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Nanako Fujita competes during a race in 2019. The recent news of Fujita quitting after her suspension for breaking horse racing's strict phone rules shows that bad habits related to smartphone use don't discriminate.
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
Oct 25, 2024

Horse racing in Japan has a smartphone problem

Nanako Fujita's recent retirement over breaches of smartphone rules put a spotlight on a big issue for horse racing in Japan.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk jumps on stage as he arrives to speak at a town hall event hosted by America PAC in support of former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 18.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 26, 2024

Elon Musk all-in for Trump as Moscow denies secret Putin talks

Musk's America PAC has also been warned by the U.S. Justice Department that its $1 million giveaways to registered voters may violate federal law.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the training base of special operations forces to guide a drill at an undisclosed location in the country on Sept. 11.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 26, 2024

NATO invites Japan and three others to ambassador-level meeting on North Korea

The meeting is aimed at sharing information with NATO's Asia-Pacific partners, which also includes South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
Studio Ghibli’s “Kiki’s Delivery Service” draws inspiration from Sweden’s medieval town of Visby as well as Stockholm for its vibrant setting of Koriko, a fictional city where the film’s titular character decides to use her powers as a witch to benefit the inhabitants of her new home.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 27, 2024

The Swedish heart of Hayao Miyazaki's ‘Kiki's Delivery Service’

Inspiration for the 1989 Studio Ghibli classic is still very evident in Visby, a picturesque town that captivated the animator on his first trip abroad in 1971.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during an interview with reporters at the Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday night
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 28, 2024

Japan faces political upheaval after LDP-led coalition loses majority

The electoral rout opens up a potential path for the opposition to steer the lower chamber’s agenda if they can act cohesively.
A Nvidia chip during the Taipei Computex expo in Taipei on May 29, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 28, 2024

How a Mumbai drugmaker is helping Putin get Nvidia AI chips

An inconspicuous pharmaceutical company exported 1,111 units of Dell Technologies' most-advanced servers to Russia in April-August of this year.
Andrea Galeano, head of amphibian and reptile collections at the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute, holds an Atelopus marinkellei frog captured during the Humboldt Institute's expeditions, in Villa de Leyva, Colombia, on Oct. 11.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 28, 2024

Colombia's peace opened wildlife to discovery, but new violence frustrates progress

Colombia is now the world's most dangerous place for environmentalists, with 79 killed last year — the most ever in one country in a single year.
Photos of Rikuto Kubota, who was on a wanted list over the robbery and abduction of a woman in Chiba Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 28, 2024

Suspect in Chiba robbery-abduction case apprehended

Rikuto Kubota is suspected of being one of the people who broke into a house in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, on Oct. 17 and abducted a 50-year-old woman.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris
WORLD / Politics
Oct 29, 2024

Harris and Trump battle for swing-state votes as Musk draws lawsuit

Trump rallied evangelical voters in Georgia, while Harris highlighted her plans to boost manufacturing during a tour of Michigan.
Today's religious thinkers face the challenge of demonstrating that faith offers deeper meaning and understanding in an increasingly secular world.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 30, 2024

Is the world ready for a religious comeback?

Individuals are seeking meaning through alternative avenues, suggesting a readiness for religious discourse.
Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley leaves after attending a press conference hosted by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to release its first annual report, at the Vatican on Tuesday.
WORLD / Society
Oct 30, 2024

Church must act faster against abusive priests, papal commission says

The detailed global report from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was the first since the body was set up by Pope Francis in 2014.
Nguyen Thanh Bien gets a massage with medicated oil from his father to help with injuries from being beaten by the Chinese authorities while fishing in the South China Sea, in Quang Ngai, Vietnam, on Oct. 18.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 30, 2024

Bullied by China at sea, with the broken bones to prove it

China’s aggressive policing of disputed territory has produced the latest clash in a long, complex relationship.
One shortcoming of the Freelance Act — a new law designed to improve the working conditions of freelancers — is that freelancers and clients don't know much about it.
JAPAN / Explainer
Oct 31, 2024

What is the Freelance Act, Japan’s first-ever law to help freelancers?

