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May 28, 2000

Japanese soccer finished, or glory days still ahead?

This past week the lists of the top income taxpayers in Japan were announced and bantered about in all the media. And, as this country loves youth like just about no other, 17-year-old singing sensation Hikaru Utada and 19-year-old Seibu Lions pitching phenom Daisuke Matsuzaka garnered more attention...
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 23, 2000

FIFA 'insults' Japan over use of language

Staff writer
PODCAST / deep dive
Jul 26, 2023

A tale of two Fujis: Bullet climbs, crowds and Lizzo

With the borders fully open, Mount Fuji is all booked up and Fuji Rock is back in full force. Drew Damron and Patrick St. Michel join us on the podcast to discuss Japan’s two favorite Fujis.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2023

Seiichi Morimura, 90, who exposed Japan's wartime atrocities, dies

In a book, he detailed gruesome biological experiments on people at a secret Imperial Army site in occupied China before and during World War II.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 4, 2023

Bobby Valentine enjoying more relaxed time with Angels

Former Marines manager Bobby Valentine is viewing the game from a different perspective these days.
Ater Jimmie Husen
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 6, 2023

On plates, Sweden and Japan are a natural pair

Swedish and Japanese cuisine are not natural allies, but diners in Japan don’t seem to care when they taste this unique fusion for themselves.
The protagonist of Yu Miri’s “The End of August” is a fictionalized version of the author’s maternal grandfather, a long-distance runner who lived in Japanese-occupied Korea.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 6, 2023

Yu Miri’s new book is a bleak, dizzying epic in colonized Korea

In “The End of August,” the Akutagawa Prize-winning author excavates her own family history and traces multiple generations living under Japanese rule.
Naomi Koshi, CEO of OnBoard K.K., says pressure from foreign investors is pushing Japanese companies to seek out more female board members.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2023

Foreign investor pressure spurs Japanese boards to appoint women

The scramble came after institutional investors set rules to vote against firms with few or no female board members.
A deceased schoolgirl lures members of pop group Generations into her world with a killer earworm in “Sana.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 10, 2023

‘Sana’: Boy band horror flick is largely fan service

Takashi Shimizu’s film about a deadly ditty infecting members of J-pop group Generations offers generic scares with real-life concert footage.
Annette and Peter O’Malley, joined by their daughter Katherine, welcome NPB great Shigeo Nagashima to their Los Angeles home on Dec. 1, 1974.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 13, 2023

Annette O'Malley helped forge connection between Dodgers and Japan

She traveled with her husband, former Dodgers president Peter O'Malley, to help grow the game internationally, including making over 25 visits to Japan.
Leaders at Sweden's Psychological Defense Agency, a state agency, in Stockholm
WORLD / Society
Aug 14, 2023

Sweden is not staying neutral in Russia’s information war

Officials say the Kremlin has targeted Sweden with a concerted psychological campaign to discredit the country and undermine its bid to join NATO.
A moviegoer walks past a poster of the film "The Kerala Story" at a movie theater in Mumbai on May 10.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 16, 2023

Indian movies vilifying Muslims spark fear ahead of polls

An anti-Muslim hit claims to depict "innocent girls trapped, transformed and trafficked for terror," declaring it was "inspired by many true stories."
The color of a red torii gate in Bushidaira, Saitama Prefecture, still stands out against a vibrant green backdrop.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Aug 18, 2023

Exploring the eerie beauty of Japan's abandoned villages

Depopulation and an aging society have turned parts of the countryside into tourist attractions for those eager to explore a forgotten era.
Fans in Tokyo take pictures of the poster for "The Boy and the Heron."
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Aug 18, 2023

Hayao Miyazaki's final film to open San Sebastian festival

Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron" will open two film festivals in September, a rare feat for any director.
Mitsuko Suyama talks about falling victim to “black rain” in front of the community center where she was at the time of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Aug 21, 2023

Nagasaki ‘black rain’ victims angry over lack of health benefits

Victims of the Nagasaki A-bomb tell of suffering and exclusion from health benefits reserved for those officially recognized as survivors.
Members of the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, and U.S. armed forces carry national flags during the opening ceremony of joint military exercises in Taguig, Philippines, in October 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 27, 2023

How Japan can make the most of its latest diplomatic tool

Japan recently decided to establish a policy of Official Security Assistance. But how can it ensure its success?
Native Englander Paul Christie now spends most of his time rebuilding declining communities across the rural stretches of southwest Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Aug 29, 2023

One tour company’s mission to ‘revive a small corner of Japan’

Launched in 2007, the “Community Project” was devised to reinvigorate two neighboring valleys on the Kunisaki Peninsula.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 30, 2023

Media respond to report on sexual abuse at Johnny and Associates

The committee said Japan's mainstream media chose to ignore Kitagawa’s sexual abuse in order to maintain access to Johnny & Associates' talent pool.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean leader Yoon Suk-yeol hold a news conference during the trilateral summit at Camp David, Maryland, on Aug. 18.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 30, 2023

Camp David success depends on convincing the public

The Camp David statement is an important declaration of shared purpose and principles, and sets a path forward for substantive cooperation.
Ons Jabeur defeated Marie Bouzkova to reach the fourth round of the U.S. Open in New York on Saturday.
TENNIS
Sep 3, 2023

Ons Jabeur beats Marie Bouzkova to reach fourth round at U.S. Open

Jabeur said she was feeling like a "zombie" due to illness but came back from the dead to overcome Bouzkova.
A supporter of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet holds a portrait of him during a demonstration in Santiago in 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 7, 2023

Dictator Pinochet still looms large over Chile, 50 years after coup

A survey conducted in May found that 36% of people believe the general "liberated Chile from Marxism," the highest figure measured in 28 years of polling.
Banks have surged more than 50% over the past year on speculation gains in prices and wages will become sustainable enough for the Bank of Japan to end years of rock bottom rates.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 12, 2023

Top fund managers pile into Japanese banks on BOJ tightening bets

Fund managers are piling into Japanese banks on the possibility the Bank of Japan is preparing to end its ultraeasy monetary policy.
Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike says his ambition is to realize a "Hokkaido Valley" that can compete against Silicon Valley in size.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2023

Japan's Rapidus aims to create a chipmaking 'Hokkaido Valley'

The startup, backed with billions of dollars in taxpayer funds, is plotting a course to mass-produce 2-nanometer logic chips by 2027.
New Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa is seen in formal attire to attend an attestation ceremony after a Cabinet reshuffle in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 13, 2023

In Kishida's Cabinet reshuffle, two changes stand out

It will be the first time in 20 years that a woman has been foreign minister, while the new defense chief arrives amid dramatic shifts in defense posture.
Yoji Yamada cast familiar faces in his latest heartwarming family drama “Mom, Is That You?!” including veteran Sayuri Yoshinaga (right), who has appeared in three other Yamada films. Yoshinaga plays the mother of a stressed salaryman (Yo Oizumi, left) in the new film.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 15, 2023

Film veteran Yoji Yamada warms the soul with 'Mom, Is That You?!'

Even after 60 years in the industry, the director continues to make hits. His latest offers a hearty helping of deeply felt human truths.
John Williams (right) and Seiji Ozawa (center) have been friends for decades. Their long-awaited reunion in Japan comes courtesy of a musical collaboration between Williams and the Saito Kinen Orchestra for the 31st edition of Ozawa’s annual music festival.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 24, 2023

Music legends John Williams and Seiji Ozawa reunite at Matsumoto festival

The American composer and conductor led a special program featuring his famous film scores at his long-time friend's annual event in Nagano Prefecture.
United Hindu Front activists protest in New Delhi on Sunday over Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations of Indian involvement in the assassination of a Sikh independence proponent back in Canada.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2023

The politics behind Canada and India’s diplomatic tiff

Ottawa's soft-power righteousness over assassination of Sikh leader in British Columbia ruffles feathers in New Delhi
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington in December 2014.
WORLD
Sep 29, 2023

Long-serving U.S. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein dies at 90

Feinstein was a Washington trail-blazer who among other accomplishments became the first woman to head the influential Senate Intelligence Committee.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 5, 2023

The Big Issue Japan marks 20 years of tackling homelessness

The publication has survived many challenges during its 20-year journey, including the global financial crisis of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Oct 5, 2023

Giants prepare to start new era as manager Tatsunori Hara walks away

Manager Tatsunori Hara's departure closes the book on an eventful chapter in the storied history of the Giants.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan