic view of 200-million-year-old charcoal from Greenland. By digging into the geologic record, scientists are learning how wildfires shaped — and were shaped by — climate change long ago.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 14, 2024

From ancient charcoal, hints of wildfires to come

For more than 90% of the Earth's history, the planet’s atmosphere and continents lacked the oxygen and kindling required to sustain a flame.
A new era in Japan-U.S. military cooperation is set to begin after Japan's parliament enacted new laws to establish a joint command headquarters for the nation’s Self-Defense Forces.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 14, 2024

Let the real work on Japan’s defense modernization begin

Scheduled to go into effect in March 2025, the Japan Joint Operations Command will centralize command of the country’s military services.
Judo champions and siblings Hifumi Abe and Uta Abe show off their gold medals at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo in July 2021, during the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
OLYMPICS / Judo
May 15, 2024

Brother-and-sister act eye more Olympic judo golds

The siblings both won individual golds within an hour of each other at the pandemic-postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Longform

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