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Despite Japan's still-nascent domestic winemaking scene, wine drinkers in the country have long enjoyed an obsession with obtaining certifications around the beverage.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 17, 2024

What’s driving Japan’s love affair with wine certifications?

Studying wine is an extremely popular pastime in Japan — despite the number of students without a professional need to do so.
A closed McDonald's in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, amid an outage that affected stores in Japan and abroad on Friday. The chain resumed operations on Saturday at almost all of its outlets in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 16, 2024

McDonald’s Japan resumes operations after outage

The recovery comes after McDonald’s was hit by a system outage that appears to have started in the Asia-Pacific region Friday.
A closed McDonald's in Tokyo on Friday after a tech issue forced outlets of the burger chain to shut around the world.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2024

Big Mac goes Big Tech — with a few hiccups

McDonald's reliance on tech backfired on Friday when an outage forced it to shut stores around the world.
High-end tourism is becoming more about the kinds of experiences that Japan's lesser-known places can provide.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Mar 25, 2024

Can Japan lure the jet-set class off the beaten path?

High-end travelers are looking for sustainability, wellness and adventure when they head abroad. Japan hopes to deliver in places other than Tokyo.
Some 43% of Gen Z and 41% of millennials say they suffer from a flawed perception of their finances.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2024

'Money dysmorphia' traps the younger generations

Some 43% of Gen Z and 41% of millennials say they suffer from a flawed perception of their finances.
Two people try to take a selfie under the illuminated cherry blossoms in Kyoto’s Gion district last year.
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 25, 2024

Sakura stories revisited: Getting in the mood for hanami

We are revisiting some past content on the science, economics and culture of cherry blossom season.
Joel Vaudreuil's "When Adam Changes" won the grand prix at this year's Niigata International Animation Film Festival, the largest festival devoted to feature-length animation in Asia.
CULTURE / Film / CULTURE SMASH
Mar 28, 2024

Niigata film festival showcases cutting-edge overseas talent

The six-day event dedicated to feature-length animation presented a lineup of stories that were psychologically rich and emotionally dark.
Inmates in a cell at the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Centre mega-prison southeast of San Salvador on Aug. 21, 2023.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 28, 2024

El Salvador's two-year push has crushed street gangs but at a high price

Deployment of the military and police dealt a heavy blow to the structures of the gangs but at the cost of human rights, and poverty remains a major issue.
A mural showing Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani is seen on the side of the Miyako Hotel in Little Tokyo, downtown Los Angeles, on Thursday. The mural is by artist Robert Vargas and is 46 meters tall.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 1, 2024

Ohtani’s arrival brings hope and nostalgia home to Little Tokyo

In Los Angeles, home to one of the nation’s oldest Japanese American enclaves, rooting for the Dodgers is a cherished tradition.
Around 90% of China’s increased oil demand between 2021 and 2024 comes from chemical feedstocks, driven by the manufacturing of products such as those sold by fast-fashion retailers Shein and Tamu.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2024

China's Shein and Temu are driving oil, not Toyota and GM

The cause behind recent a surge in China's oil demand is not to be found in people's transport habits, including car use, but in fast-fashion clothing.
Workers prepare processed crickets at Hygente Technology in Shinjo, Yamagata Prefecture, in November.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Apr 8, 2024

Next-gen protein sources explored as meat replacements in Tohoku

While proponents tout the benefits of edible insects and plant-based meat, getting consumers to change their eating habits remains an uphill task.
World Central Kitchen’s damaged vehicle hit by an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Apr 4, 2024

Strikes in Gaza and Iran show limits of Biden’s leverage on Israel

They draw scrutiny to the question of how much leverage the U.S. president has over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and whether he’s willing to exert it.
“Extremely Inappropriate!” centers on Ichiro Ogawa (played by Sadao Abe), a crude high school teacher who is chain-smoking his way through 1986. He accidentally ends up on a bus that turns out to be a time machine, which drives him to 2024.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Apr 5, 2024

‘Extremely Inappropriate!’ took a big swing. TV is better for it.

The drama — which features a fish-out-of-water protagonist and satirizes social issues — is the most divisive Japanese TV show of the year so far.
Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin,” once the victim of high waves that dragged it into the sea, sits at the end of a pier on the south side of Naoshima.
CULTURE / Art / Longform
Apr 6, 2024

Why is the most exciting art in Japan so hard to get to?

Japan has a unique movement of public art projects and festivals that are a slog to get to — by design. A writer examines the country's “inconvenient art."
3M’s Cottage Grove, Minnesota factory had been churning out varieties of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances known as PFAS since the 1950s.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 9, 2024

PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ pervasive in water worldwide, study finds

The study of over 45,000 water samples worldwide found that about 31% of groundwater had levels of the chemicals considered harmful to human health.
Speculation has been swirling for months over the fate of Ito-Yokado, which was Seven & I's original retail franchise before it bought 7-Eleven and turned it into a large, successful business.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 10, 2024

Seven & I set to split 7-Eleven from original Ito-Yokado stores

Ito-Yokado was the company’s original franchise before it bought 7-Eleven and turned it into a successful business.
A soldier resting after returning from a front-line position in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in November 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 12, 2024

Russian attacks on Ukraine stoke fears army near breaking point

Low on ammunition and manpower, Ukraine may soon run out of options in Russia's invasion.
In a Kyoto long past, the "hyakki yagyō" (100 demon night parade) haunted a sleepy corner of Kyoto. Now, one enterprising monster enthusiast has won a small batttle to keep the march alive.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 17, 2024

Kyoto’s demon night parade lives to haunt another day

Held this year on April 20, an ancient Kyoto monster march has overcome obstacles to continue going bump in the night.
Lung cancer causes about 76,000 deaths in Japan each year, and about 1.8 million deaths worldwide.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 16, 2024

Japan study shows link between passive smoking and lung cancer

The study shows how passive smoking causes genetic mutations, providing further evidence of the harmful effects of secondhand smoke.
Resistance to adopting digital technologies, restrictive EU regulations, and energy-price shocks are potential explanations for Europe's lagging productivity.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2024

Why is Europe losing the productivity race?

A forthcoming report from Mario Draghi will recommend removing barriers to competition, which would intensify the pressure on firms to innovate.
Tochigi police have arrested a 25-year-old man over the disposal of corpses in the town of Nasu last week.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 21, 2024

Man, 25, arrested in connection with charred bodies found in Tochigi

Police had been questioning the unidentified man voluntarily since Wednesday, when he turned himself in.
Ryoken Hirayama, a construction worker arrested in connection with the discovery of the two charred bodies in Tochigi Prefecture, leaves a Tokyo police station on Monday. He has been handed over to prosecutors.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2024

Man held over charred bodies found in Tochigi says he didn't know victims

Police are investigating further following a disclosure by the man that he had acted on a request from an unnamed person.
A computer-generated image shows redevelopment plans for the former site of the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2024

Tsukiji 2030s: A stadium, culinary center and transportation hub

Massive redevelopment plans for the former site of Japan's world-famous fish market aim to turn the waterfront land into the new face of Tokyo.
Yum China, which operates KFC and Pizza Hut, plans to add more than 5,000 outlets by 2026 with more than 50% of them outside megacities.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 23, 2024

China’s small towns thrive as more opt out of demanding megacity life

As an economic downturn in China’s biggest cities prompts layoffs and competition for remaining posts, many are finding a better quality of life elsewhere.
The parking lot of a convenience store in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward where Ryoken Hirayama, a 25-year-old construction worker, told police he had lent his car to two acquaintances to handle the matter involving the couple on the instructions of a certain individual.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 25, 2024

New details emerge over two burned bodies found in Tochigi

Police say that Sachiko and Ryutaro Takarajima may have been assaulted at a house in Tokyo hours before their deaths.
A truck rolls off a cargo vessel docked at Esbjerg Port in Ebjerg, Denmark. European Union food imports to the U.K. are about to get more expensive and complicated as the British government implements the Brexit deal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 27, 2024

Britons finally taste full Brexit as costly border checks begin

From April 30, the U.K. will impose checks on European Union food imports — a stark reversal from the pre-Brexit era of frictionless trade.
Chelsea defender Alfie Gilchrist celebrates after scoring the club's sixth goal during their English Premier League football match against Everton on April 15.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2024

Arsenal? Liverpool? Chelsea? Help me pick my 'football' team

This writer’s been in England for six years. It’s time he backed a club.
Hikaru Sasaki enters the Metropolitan Police Department's Osaki police station in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward on Monday after being arrested on suspicion of disposing of two bodies found in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, earlier this month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 29, 2024

Man, 28, arrested in Okinawa over burned bodies found in Tochigi

The man is an acquaintance of the construction worker who earlier turned himself to the police over his possible involvement in the case.
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2024

Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan

Spending per head soared 52% over the first three months compared with 2019.
The arrests for Gaza-related posts indicate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s regime will take a hard line against citizens not toeing the line when it comes to normalizing ties with Israel.
WORLD / Politics
May 2, 2024

Saudi Arabia steps up Gaza-related arrests as Israel ties edge closer

The arrests are said to reflect a desire by authorities to deter the making of online statements about the war in Gaza that might impact national security.

Longform

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