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Trump has threatened blanket 60% tariffs on China, forcing some companies to consider shifting their supply chains to Southeast Asia.
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2024

China's exporters run for cover as U.S. election nears

A Trump trade war 2.0 would be a moment of reckoning for many Chinese exporters, whose profits are dwindling under heavy deflationary pressure.
Stablemaster Oshima (left) congratulates Kyokushuzan on his promotion to the the jūryō division in 1995.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Oct 23, 2024

Former ozeki Asahikuni, also a trailblazing stablemaster, dies at age 77

In 1992, the stablemaster recruited six young Mongolian men into his stable, creating a lasting connection between sumo and the central Asian nation.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrives to deliver a campaign speech in Osaka on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 23, 2024

Polls show Japan's ruling bloc could lose its majority. What would happen then?

Depending on the final count, one option for the LDP and Komeito might be to invite another party into a coalition.
An apartment building damaged by a Russian air strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Oct. 1
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2024

Selling out Ukraine casts shame on the West

This war started because Moscow refuses to tolerate a successful democratic, independent neighbor, which also remains the chief impediment to ending it.
Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi presents his report on the future of European competitiveness to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Sept. 17.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2024

Europe’s wake-up call on innovation and competitiveness

Europe stands at a critical juncture, needing to choose between maintaining the status quo or moving toward deeper integration.
Shoji Maegawa raises his arms in joy in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Wednesday,
 following the approval of a retrial over the murder of a Fukui junior high school girl.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 23, 2024

Court orders retrial in 1986 Fukui murder case due to witness coercion

The Nagoya High Court ruling stated that law enforcement agencies, facing investigative roadblocks, likely influenced witness statements.
Kazuya Shiraishi's "11 Rebels," a period actioner based on a long-forgotten script by Kazuo Kasahara, will open this year's Tokyo International Film Festival.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2024

Tokyo International Film Festival boasts strong line-up of Japanese fare

An excellent chance to see films from Japan, Asia and around the world, the annual event will kick off with Kazuya Shiraishi's gritty action feature "11 Rebels."
Naoko (Ayaka Onishi, right) starts moonlighting as a paid companion for older men under her missing colleague’s identity in “Strangers.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2024

‘Strangers’: A satisfyingly unnerving stolen identity drama

Kenta Ikeda and his cinematographer imbue the thriller about a woman who takes on the identity of her more carefree and flirtatious colleague with a sense of paranoia.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 24, 2024

Xi-Modi breakthrough followed months of pressure from India's CEOs

Indian businesses have increased pressure this year on Narendra Modi’s government to relax the restrictions on China.
People wait in a line to vote during the Super Tuesday primary election in Edinburg, Texas, on March 5.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 24, 2024

Chinese operation targeting U.S. down-ballot races, Microsoft says

The lawmakers were targeted because they had historically denounced Chinese government policies.
Smoke billows over the UNESCO-listed port city of Tyre after Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.
WORLD
Oct 24, 2024

Israel and Hezbollah exchange heavy fire as Blinken pushes for peace

The intensifying exchanges come as Washington makes a final push for peace before the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election that could alter U.S. policy.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visits Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, which was heavily damaged by the New Year's Day earthquake, on Oct. 5.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2024

Noto residents view upcoming election with mixed hope and resignation

Only about 16% of publicly subsidized demolition work on buildings damaged in the Jan. 1 quake in Ishikawa had been completed as of the end of September.
Visitors walk past China's first nuclear missile on display at the Military Museum in Beijing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 24, 2024

China speeds nuclear-weapons buildout, U.S. defense agency says

The Defense Intelligence Agency’s report offers the most detailed accounting yet of the country’s bid to catch up to the U.S. in an area where it lagged.
Taiwanese chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has halted shipments to a client after discovering semiconductors delivered to them found their way into Huawei products.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 24, 2024

TSMC cuts off client after discovering chips sent to Huawei

It’s unclear whether the TSMC client was acting on Huawei’s behalf, or where it’s based.
Ryuichi Isaka, CEO of Seven & I Holdings, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in April. Isaka is now assuring investors that the group's revenue will likely almost double by the 2030 fiscal year.
BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2024

Facing buyout bid, Seven & I tells investors sales will double by 2030

The retailer aims to reach ¥30 trillion in group sales by the 2030 fiscal year, with a greater contribution from convenience-store operations in markets abroad.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 24, 2024

Germany is courting India as ties with China sour: What to watch

The trip to India comes at a crucial time for Germany as it struggles to revive its economy, which has been buffeted by the war in Ukraine and competition from China.
Most economists expect the Bank of Japan to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged during their policy meeting next week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2024

BOJ watchers believe rate hike unlikely now as half brace for year-end shift

Analysts will be closely watching for policy hints from a two-day meeting that ends on Oct. 31, a few days after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s first general election.
Leaders of the three major business groups — Keidanren, Keizai Doyukai and the Japan Chamber of Commerce — meet Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Oct. 4 in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2024

¥1,500 minimum wage or bust, Japanese companies told

Managers unable to keep up with the minimum-wage increase schedule “are unfit for their positions,” Keizai Doyukai Chair Takeshi Niinami has said.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to voters in Aichi Prefecture on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 25, 2024

LDP rapped over funds for local chapters of scandal-tainted candidates

The LDP secretary-general said the funding was provided to the local chapters to expand the party’s influence, not to support individual candidates.
A cyclist cools off at a fountain at Madrid Rio park during a heat wave in Madrid in July.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 25, 2024

U.N. says world is on course to warm up to 3.1 degrees Celsius

Little progress has been made over the past few years despite repeated calls for stronger action plans.
A McDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburger. The fast-food chain has pulled the Quarter Pounder from about one-fifth of its U.S. restaurants.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 25, 2024

Fast-food chains hold the onions after McDonald's E. coli outbreak

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said late on Wednesday that fresh onions were the likely source of the E. coli outbreak.
A Palestinian boy sits on the rubble of the destroyed Maghazi Camp Services Club building following an Israeli strike on the Maghazi refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 25, 2024

U.S. presses for Gaza truce as negotiators prepare to meet

The U.S. is exploring different options to restart stalled talks between the warring parties.
A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force battle tank fires ammunition during a live fire exercise at East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 25, 2024

Defense tax hikes hinge on election results

Ruling and opposition parties share a recognition that Japan faces a tough security environment.
Rescuers take part in a drill held at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2024

Large-scale drill held at Haneda Airport

More than 1,000 participants practiced procedures for putting out fires and rescuing people involved in an accident.
A rancher stands near a door of the wall built under Donald Trump's presidency. A poll completed this week showed that 65% of registered voters believe the U.S. is on the wrong track on immigration policy, with voters favoring Trump's approach.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 25, 2024

U.S. Democratic candidates step up immigration messaging in last weeks

Almost 15% of pro-Democratic messages have addressed immigration or border security, up sharply from the 3% share in the final weeks of the 2022 midterm campaign.
Located in the Otemachi neighborhood, the 'skull mound' of Taira no Masakado is said to be the source of ills and misfortunes of any who would disturb the site.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 26, 2024

Take a Halloween stroll through Tokyo’s dark history

Tokyo has no shortage of creepy places to check out this Halloween, and the good news is that many are conveniently accessible.
Amit Chhetri opened Yeti Roastery Coffee in Tokyo's Todoroki neighborhood in 2020 as a way to promote Nepalese coffee in Japan.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 27, 2024

Yeti Roastery Coffee is elevating Nepalese java in Japan

“Nepal has rich soil and a huge potential for growing coffee in its mountains, which are also unbelievably gorgeous,” says Yeti Coffee Roastery's Amit Chhetri.
Yukio Hattori was an integral part of "Iron Chef" broadcasts, though his impact on food culture in Japan went far beyond the TV screen.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 27, 2024

Remembering Yukio Hattori, the voice of ‘Iron Chef’

Yukio Hattori was best known to international audiences as the expert commentator on the original Japanese version of the popular TV program “Iron Chef,”
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida accepts a gift of 'dekopon' citruses, a specialty product and symbol of Kumamoto Prefecture, from Kumamon, itself a mascot and instantly recognizeable symbol of the region.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Oct 28, 2024

Japan’s ‘meibutsu’-industrial complex is a wonder to behold

If you name a Japanese prefecture, many locals will instantly be able to tell you something that the region is famous for or a product synonymous with that area.
Healthy, affectionate and incredibly cute, Jessie also loves other cats and will even tolerate dogs.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Oct 28, 2024

Jessie wants to be your sunny new friend

Young orange tabby Jessie is a sweetheart who’s simply out of luck.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan