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The opposition has no means to force the six current and former Liberal Democratic Party members to testify in parliament without the agreement from the party's leadership, starting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who concurrently serves as party president.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 20, 2024

Kishida weighs demand for sworn testimonies to clear air on scandal

Opposition parties want six current and former LDP members to testify before parliament on their knowledge of party fundraising kickbacks.
With little pushback from the international community, particularly the U.S., China has managed to expand its maritime borders unilaterally in the South China Sea without hardly firing a shot.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2024

The South China Sea could boil over

With the wars in Ukraine and Gaza stretching its military resources thin, a direct confrontation with China is the last thing the U.S. needs.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani talks with interpreter Ippei Mizuhara during a spring training game in Phoenix on March 12.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 21, 2024

For Shohei Ohtani, Ippei Mizuhara was far more than just an interpreter

The 39-year-old has been a ubiquitous presence in Ohtani’s life since his move to the major leagues ahead of the 2018 season.
Tourists wearing rented 'maiko' costumes stroll down a street in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2024

Kyoto and the hard part of soft power

Kyoto has the kind of soft power few cities — and countries — possess.
Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos in 2011
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 24, 2024

Longtime Orioles owner Peter Angelos dies at 94

A successful trial attorney who made his fortune in class-action lawsuits, Angelos led a group of investors that purchased the Orioles in 1993.
While Beijing promotes a vision of a peaceful and cooperative world, its foreign policy increasingly involves coercion, military buildup and assertive actions that challenge the existing international order.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2024

What is Beijing’s ultimate endgame? The answer is clear.

China's purported vision of equality and security for the world is belied by increasingly forceful foreign policy.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman rings a ceremonial bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to celebrate the company's initial public offering on March 21.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 28, 2024

Reddit’s IPO is a content moderation success story

Deciding what users are and aren’t allowed to post is something every social media company has to embrace eventually, if it wants to succeed.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (left) and Yuichiro Tamaki (right), leader of the Democratic Party for the People, hold a party leaders' debate in June 2021.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 28, 2024

Is Japan-style 'question time' facing abolition in parliament?

Both ruling and opposition parties have shown a lack of enthusiasm for holding such events, with some forces even advocating for its abolition.
Kelly Zong Fuli
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2024

China's ‘Princess of Wahaha’ to lead beverage empire fighting for relevance

Sales at Hangzhou Wahaha Group have fallen in an increasingly competitive market as the firm has proven slow to adapt to consumers’ changing tastes.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends an Upper House Budget Committee session on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 28, 2024

Ex-PM Yoshiro Mori may face LDP probe over kickback scheme

The target and scope of such an investigation has yet to be decided, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says.
Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Toshihiro Nikai addresses a news conference Monday after he announced that he will not run in the next general election amid the political funds scandal engulfing his party.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 28, 2024

Why LDP elder Nikai's announcement is a big deal (and isn't)

Despite portraying it as a move to preserve Nikai's legacy, it's seen as a proactive attempt to insulate himself and his associates from further scrutiny.
Cherry blossoms in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Friday
JAPAN / Society
Mar 29, 2024

Cherry blossoms bloom in Tokyo, 15 days later than last year

This year's blooming is the latest in the capital since 2012, when they were declared to have blossomed on March 31.
California’s share of U.S. wine production, around 90% in the 1990s and 2000s, dropped below 80% for the first time on record in 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2024

Who will save the U.S. wine industry? Not California boomers.

California’s share of U.S. wine production, around 90% in the 1990s and 2000s, dropped below 80% for the first time on record in 2022.
Cherry blossoms bloom at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 31, 2024

Tokyo marks final day of March with record high temperature for month

Cherry blossoms in the capital finally burst into bloom on Friday, marking the latest blooming in over a decade.
A site in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, that formerly belonged to the British Embassy, was discovered to have artifacts and dwellings from the city's past.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Apr 1, 2024

The complications in digging up Tokyo's ancient past

When traces of history are found at construction sites, businesses need to sport the cost of removing them. But then, the build goes on.
The Bank of Japan's tankan survey showed that large nonmanufacturers saw improvement in their sentiment with the index reaching the highest level since 1991, helped by a surge in inbound tourists.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 1, 2024

Japan service firms’ optimism tempered by softer factory sector

The deterioration in manufacturing sentiment partly reflects the impact from scandals among some vehicle producers.
Cardboard beds at an evacuation center in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 31. Because evacuation shelters are operated by municipalities, the quality of disaster relief varies depending on the strength of each local government, one expert points out.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024

Over 8,000 still in evacuation centers three months after Noto quake

The patchy progress of Japan's decentralized disaster relief shows that lessons from past disasters have not been learned, experts say.
The Brisbane skyline in 2021
OLYMPICS
Apr 3, 2024

Olympians call for Brisbane 2032 stadium rethink

The 14 Olympians and Paralympians said in a letter that the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC) was not a suitable venue for the Olympics.
Workers at a factory in the town of Sriperumbudur, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on Jan. 3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept India on its swift upward path among the world’s largest economies. Many Indians are better off, though wealth gaps have widened.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

What 10 years of Modi rule has meant for India’s economy

The value of India’s stock market has tripled since the prime minister took office and its economy has almost doubled — but gains have been widely unequal.
Japanese swimmer Ryosuke Irie speaks during a news conference on Wednesday in Tokyo.
MORE SPORTS / Swimming
Apr 3, 2024

Three-time Olympic medalist Ryosuke Irie retires

The 34-year-old, who appeared in four consecutive Olympic Games in men's backstroke events, had been active on the international stage since 2006.
The United Nations building in New York
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

Could the Palestinians become a full United Nations member?

Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour said the aim was for the council to take a decision at an April 18 meeting, but that a vote had yet to be scheduled.
A Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games' athletics track in two shades of purple is installed next to the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, near Paris, on March 24.
OLYMPICS / Athletics
Apr 8, 2024

Athletics track for Paris Olympics is made in Italy — in purple

The track delivers better performance than the one used at the COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympics, it is claimed.
Broken fridges in the yard of a recycling workers' tenement house in Dongxiaokou village in Beijing in 2014
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Apr 8, 2024

Climate-warming gases being smuggled into Europe, investigation says

Law enforcement agencies across the European Union are struggling to keep track of illicit shipments entering via Turkey, Russia and Ukraine.
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour speaks with the media, accompanied by Yemen's Ambassador to the United Nations Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi and Algeria's Representative to the United Nations Amar Bendjama, at U.N. headquarters in New York on March 25.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024

Security Council to decide within April on Palestine's U.N. membership bid

Palestinians have lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Towa’s compression molding equipment. The firm commands two-thirds of the world’s chip molding equipment market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 9, 2024

AI demand spurs 390% surge in Kyoto chip company’s stock price

A growing demand for AI technology has been a boon for Towa, a little-known company that makes an essential component.
Yayoi Kusama during a media preview of her exhibition at the David Zwirner gallery in New York in November 2013.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 11, 2024

Yayoi Kusama was the world’s top-selling artist last year

Sales from Kusama’s auctioned works totaled $80.9 million in 2023, moving her up from the second-highest selling artist in 2022.
Tokyo-based artist valknee has stood out as part of a wave of underground acts eager to tear down genre walls.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 12, 2024

Four up-and-coming music acts to start spring off right

Give your algorithms a nudge to put you in the mood for warmer weather with acts such as valknee, Uilou, Cho Co Pa Co Cho Co Quin Quin and kinoue64.
Approval rate for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet hit a new low of 16.6% in April since its launch in October 2021.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 11, 2024

Support for Kishida Cabinet sinks to fresh low of 16.6%, poll shows

The approval rate fell 1.4 percentage points from the previous month, while the disapproval rate climbed 2.0 points to 59.4%.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a news conference during his state visit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 11, 2024

Kishida's U.S. state visit may be a turning point in the nation's foreign policy

What was most striking during Kishida's visit to the U.S. was Biden's remarks at the beginning of a joint news conference on their nations' military ties.
Yoasobi member Ayase (far left) joins U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a toast during a state dinner at the White House on Wednesday.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 12, 2024

A brief history of J-pop stars meeting U.S. presidents

Yoasobi's presence at the White House state dinner catapults the duo to a new strata. It also says a lot about what sound currently rules Japanese music.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake