Search - features

 
 
A woman with HTLV-1 from Okinawa Prefecture talks about her experience of being turned away at a clinic outside the prefecture.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Sep 25, 2023

Website aims to shed light on little-known blood cancer virus

Awareness of HTLV-1, a virus that causes adult T-cell leukemia and other diseases, is low in Japan. A website called Hot Lives aims to change that.
A TV director (Kanna Hashimoto, left) is haunted by the dead wife of an old office crush (Daiki Shigeoka) in “The Forbidden Play.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 21, 2023

‘The Forbidden Play’: J-horror mishmash offers satisfying scares

Horror legend Hideo Nakata's latest flick is a halfway return to form, in part due to actor First Summer Uika's chilling turn as a vengeful wraith.
Characters from the Super Mario Bros. franchise adorn the front of Super Potato, a well-known retro game shop in Akihabara.
LIFE / Digital
Sep 20, 2023

Let the gaming begin: A guide to Tokyo's video game landmarks

Whether it's arcades, retro finds or chip-tune nightclubs, Japan's capital won't disappoint gamers wanting to geek out.
Visual AI allows us to see more than meets the eye when looking at cities like Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2023

AI will show us the future of cities, if we guide the way

Visual AI can help us better see our cities, from crime rates to property values, but only human intelligence can tell the forest from the trees.
Zaein, created by artificial intelligence company Pulse9, is one of South Korea's most active virtual humans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 26, 2023

In South Korea, AI-driven virtual humans go mainstream

Digital humans have been created for some of the country's largest conglomerates, with research indicating the tech could be worth $527 billion by 2030.
Packages to be delivered on Amazon Prime Day in New York in 2022
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2023

Why Amazon’s online marketplace drew FTC scrutiny

The FTC’s case against Amazon is an important test of whether Lina Khan’s interpretation of the law will hold up in court.
Dave Limp speaks during the Amazon Devices and Services event at the HQ2 campus in Arlington, Virginia, on Sept. 20.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2023

At Amazon, he launched Alexa. His new job is to launch rockets.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has spent two decades trailing Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the space-exploration race.
Directed by four different directors, the anthology film “Almost People” focuses on siblings who each lack an emotion.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2023

‘Almost People’: Anthology on emotions comes together in harmony

The film’s segments, which center on joy, anger, pleasure and loneliness, are beautifully integrated and show compassion for their characters’ flaws.
Mark Zuckerberg speaks onstage during the Meta Connect Developer Conference in Menlo Park, California, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 28, 2023

Meta unveils AI assistant and Facebook-streaming glasses

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the products as bringing together the virtual and real worlds while emphasizing lower costs.
The cast of Chelfitsch’s play “The Window of Spaceship ‘In-Between’” includes individuals with different levels of Japanese-language proficiency. They participated in workshops hosted by the theater company to promote more inclusivity in Japanese theater.
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 29, 2023

Chelfitsch challenges Japanese theater's language barriers

The theater company questions the status quo of the Japanese stage by casting non-native speakers in new project, 'The Window of Spaceship "In-Between."'
Johnny & Associates president Noriyuki Higashiyama (second from right), flanked by Johnnys' Island President Yoshihiko Inohara (second from left), unveils the company name Smile-Up during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 2, 2023

Johnny's to form new company in wake of sexual abuse by founder

The move comes after the agency acknowledged abuse and apologized to victims in a news conference last month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 3, 2023

Japan Airlines revamps first class with luxury double-bed suites

The firm is calculating that a premium-heavy configuration on its future planes will help deliver greater profitability.
Elderly people experience taking part in esports in Ono, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Oct 16, 2023

Fukushima town turns to esports as a health tool for the elderly

Ono and Fukushima Medical University have been holding trial sessions and analyzing the effects of gaming experience on cognitive functions.
Squash officials have attempted to make the sport more accessible to viewers in a push for Olympic recognition.
OLYMPICS
Oct 3, 2023

Squash desperate to end 'very weird' Olympic exile in 2028

Squash is one of nine sports vying for a place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, along with the likes of cricket, lacrosse and motorsports.
Philippine Coast Guard personnel retrieve the body of a crew member of a Filipino fishing boat on Wednesday. Three fishermen are dead after their boat was "rammed" by a foreign commercial vessel in the South China Sea, the Philippine Coast Guard said on October 4.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 4, 2023

Three Filipino fishermen dead after boat 'rammed' in South China Sea

Manila said the vessel that collided with the boat in the flash point waterway was an oil tanker registered under the flag of the Marshall Islands.
A new study defines some critical differences in certain biomarkers of people with long COVID.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2023

Long COVID is real. Now the evidence is piling up.

