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Established in December 2021 in the middle of the pandemic-fuelled gaming craze, Sega Sapporo Studio is remarkable for growing amid a recent slump in the industry.
LIFE / Digital
Feb 17, 2024

Sega developers say new Sapporo studios lead to better lives

Aside from quality-of-life benefits that come from living outside a major metropolis, Sapporo also has a history of game development.
Diagnosed at a young age with a rare variant of glycogen storage disease type IV, Mark Bookman went on to distinguish himself in academia in both the United States and Japan.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Feb 19, 2024

New film honors life and legacy of disability pioneer Mark Bookman

Free screenings of THE new documentary on Japan-based disability rights advocate Mark Bookman will be held around Tokyo on Feb. 24, 25 and 27.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally ahead of the Republican caucus in Las Vegas on Jan. 27.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 22, 2024

How East Asia should prepare for a possible Trump comeback

Questions over defense funding and military support could potentially return to the fore for U.S. allies.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton attends a Dior fashion show in Paris on Jan. 19.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 16, 2024

Max Verstappen expects Lewis Hamilton to have 'awkward' season with Mercedes

Hamilton stunned the sport by announcing that he would be leaving Mercedes to race for Ferrari next year.
Damo Suzuki, who passed away at the age of 74 on Feb. 9, was best known as a vocalist for the German “krautrock” pioneers Can. He later launched Damo Suzuki’s Network, a live music project that took him around the world, playing with different musicians every night. 
CULTURE / Music
Feb 17, 2024

Damo Suzuki forged a path outside of mainstream pop and rock

Idiosyncratic and spontaneous, the Can vocalist was an influential figure of the “krautrock” scene.
Kylian Mbappe has reportedly informed PSG of his intention to leave at the end of the season.
SOCCER
Feb 16, 2024

Kylian Mbappe informs Paris Saint-Germain of intention to leave team

Mbappe declined to activate a clause that would allow him to remain with PSG for another year.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during the SoftBank World event in Tokyo in October.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 17, 2024

Masayoshi Son aims to launch a $100 billion AI chip venture

The SoftBank Group founder is looking to create a chip venture to compete with Nvidia and supply semiconductors essential for AI.
Nissan's Ariya electric crossover sport utility vehicle assembled by robots at the company's plant in Kaminokawa, Tochigi Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2024

Japan carmakers forge ahead with EV investments despite slowdown

Outside of Japan, signs of a scaling back are everywhere, with the exception of China.
Ilia Topuria (left) and Alexander Volkanovski fight during UFC 298 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 19, 2024

Ilia Topuria's title win may unlock new international market for UFC

Ilia Topuria wasted no time in calling for his first title defense to be on Spanish soil.
Inter Miami's Lionel Messi and teammates sit on the substitute bench during a match against a Hong Kong select XI in Hong Kong on Feb. 4.
SOCCER
Feb 20, 2024

Messi insists Hong Kong no-show was due to injury, not politics

Some nationalist politicians and outlets interpreted Messi's absence as a snub to China, without offering evidence.
Coco Gauff of the U.S. in action during her round-of-32 match against Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova in Doha on Feb. 13.
TENNIS
Feb 20, 2024

Gauff keen for tennis to follow basketball in male vs. female duels

The American said she would love to see Serena Williams and Nick Kyrgios go toe-to-toe in a serve targets contest.
Italy's Ange Capuozzo in action with Ireland's Craig Casey at Dublin's Aviva Stadium on Feb. 11.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Feb 20, 2024

Capuozzo defends Italy's place in Six Nations ahead of France test

Italy heads to Lille on Sunday to play France, facing the possibility of earning another Six Nations wooden spoon.
A man stands next to a model of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which was used to launch several Indonesian satellites into orbit, at the office of Pasifik Satelit Nusantara, an Indonesia’s satellite-based telecommunication firm, in Jakarta on Jan. 15.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2024

How a Chinese rocket failure boosted SpaceX's fortunes in Indonesia

Elon Musk seized on the incident to prevail over a state-owned Chinese contractor as Jakarta's company of choice for putting satellites into space.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal is flanked by security personnel as he arrives at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan for a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2024

Ukrainian PM cautions of war’s spillover as he looks to tamp down fatigue fears

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal warned in Tokyo that a Russian victory would prompt more conflicts across the globe.
Japan's fall to No. 4 in the global economic rankings reflects an aging population and declining resources.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 20, 2024

Japan slips in the global economic rankings: So what’s next?

