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Yuji Takahashi says there is a culture of passing down good furniture for generations in places like northern Europe. He wants such practice to be the norm in Japan as well.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Mar 25, 2024

Craftsman’s works spreads nationwide through furniture with no nails

Yuji Takahashi uses a traditional technique called "sashimono," by which grooves are carved and joints fitted together.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda attends a news conference after a policy meeting at the bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2024

BOJ introduces first rate hike in 17 years following pay gains

The negative rates policy, the last one in the world, had been a symbol of the Bank of Japan's ultraloose monetary stimulus lasting over a decade.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 21, 2024

Ohtani’s longtime interpreter fired amid illegal gambling allegations

ESPN reported that at least $4.5 million in wire transfers were sent to a bookmaking operation, which is under federal investigation.
The Bank of Japan's recent decision to abandon negative interest rates is seen more as a symbolic shift.
COMMENTARY
Mar 21, 2024

BOJ finally ditches negative rates, but this is no liftoff

It's the end of an era for the Bank of Japan as negative interest rates are phased out.
With little pushback from the international community, particularly the U.S., China has managed to expand its maritime borders unilaterally in the South China Sea without hardly firing a shot.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2024

The South China Sea could boil over

With the wars in Ukraine and Gaza stretching its military resources thin, a direct confrontation with China is the last thing the U.S. needs.
Baseball player Shohei Ohtani poses with his Japanese interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara (right), and his agent, Nez Balelo, during a news conference after signing a 10-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers last year.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 22, 2024

Shohei Ohtani scandal raises the stakes on sports betting

The speed at which U.S. sports leagues have embraced betting put the Japanese star's fastball to shame.
Lawyers representing plaintiffs in lawsuits seeking damages for Minamata disease hold banners outside the Kumamoto District Court in the city of Kumamoto on Friday, criticizing the ruling as “unjust.”
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 22, 2024

Japan court rejects redress claims by unrecognized Minamata victims

Across Japan, nearly 1,800 individuals have filed similar lawsuits, with 1,400 cases consolidated in the Kumamoto district court.
Tourists wearing rented 'maiko' costumes stroll down a street in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2024

Kyoto and the hard part of soft power

Kyoto has the kind of soft power few cities — and countries — possess.
In Hideo Yokoyama’s “The North Light,” an architect sets out to solve a mystery when he finds out the family he built a prizewinning house for has vanished.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 23, 2024

'The North Light': One man's psychological journey subverts the crime genre

Hideo Yokoyama's novel centered on a man confronting the shattered pieces of his life offers a look into post-bubble Japan's architectural world.
Retired management professor and trekker Jitendra V. Singh completed his goal of collecting all 46 prints in the series “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” in 2023.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 23, 2024

One collector’s high mountain road to Hokusai

A professor’s 30-year dream of assembling a complete set of “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji,” the pinnacle of the artist’s career, leads to an auction.
A coal-fired power plant in Shanghai in October 2021. For years, analysts expected coal production to plateau after it hit a then-record in 2013. Then came 2021, when power shortages in China set Beijing on a path to order more mining to ensure energy security.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 24, 2024

Coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, is preparing for a long goodbye

Output hit a record last year, and producers expect a future where coal will be required to balance renewable energy for decades.
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda takes questions during a news conference. The bank's monetary policy overhaul announced last week was known by some Japanese media before it was made public.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 25, 2024

The BOJ has sprung a leak. Japan must investigate.

The bank's policy of disclosing information selectively to certain media is harmful and needs to be looked into, as slip-ups in other countries show.
Directed and co-written by Sunao Katabuchi, animated film “In This Corner of the World” depicts the beauty of nature and the horrors of war with equal potency.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2024

Films that give the Japanese perspective of the atomic bomb

Movies about the nation's darkest days — in genres such as dramas, fantasies and anime — offer another side to Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' story.
Kelly Zong Fuli
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2024

China's ‘Princess of Wahaha’ to lead beverage empire fighting for relevance

Sales at Hangzhou Wahaha Group have fallen in an increasingly competitive market as the firm has proven slow to adapt to consumers’ changing tastes.
Daniel Calvert accepted the award for Asia's best eatery on behalf of Sezanne, a French restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 31, 2024

Tokyo's Sezanne reigns supreme as Asia's best restaurant

Against the best restaurants Asia has to offer, Japan captured nine of the top 50 spots.
Cherry blossoms bloom at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 31, 2024

Tokyo marks final day of March with record high temperature for month

Cherry blossoms in the capital finally burst into bloom on Friday, marking the latest blooming in over a decade.
Pope Francis gives the Easter Urbi et Orbi message from St. Peter's basilica in the Vatican on Sunday.
WORLD
Mar 31, 2024

