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Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters at the parliamentary building on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2025

Japan's justice minister admits to giving mooncakes to staff

The minister could be accused of violating the public office election law if the ministry staff who received the cakes include residents of the southern Kanto region.
The Osaka District Court sentenced former hospital employee Tomoya Yanagimoto, 28, to life in prison on Tuesday for raping and injuring 10 girls between the ages of 8 and 12 over a six-year period from March 2016.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 19, 2025

Osaka court jails former hospital employee for life for raping 10 girls

Tomoya Yanagimoto, 28, raped and injured the girls — who were 8 to 12 years of age — between March 2016 and May 2022.
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 19, 2025

What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?

The ceremonies are complete, the celebrations are done, and now it’s time for Hoshoryu to get down to the daily task of leading Japan’s national sport.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged troops for a Ukraine peacekeeping force, but Britain and its military lack the resources to deliver.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

Starmer offers Ukraine a defense check it can't cash

Under Starmer’s leadership, there has been no sign that the U.K. is ready to expand its armed forces to the numbers that could sustain such a campaign.
Liberal Democratic Party parliamentary affairs chief Tetsushi Sakamoto (left) and Hirofumi Ryu, his counterpart in the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, during a meeting at the parliament building in Tokyo on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2025

Accountant's testimony on LDP slush fund scandal postponed

The LDP and CDP agreed to delay Lower House Budget Committee questioning of the Abe faction's former chief accountant.
Ilias Roussos, 54, looks on at a summer camp where he lives with his family in Agios Andreas, about 30 kilometers northeast of Athens, on Tuesday, after having fled recurring earthquakes on the island of Santorini.
WORLD
Feb 19, 2025

Islanders keen to return to Santorini even as quakes continue

One of Greece's top travel destinations, Santorini and its neighboring islands of Amorgos, Anafi and Ios have since January been rocked by thousands of tremors.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gives a news conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 20, 2025

Trump turns on Zelenskyy, leaving Ukraine few options amid war

Any remaining hopes seemed to fade when Trump, embracing the Kremlin’s narrative, denounced Zelenskyy as a "dictator."
An explosion of a drone and tracers are seen in the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike in Kyiv on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 20, 2025

Dismay and defiance in Kyiv as Trump takes 'enemy's side'

Ukrainians decry the U.S. President's accusation against their leader of starting the war with Russia, saying they had no other choice than to fight.
Takashi Tachibana, leader of controversial political group NHK Party, said he received information from Minoru Kishiguchi of Nippon Ishin no Kai, relating to allegations of harassment by Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2025

Nippon Ishin says member involved in giving papers to NHK Party head

Nippon Ishin says Minoru Kishiguchi provided documents related to alleged harassment by Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a bilateral meeting at the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019. A Putin-Trump summit is on the horizon.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 20, 2025

Russian forces advance on Ukraine's critical minerals as Trump talks of a deal

The seizure of Kyiv's mineral wealth, while not the main war aim, is among Moscow's strategic goals, experts say.
The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington. Companies have told the U.S. central bank they generally expect to raise prices to pass along the cost of import tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 20, 2025

Federal Reserve noted Trump policies could stir inflation, minutes show

Companies have told the U.S. central bank they generally expect to raise prices to pass along the cost of import tariffs.
Yamanote Jijosha has a long history of staging Shakespeare plays, and in celebration of its 40th anniversary, the company will present “Othello” and “Macbeth.” Previously, it toured productions like “Titus Andronicus,” which premiered in Tokyo in 1999, saw multiple revivals and had a homecoming in 2015.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 21, 2025

Directing is never a monologue at the experimental Yamanote Jijosha theater company

To mark its four decades of existence, the company stages two Shakespearean tragedies for a triumph.
Tokoro Ruins Museum Director Yuuki Nakamura says that 'most Japanese people don’t know' the history of the Okhotsk culture, but he and others are betting that travelers might be intrigued enough to visit and find out more.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 22, 2025

Bear skulls and pit dwellings: Hokkaido aims to sell ancient history

The Okhostk culture thrived in northern Hokkaido from the fifth to ninth centuries and may have provided the Ainu with some of their best-known rituals.
Kash Patel, who was approved on a 51-49 mostly party line vote, takes over the Federal Bureau of Investigation at a turbulent time.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 21, 2025

Kash Patel confirmed to lead reshaping of FBI under Trump

Patel overcame intense opposition during his confirmation process, especially from Democrats who argued he isn’t qualified.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 21, 2025

