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Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, attend a Lakers game in Los Angeles on Dec. 8.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 29, 2024

Shohei Ohtani ends blockbuster year with baby announcement

Ohtani announced on Instagram on Saturday that he and his wife are expecting their first child, capping a huge year for the Dodgers star.
Rohingya refugees Shamshida (left), who had to flee one of the last refuges in Myanmar for the Rohingya Muslim minority, and her sister Manwara in their tent in Teknaf, Bangladesh, on Nov. 5
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 29, 2024

For the Rohingya, tormentors change but not the torment

This violence was not at the hands of the military, though. Instead, it was from a pro-democracy rebel group that was raised to fight the army.
Former U.S. President Jimmy in 1996. Carter, who rose from Georgia farmland to become the 39th president of the United States on a promise of national healing after the wounds of Watergate and Vietnam, then lost the White House in a cauldron of economic turmoil at home and crisis in Iran, died on Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia. He was 100.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 30, 2024

Jimmy Carter, president known as a peacemaker, is dead at 100

While Carter's presidency was remembered more for its failures than for its successes, his post-presidency was seen by many as a model for future chief executives.
Former President Jimmy Carter, furthest right, in a group photo with his successors at the White House in 2009. From his re-election defeat in 1980 until his death on Sunday, he was the odd man out, distant from the Republicans and Democrats who followed him.
WORLD
Dec 30, 2024

In the presidents’ club, Carter was the odd man out

Jimmy Carter’s relationship with his successors in the Oval Office, both Republicans and fellow Democrats, was generally tense because of his outspokenness.
Although meat consumption has been dropping, it's not happening quickly enough to meet climate targets, something to keep in mind over the holidays.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2024

Why are my vegan friends going back to meat?

Helping people eat healthier diets with more fruit, vegetables and fiber would have enormous benefits for human well-being and the planet.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida (left) and Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe in a news conference in Tokyo on Dec. 23
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 31, 2024

Honda likely to own majority of holding firm with Nissan

Nissan's faltering business performance could be a hurdle to the planned integration.
Japan's Roki Sasaki in action against the Czech Republic in a World Baseball Classic pool game in Tokyo in March 2023
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 31, 2024

20 U.S. Major League teams eager to interview Roki Sasaki

The player wanted to meet with representatives from MLB teams at the same place and under the same conditions, his agent said.
Opium is harvested from poppies in Bang Laem Village, Shan State, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 31, 2024

Drugs, scams and sin: Myanmar’s war has made it the global crime capital

Growing opium poppies is illegal in Myanmar, but small-scale farmers see it is a relatively low-risk cash crop.
Japan's 2024 Word of the Year, "futehodo," is a phrase tied to a Netflix show and highlights the broader decline in the cultural significance of such awards, with recent selections often seen as superficial or promotional.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 31, 2024

Japan’s 2024 word of the year has no rizz

Some critics wondered why the word of the year award was, essentially, functioning as advertising for a TV show that is still available on streaming.
Students perform a play they produced during a Liberal Arts Japanese class at Aichi Prefectural Kariyahigashi High School, as teacher Tomohiko Hyodo (left) watches.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 13, 2025

Aichi school uses theater to foster communication skills

Liberal Arts Japanese, designed to supplement conventional Japanese language studies, emphasizes practical skills in listening and speaking, the school says.
Pipework at a Russian gas storage facility operated by Gazprom
WORLD / Politics
Jan 2, 2025

Russia and Ukraine end five decades of gas transit to Europe

The stoppage means central European countries that have relied on the flows will be forced to source more expensive gas elsewhere.
Police officers investigate the scene after 15 people were killed by a man driving a truck in an attack during New Year's celebrations, in New Orleans on Thursday.
WORLD
Jan 3, 2025

New Orleans attack shows enduring influence of Islamic State group

Since 2019, when then-U.S. President Donald Trump declared the group’s so-called caliphate had been defeated, Islamic State has "metastasized” elsewhere.
Tonoike Sake Brewery has been gearing their brewery toward tourism since the late 1980s, attempting to lure tourists to the town of Mashiko.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2025

Traveling for sake's sake: The emergence of brewery tourism in Japan

While sake consumption has declined in Japan, breweries across the nation are taking advantage of a rise in overseas interest to promote themselves as tourist destinations.
Luke Litter competes during semifinals of the World Darts Championship in London on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 3, 2025

Luke Littler beats 'The Bullet' to reach World Darts Championship final

The 17-year-old Englishman took the darts world by storm last year when he reached his first final.
A 2024 Toyota Prius Prime during the 2024 New York International Auto Show in New York last March
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 4, 2025

U.S. new car sales rose to five-year high in 2024, helped by hybrids

Sales continued to rise from their pandemic lows, bolstered by replenished inventories, higher incentives and surging demand for hybrid vehicles.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision will further burnish his climate credentials, deepening his record of fostering conservation and zero-emission energy.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 4, 2025

Biden to ban new oil drilling over vast stretch of U.S. Atlantic and Pacific waters

The move represents a sweeping effort to permanently protect coastal waters from fossil fuel development and the risk of oil spills.
Tomiko Itooka died of old age in a nursing home for the elderly in the city of Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 5, 2025

Tomiko Itooka, the world's oldest person, dies at 116

Itooka was born on May 23, 1908, in the commercial hub of Osaka — four months before the Ford Model T automobile was launched in the United States.
Kei Nishikori hits a return to China's Shang Juncheng during their semifinal match at the Hong Kong Open on Saturday.
TENNIS
Jan 5, 2025

Resurgent Nishikori reaches first ATP final in six years

A wildcard at the tournament, Nishikori beat third-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov, Britain's Cam Norrie and Denis Shapovalov on the way to the last four.
A woman in her 60s talks about her son who became addicted to online gambling and committed a crime through an illegal part-time job.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 5, 2025

Online gambling addiction becoming serious issue in Japan

The number of consultation requests received by one aid group has surged 11-fold in five years.
A bluefin tuna from Oma, Aomori Prefecture, was sold for ¥207 million during the first auction of the year at Tokyo's Toyosu Fish Market on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2025

Bluefin tuna fetches ¥207 million at Toyosu's first auction of the year

The bid was around 1.8 times higher than last year's, and second only in price to 2019's top catch, which sold for ¥333.6 million.
A patch of the Islamic State group is seen on a fighter's uniform in Damascus on Dec. 27, 2024.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 6, 2025

The quiet financier: Islamic State group's elusive strongman

Abdul Qadir Mumin may already be running the group's general directorate of provinces from Somalia, even if he lacks an official title.
Naomi Osaka withdrew from the Auckland Classic final on Sunday.
TENNIS
Jan 6, 2025

Naomi Osaka 'very optimistic' about playing at Australian Open

Osaka returned to the Top 50 in the world rankings on Monday.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda speaks during the 2025 CES event in Las Vegas on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Toyota invests in Japanese rocket startup as SpaceX races ahead

The investment is the latest sign of progress in the Japanese government’s push to nurture the country’s private space sector.
A portable charger containing a lithium-ion battery that overheated in an accident during a reenactment experiment in December at the Consumer Affairs Agency
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Consumer Affairs Agency warns of risks from battery-powered heated devices

Injury reports linked to lithium-ion battery-powered heating gear have surged over the last 10 years.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada announces his resignation in Ottawa on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 8, 2025

The race begins to replace Canada's Trudeau as prime minister

Canada's new leader is likely to face elections within weeks of taking over from Justin Trudeau in March.
Masahiro Nakai in Tokyo in October 2017
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2025

TV networks drop Japan boy band star over sex allegations

Reports say that Masahiro Nakai, a former member of SMAP, paid a woman a lump sum of ¥90 million.
A busy street in Tokyo on Dec. 30. The number of influenza patients per clinic, on average, in the final week of December was the highest since health ministry records began in 1999.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 10, 2025

Japan's health ministry reports record-high flu cases

In the week through Dec. 29, the total number of reported flu cases was nearly three times the number from the same period in 2023.
Greenland's flag flies in Igaliku settlement, Greenland
WORLD
Jan 10, 2025

Denmark says it has neglected Greenland defense for years

Greenland is crucial for the U.S. military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.
Otono Kuboki, a Japanese Canadian hair stylist for salon chain Sozo, is a key figure in the company's mission to elevate the viability of Japan's hairdressing industry to foreign residents.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 11, 2025

Can an international makeover help Tokyo salons meet foreign demand?

Sozo Education aims to train Tokyo’s next crop of stylists not just in English vocabulary related to hairdressing but in the diverse needs of foreign hair types.
Hobonichi's 'techō' notebooks come in both set and customizable formats, and a thriving community of enthusiasts means there are even extensive guides on how to make the journal even more unique to your individual approach to journaling.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 10, 2025

American stationery nerds are fueling a Japanese notebook boom

A Japanese-made paper planner from the 1980s has reblossomed in the post-COVID era.

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?