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Matt Fuller and his son, Isaiah, were lucky enough to meet Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong in the lead-up to the season-opening Tokyo Series.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 19, 2025

Tokyo Series gives diehard American baseball fans the ideal gateway into Japan

The Tokyo Dome may be filled with Japanese baseball diehards this week, but more than a few Americans have also made the trip to see the Cubs and Dodgers.
Japan forward Mina Tanaka dribbles during a SheBelieves Cup match against Australia in Houston on Feb. 20.
SOCCER
Mar 20, 2025

How Mina Tanaka evolved into a prolific striker for Nadeshiko Japan

Mina Tanaka is having a moment. The Nadeshiko Japan and Utah Royals striker dominated the SheBelieves Cup, winning both MVP and top scorer as Japan defeated the U.S.
Some critics of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba call him weak and indecisive, saying his leadership has led to policy blunders that may make his grip on power increasingly untenable.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 20, 2025

Prime Minister Ishiba’s struggles put his leadership in jeopardy

With the world as turbulent as it is, the country cannot continue with such a weak and indecisive leader.
Shizue Takahashi offers flowers and pays tribute to the victims of the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult during a memorial service at Kasumigaseki Station on Thursday. Her husband, Kazumasa, who was working as an assistant stationmaster at Kasumigaseki Station, was killed in the attack.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2025

Tokyo subway sarin gas attack remembered 30 years on

Many survivors of the attack by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult still suffer from physical aftereffects and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Russians queue to apply for visas at the Japanese Embassy in Moscow on March 4.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2025

Cherry blossoms and free visas draw Russians to Japan

The number of Russians holidaying in Japan is set to double this year from around 100,000 in 2024, helped by a strengthening ruble.
Megumi Koiwai (left) found refuge in writing and storytelling that allowed her to reconcile with her heritage and upbringing.
COMMUNITY / Voices
Mar 24, 2025

A community of stories: Making space for reflection and dialogue in Tokyo and beyond

Through conversations with an international writing workshop, a writer of mixed heritage finds steadier footing and a sense of self.
Israeli soldiers work by military vehicles, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, near the border with Gaza, in Israel, on Feb. 15.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 21, 2025

In Israel, reservist burnout and little public appetite for more war in Gaza

A full-scale ground war against Hamas could prove more complicated amid waning public support, exhausted military reservists and political challenges.
AMKK’s latest exhibition, “X-Ray Flowers,” is the culmination of seven years of work aided by CT technologists, who help with the highly specialized imaging techniques.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 21, 2025

Avant-garde botanists AMKK illuminate the inner worlds of flowers

The punk florists' latest exhibition immerses visitors in darkness, bathed only in the glow of X-rays and CT scans of plants and flowers.
The Pentagon's disbandment of the Office of Net Assessment ends a key institution that provided long-term strategic analysis, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to future geopolitical challenges.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 20, 2025

A sad day for U.S. strategic analysis as the Office of Net Assessment is disbanded

While most focused on the military, ONA was the only group to conclude that winning the Cold War relied on economic means, not troop numbers.
Midwife Tabita dos Santos Moraes prepares cassava flour in Tefe in Brazil's Amazonas state last October. Tabita's great-grandmother taught midwifery to her aunts, who taught her mother, who taught her, starting at the age of 15.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 21, 2025

In the remote Amazon, midwives care for women stranded by drought

Years of extreme droughts in the Amazon rainforest have made river journeys to and from remote communities perilous.
San Francisco-based OpenAI sees the new studies as a way to get a better sense of how people interact with, and are affected by, its popular chatbot.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 22, 2025

OpenAI study finds links between ChatGPT use and loneliness

Those who spent more time typing or speaking with ChatGPT each day tended to report higher levels of emotional dependence on the chatbot.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton celebrates after winning the sprint race of the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Mar 22, 2025

Hamilton answers critics with first Ferrari win in China sprint

The seven-time world champion, starting from a surprise pole position, managed his tires superbly to take the race ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri.
Yuki Tsunoda after qualifying in ninth position for the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday in Shanghai.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Mar 22, 2025

Tsunoda shines again as Lawson's struggles continue

While New Zealander Lawson qualified last, Tsunoda reached the top 10 for the second race in a row and starts ninth in Shanghai on Sunday.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters in the White House on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 23, 2025

How Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts leave a vacuum that China can fill

When President Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States would move ahead with a long-debated project to build a stealthy next-generation fighter jet, the message to China was clear: The United States plans to spend tens of billions of dollars over the next decade, probably far longer, to...
Yuma Kagiyama performs during the men's free skate at Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki in November.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Mar 23, 2025

Top skaters prepare to do battle at worlds as 2026 Olympics loom

From Kaori Sakamoto to the "Quad God," here are five skaters to keep an eye on over the next week in Boston.
Workers at the Cosco Shipping Holding shipyard in Qidong, Jiangsu province, China, on Oct. 8, 2024
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 24, 2025

