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Tokyo Gendai is described by fair organizers Art Assembly as Tokyo Bay’s first international contemporary art fair in 30 years.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 22, 2023

Can a new art fair finally put Tokyo on the map?

Tokyo Gendai puts on a good event but still needs to change Japanese opinions on contemporary art.
Nadeshiko Japan celebrates after defeating the United States in the 2011 Women's World Cup final in Frankfurt, Germany.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Jul 21, 2023

Nadeshiko Japan's Women's World Cup glory now distant memory

Japan begins its latest World Cup campaign against Zambia on Saturday, but is ranked 11th now and no longer among the favorites.
Members of the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild take part in a picket line outside Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California, on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2023

AI shines a spotlight on Hollywood hypocrisy

Studios haven’t informed or paid background actors properly for being digitally scanned, yet they want the same courtesy from AI companies.
Fast fashion concept. Woman chooses jeans in a store. Lots of clothes in the store. Fast Fashion Destroying Planet
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 21, 2023

Fashion, fast and slow: Discussing shopping ethics in Japanese

Whether it’s a trendy top from a chain store in Shibuya or a vintage piece from the backstreets of Kichijoji, know how to shop with a mind to sustainability in Japanese.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a NATO leaders summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12. The leader's efforts to conduct diplomacy in the face of conflict have drawn comparisons with British wartime leader Winston Churchill.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 20, 2023

Why Zelenskyy's diplomacy is a key factor in Ukraine's efforts to win war

The leader's counteroffensive came at a critical time, sandwiched between two summits — the Group of Seven summit in May and a NATO summit earlier this month.
New Zealand's Hannah Wilkinson celebrates after her teams victory over Norway at the Women's World Cup in Auckland on Thursday.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Jul 21, 2023

Australia and New Zealand get Women's World Cup off to rousing start with wins in front of record crowds

Australia and New Zealand earned slim victories at home to kick off the Women's World Cup.
Green marks the spot where a fissure formed, then fused back together in this artistic rendering of nanoscale self-healing in metal. Red arrows indicate the direction of the pulling force that unexpectedly triggered the phenomenon.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 21, 2023

Self-healing metal? It's not just the stuff of science fiction

Scientists have witnessed pieces of pure platinum and copper spontaneously heal cracks caused by metal fatigue during nanoscale experiments.
The 1975 perform at the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London in 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 22, 2023

Malaysia halts music festival after same-sex kiss by U.K. band The 1975

Homosexuality is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia. Rights groups have warned of growing intolerance against the country's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Officials in the municipality of Daito, in Osaka, speak at a news conference on Wednesday regarding a case in which a mother is suspected of starving her daughter, hospitalizing her and claiming insurance payments.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 20, 2023

Mother in Osaka arrested for starving daughter and claiming insurance money

Investigators believe Kasumi Nawata regularly starved her daughter, hospitalizing her 43 times for a total of 332 days since spring 2018.
Ichiro Ozawa speaks to Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers at a party in Yokohama on Friday. The veteran politician still hopes the country will achieve a genuine two-party parliamentary democracy.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 19, 2023

CDP's Ichiro Ozawa bracing for 'final battle' in next election

The veteran politician still hopes the country will achieve a genuine two-party parliamentary democracy.
Visitors walk past a military fence at Imjingak peace park in the border city of Paju on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 21, 2023

U.S. worries mount over soldier after silence from North Korea

U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said Washington was fully mobilized in trying to contact Pyongyang, including through U.N. communications channels.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Jul 18, 2023

ChatGPT, Bing, Bard and DeepL: Which one offers the best Japanese-to-English translation?

AI is revolutionizing the world of translation, but which tool reigns supreme? We staged a head-to-head battle between ChatGPT-4, Bing, Bard and DeepL … and the results are in.
A photograph by Joel Pulliam provides a hint at what is on offer at VoidTokyo's "Sharaku" exhibition at HikoHiko Gallery.
CULTURE
Jul 19, 2023

Street photography by VoidTokyo on full display in Ginza

With the goal of capturing the city of Tokyo in physical form and not just on social media, VoidTokyo celebrates its members at “Sharaku.”
A "No Kids Zone" sign written in Korean hangs on the glass door of a cafe in Gimpo, South Korea.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 24, 2023

Lawmaker on crusade against South Korea's 'no-kid zones'

Seoul spends billions to encourage citizens to have more babies, offering subsidies, babysitting services and infertility treatment, but fertility rates continue to drop.
An intensive care unit of the city children's hospital, damaged by a Russian military strike, in Kherson, Ukraine, on Jan. 1
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2023

Ukrainians take home medical skills acquired in Japan

In response to Russia's prolonged invasion of Ukraine, Juntendo University in Tokyo set up a system to continue providing support in line with the requests of Ukrainians in Japan.
A disturbing factor that may ultimately defeat the all-volunteer military force is the growing political division across the U.S., which is diminishing the young people's faith in America.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2023

U.S. military’s recruiting woes are a national-security crisis

The U.S. military's struggle to entice even the most surefire candidates — the children of veterans — puts the future of the all-volunteer force in doubt.
Spanish far-right Vox party leader Santiago Abascal (center) greets supporters as he arrives to deliver a speech at the party headquarters in Madrid on Sunday after Spain's general election.
WORLD
Jul 25, 2023

Setback for Spain's Vox points to limits of European far-right advance

Vox's share of seats fell to 33 from 52, suggesting an electoral ceiling for some European far-right parties even though their rise has worried leaders from Brussels to Berlin.
Bigmotor President Hiroyuki Kaneshige (center) apologizes for improper conduct by the company's employees at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 25, 2023

Bigmotor chief to resign in wake of repair fraud scandal

Employees were found to have intentionally damaged the vehicles of some customers in order to charge excessive repair fees and make fraudulent insurance claims.
Jacob Curry puts some finishing touches on a sandwich spread at a Lizzo show.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 23, 2023

The personal chefs feeding today's global tours

Many tours for A-list artists now include a vegan chef and place a priority on physical and mental well-being as well as lessening environmental impact.
The natural beauty of Minakami has attracted hundreds adventure tourism companies, but there's still no overarching network of safety protocols in place.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 15, 2023

In Japan’s adventure tourism mecca, the rush comes with risk

Minakami has come a long way since the early days of its adventure tourism beginnings, but if it wants to last well into the future, regulation may be key.
A helicopter sprays water over a fire on the southern part of the Greek island of Rhodes on Tuesday. Wildfires have been raging in Greece amid scorching temperatures, forcing mass evacuations in several tourist spots including on the islands of Rhodes and Corfu.
WORLD
Jul 26, 2023

Wildfires bring death and destruction to Mediterranean

Greece has been particularly hard hit, with authorities evacuating more than 20,000 people in recent days from homes and resorts in the south of the holiday island of Rhodes.
Stock prices are displayed at the Indonesia Stock Exchange in Jakarta on April 18. Indonesia’s flurry of listings this year is even more notable because globally the number of initial public offerings has fallen.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 26, 2023

Indonesia rides EV rush to domestic IPO boom

The trend is interlinked with President Joko Widodo’s ambitious bid to transform the nation into an EV manufacturing powerhouse, capitalizing on Indonesia’s rich resources.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol presides over a repatriation ceremony — receiving the remains of South Korean soldiers killed in the Korean War — on Wednesday, the day before the 70th anniversary of the Korean armistice, at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, South Korea.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 26, 2023

Korean War veterans dream of real peace on divided peninsula

70 years on, Korean War veterans say their memories of comrades who died on the battlefields have come back to haunt them as they grow older.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shakes hands with Tonga's Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 26, 2023

Antony Blinken in Tonga warns of 'predatory' Chinese aid

As part of a drive to build Washington's influence across the region and to counter Beijing's growing clout, Blinken touched down in Tonga on a diplomatic charm offensive.
Cincinnati Opera’s new production of “Madame Butterfly,” directed by Matthew Ozawa, frames the action as a virtual-reality fantasy of Japan.
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 27, 2023

Reimagining ‘Madame Butterfly,’ with Asian creators at the helm

As opera houses rework Puccini’s classic, criticized for stereotypes about women and Japanese culture, artists of Asian descent are playing a central role.
Veteran Japanese investors are split over whether to put their money into Chinese bonds.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 27, 2023

Friends who help manage $640 billion clash on China bonds

While they’ve been friends for at least a decade, their take on trading China bonds couldn’t be more diametrically opposed.
Yoshiko Hara (left) plays basketball with members of her Fukushima Club basketball team.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jul 31, 2023

Pioneer in basketball for disabled people looks to inclusiveness

Through basketball, Yoshiko Hara aims to have players in her club acquire physical strength and stamina, as well as learn about group rules and manners.
Jingu Gaien is a famous landmark, park and sports center in Minato Ward, Tokyo. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 26, 2023

Tokyo's tree-razing drama shouldn't stymie transformation

Residents are raging over a redevelopment plan. But while other cities become stuck in time, Tokyo's best projects can combine the spirit of the past with the hope for the future.
Australia captain Sam Kerr has been sidelined by a calf injury during the Women's World Cup.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Jul 28, 2023

Australia has no guarantee Sam Kerr will be healthy enough to face Canada

Kerr has been sidelined with a calf injury during the Women's World Cup.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits an area in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, which was damaged by heavy rain earlier this month, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 28, 2023

Kishida seeks reset as My Number woes hit approval ratings

The prime minister has embarked on a nationwide tour to listen to the concerns of local communities in an effort to expand his political reach and prop up his popular support.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?