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Dendrobium orchids — highly sought after due to their use in traditional Chinese medicine — growing in the wild in Nepal.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Oct 8, 2023

The orchid obsession: How science and smuggling meet in a global trade

Love of the flowers has a dark side, with the desire for rare varieties underpinning a robust illegal trade believed to have wiped out entire species.
Washington is taking steps to prevent U.S. chipmakers from circumventing government rules in order to sell to China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2023

U.S. to tighten rules aimed at keeping advanced chips out of China

The Biden administration is aiming to close loopholes that might help its geopolitical rival gain cutting-edge technologies.
BUSINESS / Tech / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Oct 23, 2023

Hokkaido waits to gauge impact from upcoming Rapidus chip plant

The nationally backed effort to revive Japan’s semiconductor industry has been called the region’s largest-ever development project.
They call it Q-Day: the day when a quantum computer, one more powerful than any yet built, could shatter the world of privacy and security as we know it.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 23, 2023

The race to save our secrets from the computers of the future

Quantum technology could compromise our encryption systems. Can America replace them before it’s too late?
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (from left), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh ahead of their bilateral meetings in New Delhi on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 11, 2023

U.S. pulling India closer to West as strategic interests converge

At “two-plus-two” talks Friday, the nations' top diplomats and defense chiefs agreed to accelerate defense-industrial collaboration.
Milk Talk members Yuqi Shinohara (left), who goes by the moniker Q.i, and Miles Ungar officially started their electro-boogie project in 2019.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 17, 2023

Milk Talk's deliciously funky mix of sweet and sour

The duo turns bottled-up feelings into electro-boogie delights on their debut album.
Japan’s national bar exam was held on Nov. 8 with a pass rate of 45%. Though for decades the pass rate was much lower, this seeming improvement has come on the back of several regulatory blunders.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 20, 2023

The failure behind Japan’s bar exam pass rate

The pass rate for Japan's bar exam has fluctuated, with this year's level coming on the back of several misguided interventions.
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2023

Manga artists and taxi drivers hit as tax frustrations mount

About 4.6 million businesses that were previously exempt from paying sales tax have been impacted by a new invoice system.
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 22, 2023

Things get warmer with Xi; Johnny’s get the cold shoulder

While Japan and China look to ease tensions, NHK makes things tense with a Johnny’s-less “Kohaku” announcement.
The Idaho National Laboratory, Materials and Fuels Complex. Researchers there were the first to generate electricity from splitting the atom back in 1951, and countless scientists have since visited the remote site to test reactor designs.
WORLD
Dec 3, 2023

The future of nuclear energy will be decided in Idaho

It’s been 50 years since the last reactor was switched on there, which speaks to the challenges of harnessing a fission reaction.
The MP Materials rare earth open-pit mine in Mountain Pass, California, in January 2020. Western startups are focusing their attention on the process of refining rare earths — some of them pivoting from mining — that China has spent the past 30 years mastering.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023

Western startups seek to break China's grip on rare earths refining

The companies are looking for faster, cleaner and cheaper ways to process the minerals that are critical for billions of electronic devices.
Traffic along a highway amid heavy smog and pollution in New Delhi in November
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 7, 2023

As China enjoys cleaner air, India's pollution struggle continues

Huge swaths of northern India choke on clouds of polluted air during winter as temperatures drop, winds disappear and farmers set fields ablaze.
PODCAST / deep dive
Dec 7, 2023

Feeling anxious? Wastewater, heat and Japan’s year in climate

In a year that saw Japan release 24,000 tons of wastewater (so far) from Fukushima No. 1 as the planet smashed heat records, it’s no wonder climate anxiety is on the rise. Mara Budgen joins us to break down the year in environment news, where we could see hope, and what we should be worried about....
A still from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
PODCAST / deep dive
Dec 14, 2023

Big in Japan 2023: Anime, Murakami and The Legend of Zelda

Our guests tell us why anime dominated in 2023, which books stood out among a lackluster crowd and why the Zelda franchise is experiencing a renaissance.
A woman who is against the proposed new constitution holds up a banner as she reacts to results of the referendum on a new Chilean constitution, in Santiago on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 18, 2023