Billion-dollar U.S. levies on Chinese ships risk ‘trade apocalypse’

The levies could theoretically generate between $40 billion and $52 billion for U.S. coffers.
Officials of the National Public Safety Commission inspect the Kabukicho area of Shinjuku, Tokyo, in June 2024, as crimes committed by unscrupulous host clubs have surfaced.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 24, 2025

Crimes by 'tokuryu' anonymous groups pose serious issue in Japan

Police have made capturing the ringleaders a top priority but are struggling in their investigations, largely due to the criminals' use of highly encrypted communication apps.
Lindsey Vonn celebrates on the podium after finishing second in a women's super-G event in Sun Valley, Idaho.
MORE SPORTS / Alpine skiing
Mar 24, 2025

Lindsey Vonn gets confidence boost from first podium finish since comeback

Vonn had not managed a World Cup podium since 2018.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth walks to the West Wing of the White House on March 21. Hegseth disclosed war plans in an encrypted chat group that included a journalist two hours before U.S. troops launched attacks against the Houthi militia in Yemen, the White House said on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 25, 2025

White House mistakenly shares Yemen war plans with journalist

The plans were shared in a Signal messaging group that included a journalist from The Atlantic just before the U.S. attacked Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen.
Katsunori Tanaka, an ex-Goldman Sachs analyst who now heads hedge fund Ariake Capital, is betting big on Japan's smaller regional banks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2025

Ex-Goldman analyst’s hedge fund reaps 300% returns on small Japan banks

Katsunori Tanaka spent years at Goldman Sachs scrutinizing Japan’s biggest banks. Now at Ariake Capital, he obsesses over much smaller regional lenders.
Masamichi Koike, head of global markets business at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, says the Bank of Japan is likely to increase the policy rate to 1% this year as long as the U.S. economy doesn’t falter.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2025

Sumitomo Mitsui markets head sees BOJ rate at 30-year high

The Bank of Japan is likely to increase the policy rate to 1% this year from the current 0.5% as long as the U.S. economy doesn’t falter, said Masamichi Koike.
Now-U.S. President Donald Trump during a interview at his private club Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, on March, 4, 2024. Trump’s first four years in the White House were filled with falsehoods, and now he and those around him are using false claims to justify their policy changes.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 25, 2025

In his second term, Trump fuels a ‘machinery’ of misinformation

The president and his advisers have ushered the United States into a new era of post-truth politics, where facts are contested and fictions used to pursue policy goals.
Yields on Japan's 10-year government bonds have risen at a fast pace since the Bank of Japan ended its negative-rate policy last year and started to tighten.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 25, 2025

Japan bond rout signals era of ultralow rates might really be over  

For the first time in 16 years, yields on Japanese 10-year government bonds have jumped 50 basis points since November to above 1.5%.
Beniko, a former sex worker-turned professional photographer, browses though her new photo book in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, on Feb. 10. The 52-year-old has set out to visually document Japan's pleasure districts.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 30, 2025

Former sex worker records Tokyo's red-light history

"I can't make up for lost time, but I want to document the sex industry as part of history," says Beniko.
European Union nations and Japan fret about a world without the U.S. security umbrella. They could ease their fears by moving closer together.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 26, 2025

Japan-Europe: The security alliance the world needs now

Even before Trump’s return, Europe and Japan both rapidly needed to shift from their peacetime posture to one preparing for war.
Nissan is set to roll out a number of new and refreshed models in fiscal 2025 and 2026 as it seeks to halt its financial free fall.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2025

Nissan’s next CEO says it needs partners and he’s open to Honda

Ivan Espinosa, who currently serves as Nissan’s chief planning officer, takes the helm at a critical time for the company.
Sixteen-year-old Jun’s (Katsuya Kobayashi) life spirals downward after his refusal to stand and sing the national anthem is misconstrued as a political statement in “Boy.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2025

‘Boy’: An ambitious portrait of alienated youth

Director Yuji Dan brings a decades-old project to a close with his portrayal of a young man coming of age amid turmoil in the late 1990s.
Alysa Liu competes in the women’s short program during the World Figure Skating Championships at TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Mar 27, 2025

Women's skating favorites falter as Liu leads at worlds

Three-time defending champion Kaori Sakamoto, trying to become the first woman in 65 years to capture four consecutive world crowns, was a disappointing fifth.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pose for photos before their joint news conference at the Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Brazilian leader's Tokyo visit lifts ties to new heights

The two leaders have adopted a five-year action plan and a flurry of agreements as the countries mark their 130th anniversary year of diplomatic relations.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a solo home run in the seventh inning of Los Angeles' win over the Tigers on Thursday at Dodger Stadium.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 28, 2025

Ohtani and the Dodgers power past Tigers in Blake Snell's debut

Ohtani hit his second home run in the third game of the season as the Dodgers played at home for the first time in 2025.

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