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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.
Mariko Hayashi, head of the board at Nihon University, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on July 11.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 2, 2023

Football players at Japan university allegedly caught with cannabis

Club activities for the team have been suspended and the college has conducted interviews with coaches, club members and former club members.
Even as some countries have moved to legalize or decriminalize marijuana, Japan has maintained a zero tolerance policy on the drug, prohibiting its possession or sale.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Aug 7, 2023

Navigating Japan's maze of cannabis-related laws

Japan has maintained a zero tolerance policy on cannabis, but the legality of other products on the market, including ones sold as CBD, is murkier.
Australia's Matildas celebrate their shootout win over France in the quarterfinals of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Brisbane on Saturday.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Aug 13, 2023

Tony Gustavsson hails game-changing Matildas after historic win

Record-breaking television and streaming figures — plus blanket coverage in the nation's newspapers — greeted Saturday's shootout win over France.
Nadeshiko Japan reached the knockout stage at a fourth consecutive FIFA Women's World Cup before being eliminated in the quarterfinals on Friday by Sweden.
SOCCER / Women's World cup / From the Spot
Aug 15, 2023

Bold steps needed from JFA, WE League to maintain momentum after WWC

After Nadeshiko Japan's inspiring quarterfinal run in New Zealand, the country's soccer bodies must avoid the missteps of the post-2011 boom and bust.
Australia captain Sam Kerr vowed that her team would be ready to face Sweden in the third-place match at the Women's World Cup on Saturday.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Aug 17, 2023

Australia faces quick turnaround ahead of third-place match

"We have to pick ourselves up and go again," Australia captain Sam Kerr said. "And we're going to do everything to win third place."
South Africa's Malcolm Marx (center) is tackled during a match against Scotland at the Rugby World Cup in Marseille, France, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Sep 14, 2023

South Africa's Malcolm Marx ruled out of World Cup with knee injury

Marx "went down at training on Wednesday after having his knee caught in contact," the Springboks said in a statement.
France's Anthony Jelonch is tackled by Uruguay's Tomas Inciarte Rachetti during their Pool A match at the Rugby World Cup in Lille, France, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Sep 15, 2023

France overcomes spirited performance from Uruguay at World Cup

France leads Pool A with eight points, three ahead of Italy. New Zealand faces Namibia in Toulouse on Friday.
Leaves of marijuana plants from which hemp fibers are extracted at Japan's largest legal marijuana farm in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, on July 5, 2016
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 21, 2023

Does a university cannabis scandal point to a larger trend?

A drugs scandal at Japan’s biggest university draws attention to a troubling statistic: Cannabis use among young people is on the rise.
An exhibition featuring Studio Ghibli films, including calligraphy by film producer Toshio Suzuki with famous film lines, is held in Bangkok in February 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 22, 2023

Is this the end for Japan’s iconic Studio Ghibli?

It’s tough to find an appropriate analogy for the Ghibli sale; the only one that comes close is Disney's purchase of Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006.
People take part in a protest against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's redevelopment project for the Meiji Jingu Gaien district in Tokyo in February.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 25, 2023

Petitioners try to halt razing of thousands of trees in historic Tokyo park

Tokyo's percentage of public green space is far lower than other major cities such as New York, Seoul and London.
Jessica Gerrity says kyūdō is for everyone. It's just a matter of finding a dojo that fits you best.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 30, 2023

‘Archery gives me a chance to decompress from a busy life’

Gerrity is trained in several forms of traditional Japanese martial arts and works to promote Japanese culture as a tourism ambassador.
Products used to eradicate bedbugs at a pest control shop in Paris. The French government said on Sept. 29 that it was launching a concerted effort to fight the pests. The blood-sucking insects have been spotted in the Paris metro, high-speed trains and at Paris's Charles-de-Gaulle Airport, with disgusted travelers posting videos on social media.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 4, 2023

France to hold crisis meetings on bedbug 'scourge'

The blood-sucking insects have been spotted in the Paris metro, high-speed trains and at Paris's Charles De Gaulle Airport.
Scallops shipped from Hokkaido are served at the Anuga food trade fair held in Cologne, Germany, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2023

Snubbed by China, Japan tries to sell Europe on its seafood

The scallop industry was hit particularly hard, as Japanese exports to China in August fell 71.3% from a year earlier.
Supporters of the "Yes" vote listen to the results of the referendum on whether to officially recognize Australia's Indigenous peoples, at an event in Sydney on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 15, 2023

Australian Indigenous call for 'week of silence' after vote defeat

More than 60% of Australians voted "No" in the landmark referendum on Saturday in what many see as a setback for reconciliation efforts.
Super Bowl LVIII will take place at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, on Feb. 11, 2024. 
MORE SPORTS
Oct 20, 2023

Las Vegas rapidly moving from sports pariah to sports capital

"We are the sports capital of the world right now," said former mayor Oscar Goodman
South Africa's Handre Pollard (left) converts an eventual match-winning penalty kick against England during their Rugby World Cup semifinal in Paris on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Oct 22, 2023

Handre Pollard's late penalty sends Springboks into RWC final

It was a second successive single-point victory for South Africa after it beat France 29-28 in the quarterfinals.
Tokyo now boasts five different Quidditch teams, while universities in Osaka and Kyoto also play host to their own clubs.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Nov 4, 2023

'Accio broomstick!' Quidditch is back and open to everyone

From relatively humble beginnings, Quidditch has continued to grow in popularity across Japan.
South Africa's Siya Kolisi in action during the Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand on Saturday in Saint-Denis, France
MORE SPORTS
Oct 29, 2023

Siya Kolisi happy to escape 'dark place' for World Cup glory

Despite losing hooker Bongi Mbonambi in only the third minute, the Boks reorganized and battled through for a record fourth title.
People walk past ginkgo trees in Tokyo's Meiji Jingu Gaien area in November 2022.
JAPAN / Explainer
Nov 6, 2023

What to know about the Meiji Jingu Gaien redevelopment plan

The project is controversial due to the potential felling of thousands of trees, loss of green space and threat to historic gingko trees.
Asahanshin Torakichi's ring name is nod to the Osaka native's favorite baseball team, the 2023 Japan Series champion Hanshin Tigers.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Nov 8, 2023

Tigers’ triumph resonates in a sumo world full of Kansai natives

As Hanshin fans celebrate a long-awaited championship, it's timely to look back at what sumo looked like when Hanshin last won it all in 1985.
Indian cricket is struggling against climate change-induced heat and rain and the last thing it needs is oil-rich Saudi Arabia buying into the league.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2023

The last thing cricket needs is Saudi money

Indian cricket is struggling against climate change-induced heat and rain. A partnership with oil-rich Saudi Arabia would lead to a certain defeat.
An aerial view shows the Eiffel tower by the River Seine in Paris. A plan to hold the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics on the river looks set to go ahead, even after a deadly attack in the French capital at the weekend.
OLYMPICS
Dec 5, 2023

'No Plan B': France set on Olympics river opening despite attack

Media reports have indicated grave concern within the security forces that the opening ceremony could be vulnerable to attack.
Seihan Mori, chief priest of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, writes "zei" (taxes), which was chosen on Tuesday as the kanji of the year.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2023

Talk of taxes spurs choice for Japan’s kanji of the year

The choice came as tax hikes and cuts were heavily covered in the news and discussed among policymakers.
An event is held in Osaka on Nov. 30 to mark 500 days until the opening of Expo 2025.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 15, 2023

Why should any city want to host a world expo?

The projected budget for the 2025 Osaka Expo has nearly doubled and netizens and opposition politicians are calling for a cancellation.
The Yves-du-Manoir stadium, one of the venues for the 2024 Paris Olympics, after being modernized, in Colombes, northwest of Paris, on Monday.
OLYMPICS
Dec 19, 2023

Paris 1924 'Chariots of Fire' stadium ready for Games a century on

According to the organizers, the Yves-du-Manoir stadium will be the only 2024 Olympic venue to be hosting the Games for a second time.
Designated hitter and closer Shohei Ohtani (center) and catcher Yuhei Nakamura are mobbed by their Samurai Japan teammates after Ohtani struck out American slugger Mike Trout to clinch Japan’s third World Baseball Classic and first since 2009, at LoanDepot Park in Miami on March 21.
SPORTS
Dec 26, 2023

Images of 2023: Sports

For some, 2023 was a year of sweet victory, after many years of not making it to the summit. For Shohei Ohtani, it was yet another year of brilliance.
Wrestlers with the Shikoroyama stable after a training session in Tokyo late last month.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jan 3, 2024

Opportunities abound for sumo's governing body as centenary nears

Much progress has been made in Japan’s national sport in recent years, but there's still work to be done to better cater to foreign fans.
Ireland's Johnny Sexton retired after the team's loss against New Zealand at the Rugby World Cup in Oct. 2023.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Jan 29, 2024

Former Irish player Hugo MacNeill says it will be tough to replace Johnny Sexton

The Irish have big shoes to fill as they attempt to defend the Six Nations title.
England's Jess Carter in action with Spain's Salma Paralluelo during the Women's World Cup final in Sydney in August 2023
SPORTS
Feb 8, 2024

Women's sports draw record viewership in U.K. in 2023, research shows

The FIFA Women's World Cup final, which England lost 1-0 to Spain, was 2023's most-watched women's sports event on TV with 38.4 million viewing hours.

Longform

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