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Shigeru Ishiba holds a news conference in Tokyo on Friday after winning the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 29, 2024

Ishiba hints at general election in late October as he starts to form Cabinet

Media reports said that preparations were underway for a snap general election to be held on Oct. 27.
Naomi Osaka hits a return against Katie Volynets during their match at the China Open in Beijing on Monday.
TENNIS
Sep 30, 2024

Naomi Osaka advances at China Open to set up showdown with Coco Gauff

Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and will face Gauff in a showdown of former U.S. Open champions in Beijing.
GU's first overseas flagship store opens in SoHo, New York.
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 30, 2024

How to own something by the punk poet designer Jun Takahashi

GU, Uniqlo’s trendier sibling, is opening its first store outside Asia in SoHo, collaborating with the subversively witty Jun Takahashi of Undercover.
New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (front center) and other Cabinet ministers pose for a commemorative photo after an appointment and certification ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 1, 2024

New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba unveils Cabinet as LDP divide emerges

His Cabinet, made up of lawmakers largely untainted by an LDP political funds scandal, has appeared to open up a rift in the ruling party.
Fans watch the Super Bowl at the FanDuel sportsbook in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in February 2019.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Oct 2, 2024

FanDuel sued by convicted NFL executive over gambling addiction

The complaint by Amit Patel, who was sentenced to 78 months behind bars in March, alleges that FanDuel ignored its own responsible gaming protocols.
Visitors play Super Mario on a giant video game console during a media preview of the new Nintendo Museum, located inside a renovated old factory, in the city of Uji in Kyoto Prefecture, on Sept. 24.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 2, 2024

From cards to consoles: Nintendo opens its first museum

The museum is part of Nintendo's efforts to broaden its brand that include the release of a Super Mario animated movie last year.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers march in the Victory Day Parade in Moscow in 2020. China and Russia are working together to undermine the liberal international order through military means.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Oct 2, 2024

Tackling an international order in disarray

The liberal international order is fraying at the edges. A more assertive stance against leaders trying to undermine the status quo, Putin and Xi most notably, is needed.
Nomura Holdings Chief Executive Officer Kentaro Okuda apologized in his first public appearance following allegations that an employee manipulated the bond futures market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 2, 2024

Nomura CEO apologizes after bond market manipulation probe

The move came as Nomura competes to capitalize on a revival of the Japanese bond market fueled by a shift in the country’s monetary policy.
Pro-Donald Trump protesters storm the U.S. Capitol amid clashes with police, during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2024

Trump said ‘so what’ when told of Pence's peril on Jan. 6, U.S. prosecutors say

The government’s brief starts the next round of legal wrangling over whether the latest indictment can proceed.
Elon Musk during the final match of the U.S. Open in New York on Sept. 8
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 3, 2024

Musk funded right-wing nonprofit for years before endorsing Trump, sources say

Revenues at Building America's Future climbed from some $11 million in 2021 to about $53 million in 2022, the year two people said Musk had already started his donations.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2024

Further BOJ rate hike this year in doubt after Ishiba's surprise warning

A survey last month showed 53% of economists forecast the BOJ would push up interest rates in December, but that outlook is now in question.
The number of consultations from foreign visitors to Japan about problems related to accommodations and shopping is increasing.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 3, 2024

Consumer consultations by foreign visitors to Japan on the rise

The number of consultations from foreign visitors in fiscal 2023, which ended in March this year, stood at 227, up for the second straight year.
Plamo Furniture’s Baum series of interior works, designed by Takuro Izumi, is made with vertically layered panels of engineered wood that can be custom-designed to seamlessly fit any space.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Oct 5, 2024

Japan's flat-packed furniture doesn't skimp on aesthetics

Disappointed by flat-packed aesthetics? Not if you give these Japan-designed pieces a look.
Without Japanese outdoorsman George Masa, America might not have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — so why do so many people in Japan not know he existed?
COMMUNITY / Issues
Oct 7, 2024

The forgotten Japanese naturalist who created a U.S. national park

George Masa was an enigmatic figure, but his contributions to preserving America's natural beauty are unassailable.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is set to start Game 1 of the NLDS for the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Saturday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 4, 2024

Yoshinobu Yamamoto to start Game 1 of NLDS after Dodgers flip starters

On Wednesday, the Dodgers said Jack Flaherty would start Game 1 and Yamamoto would follow in the best-of-five series.
A several-meter-wide hole at Miyazaki Airport caused by the explosion of an unexploded WWII bomb on Wednesday
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2024

Japanese airport reopens after WWII U.S. bomb blast

There were no reports of injuries but dozens of flights were cancelled on Wednesday.
Ayami Sato is one of the best female players in baseball history.
BASEBALL
Oct 3, 2024

Japan great Ayami Sato helps shine light on women's baseball in new documentary

Ayami Sato has helped Japan win six straight Women's Baseball World Cup titles.
A lifeguard waving a tsunami flag during a demonstration
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 4, 2024

Meteorological agency ramps up 'tsunami flag' awareness efforts

Visual communication tools like tsunami flags are critical at swimming beaches, where sound can be obscured by waves and wind.
A protest against the Taliban’s decision to cancel the return of high school-aged girls to school in Kabul in 2022. Women and girls are banned from education in Afghanistan beyond the sixth grade.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 4, 2024

Japan shouldn’t work with the Taliban, not even to build schools

Japan's development aid to Afghanistan strengthens the Taliban. Instead, Tokyo should support those, like exiled Afghans, who defend democracy and human rights.
A funeral is held for Russian military personnel and civilians killed in the war with Ukraine, at a cemetery in Luhansk, in Russian-controlled Ukraine, in May 2023. The U.S. estimates that 120,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and another 180,000 injured, further worsening the nation's manpower shortages and economic output.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2024

The Russian war economy’s days are numbered

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his cronies boast that the sanctions make Russia stronger, but they incessantly call for all restrictions to be lifted.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his inaugural policy address to parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 4, 2024

Ishiba omits divisive proposals in first policy speech as PM

He elaborated on his long-held ideas about creating a disaster-prevention agency and increasing grants for rural municipalities.
Containers are stacked at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT) in Portsmouth, Virginia, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Oct 5, 2024

U.S. port strike throws spotlight on big union foe: automation

Companies view automation as a path to better profit while unions see it as a job-killer.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Worries about the implications of further BOJ tightening against a global backdrop of easing were again on display this week, with new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba saying Japan wasn’t ready for more rate hikes yet.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 5, 2024

Stepped-up global easing risks making it harder for BOJ to hike

Worries about the implications of further BOJ tightening against a global backdrop of easing were again on display this week.
Voters line up outside a polling station during India's general election in Kairana, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, on April 19.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2024

From the year of elections to the year of governance

One of the biggest election years in history has already led to significant political shifts around the world, underscoring the resilience of democratic systems.
Takayuki Suzuki won a gold, two silvers and a bronze medal during the Paris Paralympics.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 7, 2024

Paralympic star Takayuki Suzuki hopes to raise visibility of people with disabilities

Takayuki Suzuki won four medals, including one gold, during the Paris Paralympics.
Naomi Osaka in action during her last-16 match against Coco Gauff at the China Open in Beijing on Oct. 1
TENNIS
Oct 8, 2024

Naomi Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury

Osaka's last WTA tournament appearance in Japan was a fleeting one, two years ago at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
New York Liberty forward Leonie Fiebich passes the ball to teammate Breanna Stewart against Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray during a 2024 WNBA semifinal game in Brooklyn, New York, on Sept. 29.
BASKETBALL
Oct 8, 2024

Liberty savors 'brick-by-brick' redemption story in WNBA

Their on-court success has been matched by huge gains in the ledger book, with average regular-season attendance of 12,729.
Local activists and tech workers protest against Google and Amazon's Project Nimbus contract with the Israeli military and government, outside the Google Cloud Next Conference in San Francisco, California, on August 29, 2023.
WORLD
Oct 8, 2024

Decoding the role Big Tech plays in the war in Gaza

The Israel-Hamas war has spotlighted how artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used on the battlefield.
Speculative investors flipped to a net long position on the yen just before Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said the nation wasn’t ready for further interest rate hikes, data shows.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 8, 2024

Hedge funds warming to yen caught out by biggest drop in 15 years

Many bought the yen just before cautious comments by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on rate hikes and strong U.S. nonfarm payrolls data.
Attendees stand in front of the Google Play booth during the Tokyo Game Show in September 2018 in Chiba.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 8, 2024

Google Play must allow rival Android app stores, judge rules

Epic Games argued that Google Play rules and fees stifled competition and blocked app marketplaces launched by developers.

Longform

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