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Protesters take part in a demonstration in support of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson in Paris on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 25, 2024

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson requests French nationality

France is pushing for Watson's release from a Greenland jail where he is being held pending possible extradition to Japan.
Liberal Democratic Party candidate Nobuyasu Nikai speaks in front of a crowd in the district of Aridagawa, Wakayama Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 25, 2024

Election wildcard in Wakayama puts rural district in national spotlight

Former LDP member Hiroshige Seko's decision to seek a Lower House seat as an independent candidate highlights the fractured state of the ruling party.
Georgian oligarch and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili gives a speech Tbilisi on Saturday as Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze looks on.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 27, 2024

Ruling party set to win Georgia election amid opposition protests

If the partial results confirm the victory of the Georgian Dream party, the country could be heading for closer ties with neighboring Russia.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is also LDP president, dissolved the Lower House only eight days after assuming office on Oct. 1
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 27, 2024

Why Ishiba’s strategy of a surprise battle backfired

His dissolution of the Lower House only eight days after assuming office and backtracking on previously touted policies left voters with little to base votes on.
Komeito chief Keiichi Ishii leaves the party's headquarters in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Sunday. Ishii, who was elected party president just one month ago, failed to secure a seat in the Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 28, 2024

Komeito chief's Lower House loss raises questions about party's future

Keiichi Ishii, who was elected party leader last month and did not stand for proportional representation, fell short in his bid to win a Saitama district seat.
Japanese comedian and Shohei Ohtani impersonator Aki Teriyaki has been to every MLB game Ohtani's teams have played since 2022.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 28, 2024

Meet the tiny, but mighty, Shohei Ohtani impersonator who went to 500 MLB games

Japanese comedian and Shohei Ohtani impersonator Aki Teriyaki has been to every MLB game Ohtani's teams have played since 2022.
Georgian opposition supporters rally to protest the results of the parliamentary elections that showed a win for the ruling Georgian Dream party, outside the parliament building in central Tbilisi on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 29, 2024

Thousands protest Georgia voting results as EU and U.S. signal worry

The U.S. has called for an investigation into the election results while the European Union was critical of it.
Election administration staff count ballots for the general election at a ballot station in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 29, 2024

Japan marks third lowest general-election turnout in postwar history

Low turnout typically benefit political parties with organizational power, but the LDP and partner Komeito struggled Sunday despite having powerful support bases.
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman celebrates with two-way player Shohei Ohtani after hitting a two run home run against the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the World Series in New York on Monday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 29, 2024

Dodgers beat Yankees to reach brink of World Series crown

Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani was back in the leadoff role as designated hitter after suffering an injury on Saturday.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba bows to Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers during a news conference at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday, a day after the party recorded disappointing results in the Lower House election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 29, 2024

A disastrous poll puts Japan politics on shaky path

The Japanese public was crying out for change, but Ishiba entirely failed to offer it, instead using warmed-over catchphrases from Kishida.
A woman mounts a flag to a stack of cinderblocks in the aftermath of flooding from Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, North Carolina, on Oct. 6.
WORLD / Society
Oct 31, 2024

Misinformation is turning American disasters into toxic battlegrounds

Deep political polarization, weakened trust in institutions and a lack of content moderation on social media allow false claims to flourish.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani embraces teammate Enrique Hernandez following Game 5 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium in New York on Wednesday.
BASEBALL / Sac Bunts
Nov 1, 2024

Shohei Ohtani in position to continue winning after first World Series title

Ohtani finished his first season with the Dodgers with a championship.
Nobuaki Koga, former head of the Rengo, speaks during an interview in Tokyo last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 3, 2024

Former Rengo head Koga urges CDP and DPP to merge

Koga's tenure as Rengo chief between 2009 and 2015 overlapped with the 2009-2012 DPJ-led administration.
Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan (center) looks on at a court during her fraud case in Ho Chi Minh City on April 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 4, 2024

Appeal begins for Vietnam death row tycoon

The appeal comes after the tycoon was convicted of money laundering and jailed for life in a separate case last month.
Chinese solar panel manufacturer Trina Solar's facility in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, on Aug. 30
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 4, 2024

Chinese solar firms, ever-nimble, go where U.S. tariffs don't reach

Chinese solar firms have repeatedly sidestepped tariffs to dominate the global markets despite U.S. efforts over more than a decade to rein them in.
The Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale is located in the Giardini, a historic park in the Italian city.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 6, 2024

Venice Biennale: 70 years of bringing Japanese art to the world

The Venice Biennale has been an international showcase for Japanese art for over seven decades. This year, Yuko Mohri is representing Japan at the prestigious event.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a two-day meeting on interest rate policy in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 8, 2024

Powell signals readiness to defy Trump in defense of Fed

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell insisted the incoming president doesn’t have the power to fire him or other senior Fed leaders.
Masayoshi Son (front, center) poses with the members of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks after the team won the Pacific League championship at Kyocera Dome Osaka on Sept. 23.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Nov 18, 2024

Masayoshi Son’s aim for SoftBank Hawks remains, 20 years after buyout

This year, the team became Pacific League champions for the first time in four years. But its owner has loftier goals.
People carry a casualty near a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced people, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 10, 2024

Qatar stalls its Gaza ceasefire mediation

The Gulf country has been working alongside the U.S. and Egypt for months on fruitless talks between the warring sides in Gaza.
A China Coast Guard vessel patrols near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in April 2017
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 10, 2024

China reaffirms boundaries of sea near flash point reef

China took control of Huangyan Dao, the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal, in 2012 — a strategic feature in the South China Sea closest to the Philippines.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 11, 2024

Ishiba battles for survival in parliament vote as Trump looms large

Lawmakers were set to decide on Monday whether Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba remains the country's leader
Dating apps like Bumble and Hinge, with their reliance on basic algorithms, often lead to superficial connections, but AI could improve this by analyzing deeper data for more meaningful matches.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2024

AI dating might actually not be so bad

While still in development, these AI-driven match-making tools aim to reduce the fatigue of online dating and foster more genuine connections.
Pocky Day has grown into an informal annual tradition since its introduction in 1999, with stores across Japan offering special edition flavors and creative packaging to mark the occasion on Nov. 11.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 11, 2024

Pocky Day: Japan’s sweetest occasion

Since 1999, Nov. 11 has marked Pocky Day, the date being a nod to the stick-like shape of the beloved treat.
Solar panels installed along the coastline of Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture. Due to the relative ease of starting solar power generation, mega solar power plants have been installed rapidly across the country.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2024

Japan to mandate solar panel recycling when lifespan ends

The number of panels reaching the end of their lifespans is projected to start rising sharply in the mid-2030s.
Last year, cashews were responsible for 279 of 6,033 allergy cases, or 4.6%, making them the seventh most common allergenic food.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 11, 2024

Japan weighs mandatory allergen labeling for cashew nuts

Cashews nuts caused 37 cases of severe anaphylactic shock last year, making them the fifth most common trigger.
Fuel loading operations at the Shimane nuclear power plant's No. 2 reactor on Nov.1
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2024

Boiling water reactor at Shimane nuclear plant to be restarted in early December

The restart of the boiling water reactor will be the second of such units since reactors of the same type were crippled in the March 2011 nuclear accident.
Global investment firms plan to beef up hiring in Japan, as deals surge on the domestic market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 12, 2024

Global investment firms hunt for talent in Japan as deals boom

The hiring spree underscores the intensity of dealmaking in Japan, which has been a rare bright spot amid a slowdown in M&A deals globally over the last couple of years.
Japan Atomic Power Co.'s Tsuruga nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture in 2017
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2024

Tsuruga reactor formally ruled noncompliant with safety standards

The Nuclear Regulation Authority ruled the Tsuruga No. 2 reactor did not meet the safety standards after a screening process taking nearly nine years.
Childhood friends Hiroto (Hiroya Shimizu, right) and Kanamori (Mahiro Takasugi, left) find their gangland loyalties put to the test in Takuro Iwaya’s “Oasis.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 14, 2024

‘Oasis’: Real-life bromance elevates a generic crime drama

Co-stars Hiroya Shimizu and Mahiro Takasugi’s convincing chemistry as childhood friends carries Takuro Iwaya’s pulpy B-movie.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe is one of seven people running to become the next president of the International Olympic Committee.
OLYMPICS
Nov 14, 2024

Presidential hopeful Sebastian Coe says IOC needs clear stance on gender

Coe believes the IOC is a movement that needs modernizing.

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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