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Button batteries of various sizes and some of the devices that use such batteries. The National Consumer Affairs Center has issued new guidance about the risks of children accidentally consuming such batteries following a series of recent reported incidents.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 19, 2024

Consumer watchdog urges caution against children swallowing batteries

Button batteries, commonly found in toys, remote controls and various household devices, can damage a child's digestive tract if swallowed.
Participants of Shomeikai’s Type B employment support workshop take part in a training session at a rental meeting room in the city of Fukuoka in May.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Aug 26, 2024

Welfare workshop helps people with disabilities become IT engineers

Shomeikai leverages on a cutting-edge software development methodology that lets users work in a team and support one another.
Graffiti was found on the pillar bearing Yasukuni Shrine’s name and at its base at the Tokyo shrine's entrance Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 19, 2024

Pillar at entrance to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine vandalized again

Staff discovered Chinese characters for “toilet” and various letters of the English alphabet written on the pillar bearing the shrine’s name on Monday.
Wind turbines in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2024

Japan offers lifeline to ESG investing amid backlash overseas

In light of the anti-ESG sentiment in the U.S. and Europe, analysts said that Japan can play a key role in driving sustainable finance globally.
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi announces his candidacy in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 19, 2024

Rising star Takayuki Kobayashi launches bid for LDP president

The former economic security czar has touted his candidacy as a symbol of radical change in a party embattled by scandals.
A Ukrainian soldier climbs atop an abandoned Russian tank after a botched river crossing by Moscow's forces, in Bilohorivka, Ukraine, on May 24.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2024

Russia rules out peace talks as Ukraine claims more advances

Ukraine sent troops and tanks into Russia on Aug. 6 in a surprise incursion that was the biggest attack on Russian soil since World War II.
Alimentation Couche-Tard’s proposed acquisition of Seven & I Holdings, if successful, would be an extremely rare case of a foreign company's buyout of a major Japanese firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 20, 2024

Seven & I buyout would be a watershed moment for Japan takeovers

Until now, an attempt to acquire such a well-known Japanese business at such scale would have been dismissed as audacious and unlikely.
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh hits a two-run home run against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago on July 28.
BASEBALL
Aug 20, 2024

A skill with a huge advantage is becoming taboo for young baseball players

Switch-hitters are a dying breed in the major leagues, particularly among Americans.
E-scooter startup Lime has launched its service in some of Tokyo’s most densely populated neighborhoods
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 20, 2024

Uber-backed e-scooter startup Lime enters Japan after Korea exit

Lime, which has a global fleet of around 200,000 e-bikes and scooters, on Monday launched its service in some of Tokyo’s most densely populated areas.
Despite the deep pessimism about the Gaza cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas, many parties involved, including the U.S., Egypt, Qatar, the Gulf States, Lebanon and Iran, stand to gain from an end to the hostilities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 16, 2024

Only agents of chaos want more war in Gaza

It took a decade for the U.S. to catch Osama bin Laden after al-Qaida’s 9/11 attacks; Israel may need to wait on catching Hamas’ Yahya Sinwar, too.
Tourists enjoy the beach in Malaga, Spain, on Aug. 14.
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2024

Package deals make comeback in Europe among budget-conscious sun seekers

The combination of a cost-of-living crisis and disruption from strikes and glitches has added to the appeal of a fixed-price package without unexpected add-on costs.
Samples of rare earth minerals cerium oxide (left), bastnasite (center left), neodymium oxide (center right) and lanthanum carbonate
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 20, 2024

Not-so-rare earths: Ample supply weighs on prices of key minerals group

Exports of rare earths from China, the dominant producer, climbed 7.5% year-on-year in the first seven months of 2024, but prices still fell during that period.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui offers flowers for the victims of the massive landslides on the 10th anniversary of the disaster during a ceremony in Hiroshima on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2024

Victims of Hiroshima landslides remembered 10 years on

The landslides, which occurred in the early hours of Aug. 20, 2014, claimed the lives of 77 people and completely or partially destroyed 396 houses.
The size of the carry trade strategy is hard to determine because currency transactions, unlike stock trades, aren't tracked on exchanges. We only have estimates.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 14, 2024

How big is the yen carry trade, really?

There is now worry that the unwinding of yen-funded carry trades would wreck investors’ frothy exposures to U.S. technology and AI-related companies.
U.S. President Joe Biden enters the stage after an introduction by his daughter, Ashley Biden, on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2024

Joe Biden begins a long and necessary goodbye

It took grace, maturity and generosity for Biden to bow out. A measure of resentment has also accompanied his exit.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a news conference in Tokyo on Aug. 14
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2024

Kishida to visit U.S. just before stepping down

While in New York, Kishida is expected to hold bilateral meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden and other global leaders.
Lawson Bank's automated teller machines. The number of Lawson Bank ATMs installed outside convenience stores rose to 174 as of the end of June from 80 three months before.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2024

Convenience store ATMs on the increase in Japan

Competition for making ATMs multifunctional, going beyond just withdrawing cash, and more user-friendly has been intensifying.
A glittering cast of Tokyoites comes together in a collection of dreamlike vignettes in Atsuhiro Yoshida’s novella “Goodnight Tokyo.”
CULTURE / Books
Aug 21, 2024

'Goodnight Tokyo': Late-night search for meaning become magical in the big city

Atsuhiro Yoshida's novella, composed of intersecting vignettes, is a fitting introduction to an atmospheric, visually adept writer known for his quirky worldbuilding.
Two recent studies have added to the growing body of evidence that a meat-heavy diet may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2024

Eating meat is linked with diabetes risk, new studies suggest

Two recent studies have added to the growing body of evidence that a meat-heavy diet may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to the Livingston County Sheriff's Office in Howell, Michigan, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2024

Trump pushes agenda in town with historic links to white extremism

Donald Trump did not speak out against hate during his 45-minute remarks in a Michigan town with historic ties to white supremacy.
Jannik Sinner poses with the Rookwood Cup trophy after winning the men’s singles final against Frances Tiafoe at the Cincinnati Open in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Monday.
TENNIS
Aug 21, 2024

Jannik Sinner cleared of wrongdoing after failed drug tests, ITIA says

The tribunal accepted Sinner's explanation that the anabolic agent clostebol entered his system from a member of his support team through massages and sports therapy.
Maria Branyas Morera celebrates her 117th birthday in March in this image posted to her official X social media account.
WORLD
Aug 21, 2024

Maria Branyas Morera, the world’s oldest person, dies at 117

Morera died peacefully in her sleep in Olot, Spain at her nursing home, Residencia Santa Maria del Tura, according to family.
Akamon Gate at the University of Tokyo
JAPAN / Society
Aug 21, 2024

Japan's low birthrate sparks talks of university consolidation

An education ministry official has expressed concern that some areas may be left without universities
Keiichi Tanaami
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2024

Keiichi Tanaami, pioneering Pop Art visionary, dies at 88

Known for his vivid kaleidoscopic visuals, which blended traditional Japanese motifs with Western pop culture, Tanaami was a pivotal figure in postwar Japanese art.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets with plaintiffs of lawsuits over forced sterilization conducted under the now-defunct eugenic protection law last month at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 21, 2024

Japan shows settlement proposal for forced sterilization suits

The government will pay ¥15 million in consolation money to each plaintiff forced to undergo sterilization surgery and ¥2 million to each of their spouses.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama waves after speaking on the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Tuesday night.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2024

Obama night at the DNC: Barack and Michelle rouse crowd for Harris

Obama has thrown his considerable political capital behind Harris as she seeks to make history herself on Nov. 5 as the first woman president.
Ahmad Bin Quasem, an opposition activist and lawyer who was recently released after the expulsion of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, speaks during an interview in Dhaka earlier this month.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 21, 2024

Disappeared Bangladeshi lawyer recounts Hasina's secret jail

Throughout his long incarceration, Quasem was shackled around the clock in windowless solitary confinement.
People rally to protest for the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Ginowan to the Henoko coastal district in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture last month.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2024

Local residents feel helpless over U.S. base relocation to Henoko

Students and citizens' groups staged their protests as the Japanese Defense Ministry's Okinawa Defense Bureau on Tuesday launched building works.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen in action during the Belgian Grand Prix on July 28
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Aug 21, 2024

Verstappen needs a home win to end losing streak

Verstappen, who leads Formula One by 78 points with 10 rounds remaining, has not stood on top of the podium since Spain on June 23.
A Ukrainian tank crew take a break while operating a Soviet-made T-72 tank in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia, on Aug. 12.
WORLD
Aug 21, 2024

Russia and Ukraine can’t mount major offensives against each other, U.S. says

The Pentagon’s intelligence agency said in new assessments that the two sides appeared headed toward a stalemate.

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.