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The city government of Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, used corporate donations to create a volunteer tour, during which participants help farmers harvest apples and enjoy sightseeing in the city.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 20, 2025

Corporate hometown donations gain traction in Japan

Some local governments have been found to provide de facto rewards to donor companies, violating the system's rules and raising concerns about improper practices.
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe (left) celebrates with Jude Bellingham after completing a hat trick against Manchester City during their Champions League match in Madrid on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Feb 20, 2025

Kylian Mbappe wants to make history with Madrid after Champions League hat trick

Kylian Mbappe's hat trick against Manchester City propelled Real Madrid into the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday and saw the French superstar reach a new personal high with Los Blancos.
A bill to revise the public offices election law was submitted to the House of Representatives by Ichiro Aisawa (third from right), chairperson of the Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on the Election System, and other bipartisan lawmakers, on Thursday in the Diet.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2025

Bill calling for campaign poster decency submitted in Japan

Some campaign posters drew controversy in last summer's Tokyo gubernatorial election for depicting an almost fully naked woman and an advertisement for a sex services shop.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a bilateral meeting at the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019. A Putin-Trump summit is on the horizon.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 20, 2025

Russian forces advance on Ukraine's critical minerals as Trump talks of a deal

The seizure of Kyiv's mineral wealth, while not the main war aim, is among Moscow's strategic goals, experts say.
Iwate Gov. Takuya Tasso speaks in a group interview in Morioka on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2025

14 years on, Iwate to ask for continued reconstruction support

"Reviving sources of livelihood is important to enrich the lives of affected people," Gov. Takuya Tasso said in an interview.
Victims of scam centers, who were trafficked into working in Myanmar, wait for their embassies to pick them up in Tak province, Thailand, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025

Myanmar scam center survivors recall torture and coercion

"I got a lot of punishments," said one man, who had cuts along his leg. "I received electric shocks every day."
Cabbage prices have risen to 2.6 times their five-year average in Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 20, 2025

Japan’s food inflation is becoming harder for BOJ to overlook

The level of fresh food prices has risen 71.9% since 2010, about five times more than that of inflation excluding it.
Supporters watch archive footage of speeches by South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol on a screen near the Central District Court in Seoul on Thursday, as the ousted South Korean leader became the country's first sitting head of state to stand trial in a criminal case.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025

Ousted South Korean president sought to stop 'dictatorship,' lawyer says

Yoon Suk Yeol has has been behind bars since he was arrested last month on charges of insurrection.
Mushroom loves walks and gets along with people of all ages.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Feb 20, 2025

Make room for Mushroom the dog

This laidback Shiba gets along easily with all kinds of people and dogs.
Australia's spy chief, Mike Burgess, called for a greater effort to tackle the threat from extremism, especially among young people.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025

Australian spy chief warns of rising role of minors in terror

Almost all foiled terrorist attacks in Australia over the past year involved the radicalization of children, according to the spy chief's annual assessment.
Mike Sunda at a concert in Haikou, China
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 20, 2025

Mike Sunda: ‘Creative production comes with a bigger responsibility than ever before’

Creative strategist Mike Sunda talks about his influences and the filming of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Mamushi” music video.
The poet and essayist Kamo no Chomei wrote “Hojoki” in 1212 after bearing witness to a series of natural and man-made disasters. His experiences caused him to withdraw into a hermetic lifestyle.
LIFE / Language
Feb 20, 2025

Attempting the classics: Deciphering impermanence in ‘Hojoki’

With modern-day aids, this 13th-century piece of text isn't as challenging as you may think.
Rebel fighters with the Rwanda-backed M23 militia secure Congolese soldiers who had surrendered in Goma, Congo, on Jan. 30.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

Sanctions on Rwanda alone won't stop war in DRC

Past peace efforts collapsed as Rwanda accused the DRC of sheltering the FDLR, a Hutu militia tied to the 1994 Tutsi genocide.
Prime Minister Shiger Ishiba waits for the Lower House Budget Committee session to begin in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2025

Dispute over funds scandal questioning delays budget talks as CDP seeks leverage

Veering off schedule, even for a day, is detrimental to securing passage of the fiscal 2025 budget in the Lower House by March 2 — a priority for the government.
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2025

Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo

Lawyers including an attorney who fought alongside the journalist in a civil suit against her attacker have raised legal and ethical concerns over the film.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16, 2018
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 20, 2025

China risks becoming U.S. military’s top priority if Trump cuts a deal with Putin

U.S. and Russian officials have started talks in Saudi Arabia to negotiate an end to the three-year war, prompting deep concern in Europe and Ukraine itself.
Yamanote Jijosha has a long history of staging Shakespeare plays, and in celebration of its 40th anniversary, the company will present “Othello” and “Macbeth.” Previously, it toured productions like “Titus Andronicus,” which premiered in Tokyo in 1999, saw multiple revivals and had a homecoming in 2015.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 21, 2025

Directing is never a monologue at the experimental Yamanote Jijosha theater company

To mark its four decades of existence, the company stages two Shakespearean tragedies for a triumph.
Palestinians and militants gather around Red Cross vehicles as Hamas prepares to hand over the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD
Feb 21, 2025

Israeli military says body released by Hamas is not of a hostage

Palestinian militants handed over four black coffins in a carefully orchestrated public display.
Kash Patel, who was approved on a 51-49 mostly party line vote, takes over the Federal Bureau of Investigation at a turbulent time.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 21, 2025

Kash Patel confirmed to lead reshaping of FBI under Trump

Patel overcame intense opposition during his confirmation process, especially from Democrats who argued he isn’t qualified.
Alleged scam center workers and victims from China, who were handed over from Myanmar, board a plane at Mae Sot Airport in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2025

China flies home first nationals from Myanmar ‘scam centers’

The repatriation is part of a multinational effort to stamp out the centers, a transnational criminal industry that has found havens in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 21, 2025

Trump tightens grip on independent agencies, testing limits of presidential power

The agencies have for years taken pride in their independence overseeing such matters as elections, stock markets and labor unrest.
Japan’s biggest nuclear power plant, the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, is ready to restart but needs a green light from the local governor.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2025

The revival of Japan’s biggest nuclear plant faces its last hurdle

If the restart is approved, the nuclear power plant could start producing power within the following month.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito (foreground) attends a meeting with the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly's special investigative committee in the city of Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, on Dec. 25.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 21, 2025

Two Ishin lawmakers quit special panel probing Hyogo governor

Minoru Kishiguchi and Makoto Masuyama had leaked information from the panel to the leader of the NHK party.
Cat-related sweets sold by 7-Eleven in Tokyo. Employees of 7-Eleven have helped develop 23 types of cat-related products this year, compared with just five last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 21, 2025

Japan's Cat Day sees companies capitalize on 'a-meow-zing' economic boon

This year, products and services related to cats are estimated to generate ¥414.50 billion more than last year.
A marketplace amid the rubble in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, on Feb. 13.
WORLD
Feb 21, 2025

Arab leaders scramble to counter Trump’s Gaza plans

The meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, is in preparation for a broader Arab League summit in Egypt on March 4.
Education minister Toshiko Abe (right) receives a report on higher education from an advisory panel on Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2025

Japanese panel seeks to tighten screening of new universities

The number of people going to university in the country is estimated to fall to some 460,000 in 2040 from about 630,000 last year.

Longform

Tokyo Koon stands at the forefront of tackling the so-called 2025 issue, also known as the “Magnetic Tape Alert.”
The race to save 20th-century history