Pope Francis pleads for peace in Easter message

In his Easter speech, Francis condemned war as "always an absurdity and a defeat," raising conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar and beyond.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. While some BOJ watchers flag the risk the BOJ could move quickly to raise interest rates again, Tsutomu Watanabe, who was a potential governor candidate last year, says he doesn't think the move will come so soon.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 1, 2024

BOJ’s next hike likely in October at earliest, ex-official says

The views of Tsutomu Watanabe contrast with those of some BOJ watchers who flag the risk the BOJ could move quickly as the yen slumps near a 34-year low.
Workers prepare processed crickets at Hygente Technology in Shinjo, Yamagata Prefecture, in November.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Apr 8, 2024

Next-gen protein sources explored as meat replacements in Tohoku

While proponents tout the benefits of edible insects and plant-based meat, getting consumers to change their eating habits remains an uphill task.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made the call for the PBOC to gradually increase the buying and selling of government bonds in October but his remarks were publicized recently in a new book and newspaper article, hinting at a policy pivot for a central bank that hasn’t made a significant bond purchase since 2007.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

Xi’s cryptic bond comments hint at PBOC becoming more like Fed

PBOC could pivot toward strategies used by other central banks in heeding the call to "gradually increase the buying and selling of government bonds.”
Hakuoho (right) shoves out Aoiyama during the Nagoya Basho in July last year. The promising young wrestler is now part of Terunofuji's Isegahama stable after the Miyagino stable was forced to close following a bullying scandal.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Apr 3, 2024

With absorption of Miyagino stable, Isegahama looks to be building sumo super team

Whether it’s Real Madrid’s famous Galacticos or the 2024 Dodgers, few things in sport divides opinion among fans more than the creation of a super team.
Yogi’s absolute favorite thing is food, but he’s not crazy about other dogs, so he’d probably do best on his own.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Apr 8, 2024

Yogi is smarter than the average dog

This fluffy guy also has a super cute way of getting your attention — he’ll bring you his toys and invite you to join in on his favorite games.
Nissan’s name has been removed from a list of around 44,000 companies eligible for the tax incentive on the economy ministry’s website.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 6, 2024

Nissan ineligible for tax break after underpaying firms: report

Nissan’s name has been removed from a list of companies eligible for the tax incentive on the economy ministry’s website, the Yomiuri Shimbum said.
People holding Mexican flags protest outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in Mexico City on Saturday, following the severing of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 7, 2024

Ecuador in diplomatic storm after raid at Mexican Embassy

The Vienna Convention, a treaty governing international relations, states that a country cannot intrude upon an embassy on its territory.
Of 26 fires attributed to pets activating gas or induction heating stove controls, 19 were caused by cats, the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE) said.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 8, 2024

The cat did it: Warnings issued for pet-related household fires

Most of these incidents were caused by cats and dogs — and even a baby goat — triggering gas and induction heating stoves while their owners were away.
A U.N. conference on Afghanistan in Geneva in September 2021. In December last year, the U.N. decided to appoint a special envoy for Afghanistan, but the role hasn't been filled yet.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2024

Could a new U.N. envoy move the needle on Afghanistan?

If the Taliban refuse to dialogue with other Afghans, the U.N. should empower those outside of the group. The appointment of a special envoy could help.
Simon Harris, Ireland's prime minister-in-waiting, is among a vanguard of European politicians embracing the Chinese-owned social media platform, calculating that the need to reach younger voters outweighs security concerns.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024

European politicians embrace TikTok despite security fears

Ahead of elections, mainstream politicians are wary of ceding ground to fringe parties who have successfully exploited its short video format.
Sapporo had hoped the Winter Olympics, which the city had hosted in 1972, would return in 2030, but it was not meant to be.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Apr 15, 2024

Why Sapporo’s bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics failed

Part of the city's downfall in trying to secure the Games was, ironically, snow.
The U.S. military’s Kawakami Ammunition Depot in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture. High levels of PFAS have been detected in well water around the facility.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Apr 15, 2024

U.S.-Japan pact hampers PFAS survey at U.S. facility in Hiroshima

The bilateral Status of Forces Agreement gives exclusive authority to the U.S. forces over the management of their facilities in Japan.
Electricity pylons next to the Sizewell B nuclear power station, in Sizewell, U.K.
BUSINESS
Apr 9, 2024

European nuclear plants put out of work by green power surge

The drive to promote renewable energy is turning the screws on Europe’s nuclear industry.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.