The IMF has forecast that India will overtake Japan economically in 2026 and Germany in 2027.
China's C919 — the country's first domestically developed large, narrow-body passenger aircraft, is displayed at the Singapore Air Show on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Feb 20, 2024

China debuts C919 aircraft in Singapore, but can it challenge Boeing and Airbus?

The Asian powerhouse hopes the country's first domestically developed large, narrow-body passenger aircraft will help it break into new markets.
Red Bull, the dominant 2023 F1 champions, launched their new car last week with some design features reminiscent of those tried and discarded by rivals Mercedes last season.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Feb 21, 2024

Questions hang over Red Bull ahead of F1 testing in Bahrain

Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin are all hoping to be closer to Max Verstappen, who is chasing his fourth title in a row this season.
Doosan Bears fans during a game in Seoul in April 2022
SPORTS
Feb 21, 2024

Women outnumber men in South Korea’s sports stadiums

Women in South Korea make up 55% of fans at professional sporting events, including baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (center) speaks during a cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on Tuesday. South Korean hospitals turned away some patients and delayed surgeries on the day, as hundreds of trainee doctors stopped working in a protest against medical training reforms.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 21, 2024

Nearly 8,000 South Korean doctors walk out over plan to boost numbers

While the labor action has caused only minor disruptions so far, the junior medics play a key role in providing emergency care.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks on the second day of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 21, 2024

China-Europe ties worsen on Ukraine and disputes over trade

Beijing’s support for Russia has been a sticking point in relations with Europe.
During a time in which Western acts have seen their place of prominence in the Japanese market drop in favor of K-pop, Swift is a notable exception.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 22, 2024

What makes a Taylor Swift show worth flying in for?

Swifties say the pop star's concerts provide camaraderie and a sense of validation.
A Houthi military helicopter prepares to land on the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea in November.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2024

Why Beijing won’t fight the Houthis

Whether they target Chinese vessels directly or not, attacks on Red Sea shipping by Houthi rebels threaten to undermine China’s economic recovery.
Moody’s predicts China's potential economic growth will decline to 3.5% by 2030, with weaker demographics and a graying population being a major driver of the slowdown.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2024

China’s economic engine is running out of fuel

Moody’s now predicts that China's annual economic growth will fall to 4% in 2024 and 2025, before slowing further, to 3.8%, on average, for the rest of the decade.
Chorus supported A Space for the Unbound by publishing the console versions of the game, which meant working closely with platforms like Nintendo for the eShop and physical versions while also providing additional Japanese localization for the game.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Feb 24, 2024

How a small publisher links Japan to global indie gaming hits

Chorus Worldwide was founded in 2014, but the combined games pedigree of its core team goes much further back.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump at a campaign event ahead of the Republican presidential primary election in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 14
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 29, 2024

Why Japanese companies need to prepare for Trump 2.0

Given the former president's views on the recent U.S. Steel deal, firms should cover all bases ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. election.
China’s tech firms were caught off guard by breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence — Beijing’s regulations and a sagging economy aren’t helping.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024

China’s rush to dominate AI has a twist: It depends on U.S. technology

Even as the United States has tried to slow China’s advancements, it has not held back the practice of openly releasing software to encourage its adoption.
Yasuhiro Otomo and Miku Narisawa during one of Odyssey Nature Japan's educational fishing programs.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 22, 2024

A young 3/11 survivor and her vow to protect the ocean

At 12, Miku Narisawa experienced a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami that destroyed her home. Now she is working to protect it.
Passengers line up for security at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024

The five most exciting innovations coming to an airport near you

Updating an existing airport terminal is time-consuming, expensive work that often costs hundreds of millions of dollars — and sometimes billions.
Zazen Boys (from left: So Yoshikane, Shutoku Mukai, Miya and Atsushi Matsushita) released “Rando,” its first original album in 12 years, last month. The 13-song collection features the sonic hallmarks of the band while also reflecting a new focus on the everyday, informed by frontman Mukai’s bike rides through Tokyo’s residential areas and sleepy side streets.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 23, 2024

Character studies of city folk reinvigorate Zazen Boys

Frontman Shutoku Mukai brings a newfound focus on ordinary life and youth to his rock project's first original album in 12 years.
U.S. President Joe Biden chats with Kiribati President Taneti Maamau as Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown looks on during a summit at the White House in Washington in September.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 23, 2024

Chinese police are working in Kiribati, Hawaii's Pacific neighbor

Kiribati has not publicly announced the policing deal, which comes as Beijing renews a push to expand security ties in the Pacific islands.

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?