Search - text

 
 
David MacKinnon hit 15 home runs for the Seibu Lions in 2023. The 29-year-old will suit up for the Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organization this season.
BASEBALL
Feb 23, 2024

Former Seibu slugger David MacKinnon embraces new challenge with South Korea's Lions

The American slugger is moving from Japan's Lions to South Korea's Lions this year.
Visnu CEO Ryosuke Chiba explains an AI-equipped security camera his company is developing for the city of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, on Feb. 22.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 27, 2024

Japan firms look to AI to bolster disaster prevention and mitigation

Tools are being developed to focus on getting timely information to the relevant parties to facilitate evacuation.
Gamers of a certain age immediately recoil in pain when the name "Aerith" is mentioned — this is why the character's death still means so much today.
LIFE / Digital
Feb 29, 2024

With one death, Final Fantasy VII changed the game

With one shocking act, Final Fantasy VII rethought the social contract of games where players are largely free from consequences.
Demonstrators gather during a protest in Seoul on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 29, 2024

South Korea seeks first talks with doctors as deadline looms

The Health and Welfare Ministry said it has proposed having talks to address the 10-day walkout by about 9,000 trainee doctors.
The assembly line at a production facility for Nio, a maker of electric cars, in Hefei, China, on Dec. 4. U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered an investigation into auto software that could track U.S. drivers, part of a broader effort to stop electric vehicle imports from China.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Mar 2, 2024

The politics and economics behind Biden's China car espionage probe

The U.S. leader's saber-rattling as another opportunity to demonstrate he is tough on China, experts say.
Elon Musk arrives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington to participate in the A.I. Forum in September of last year.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2024

Elon Musk sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for violating the company’s principles

Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, accusing them of breaching a contract by putting profits ahead of the public good.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs recently recommended that official romanization rules be switched from the Kunrei to Hepburn system.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2024

Romanization rules are changing. Why Kunrei won’t be missed.

Japan could soon change its romanization rules, opting for the more common Hepburn system. This would benefit Japanese people as much as foreigners.
American rapper and noted anime fan Megan Thee Stallion presented the award for anime of the year to director Shota Goshozono for “Jujutsu Kaisen: Hidden Inventory/Premature Death” at the Anime Awards on March 2
CULTURE / Film
Mar 8, 2024

Crunchyroll's Anime Awards build on star power

The streamer's event upped the glamor with celebrity attendees such as Megan Thee Stallion and Rashmika Mandanna, and "Jujutsu Kaisen" won 11 prizes.
Demonstrators hold a banner as they take part in a march to call for gender equality and protest against gender discrimination as part of an International Women’s Day march in Tokyo in 2021.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 8, 2024

Recognizing the vocabulary surrounding International Women’s Day

Many of the terms describing issues women are facing in Japan have a string of complex kanji. Knowing the basics can go a long way in aiding understanding.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2024

Now Biden needs to show his moderate side

President Biden used his State of the Union speech to rebuke Republicans and offer a progressive economic agenda. But will that appeal to moderate voters?
Left: A man protesting the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games clashes with police on Aug. 8, 2021. Right: An AI-generated version of the photo to the left is included to show the difference between real and fake images in news reporting.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2024

Stranger than fiction: How AI threatens photojournalism

AI images will increasingly replace photos of real events in news reporting, posing an existential threat to photojournalism's accuracy and integrity.
Protesters spell out "No CAA" using candles during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in New Delhi on Dec. 29, 2019. The law grants Indian nationality to people who fled to India due to religious persecution from neighboring Muslim-majority countries before Dec. 31, 2014.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 12, 2024

India implements citizenship law opposed by Muslims before election

Rights groups say the law could discriminate against the 200 million Muslims in the Hindu-majority South Asian country.
A court sketch shows Satoru Nomura, head of the Kudokai crime syndicate (center), and Fumio Tanoue, the group's second-in-command (right), during their sentencing at the Fukuoka High Court on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 12, 2024

Death sentence overturned for Kudokai gang boss

The criminal mastermind remained expressionless and stared directly at the judge as it was announced that the death sentence had been overturned.
The massive Gemini fiasco unveils critical questions about artificial intelligence's role and accountability in decision-making.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2024

Google’s bad Gemini rollout did the world a favor

Part of the difficulty in grappling with AI’s full implications is the huge effort that has gone into devising models that express themselves like humans.
U.S. lawmakers last week overwhelmingly backed a bill to ban TikTok unless Chinese parent company ByteDance divested itself within six months.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 18, 2024

Monsters, asteroids, vampires: AI conspiracies flood TikTok

YouTube tutorials show users how to create "viral conspiracy theory videos" and profit off TikTok's Creativity Program.
Nigerian naira being counted in Lagos, Nigeria. Cash transfers offer a transformative solution to multidimensional poverty.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2024

A global cash transfer fund could end extreme poverty

Cash transfers offer a transformative solution to multidimensional poverty, and are aided by improvements in internet and phone coverage.
Smoke rises during an Israeli raid at Al Shifa hospital and the area around it, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza City on Thursday.
WORLD
Mar 22, 2024

U.S. puts pressure on Israel with Gaza cease-fire resolution as Qatar talks continue

Hamas says it will release hostages only as part of a deal that would end the war, but Israel says it will discuss only a temporary pause.
Though renewable energy can significantly reduce carbon emissions, if growth remains the global economic imperative, increased energy use will prevent us from reaching decarbonization goals.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 25, 2024

A call for economic degrowth

To achieve the systemic change needed to tackle the climate crisis, we must abandon GDP as the measure of social progress. This is what degrowth calls for.
Two people try to take a selfie under the illuminated cherry blossoms in Kyoto’s Gion district last year.
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 25, 2024

Sakura stories revisited: Getting in the mood for hanami

We are revisiting some past content on the science, economics and culture of cherry blossom season.
Police escort Do Kwon from court in Podgorica, Montenegro, on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2024

Terraform goes on trial as Do Kwon awaits extradition in Montenegro

The trial is the latest in a series of high-profile legal confrontations in which U.S. regulators seek to assert greater control over the crypto industry.
The Dali cargo vessel that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, on Tuesday
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2024

Baltimore’s freak bridge collapse reverberates from cars to coal

The aftermath of the bridge’s collapse throws another spotlight on the fragile nature of global supply chains.
A real estate sign advertises powered data center land for sale in Johnstown, Ohio, on March 23.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 29, 2024

Amazon bets $150 billion on data centers required for AI boom

In addition to meeting demand for corporate services, they will provide the massive computing power needed for an expected boom in generative AI.
 “Time” is a mixed-genre performance, conceived by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and artist Shiro Takatani, that depicts a struggle between man and nature.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 30, 2024

Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani’s ‘Time’ is a dreamy blur

It’s been one year since the composer’s death, but his creative output carries on in Japan.
Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen visits army bases ahead of the Lunar New Year in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Feb. 6. Over 400 stories portraying Taiwan's military exercises as rehearsals for its leadership to desert in the event of war have been uncovered by an NGO based on the island.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 1, 2024

Chinese state media stoked allegation Taiwan's president would flee war

They are among the many unsupported tales that have been fed into the island by Chinese state media outlets, according to an analysis by Taiwan-based NGO.
A woman views the National COVID-19 Memorial Wall, a dedication of thousands of hand-painted hearts and messages for those in the U.K. who have died from COVID-19, in London on Jan. 9, 2022.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 3, 2024

Countries worldwide face extra round of talks to save pandemic accord

A planned final round of negotiations missed its target of finishing the accord ready for its adoption by the World Health Organization at the end of May.
Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin,” once the victim of high waves that dragged it into the sea, sits at the end of a pier on the south side of Naoshima.
CULTURE / Art / Longform
Apr 6, 2024

Why is the most exciting art in Japan so hard to get to?

Japan has a unique movement of public art projects and festivals that are a slog to get to — by design. A writer examines the country's “inconvenient art."
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Shane Bieber will spend this season off the pitch, after his team disclosed that he needed to undergo Tommy John surgery.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 9, 2024

MLB insiders 'pretty worried’ by rise in young pitchers' arm injuries

There is reason to believe it is getting even more challenging to keep pitchers healthy.
Sapporo had hoped the Winter Olympics, which the city had hosted in 1972, would return in 2030, but it was not meant to be.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Apr 15, 2024

Why Sapporo’s bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics failed

Part of the city's downfall in trying to secure the Games was, ironically, snow.
A demonstration in front of a Nagoya court in 2020 before the appeal trial for a father accused of sexually assaulting his 19-year-old daughter. Sexual violence remains a widespread problem in Japan and one affecting many young victims.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 10, 2024

Landmark sexual violence survey reveals shocking data

Sexual violence remains a huge problem in Japan. Despite recent legal reforms, much more needs to be done to prevent crimes and protect victims.
A Wisconsin resident prepares to vote in the presidential primary election in Superior, Wisconsin, on April 2.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 16, 2024

Can we trust the polls? How emerging technologies affect democracy

In a global election year, all eyes are on the ties between emerging technologies and democracy.

Longform

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