In what the researchers believe is a first, they did a detailed study of the differences between people with long COVID and those who are healthy.
Philippine crew monitor a Chinese coast guard ship near the entrance of Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal in disputed waters in the South China Sea.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 5, 2023

Philippines supplies outpost despite Chinese attempts to block

A "significant number” of Chinese coast guard and maritime militia vessels tried to stop the latest resupply mission.
The Singapore skyline
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 6, 2023

The rich are flocking to Singapore as bankers stick with Hong Kong

From Singapore’s earliest years as an independent state, it has aimed to be one of the key locales through which the world’s money flows.
This year's Tokyo Game Show attendance came up just shy of 2019's draw — an encouraging sign for the event's future.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Oct 7, 2023

A dark fantasy spin on ‘Pinocchio’ may put FromSoftware under pressure

It wasn’t the biggest TGS ever, but it's hard to imagine anyone behind the scenes at TGS headquarters pulling their hair out over 2023’s return to form.
Mysteriously suspended on the water of the Fugan Canal in Kansui Park, Hiroko Kubo’s “Mountain Dogs” (2023) are made from materials that reflect the industries of Toyama.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 7, 2023

An introspective Go For Kogei turns its attention to Toyama

The craft-art festival focuses on the historically industrial city to explore the Hokuriku region's crafts in an urban setting.
Children jump rope in a park. Young people with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) can have difficulties in jumping rope, throwing a ball or doing other common physical activities.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional voices: Chubu
Oct 16, 2023

Better understanding of developmental coordination disorder needed

DCD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that makes it hard for children to control their bodily movements to perform daily activities.
LIV Golf had been aiming for inclusion in the Official World Golf Rankings' calculations.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 11, 2023

LIV Golf loses bid to earn world ranking points in unanimous decision

Golf's ranking body expressed concern over the limited opportunities players have to join LIV compared to other competitions.
Afghanistan finished fifth in its Asian qualifying group for the 2022 FIFA World Cup before failing to reach the 2023 Asian Cup.
SOCCER
Oct 11, 2023

'We're not monsters,' says Afghanistan coach ahead of WC qualifiers

Coach Abdullah Al-Mutairi is targeting a berth in the 2027 Asian Cup.
Naoya Hatakeyama’s “Rikuzen Takata 2011-2023” is a display of hundreds of color contact prints of his hometown, Rikuzen Takata, Iwate Prefecture. The images show the shifting landscape of a place that was heavily affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 13, 2023

Tokyo Biennale 2023 seeks healing through art

The contemporary art festival creates safe spaces for its artists and their works by embracing a “we accept anything” maxim.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Oct 13, 2023

Third-place squads face long road to Japan Series

Only two teams have reached the Japan Series after finishing the regular season in third place.
An attendee tries out the XR Catch game at the Sony Group booth at CEATEC in Chiba on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 17, 2023

Major Japan tech show opens with focus on sustainability

The major trade show kicked off on Tuesday, with firms keen to showcase how their latest technologies could contribute to creating a sustainable society.
Elon Musk, owner of the X social media platform and carmaker Tesla, attends the opening ceremony of a new Tesla factory in Gruenheide, Germany, in March 2022.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 18, 2023

X unveils ‘Not a Bot’ paid program and new Japan feature

The new “Not A Bot” subscription method is Elon Musk’s latest way of nudging users toward paying for the platform.
The planet Mars as captured by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope in 2016
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 19, 2023

Scientists surprised by source of largest quake detected on Mars

They first suspected a meteorite impact had caused the marsquake. But a search for an impact crater came up empty.
Japan-based DJ and broadcaster Peter Barakan invites artists from around the world to perform at his two-day roots music festival, Peter Barakan’s Live Magic!.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 19, 2023

Peter Barakan’s Live Magic! festival celebrates 10th edition

The two-day roots music festival in Tokyo features sounds from around the world with acts such as Minyo Crusaders, Jon Cleary and Oreka TX.
Nurses and university students majoring in nursing hold up signs that read "Nurse act", during a protest against President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoing a nursing act that defines the roles and responsibilities of nurses, in Seoul on May 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 19, 2023

Why South Korea has so many protests, and what that means

Born during South Korea’s difficult march toward self-governance in the 1980s, protest rallies are a fixture of Asia’s most vibrant democracy.

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.