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Rose (pronounced like the wine) is nothing to fear.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Jun 17, 2024

A Rose by any other name

As lovely as a flower and as smooth as wine, Rose would make a wonderful, loving companion for someone who can recognize the precious gem she is.
Residents at a residential facility for the elderly in Sapporo show off their nails after getting them done during an on-site training session for welfare nail technicians in May.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 20, 2024

'Welfare manicures' bring a touch of color to the lives of Japan’s elderly

The practice, which took off in 2012, has been well-received among residents of care facilities for the elderly and people with disabilities.
An Afghan woman carries empty containers to fetch water in Balkh province, Afghanistan, in August 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2024

U.N.-led Doha meeting with Taliban sparks outcry over women's rights

The U.N. has been seeking a unified, international approach to dealing with the Taliban, who have cracked down on women's rights since returning to power.
Japan's men's and women's gymnastics teams pose for photos during a news conference to announce the team's uniforms for the 2024 Games.
OLYMPICS / Gymnastics
Jun 24, 2024

Leotard vs. unitard debate in gymnastics still raging ahead of Paris Olympics

The German gymnastics team took a stand against sexualization in the sport in 2021, but heading into Paris, the leotard is still very much in vogue in Japan and abroad.
Expedition tents at Everest Base Camp, 140 kilometers northeast of Kathmandu, in May 2021
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 27, 2024

As ice melts, Everest's 'death zone' gives up its ghosts

Among those scaling the soaring Himalayan mountain this year was a team aiming to bring corpses down.
To be the best of the best, according to the exclusive Relais & Chateaux group, Japan's 'ryokan' inns need to leave guests with "a transcendental feeling."
LIFE / Travel
Jun 29, 2024

To Relais & Chateaux, not all ‘ryokan’ inns are created equal

In Japan, this exclusive association has partnered with just 13 hotels and traditional 'ryokan' inns and seven stand-alone restaurants spread across the country.
Horror artist Junji Ito adds just a dash of comedy to his work, though he aims for it to be understated. “If it’s truly a horror story, the humor must be restrained and more veiled,” he says.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 29, 2024

Fear still matters to Junji Ito

Currently on view at Tokyo's Setagaya Literary Museum is an extensive collection of the horror master's work, the first large-scale exhibition of it's kind in Japan.
Tour guide and history buff Rory Dent left his job at a U.K.-based tour operator to move to Japan and start his own business.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Jun 30, 2024

Guiding Japan through the challenges of overtourism

With the number of overseas tourists breaking records, guides and tour operators are seeing their businesses flourish.
"Khaing," a former teacher with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), sits in a restaurant where she works after fleeing from Myanmar to Thailand to avoid conscription by Myanmar's military junta, in Bangkok on June 4.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 2, 2024

'Can't go back': Myanmar conscription exiles struggle in Thailand

Myanmar's junta says it wants to enlist 5,000 people a month aged between 18 and 35, but details are vague.
Housed in ARK’s shelter in western Japan, Jade waits day after day for someone to come along and give her a proper home.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Jul 8, 2024

Jade knows the love you take equals the love you make

Jade's search for someone to return the love she wants to show people is such a contrast to her initial shyness that it might seem out of character at first.
Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian, the reformist presidential candidate, waves after casting his vote in the country's presidential runoff election at a mosque in Tehran on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 6, 2024

Iran reformist Masoud Pezeshkian wins presidential election

Pezeshkian has pledged to open Iran to the world and deliver freedoms its people have yearned for.
Durian Lollobrigida and his co-hosts — actors Megumi and Chiaki Horan, singer Thelma Aoyama and former “Terrace House” panelist Yoshimi Tokui — offer in-studio commentary on the contestants’ footage in Netflix’s new reality dating show, “The Boyfriend.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jul 13, 2024

'The Boyfriend' host Durian Lollobrigida puts a face to queer joy

Involvement in Netflix's new reality dating show is just the latest success in the Japanese drag queen's rise.
Hedwig Schreck is a third-generation Tokyoite whose grandfather first arrived in Japan from Germany in 1920 as a submarine engineer.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 24, 2024

Hedwig Schreck: ‘Art has always been part of my life’

A third-generation Tokyoite, the former TV producer has pivoted to teaching others about Japanese culture in her retirement.
Takeo Suzuki from the Pentax division of Ricoh Imaging demonstrates the Pentax 17 half-frame film camera at the Pentax Club House in Tokyo on June 28.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2024

New Japan film camera aimed at 'nostalgic' young fans

Japan's major camera brands stopped making analogue models in the 2000s, prompting sellers in big cities to refurbish old models for new analogue enthusiasts.
Flames and smoke rise from a burning wildfire, as seen from a highway in Jasper, Alberta, Canada, on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 26, 2024

Wildfire roars through a Canadian town popular with tourists

The town is in the heart of Jasper National Park, which is one of Canada’s premier tourist destinations, receiving about 2.5 million visitors each year.
Torchbearers Teddy Riner and Marie-Jose Perec light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Paris Games on Friday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 28, 2024

Upset bishops and mixed reviews for Paris Olympics ceremony

The show's artistic director Thomas Jolly, who is gay, had pledged earlier this month that the ceremony would celebrate "diversity" and "otherness."
French fans cheer on their team during an Olympic rugby sevens match on Sunday. Fans are back in force at the Games and providing a lively atmosphere for the competition after COVID-19 forced the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics to be mostly played without spectators.
OLYMPICS
Jul 29, 2024

The Olympic roar is back in Paris after two pandemic-hit Games

The sights and sounds of the Olympics have returned to normal this year, with fans able to attend the Games without restrictions for the first time since 2018.
Two people in Tokyo walk past a poster meant to evoke a cooling feeling the summer heat.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 31, 2024

Sunscreen bans, UV-cuts and the language of summer skincare in Japan

Get to know Japanese terms for products that will help you protect your skin in the scorching sun.
An unemployed man (Eita Okuno) whose community was decimated by the Great East Japan Earthquake grapples with rebuilding his life in “Shinpei.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2024

‘Shinpei’ takes on 3/11 disaster with a fresh angle

Tatsuro Yamashiro infuses his drama centered on a complex protagonist struggling with the Great East Japan Earthquake’s aftermath with humor and visual beauty.
A boy skateboards past Yanaka Cemetery in Tokyo’s Taito Ward. A perfectly peaceful spot the rest of the year, it becomes a place children may test their courage during the Bon holidays.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 8, 2024

Japanese cities turn into ghost towns during the Bon holiday period

As people return to their hometowns to pay their respects to their ancestors, children may try to test their nerves with a "kimodameshi."
Shiseido's sales in China are still sluggish as consumers remain reluctant to buy Japanese products over the discharge of treated water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2024

Shiseido posts steepest drop since 1987 on anemic China demand

The company reported a January-June operating loss of ¥2.7 billion ($18.4 million), compared with profit of ¥13.6 billion a year earlier.
Utagawa Hiroshige produced several highly successful series of landscape prints over the course of his career, including “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” — the largest collection of his career.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 8, 2024

The definitive guide to Utagawa Hiroshige's masterwork is a feast for the eyes

Ukiyo-e expert Andreas Marks' new book is a rare compendium of the Japanese artist’s landscapes, even by local standards.  
The United States' Stephen Curry (right) and LeBron James celebrate after their win over Serbia in the men's basketball semifinals at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
OLYMPICS / Basketball
Aug 9, 2024

United States passes tough test against Serbia to reach Olympic final in Paris

Stephen Curry scored 36 points for the United States.
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Boiling Point
Aug 10, 2024

Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun

There are easily affordable ways to work some more cooling elements into your runs.
The Paris Olympics beach volleyball event held next to the Eiffel Tower was met with rave reviews.
OLYMPICS
Aug 11, 2024

'City of Light' was star of the show at Paris Olympics, say Games veterans

From beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower to the elegant surroundings of the Palace of Versailles for the equestrian events, the Games were a veritable tourism guide.
Ami competes in the women's breaking competition at the Paris Olympics on Friday.
OLYMPICS / Breaking
Aug 11, 2024

Is breaking a sport? Even among competitors, the answer depends on who you ask.

There was not even consensus from the B-girls — though all agreed that it belongs in the Olympics.
Fireworks during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday
OLYMPICS
Aug 12, 2024

The Olympics, a triumph of ambition, lift France from its gloom

France came into the Games shaken by a political impasse. It will exit with those problems unsolved but with a new self-confidence.
A new trend on social media advocates living a more frugal lifestyle that prioritizes quality over quantity.
WORLD / Society
Aug 12, 2024

Do I need it? 'Underconsumption core' trends on TikTok

Years of inflation have forced many to the conclusion they cannot keep up with the spending habits of those on their social media feeds.
Afghan girls weave a carpet at their house in Kabul on July 20.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2024

Three years after Taliban's return, economic woes loom large

While security has improved, many Afghans are just trying to make ends meet.
For centuries, Japanese people have been scaring themselves with horror stories as a way of cooling down during the stifling summer months.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 16, 2024

New tales in translation to give you chills and thrills this summer

Recent fright-filled releases with supernatural creatures, shrewd sleuths and creepy killers provide welcome relief from the sweltering heat.

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?