Search - 2021

 
 
The Imperial Household Agency's Instagram account boasts over 1.8 million followers.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 3, 2025

Imperial Household Agency finds success on Instagram amid public relations push

With the account boasting over 1.8 million followers, the agency is aiming to boost engagement.
Kinuko Iwamoto (center), former chancellor of Tokyo Women's Medical University, inside a police car in Tokyo on Jan. 13
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 3, 2025

Ex-Tokyo medical school chancellor served new warrant over payments

Iwamoto, 78, is suspected of committing a breach of trust, allegedly making the university fraudulently pay a total of around ¥170 million in consulting fees on multiple occasions.
Taiwanese star Barbie Hsu, who was hugely popular across Asia for her leading role in the 2001 television drama "Meteor Garden," died from a respiratory illness during a family trip to Japan over the Lunar New Year holiday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 3, 2025

Taiwan's 'Meteor Garden' star Barbie Hsu dies at 48

The actor, who rose to fame as the romantic lead in a 2001 television drama based on a manga series, died from a respiratory illness during a family holiday in Japan.
A map of the South China Sea is shown during a Philippine Coast Guard mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, claimed by both the Philippines and China. Each country has its own name for this area, signaling the use of toponyms to stake territorial rights.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2025

What’s in a name? In the South China Sea, a whole lot.

In the South China Sea, disputed territories have been given different names by the states vying for them. Will Trump's moves thousands of miles away validate this approach?
Soaring costs in recent years have upended the investment plans of offshore wind developers globally.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Feb 3, 2025

Mitsubishi reviews Japanese offshore wind after economic changes

Soaring costs in recent years have upended the investment plans of offshore wind developers globally.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order during a ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 4, 2025

Trump's tariff reversal shows how he's wielding bombast on trade

The U.S. leader has pledged to remake the global economy with tariffs. So far, it’s been more Art of the Deal than a revolution.
A U.S. Marine provides water to Afghan families during the evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in August 2021.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2025

Abandoning Afghans who worked with us troops is shameful

The urgency is driven by a simple fact: The Afghans who helped us, along with their family members, are considered traitors by the ruling Taliban.
Monks at the temple of the golden Buddha Dordenma in Thimphu, Bhutan, in 2023
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2025

Japanese-made AI Buddha to make debut in Bhutan

Monks in the country will use the chatbot on a trial basis to further improve its functions and create guidelines on its use.
Visitors to a UFO festival in the town of Iino in the city of Fukushima turn up dressed as aliens and other characters in November last year.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 4, 2025

UFO fans increasingly active in Japan

The trend may be a sign of social anxiety amid geopolitical tension and conflicts across the globe, an expert says.
Orphans and children separated from their parents in Kadugli gather to eat boiled leaves at a camp within the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North controlled area in Boram County, Sudan, on June 22, 2024.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 4, 2025

Millions of malnourished children face lifelong health woes

Famines and other food crises can leave an entire generation with physical and cognitive deficits, experts warn.
Trading company Mitsui
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025

Japan's Mitsui could study Alaska LNG project, but no decision yet

Japan is considering offering support for a $44-billion gas pipeline in Alaska as it seeks to court U.S. President Donald Trump and forestall potential trade friction.
Highway One after a portion of the road collapsed into the Pacific Ocean in Monterey County, California, in March 2024
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 4, 2025

These roads aren’t built for wilder weather driven by climate change

Worldwide warming temperatures are hammering roads that were built for a different climate and ballooning repair budgets.

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?