Trump tightens grip on independent agencies, testing limits of presidential power

The agencies have for years taken pride in their independence overseeing such matters as elections, stock markets and labor unrest.
A list with the file name "Prohibited words" has been circulating since at least last week in official work chats, according to two U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientists.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 21, 2025

White House says FDA memo banning 'woman' and 'disabled' made in error

The erroneous FDA list likely resulted from a misinterpretation of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order against 'gender ideology,' a White House spokesman said.
People shop in a supermarket as inflation affected consumer prices in Manhattan, New York City, in June 2022.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Feb 21, 2025

'Stagflation' fears haunt U.S. markets despite Trump's pro-growth agenda

The dreaded scenario has crept back as a key risk for investors in recent weeks.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (front right), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (second left) and other officials and advisers attend talks in Riyadh on Tuesday where they met to discuss ways on ending the Ukraine war.
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2025

America's allies get a rude awakening

U.S. allies are understandably confused and dismayed by the Trump administration’s statements and behavior.
Connor McDavid, seen during an NHL game with the Oilers, scored the winning goal for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off final against the United States on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 21, 2025

Canada beats U.S. to win 4 Nations tournament filled with political tension

The taut action on the ice mirrored the geopolitical tensions bubbling in North America since U.S. President Donald Trump took office last month.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in parliament on Friday
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 21, 2025

LDP and opposition lock horns over Japan budget

Mindful of how much the ruling coalition needs their support, Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Democratic Party for the People are digging their heels in.
In Tomoka Shibasaki's short story collection "A Hundred Years and a Day," time flows architecturally, through the life of structures such as a ramen shop or a cinema.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2025

'A Hundred Years and a Day': Short stories unfold through the lives of structures and spaces

In Tomoka Shibasaki’s curious collection, time flows architecturally, plots meander by design and humans are unnamed, ephemeral and often disappear.
Japan is the world's No. 2 LNG buyer, a major investor in energy infrastructure and a trading hub with a glut of LNG that could help open new markets for U.S. gas in Southeast Asia.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 22, 2025

Trump seeks to reshape Asia's energy supplies with U.S. gas

While the Alaska LNG proposal faces hurdles, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and others are buying into the idea of increasing U.S. gas imports more broadly.
Steve Bannon gestures during a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, on Thursday.
WORLD
Feb 22, 2025

Echoing Musk, Bannon salute draws sharp criticism, including from French right

It came a month after Elon Musk made a similar salute and at a time when the Trump administration seems to be leaning into far-right alliances worldwide.
Japanese investors are estimated to have increased holdings of Chinese bonds by 53% last year, the most among the markets that make up the World Government Bond Index, according to Bloomberg analysis of Japanese balance-of-payments data.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 22, 2025

Tokyo fund buys China bonds for first time on Japanification bet

"Our long-term view is that it’s inevitable for China to follow the path of Japan,” said Hikaru Tanaka, fund manager at Asset Management One.
Eliya Cohen, who was seized from a roadside emergency shelter on Oct. 7, 2023, waves during a public hostage handover ceremony staged by Hamas in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
WORLD
Feb 23, 2025

Israel will postpone the release of Palestinian prisoners

Benjamin Netanyahu's office has stated it will delay the exchange partly due to 'humiliating ceremonies' by Hamas.
Forever Young wins the Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Race Course in Riyadh on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
Feb 23, 2025

Japan's Forever Young wins world's richest race

Forever Young passed Romantic Warrior 50 meters from the post to claim victory.
Elon Musk listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 11.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 23, 2025

Musk orders U.S. federal workers to report on work by Monday or resign

It is unclear what legal basis Musk has to terminate federal workers if they fail to respond or what would happen to employees that cannot detail confidential work.
Emperor Naruhito speaks to reporters on Thursday. He turned 65 on Sunday.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2025

Emperor turns 65, renewing wish for peace 80 years after end of WWII

At a news conference held at the Imperial Palace ahead of his 65th birthday, the emperor said he is grateful that Japan has been without war for 80 years.
Mets outfielder Juan Soto runs onto the field for the start of the team's game against the Astros in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on Saturday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 23, 2025

Juan Soto homers in first at-bat with Mets

It's just what the Mets were hoping for when they landed the offseason's marquee free agent.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba replies to a question from Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Seiji Maehara at a Lower House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Feb. 17.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 23, 2025

Party heads' love of trains could keep budget talks from derailing

The leaders of Nippon Ishin no Kai and Komeito both share Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's passion for locomotives.

Longform

Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows