Search - 2019

 
 
U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deliver remarks after a trilateral AUKUS meeting, in San Diego in March 2023.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2024

Who will 'plug and play' with AUKUS?

Tokyo, Ottawa, and Seoul must demonstrate their value in AUKUS by contributing sustainably and enhancing its effectiveness in promoting a rules-based Indo-Pacific order.
With the recent focus on the yen and individual investing, the phrase "Mrs. Watanabe" — one of the most common pieces of jargon in Japanese financial circles — has seen a resurgence.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 29, 2024

My search for the original 'Mrs. Watanabe'

Yen retail traders are back in the spotlight. But where did the phrase for the archetypal Japanese housewife investor come from?
A Correctional Services vehicle arrives at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts ahead of the verdict hearing in Hong Kong on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2024

Fourteen Hong Kong democrats found guilty in landmark subversion trial

Critics say the trial could deal another blow to the city's rule of law and its reputation as a global financial hub.
Ever since the Bank of Japan ended its negative rate policy, calls for the government to strengthen its fiscal discipline have been growing, with the country being haunted by public debt that is about twice the size of its gross domestic product.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
May 30, 2024

Two cheers for the end of free money in Japan

Corporations are better prepared for more expensive money than they were in the past, with strong balance sheets and a better understanding of risk.
Japan's head rugby coach Eddie Jones speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
May 30, 2024

Eddie Jones names Japan squad ahead of clash against England

Japan will face England at Tokyo's National Stadium on June 22.
Completed in 1889, the original Yebisu brewery finally has a worthy successor in the neighborhood that still bears the beer's name.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 1, 2024

A new brew for Ebisu, the town that beer made

Ebisu and its beer are unique among communities with drinking histories. Here, the beer named the town.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches a salvo super-large rocket artillery, at an unconfirmed location in North Korea.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 31, 2024

North Korea says 18-missile salvo was warning to South

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided the firing drill of the 600mm "super-large" multiple rocket launchers, state news agency KCNA reported.
Ashwani Gupta, then-chief operating officer of Nissan, in April 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
May 31, 2024

Nissan paid ex-COO $3.7 million to quit after sexual harassment claims

Ashwani Gupta's compensation figure for leaving the company is now public in a notice of the annual shareholders’ meeting, which showed he will also receive allowances.
Voters stand in line to cast their ballot at a polling station on the seventh and final phase of voting of India's general election, in Patna on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 1, 2024

India’s long, bitter election fight heads toward finish line

The results won’t be declared until June 4, but Saturday will offer a clue as to whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on track for a third term.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at a campaign rally on April 8. Exit polls revealed on June 1 indicated that the opposition was struggling to significantly cut into the sizable majority held by Modi's party.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 2, 2024

Modi set for landslide election win in India, exit polls show

No prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru — who ruled India for 17 years after independence — has managed to secure three consecutive terms in power.
The view from the top of one of the five 70-meter-deep shafts spread across the tunnel system of the ¥230 billion Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jun 3, 2024

Tokyo underground: Exploring what lies beneath the world’s largest city

Tokyo has developed a massive network of underground infrastructure to support its population, a system being put to the test by extreme weather.
Yuka Saso hits a tee shot on the first hole during the final round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Jun 3, 2024

Yuka Saso wins second U.S. Women's Open golf crown

At 22, Saso is the youngest player to win the U.S. Women's Open twice
British opposition leader Keir Starmer speaks at a Welsh Labour general election campaign event in Abergavenny, Wales, Britain, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2024

Starmer campaigns on U.K. security ahead of key debate with Sunak

The Labour Party head is trying to win the election by campaigning on the political center ground, and by showing how the party has shifted since its historic 2019 defeat.
Shinsaku Otomo (center) became the 1 millionth visitor to the Iwate Tsunami Memorial Museum on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2024

Iwate Tsunami Memorial Museum reaches 1 million visitors

Opened in September 2019, the museum features 150 items, including a tsunami-hit fire truck and panels on disaster response and evacuation lessons.
The Iranian flag flutters in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on June 5, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 4, 2024

Draft IAEA resolution presses Iran on particles and inspectors

The new text calls on Iran to cooperate without delay, including by letting the International Atomic Energy Agency take samples if it needs to.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako greet guests during the spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace imperial garden in Tokyo on April 23. The imperial couple will make a state visit to U.K. in late June.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2024

Japan's emperor and empress to pay three-day state visit to U.K.

The imperial couple will arrive on June 22, but will spend the first three days in private engagements before the official state visit from June 25 to 27.
Support staff dispatched by power firms work to restore electrical equipment in an area hit by the Noto Peninsula earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 4, 2024

Major Japan power firms boost cooperation on disaster response

The electric power sector has established a framework to streamline the dispatch of support personnel and facilitate mutual aid to cover restoration expenses.
One-on-one personal training programs have grown in popularity following the COVID-19 pandemic, but this increase in demand has not come without risks.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2024

Over 40% of gym injuries in Japan caused by personal training, survey shows

Demand for personal training programs have grown in recent years due to a rise in health consciousness following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Protesters and militia fighters carry the logo of the U.S. Embassy during a protest to condemn airstrikes on bases belonging to Hashd al-Shaabi (paramilitary forces), in Baghdad on Dec. 31, 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 4, 2024

Iran's allies in Iraq are firing at Israel. What if they draw blood?

Though experts do not see the attacks as posing the same level of threat to Israel as Hamas and Hezbollah strikes, they have increased in number and sophistication.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic receives medical treatment during his fourth-round match against Francisco Cerundolo on Monday.
TENNIS
Jun 5, 2024

Djokovic rocks French Open with withdrawal

The Serbian great's withdrawal means that Italian Jannik Sinner will become the new No. 1 next week.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin leaves a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 4, 2024

China is winning the communications competition

It's a mistake for the U.S. to take for granted that the world sees it as “the good guy” in its competition with China.
Line, which has evolved into an all-encompassing app used for messaging, payments, job searches and more, is now at the center of a dispute over its ownership.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 5, 2024

Why Line, a superapp, sparked a diplomatic dispute

Line, which has evolved into an all-encompassing app used for messaging, payments, job searches and more, is now at the center of a dispute over its ownership.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, meet in Tokyo in May 2022 on the sidelines of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. The coalition is now adrift and the reason for the drop-off is simple: The U.S. is preoccupied with Europe and the Middle East.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2024

Is 'the Quad' becoming a Potemkin alliance?

Despite its initial promise, "the Quad" coalition now appears to be losing momentum, posing significant security risks.
Kenya's Rhonex Kipruto celebrates after finishing third in the men's 10,000 meter final at the 2019 IAAF Athletics World Championships in Doha on Oct. 6, 2019.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Jun 6, 2024

Kenya's Rhonex Kipruto gets six-year ban and loses world record over doping

Kipruto was banned until May 10, 2029.
London's financial district in 2022. The U.K. was expected to lose a net 3,200 high-net-worth individuals last year, the most in Europe and double 2022’s level, citizenship advisory firm Henley & Partners estimated.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 6, 2024

Britain’s rich race to protect their wealth from election hit

Britain’s legal and political stability has been shaken by Brexit and the chop and change of five different Conservative prime ministers since 2016.
The NewsBreak company logo adorns a sign at a corporate office building in Mountain View, California, on April 26
WORLD
Jun 6, 2024

Top news app in U.S. has Chinese origins and ‘writes fiction’ with AI

NewsBreak launched in the U.S. in 2015 as a subsidiary of Yidian, a Chinese news aggregation app.
A large sign against Halloween gatherings is displayed outside Shibuya Station in Tokyo on Oct. 28 last year.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2024

Shibuya and Shinjuku crack down on street drinking

Both areas in Tokyo have been grappling with issues related to drinking in public following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 6, 2024

Boeing carries NASA astronauts to orbit in ‘milestone’ Starliner flight

The long-awaited flight of the vehicle is the latest step in NASA’s efforts to rely more heavily on the private sector for its human spaceflight program.
Supporters of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrate outside the headquarters during election results night in New Delhi on Tuesday. More than 20 opposition parties, spearheaded by Rahul Gandhi, formed a united front in a bid to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi's once-dominant electoral machine.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 7, 2024

India exit polls spark criticism, tears and calls for probes

Exit polls forecast Modi and his allies would win more than 350 seats in the lower house of parliament. But the coalition’s final tally was only 293 seats.
Kenji Iikura (right), head chef at Akasaka Tantei, and manager Hibiki Kitazawa pose with Okinawan cuisine served at the restaurant in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jun 17, 2024

How a Michelin-star Okinawan restaurant made a V-shaped recovery

A return to its roots — and Okinawan flavors — struck a chord with new and returning customers.

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.