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Kendrick Lamar has long been cast as the authentic and artistic representative of modern rap.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
May 10, 2024

Japanese MCs jump in on the Kendrick Lamar-Drake rap beef — and pick a favorite

The way artists here have joined the feud between two of rap's biggest names says more about hip-hop beefs in Japan than you realize.
A customer uses a mobile phone at a contactless payment terminal in a pub in London. As with so many other industries, technology has been a primary driver of the change.
WORLD / Society
May 10, 2024

American-style tipping is testing British pub culture

Restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars, account for more than 90% of tipping across the country.
Flowers are laid on the bank of a river in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, where the charred bodies of a Tokyo couple were found last month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
May 10, 2024

What we know so far about the case of the burned couple in Tochigi

Details of what happened are starting to become clearer following the arrest of their daughter’s common-law husband, the suspected mastermind.
Japan Post CEO Tetsuya Senda (right) and his Seino Transportation counterpart Satoshi Takahashi announce their companies' agreement on joint long-haul truck operations, in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024

Japan's logistics firms seek partnerships to cope with driver shortage

Japan Post and Seino Transportation have reached a basic agreement to work together on joint long-haul truck operations.
A view of Matazo Kayama’s folding screen paintings reproduced on ceramic panels by Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics, displayed at Simose Art Museum.
CULTURE / Art
May 11, 2024

Art and architecture come together at Simose Art Museum

Tradition and innovation converge at Shimose Art Museum. For it first anniversary, the venue is spotlighting trailblazer nihonga artist Matazo Kayama.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in a news conference on Friday in Tokyo
JAPAN
May 10, 2024

Japan raps U.S. officials' remarks about atomic bombings

The comments were "inappropriate and unacceptable" the Foreign Minister told a parliamentary committee meeting.
If Donald Trump returns to the White House, will his foreign policy be as erratic as it was the first time? Would that help or hinder the U.S.? Leaders all over the world are asking themselves these questions.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2024

Would Trump 2.0 rekindle the merits of volatility?

Was Trump's erratic foreign policy an asset or a liability for the U.S.? In capitals all over the world, leaders are weighing the prospect of his return.
The Hong Kong market's recent rally has been fueled by a reassessment of investment strategies, with previously favored markets such as Japan and Taiwan losing appeal. Bloomberg
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2024

What is behind the Hong Kong market’s fast and mysterious rally?

The reallocating of investments toward Chinese assets is likely to continue, despite the historical volatility associated with the Chinese market.
Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, in Kharkiv on Friday.
WORLD
May 11, 2024

Russian forces attack Ukraine's Kharkiv region, striking on new front

Moscow's latest attack in the northeast opens up a new front in a war that has long been waged in the east and south.
TSMC’s factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture
BUSINESS
May 12, 2024

Kumamoto Prefecture wants to host TSMC’s third Japan plant

Kumamoto hopes enough chip-related companies will settle in the prefecture to create something akin to Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday addresses a rally in Tokyo seeking the immediate return of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea decades ago.
JAPAN / Politics
May 12, 2024

Kishida again vows to strive for summit with North Korea

Prime Minister Kishida also said that establishing fruitful relations between Japan and North Korea would be in the interest of both countries.
Special fraud cases in Tokyo in which stolen money was sent via online banking services grew some fivefold from the previous year in 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 12, 2024

Money stolen via online transfers up fivefold in Tokyo

Since many people use online banking services on a daily basis, the number of fraud cases involving such services is expected to grow.
Evacuees from the Ukrainian village of Liptsi, near the Russian border, arrive at an evacuation point in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on Sunday.
WORLD
May 13, 2024

Russian forces bear down on Ukraine border town in Kharkiv region

Moscow troops smashed into the Kharkiv region on Friday, opening a northeastern front in the 27-month war that has long been waged in the south and east.
U.S. President Joe Biden touts the economic benefits of semiconductor investment at Intel’s Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona, on March 20.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 13, 2024

Global chips battle intensifies with $81 billion subsidy surge

The rush of funding has hardened battle lines in the U.S.-China trade war, including in nations like Japan.
South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks at the Congress of South African Trade Unions National Worker's Day rally at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on May 1.
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2024

Who’s who in South Africa’s tightest post-apartheid election

For the first time since White-minority rule ended, South Africa is heading into national elections in which an outright winner isn’t apparent.
A reconstructed skeleton of <i>Futabasaurus suzukii</i> (top) and its fossil's replica are displayed at the Iwaki City Coal and Fossil Museum (Horuru) in Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
May 13, 2024

Fukushima fossil museum marks 40 years of unearthing history

The discovery of the fossil of a new genus of plesiosaur in 1968 led to the birth of the museum, which now hosts its replica and reconstructed skeleton.
Justin Reid has helped the Chiefs win the last two Super Bowl titles.
MORE SPORTS / Football
May 13, 2024

Chiefs safety Justin Reid committed to lifting up Kansas City on and off field

The confetti had hardly finished falling on the Kansas City Chiefs' second consecutive Super Bowl title when safety Justin Reid started looking ahead.
Visitors climb the slopes of Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak at 3,776 meters. From May 20, climbers will have access to a new online booking system for Mount Fuji's most popular Yoshida trail in Yamanashi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
May 13, 2024

Online booking for Mount Fuji climb to open on May 20

Climbers will be able to reserve their places and pay the mandatory ¥2,000 ($13) climbing fee up to a day before their climb on the official website.
The widespread adoption of renewable energy sources and implementation of energy efficiency are key to reducing emissions and, in turn, fueling economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2024

We need economic growth to avert a climate catastrophe

The degrowth movement doesn't offer solutions to tackle global warming. Not only are its proposals unrealistic, but they may not even be effective.
The Northern Lights in Nayoro, Hokkaido, on Saturday
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 13, 2024

In a rare event, the Northern Lights show up in Hokkaido

The aurora borealis was also observed across the Tohoku region.
The eighth edition of the Yokohama Triennale, held at the Yokohama Museum of Art, opened in March this year with the theme “Wild Grass: Our Lives."
CULTURE / Art
May 14, 2024

Yokohama Triennale's eighth edition makes room for context

Curators Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu's dynamic and vital show positions art at the vanguard of social change.
Singapore Prime Minister-designate Lawrence Wong at the Group of 20 finance ministers' meeting in Indonesia in 2022
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 14, 2024

Singapore PM-designate Lawrence Wong keeps old guard in reshuffle

Wong picked Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong as his deputy, keeping the Cabinet of outgoing leader Lee Hsien Loong largely intact.
A screen shows Chinese leader Xi Jinping shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin before a meeting with the leaders of Shanghai Cooperation Organization members at the SCO Summit in Qingdao, China, in June 2018.
WORLD / Politics
May 14, 2024

Putin to travel to China this week for state visit and talks with Xi

The Russian leader will visit China on Thursday and Friday, the Kremlin said Tuesday, in his first trip abroad since his re-election in mid-March.
Soldiers and police stand guard outside a South Korean Army boot camp in Yeoncheon county before the arrival of K-pop's BTS band member Jin, in December 2022. South Korea's economic success is often  overshadowed by its cultural exports.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2024

A surprise South Korean boom is going unnoticed

Despite its robust economic performance, South Korea often takes a backseat to neighboring giants like Japan and China.
A new era in Japan-U.S. military cooperation is set to begin after Japan's parliament enacted new laws to establish a joint command headquarters for the nation’s Self-Defense Forces.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 14, 2024

Let the real work on Japan’s defense modernization begin

Scheduled to go into effect in March 2025, the Japan Joint Operations Command will centralize command of the country’s military services.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark returns the ball against the Connecticut Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Tuesday.
BASKETBALL
May 15, 2024

Basketball fans flood the stands for Caitlin Clark's WNBA debut

Ticket sales have surged across the WNBA on resale platforms, with Clark's celebrity helping bring attention to the league.
Russia's Daniil Medvedev eyes the ball as he plays against Tommy Paul of the U.S. during the Rome Open tournament on Tuesday.
TENNIS
May 15, 2024

Defending champion Medvedev out, while Swiatek cruises in Rome Open

Rome is now missing the world's top four ranked men.
Lee Hsien Loong steps down as Singapore's prime minister on Wednesday, passing the baton to his deputy Lawrence Wong, the second non-member of the Lee family to lead the wealthy Asian nation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 15, 2024

Lee Hsien Loong, the scion PM who modernized Singapore and stifled dissent

He has left his own imprint on the wealthy city-state after steering it through a global financial crisis and pandemic while diversifying its economy.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks to reporters during a news conference in Washington on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 15, 2024

Japan concerned over U.S. officials' remarks on atomic bombings

The remarks justifying the August 1945 atomic bombings could put a damper on bilateral ties between Tokyo and Washington.
North Korea's Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song speaks during a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on June 8, 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2024

U.N. experts: North Korea laundered $147.5 million in stolen crypto

The money was stolen from the HTX cryptocurrency exchange before being laundered in March this year, the experts said.

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?