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Donald Trump vowed to seek Supreme Court review after Colorado’s top court on Tuesday barred him from the 2024 presidential ballot there.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 21, 2023

Trump’s fate rests with the U.S. Supreme Court he shaped

The court will play a pivotal role in determining whether Trump will land in prison — or return to the White House.
Police officers stand guard outside the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 14. The ruling party is currently trying to contain a funding scandal that threatens the future of the Kishida administration. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 20, 2023

'Strategic Communication' is a missing link in Japan's crisis management

From gaffes to governance, lessons in "strategic communications" for Japanese politicians.
An employee inspects integrated circuit boards at a factory in Suzhou, China.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2023

U.S. to scrutinize Chinese chipmakers as Biden mulls tariffs

Over 100 companies in various sectors to be surveyed on their procurement and use of legacy chips
A look into what used to be the Koyamacho neighborhood in Tokyo's Minato Ward may reveal what Japan stands to lose from not protecting its recent past.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 25, 2023

Mita facelift paves over another slice of Tokyo history

The death of Koyamacho shows that Japan needs to begin preserving some parts of its modern history for future generations.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 22, 2023

Japan bans sale of 38 goods with synthetic cannabis compounds

The ban applies to items containing any of five substances, including hexahydrocannabiphorol and tetrahydrocannabiphorol acetate.
Takahito Tokita, chief executive officer at Fujitsu, speaks during an interview at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 22, 2023

Fujitsu speeds aircon deal as it aims for ¥700 billion boost from AI

The urgency to close the deal rises amid growing geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 22, 2023

Japan to scrap health insurance cards from December next year

The government aims to streamline administration and improve health care services by integrating the function of the cards into My Number cards.
JAXA’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft is expected to land on the lunar surface in early 2024.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 21, 2023

One small step for a JAXA spacecraft, one giant leap for exploration

In 2024, we can look forward to the arrival on the moon of JAXA's SLIM spacecraft. Its groundbreaking accuracy could further propel space exploration.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa, on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2023

U.S. Supreme Court unlikely to uphold Colorado ruling disqualifying Trump

The U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the Colorado courts decision, including challenging the state court's authority to keep Trump off the ballot.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group CEO Hironori Kamezawa
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 22, 2023

Japan banks scramble to beef up asset management businesses

Asset management has emerged as an area of focus for the banks this year amid signs decades of deflation is ending.
Members of the Ground Self-Defense Force take part in a joint military drill in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, in January.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2023

Japanese major general demoted over power harassment

The punishment was the second heaviest available after dismissal and the first two-rank demotion at the GSDF.
The Rev. Munther Isaac lights a candle next to an improvised crèche in Bethlehem on Dec. 13. The baby Jesus is lying not in a makeshift cradle of hay and wood, but among the rubble of broken bricks, stones and tiles that represent Gaza’s destruction.
WORLD / Society
Dec 24, 2023

‘God is under the rubble in Gaza’: Bethlehem’s subdued Christmas

The Israel-Hamas war has cast a pall over the birthplace of Jesus.
Ukraine passed a law in July to move the celebration of Christmas to Dec. 25 — the day when most of the Christian world marks the birth of Jesus.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 24, 2023

Ukrainians defy Moscow with first Dec. 25 Christmas

The move to celebrate the birth of Jesus on the day most Christians do deviates from the Orthodox Church observance of Jan. 7, seen as Russian heritage.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 24, 2023

Embattled LDP's Nikai faction also suspected of logging kickbacks

The faction is suspected of not reporting excess fundraiser revenues as income but reporting the kickbacks as expenditures.
Unlike his immediate predecessor, new Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi has chosen to speak in words of his own for some matters.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 24, 2023

Hayashi maneuvers through his new Cabinet position carefully

Hayashi has served in many Cabinet posts in the past, including defense minister, agriculture minister and education minister.
Desi Permatasari, 32, comforts her daughter, Sheena Almaera Maryam, 5, who was prescribed contaminated cough syrup last year in their home in Bogor, Indonesia.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2023

When children take toxic cough syrup — and live

In Indonesia, one of the places most impacted by the contamination, families struggle to care for survivors while taking action against those responsible.
The yuan's stealthy climb in global payments could see it pose a challenge to the U.S. dollar's dominance.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2023

The yuan is finally showing some muscle in international trade

The yuan's stealthy climb in global payments could see it pose a challenge to the U.S. dollar's dominance.
Palestinians watch as an Israeli strike hits near houses in Rafah, in southern Gaza, on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2023

War and chaos are what Hamas and Iran really want

Israel must be stopped from expelling the Palestinians from Gaza as that would radicalize and destabilize the entire region.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 25, 2023

Japan to open nursery places to all children by fiscal 2025

At the moment, typically only children from families where both the parents are working are admitted to day care.
Nancy Mills in a photo that appears to have been taken on Amami Oshima
JAPAN / History
Dec 26, 2023

New Yorker recalls life on Amami island 70 years after reversion

Tracing her early childhood through photographs and letters, 74-year-old Nancy Mills wishes for Amami residents' happiness.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign town hall in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on Dec. 14.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 26, 2023

Nikki Haley works to broaden reach as bid to beat Trump gains pace

Support for the Republican presidential contender has risen in opinion polls, but falls short among rural voters and those without college degrees.
A Philippine supply boat sails near a Chinese Coast Guard ship during a resupply mission for Filipino troops stationed at a grounded warship in the South China Sea on Oct. 4.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 26, 2023

Philippines not stirring conflict in South China Sea: spokesperson

Instead Manila accused Beijing of performing dangerous maneuvers that sometimes result in collisions at sea.
A group of 19 host club owners in Kabukicho who own most of the host clubs in the area have pledged to ban the pay-later system by April and prohibit entry to those under 20 years old from January.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 26, 2023

How Japan's host clubs trap young women under mountains of debt

False promises of love — and even marriage — lead to huge bills for some as young as 18, who are often then coaxed into sex work to make repayments.
Naoya Inoue fights Marlon Tapales  during their four-belt super bantamweight title unification match at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on Tuesday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Dec 27, 2023

Naoya Inoue still hungry after becoming undisputed super bantamweight champ

Naoya Inoue has said that he intends to retire at 35 but he hinted earlier this year that he might prolong his career for two extra years.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 27, 2023

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi vows to tackle distrust

Hayashi, who took office after his predecessor quit over a funding scandal, says revising the relevant law is related to freedom of political activity.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2023

Local governments in Japan eye independent ride-hailing services

Some local governments are exploring the introduction of their own systems tailored to fit local circumstances, separate from the central government.
Next year, U.S. President Joe Biden will seek a mandate to govern into his mid-80s. His likely opponent, former President Donald Trump, is only three years younger.
COMMENTARY / The Year Ahead
Dec 27, 2023

Making or breaking democracy

As 2024 approaches, one milestone looms menacingly on the horizon: The U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5.
The Dvorak Dreams project leveraged AI to retrieve, synthesize and extend the legacy of an earlier cultural pioneer.
COMMENTARY / The Year Ahead
Dec 28, 2023

The AI question we should be asking

Artists working with AI can map out a path for the technology’s role across society more broadly.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping came to power, he inherited a China that was enjoying prosperity, but also succumbing to gilded-age excesses.
COMMENTARY / The Year Ahead
Dec 29, 2023

The moral of the China story

Even if China is no longer “winning,” it would be short-sighted to dismiss its recent experience as irrelevant.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 27, 2023

Takashimaya apologizes over damaged Christmas cakes

The pricey ¥5,400 cakes were meant to be delivered frozen, but many arrived melted, lopsided or crumbled.

Longform

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?