The law introduces new measures to help self-employed workers. However, some shortcomings remain, experts say.
A 15,000-pound undersea cable for transportation to Brazil, at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on June 8, 2009.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 31, 2024

U.S. agency to launch review of undersea cables and national security risks

More than 400 subsea cables form the backbone of the internet, carrying more than 99% of the world’s data traffic.
FamilyMart has introduced discount stickers with teary-eyed characters and the plea "Please help me" on near-expiration rice balls, sandwiches and bento boxes.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2024

FamilyMart trials sobbing discount stickers to help prevent food waste

The convenience store chain hopes the stickers will tug on customers’ heartstrings and encourage them to purchase items nearing their expiration dates.
Tsunehisa Katsumata was known for his quick decision-making, which earned him the nickname “Razor Katsumata.”
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2024

Former Tepco chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata dies at 84

Katsumata was the company's point man after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant went into meltdown in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
The close for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Asia’s second-biggest equities market, will be moved back to 3:30 p.m. from Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 1, 2024

High-frequency traders get an extra 30 minutes for Japan stocks

The extra half-hour is raising concerns among market participants who fear the shift will give rise to machine-driven price moves.
The Gifu Prefectural Police headquarters in the city of Gifu
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 1, 2024

Gifu police officer arrested over alleged sex with underage girl

The suspect, then a police academy student, was allegedly fully aware of the girl's age.
Police officers control traffic in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2024

Fewer Halloween revelers seen in Tokyo following street drinking ban

Measures taken that include the street drinking ban to prevent problems are "beginning to produce results," Shibuya's mayor said.
One of the cutest Shiba dogs at ARK, Pomelo is very true to her name.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Nov 4, 2024

Bright and zesty Pomelo knows what she wants

Pomelo was named rather randomly when she arrived at ARK. Little did we know that the name was spot on. The description of the citrus fruit that comes up online — “bright, tangy and refreshing, with an acidity and zestiness that adds an invigorating quality” — fits this girl to a T.
A woman walks past a poster with an image of Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi for the 2024 Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), which is currently underway through Nov. 6.
CULTURE
Nov 2, 2024

Spend Culture Day weekend in Ginza with TIFF and Yuko Mohri

The Tokyo International Film Festival is great chance to see noteworthy films, while the Artizon Museum presents playful art installations by Yuko Mohri.
Ukrainian law enforcement officers comfort a woman crying over the body of her 15-year-old son following a missile attack in Kharkiv on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 2, 2024

In Ukraine, hopes of war breakthrough slim whoever wins U.S. election

For many in war-torn county, the outcome of the U.S. election and its impact on the war with Russia feels less likely to be pivotal than it once did.
Early voters at a polling site during early voting in Queens, New York, on Oct. 27. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia is behind a video that appeared on social media this week falsely claiming that Haitians illegally voted multiple times for Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 2, 2024

U.S. spy agencies issue new warning on Russia’s election misinformation campaign

Three recent videos have sought to undermine confidence in the security of the vote.
Akira Oishi (left) and Shinichi Okanobori have taken on the responsibility of surveying the flora and fauna of Mount Tenran and Mount Tonosu in Saitama Prefecture.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / Longform
Nov 2, 2024

Inside Japan's 100-year project to monitor its deteriorating biodiversity

With researchers and an army of volunteers on its side, the Monitoring Sites 1,000 project aims to bring attention to our fragile ecosystems.
The seaside town of Shika on the Noto Peninsula, where the local power provider, Hokuriku Electric, has been fighting for a decade to restart a nuclear power plant in the town’s center.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 2, 2024

Can quake-prone Japan ever embrace nuclear energy again?

The government, its makeup in flux after the LDP lost seats this week, will soon need to make decisions that will shape Japan's future nuclear policy.
The closing session of the United Nations' COP16 summit in Cali, Colombia, on Friday
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Nov 2, 2024

Talks on halting nature loss run into extra time in Colombia

A closing plenary session started more than four hours late as groups of negotiators huddled behind closed doors seeking to iron out their differences.
Search and rescue team members and a member of the Spanish Civil Guard look for bodies following flooding in Chiva, Spain, on Saturday.
WORLD
Nov 3, 2024

Amid flood cleanup in Spain, residents try to make sense of the disaster

Some blamed climate change, while others pointed toward politicians, who sounded the alarm only after the flood was already raging.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Salem, Virginia, on Saturday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 3, 2024

Climate skeptics are hatching big plans for a second Trump term

Pushed to the fringes during the Biden administration, they are now preparing to revive coal, gut the EPA and limit the tools used by climate scientists.
The Tokyo Hydrogen Museum in the capital's Koto Ward on Thursday. The capital is targeting the “full use” of hydrogen produced using renewable energy “in all fields” by 2050 as part of its decarbonization drive.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Nov 3, 2024

Tokyo's climate goals rely on a fuel that is falling out of favor

The metropolitan government is targeting the widespread use of hydrogen, but strong competition and its physical properties are limiting its applications.
Polling has failed spectacularly in recent U.S. presidential elections and the country can only hope it navigates this year's volatile race with its credibility intact.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2024

Broken political polling failing American democracy

To restore confidence in polling, pollsters must recognize the limitations of traditional random sampling and improve methods for diagnosing nonresponse bias.

Longform

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick