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Signage for Japan's top banks, MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2023

Japan’s top banks pay women about half of what men earn

The country has a relatively high labor participation rate for women, but many of the positions they occupy have little prospect of better pay.
Pedestrians walk past a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 13, 2023

Hong Kong takes economic hit as Chinese tourists fail to splurge

Changes in travel habits come as the Chinese economy weakens and youth unemployment remains high.
A representative of Chevalier Brewery presents a bottle of its sake adapted to French drinkers' tastes.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 15, 2023

Sake fights an uphill battle for France’s wine lovers

Among many French drinkers, sake is still associated with cheap, low-quality alcohol only served at the end of meals in Japanese restaurants.
Voters fill out ballot papers at a polling station on Sydney's Bondi Beach on Saturday as polls open in Australia's historic Indigenous rights referendum.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 14, 2023

Australian voters reject greater Indigenous rights

The result will be a setback to reconciliation efforts with Indigenous Australians and a political blow to the center-left Labor government.
Israeli soldiers during searches of burned homes in Kfar Azza, a village just across the border from Gaza that was attacked by Palestinian gunmen, in Israel, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 14, 2023

The secrets Hamas knew about Israel’s military

Hamas gunmen surged into Israel in a highly organized and meticulously planned operation that suggested a deep understanding of Israel’s weaknesses.
Residents of Shaar HaGolan, Israel, attend a ceremony Thursday to pay tribute to the Israelis killed during the Hamas militant attack on Oct. 7.
WORLD
Oct 15, 2023

Hamas attacks shatter Israel's kibbutz ideal

When the sirens wail at the Sha'ar HaGolan kibbutz, there is total panic — and not just from those who live there permanently.
Hiruzen Kougei employee Moeko Hirao, craft brewer “Sugichan” and furry friend Tsubu help out with the tomato harvest at 6:37 a.m.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Oct 16, 2023

The farmer's intern: A month in the Japanese countryside

Escaping the chaos of Tokyo for a month, our writer heads to rural Okayama Prefecture and discovers the delights of natural farming.
Nobuo Okamura (right), an executive handling legal affairs for the Unification Church, speaks during a news conference on Monday at the organization's headquarters in Tokyo, as the church's lawyer Nobuya Fukumoto looks on.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 16, 2023

Unification Church calls government move a violation of rights

A news conference offered a glimpse of how the church will defend itself against a request to revoke its religious corporation status.
South Korea's Aegis-equipped destroyer Yulgok Yi I (right), the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (top), the Aegis-equipped USS Shoup destroyer (bottom center), the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Hyuga destroyer (left) and the South Korean Navy's Cheonji (center) sail in formation during a joint maritime drill in international waters southeast of South Korea's Jeju Island on Oct. 10.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 17, 2023

Military deterrence alone will not dissuade China, experts warn

Governments must be proactive in pressing for diplomatic solutions, as a focus on military power won't make the world safer, analysts say.
Lotte's Hiromi Oka slides home to score the winning run against SoftBank in Game 3 of the PL Climax Series first stage in Chiba on Monday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 17, 2023

Marines and Carp hope to maintain Climax Series momentum

The CL and PL league champions, the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes, will enter the fray with places in the Japan Series on the line.
Ukrainan President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels on Oct. 11.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 18, 2023

Ukraine uses U.S. long-range missiles against Moscow for first time

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the weapons had "proven themselves" after inflicting heavy damage on airfields under Russian control.
Children sit in the back of an ambulance at Shifa Hospital after hundreds of Palestinians were killed in an explosion at Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza on Tuesday. Israeli and Palestinian officials blamed on each other for the blast.
WORLD
Oct 18, 2023

Hundreds reported killed in blast at a Gaza hospital

Israel and Hamas traded blame for the tragedy, which inflamed the region just as U.S. President Joe Biden was set to arrive in Israel.
A Chinese fighter jet is seen during an intercept of a U.S. aircraft in the South China Sea, including by approaching a distance of just 12 meters before repeatedly flying above and below the U.S. aircraft and flashing its weapons.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 18, 2023

U.S. sees 'sharp increase' in Chinese military's 'risky' behavior

The Pentagon said it has documented nearly 300 dangerous incidents that affected U.S., allied and partner aircraft since the fall of 2021.
The majority of tourists in Japan tend to stay in Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto, resulting in overcrowding in popular tourist spots and a strain on transportation systems.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 18, 2023

Japan unveils new overtourism countermeasures

The tourism ministry unveiled its overtourism prevention plan, summarizing the various efforts that have begun to be made in areas around the nation.
A rendered image of the completed Rapidus factory being built in Chitose, Hokkaido
BUSINESS / Tech / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Oct 23, 2023

Hokkaido waits to gauge impact from upcoming Rapidus chip plant

The nationally backed effort to revive Japan’s semiconductor industry has been called the region’s largest-ever development project.
Xi Jinping speaks during the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 19, 2023

Xi says green projects will anchor China’s overseas spending

Beijing is in a unique position to help mitigate climate change as the world’s largest producer of everything from solar panels to batteries.
People inspect the area of a hospital where hundreds of Palestinians were killed in a blast that Israeli and Palestinian officials blamed on each other, and where Palestinians who fled their homes were sheltering amid the ongoing conflict with Israel, in Gaza City, the Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 21, 2023

Uncertainty still surrounds Gaza hospital strike

Was a hospital in Gaza hit by Israeli fire? Or a misfired Palestinian rocket? How many civilians were killed? Experts are not ruling out any scenario.
A Ukrainian defensive fortification on the west bank of a lake along the Dnieper River, in the Kherson region, on Jan. 23. Ukrainian forces have in October stepped up assaults across the Dnieper near the city of Kherson, prompting speculation that Kyiv might be planning a more ambitious effort to open a new front in the push to retake territory from Russia.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 21, 2023

With raids across Dnieper River, Ukraine may be seeking new front in war

Military experts are reporting extensive strikes on Russian-held territory in the south, potentially with the goal of establishing a bridgehead.
The site of the al-Ahli Arab Hospital after a blast ripped through the facility on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 22, 2023

In global conflict zones, hospitals and doctors are no longer spared

Over the last two decades, medical facilities and staff have become casualties of war more frequently, in violation of international law.
A water company employee fills bottles with potable water in Pozoblanco, Spain, in September 2023. The struggle for drinking water in this village of 18,000 has become a glimpse of what may lie ahead for parts of Europe where drought and extreme heat are on the rise.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 23, 2023

A peek into Spain's future: water by truck, not tap

Tanker trucks have been deployed to deliver 180,000 liters of potable water a day
Police search the home of Tatsuya Yasuzumi in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, on Sunday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 23, 2023

Man suspected of involvement in teenage girl’s death in Tochigi

Police are looking into how the two became acquainted, with local media reports saying they may have met on social media.
Mourners bury children and their father, who were killed during Israeli airstrikes on their home, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on Monday
WORLD / Politics
Oct 24, 2023

Israel steps up attacks as U.S. urges 'continuous flow' of Gaza aid

European leaders looked set to follow the U.N. and Arab nations in calling for a 'humanitarian pause' in hostilities to deliver aid.
Taiwan Vice President and presidential candidate Lai Ching-te
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 24, 2023

Taiwan presidential front-runner assails China's Foxconn probe

The major Apple supplier is facing a tax probe in China, two sources close to the company said Monday, confirming a report in Chinese state-run media.
A concierge-in-training (Natsumi Kawaida) learns the ins and outs of working at an upscale department store in “The Concierge.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 26, 2023

‘The Concierge’: Frivolous fun with vintage charm

Yoshimi Itazu’s anime set in a department store for animal clientele offers a glittering experience with fluid animation and a vivid color palette.
A daughter of Palestinian man Ali Daba shows her bracelet at their shelter in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday
WORLD / Society
Oct 26, 2023

Gaza families wear ID bracelets to avoid burial in mass graves

With so many bodies, Palestinians in Gaza are burying the unidentified dead with a number instead of a name, residents say.
An iceberg in the Weddell Sea, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Researchers say they have detected buried under the continent's ice sheet a vast ancient landscape.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 26, 2023

Ancient landscape formed by rivers seen deep under Antarctic ice

Researchers say they have detected buried under the continent's ice sheet a vast ancient landscape, replete with valleys and ridges.
Sections of the forests in Colville, Washington, have already been thinned, allowing trees to grow less densely and reducing the risk for wildfire.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Oct 26, 2023

How to prevent forest fires by building cities with more wood

Not everyone is convinced mass timber will help forest health.
A poster for Uber displayed at a Tokyo subway station reads: "Meeting inbound demand together with Japan's taxis." It also notes that its service is used in 71 countries.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 26, 2023

Japan weighs allowing ride-hailing amid taxi industry opposition

The taxi industry is opposed to any change, arguing that allowing ride-hailing is just a temporary fix that will take jobs from taxi drivers.
Cardboard hearts with messages are hung in the downtown area in Lewiston, Maine, on Thursday, in the aftermath of a mass shooting.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 27, 2023

Maine's second largest city faces aftermath of mass shooting

Maine Gov. Janet Mills said the shooting had undermined Maine’s reputation as one of the safest states in the country.
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.

Longform

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