Weary Chileans reject second proposed constitution

With 99% of votes counted in the referendum, 56% rejected the text while 44% backed the document.
The Ground Self-Defense Force's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade takes part in a marine landing drill on Tokunoshima island, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Nov. 19.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 29, 2023

Kishida’s military build-up plans face bumpy road ahead

One year on, questions remain as to whether the embattled leader, whose support rate recently dipped to new lows, can follow through on his pledges.
Though ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, it was really in 2023 that we started to get a sense of what large language models could do, including diagnosing complex medical issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2023

The 10 most intriguing science breakthroughs over the past year

As 2023 has drawn to a close, let’s look back on some of the astounding breakthroughs we’ve seen in the last 12 months.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Woodside, California, in November. After another year marked by great-power rivalries and rising security risks, the role of hegemonic, middling and rising powers has become more fluid than at any time since the end of the Cold War.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2024

The shape of power in 2024

Thinkers ponder whether the coming year will confirm that the world is quickly moving toward greater multipolarity or “nonalignment.”
A Tokyo Gas Co. storage tank at the company's Setagaya facility in Tokyo
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 12, 2024

World trying to quit fossil fuels gets flood of gas instead

Formerly a sluggish sector, global events spurred LNG's expansion
Final Fantasy VII Rebith, the second installment in the modern remastering of the 1997 classic scheduled for a Feb. 29 release, leads the slate of Japan-made games this year.
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON: GAMES
Jan 13, 2024

Final Fantasy and Tekken kick-start exciting year for gamers

Many upcoming titles are legacy franchises with recognizable faces that have withstood the ebb and flow of gaming popularity.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jan 15, 2024

All ¥500 coins that glitter are not gold

Twenty years on and the ¥2,000 note can almost certainly still be described as a “novelty" — what if the new ¥500 coin is destined for the same fate?
Donald Trump and his campaign are keenly aware of the publicity and sympathy his court appearances can generate with his loyal base of supporters.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2024

A day in Trump's world: Morning in court, evening on the campaign

The former U.S. president's unusual schedule sums up the unprecedented nature of this year's election.
Cars drive past a damaged road, in the aftermath of an earthquake, in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture.
PODCAST / deep dive
Jan 18, 2024

Japan rings in 2024 with an unwelcome disaster

Join us for the first episode of 2024 as we recap the massive New Year’s Day earthquake and its impact on the people of Ishikawa Prefecture.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump exits the stage during a campaign event in Concord, New Hampshire, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2024

For the anti-Trump wing of the GOP, it all comes down to Tuesday

The old guard of the Republican Party has rallied around Nikki Haley ahead of New Hampshire’s primary, in a long-shot bid to stop the former president.
BASEBALL / Sac Bunts
Feb 5, 2024

Fighters' Tsuyoshi Shinjo needs to match substance with style in third season

Nippon Ham manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo is trying to turn around the Fighters after last-place finishes in 2022 and 2023.
In the quest for immortality, some researchers believe mind uploading will be our ticket to an eternal existence.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 8, 2024

Japan’s take on immortality; problems in Palworld

As scientists and technologists attempt to tackle the problem of aging and death, we discuss Japanese ideas about immortality.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group. One of SoftBank's primary objectives will be to harvest returns from its huge portfolio rather than priming unprofitable startups for growth.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2024

SoftBank’s Vision Fund swaps splashy bets for ‘timid’ investing

As other tech investors have heaped money into new artificial intelligence firms, Vision Fund has stayed out of the fray.
An advertisement for the Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA) at a Mizuho Bank branch, a unit of Mizuho Financial Group, in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Feb 19, 2024

Turning the tide? Japan warms up to becoming an asset management hub.

The beefing-up of the NISA program alongside a new policy plan by the government shows its commitment toward getting households to invest.
The Dongmenting night market in Shenzhen, China, on Feb. 12. Hong Kong residents are flocking to nearby mainland cities in record numbers for cheaper shopping and entertainment.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 4, 2024

Young Hong Kongers who defied Xi are now partying in China

Thanks to new infrastructure, they can regularly go to Shenzhen where products and services are cheaper.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani(left) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pose for a portrait on media day at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 21.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 14, 2024

See-through baseball pants become eye-opening controversy for MLB

The league's new uniforms have dominated the conversation during spring training.

Longform

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly