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Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te and his running mate, Hsiao Bi-khim, attend a rally outside the headquarters of the Democratic Progressive Party in Taipei on Saturday night after winning the presidential election.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 14, 2024

Taiwan chooses continuity in pivotal presidential election

Lai's Democratic Progressive Party party won more than 40% of the roughly 14 million votes cast, but lost its majority in Taiwan’s parliament.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, visit a Samsung semiconductor factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in May 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2024

South Korea's economic strategy amid the U.S.-China rivalry

If the world is to avoid incurring increasingly high costs from fragmentation, the U.S. and China must learn how to coexist and engage in fair competition.
Naomi Osaka practices in Melbourne on Sunday ahead of her first-round clash against Caroline Garcia at the Australian Open on Monday.
TENNIS
Jan 15, 2024

Naomi Osaka's return set to headline Day 2 at Australian Open

"I have a much more positive mindset and a much more grateful mindset," Osaka said.
Resonac CEO Hidehito Takahashi says the company may buy a stake in chip materials maker JSR.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 15, 2024

CEO who drove $7 billion deal is eyeing Japan chip linchpin JSR

Resonac's Hidehito Takahashi believes Japan's chip materials sector needs to consolidate to stay competitive against overseas rivals.
People wear masks at an evacuation center in the town of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 8. The number of people with acute respiratory infectious diseases, which include COVID-19 and influenza, at evacuation centers in the prefecture stood at 142 as of Sunday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 15, 2024

COVID and Japan, four years later: Normality, but words of caution

The nation has mostly returned to the pre-pandemic norm, but experts warn against people letting their guard down completely.
Iga Swiatek won the WTA Finals in November 2023 to end an event that featured bad weather and a number of complaints from the players.
TENNIS
Jan 15, 2024

WTA and ATP Tours embarking on year of formative changes

The WTA is looking to take steps toward equal pay for women at combined events, and the ATP hopes to align the interests of its players and tournaments.
The Horizon IT system, built by a U.K. company Fujitsu acquired in the 1990s, resulted in hundreds of post office managers in the U.K. being wrongly convicted for theft and false accounting between 1999 and 2005.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 15, 2024

Fujitsu’s silence is making a tech scandal worse

Top-level executives at Fujitsu have so far stayed mum about the firm's involvement in the U.K. Post Office scandal, letting public outrage shape the narrative, unimpeded.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses at Horizon Events Center in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 16, 2024

Trump wins Iowa caucus as DeSantis edges Haley for second

Donald Trump muscled past his rivals to capture the first 2024 Republican presidential contest, once more asserting his dominance over the Republican Party.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, speak during a news conference in Dubai on Dec.13.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 16, 2024

U.S. and China start new climate era after veteran envoys step down

The challenge now is building a system that can continue even without the connection shared by the departing envoys.
Stronger annual wage negotiation results are likely to pave the way for the Bank of Japan to end its negative interest rate by this spring, a former BOJ official says.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2024

Wage gains of 4% would pave way for BOJ rate hike, ex-official says

Market participants are monitoring annual wage talks closely as they may be a decisive factor in prompting Japan's central bank to end the world’s last negative rate.
A woman who filed a suit claiming damages against her father but had her claim dismissed by the Hiroshima High Court in November has said she felt like she was being accused of making a complaint only when time had run out.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jan 22, 2024

Passage of time gets in the way for victims of child sexual abuse

The woman, in her 40s, deemed it unfair that the perpetrator gets away scot-free because of the statute of limitation.
Poland's Iga Swiatek plays during her first round match against Sofia Kenin of the U.S. at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday.
TENNIS
Jan 16, 2024

Swiatek up and running at Australian Open as Alcaraz makes bow

In-form Swiatek, 22, twice came back from a break down in a grueling first set lasting 68 minutes but stepped on the gas in the second set.
Flags of Solomon Islands and China flutter near the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing on July 11, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 17, 2024

China helps Pacific Islands with policing, not defense: ambassador

Solomon Islands and Kiribati switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 2019, with Nauru joining just after Taiwan's election.
An Xturismo bike flies over Lake Yamanaka in Yamanashi Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 17, 2024

Japanese flying bike startup A.L.I. Technologies files for bankruptcy

The Tokyo-based startup had aimed to play a key role in an expected “air mobility society.”
The final 10 contestants of the reality show “The Debut: Dream Academy” in November. The show aimed to select the members of a new global K-pop girl group.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2024

K-pop without the ‘K’ just won’t pop

The BTS hiatus may have slowed K-pop down, but the answer isn't to take the Koreanness out of it. If not, all that's left is run-of-the-mill pop.
The Supreme Court is considering reviewing a high court judgment that the same-sex partner of a murder victim is ineligible for survivor benefits.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 18, 2024

Supreme Court may review judgement against benefits for same-sex partner

The review would mark the first time the Supreme Court makes a decision regarding the issue of public benefits for a same-sex partner.
Fishers sort scallops aboard a French fishing trawler in the English Channel in 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Oceans
Jan 18, 2024

Trawling the bottom of the ocean is kicking up tons of carbon dioxide

Many have opposed the practice for the damage it inflicts on seabed ecosystems, but new research shows that the climate also suffers.
A signboard in Tokyo shows the closing numbers on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Jan. 11. Tokyo's Nikkei index closed above 35,000 for the first time in nearly 34 years on that day.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 18, 2024

Japan can guilt-trip its stocks past bubble-era highs

Tokyo’s equity market is achingly close to overcoming its bubble-era highs.
The Japanese Communist Party named Tomoko Tamura as its chair at the party's congress in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture. She takes over from predecessor Kazuo Shii (left) who had held the post since 2000.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2024

Japanese Communist Party picks first-ever female leader

Upper House member Tomoka Tamura takes over the chair of the 102-year-old political party — Japan’s oldest — from Kazuo Shii, who held the post since 2000.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida referred to the underreporting by the faction that he previously led as “a series of administrative errors” and added that the group was going to make necessary amendments on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2024

LDP political funds probe nears close with top lawmakers likely unscathed

Clerical staff of LDP factions will likely face indictment over underreporting of revenues in political funds reports, while party heavyweights will emerge largely unscathed.
An image of what a permanent base on the moon might look like. JAXA's SLIM lander will transform how space agencies explore celestial bodies that have gravity, allowing landers to touch down on even rugged terrain, the agency says.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 18, 2024

Anticipation soars as Japan’s SLIM readies for moon landing

The mission puts the agency's pinpoint landing technology to the test and could accelerate international space exploration.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference on Dec. 13.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2024

Kishida aims to disband his faction amid political funds scandals

The move would mark a bid to restore public trust toward politics amid a series of political funds scandals.
A man watches the news on television showing the Pakistani foreign ministry's statement about the country's strikes inside Iran targeting separatist militants, in Peshawar, Pakistan on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 19, 2024

Iran-Pakistan flare-up rooted in restive borderlands, not Mideast strife

Both had launched attacks on each other's soil, targeting what they described as militants and separatists.
Taiwan's election results reflect the democratic aspirations of its citizens but is a cause for disappointment in Beijing.
EDITORIALS
Jan 19, 2024

The winner of Taiwan's election was democracy

The biggest disappointment was felt in Beijing, where inducements, threats and warnings failed to sway Taiwan’s voters.
A single mom in Kobe moonlights as a sleuth in Simon Rowe’s “Mami Suzuki: Private Eye.”
CULTURE / Books
Jan 21, 2024

'Mami Suzuki: Private Eye': Kobe sleuth's colorful mysteries take readers around Japan

Simon Rowe’s straight-talking detective cuts a sophisticated figure as she solves matters the police won’t touch, all while looking after her young daughter and mother.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s sudden announcement on Thursday regarding the dissolution of his Liberal Democratic Party faction came after the group became caught up in a slush funds scandal that continues to shake his administration and the party.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 19, 2024

LDP turmoil continues as three major factions announce dissolution

Lawmakers from the 98-member political faction that was previously led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the decision during a meeting Friday night.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an economic event at Abbotts Creek Community Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 20, 2024

Biden the 'anti-Trump': winning strategy or no strategy at all?

Some Democrats are concerned that Biden's campaign has no strong message about what he'd do with four more years.
U.S. President Joe Biden walks to board Marine One at Delaware Air National Guard Base, in New Castle, Delaware, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 22, 2024

Did Biden blunder with New Hampshire primary snub?

After a dispute with officials in New Hampshire over scheduling, he will not be on the ballot when the state's primary kicks off the party's nomination process on Tuesday.
Former LDP Policy Research Council head Koichi Hagiuda (right) speaks in Hachioji, Tokyo, late Sunday night after Kazuo Shiyake won the city's mayoral election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 22, 2024

Ruling bloc-backed candidate wins Hachioji election

The win comes despite the LDP being embroiled in a high-profile slush funds scandal linked to its factions' fundraising parties.
By the end of the decade, nearly 700 cities are likely to have rolled out some version of urban metaverse technologies, including virtual and augmented reality applications, according to ABI Research.
WORLD / Society
Jan 22, 2024

Realities collide as 'augmented cities' emerge around the U.S.

AR can enhance life in cities, particularly for marginalized communities.

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