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May 27, 2024
 

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JAPAN

Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 13, 2024
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
By Karin Kaneko
Having the porn videos in which she featured available to be streamed online causes damage to her image as an artist and dancer now, Miyuki Ariga says.
Officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police raid the Tsubasa no To office in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 13, 2024
Political party Tsubasa no To investigated over election obstruction
By Gabriele Ninivaggi
The group is suspected of interfering with the campaign activities of candidates in the recent by-election in Tokyo’s No. 15 district.
Visitors climb the slopes of Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak at 3,776 meters. From May 20, climbers will have access to a new online booking system for Mount Fuji's most popular Yoshida trail in Yamanashi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
May 13, 2024
Online booking for Mount Fuji climb to open on May 20
By Francis Tang
Climbers will be able to reserve their places and pay the mandatory ¥2,000 ($13) climbing fee up to a day before their climb on the official website.
The Northern Lights in Nayoro, Hokkaido, on Saturday
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 13, 2024
In a rare event, the Northern Lights show up in Hokkaido
By Francis Tang
The aurora borealis was also observed across the Tohoku region.
A reconstructed skeleton of <i>Futabasaurus suzukii</i> (top) and its fossil's replica are displayed at the Iwaki City Coal and Fossil Museum (Horuru) in Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
May 13, 2024
Fukushima fossil museum marks 40 years of unearthing history
The discovery of the fossil of a new genus of plesiosaur in 1968 led to the birth of the museum, which now hosts its replica and reconstructed skeleton.
The Tokyo District Court on Monday sentenced a former industry ministry bureaucrat to 10 years in prison for drugging six women with sleeping pills and then raping or groping them in 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 13, 2024
Ex-METI bureaucrat given 10-year sentence for drugging and raping women
By Karin Kaneko
Dai Sato gave six women in Tokyo a beverage mixed with sleeping pills so that they wouldn't be able to resist his advances.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kaga destroyer has undergone the first stage of modifications to turn it into a de facto aircraft carrier for F-35B stealth fighter jets.
JAPAN / Politics / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
May 13, 2024
MSDF’s Kure base expanding mission as it marks 70th anniversary
The unit has increased its activities not only in national defense, but also in disaster relief operations and overseas missions.
Increasingly denuded areas can be seen on the slopes of Mount Ibuki in Ibigawa, Gifu Prefecture, on April 10.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
May 13, 2024
Deer cause damage to Mount Ibuki, known for its rare alpine flowers
As the amount of snowfall has decreased, affected by global warming, the number of deer has increased.
Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers participate in a seminar to prevent harassment at the GSDF's Camp Asaka in Tokyo on April 16.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 13, 2024
Japan's military needs more women. But it's still failing on harassment.
By Sakura Murakami and Tim Kelly
Nine months after the Defense Ministry pledged to take drastic measures, it has no plans to implement a national system for reviewing training standards.

ASIA PACIFIC

Indonesia's new president Prabowo Subianto and vice president Gibran Rakabuming Raka wave after the country's election commission officially announced them as the presidential election winners at General Election Commission (KPU) headquarters in Jakarta, on April 24.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2024
Indonesia won’t take sides in U.S.-China row, Prabowo tells TV
By Faris Mokhtar
China is Indonesia’s biggest economic partner and is pouring more than $7 billion into the nation’s commodity processing capacity.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2024
Philippine coast guard will block China reclamation at disputed shoal, official says
The shoal is the rendezvous point for vessels carrying out resupply missions to Filipino troops, where Manila and China have had frequent maritime run-ins.
Activists from Amnesty International march in support of the Uyghurs during Chinese President Xi Jinping's two-day state visit in France on May 6.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2024
China accused of targeting overseas citizens for political activism
Students said their family in China received threats after they attended events such as the commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

WORLD

South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks at the Congress of South African Trade Unions National Worker's Day rally at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on May 1.
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2024
Who’s who in South Africa’s tightest post-apartheid election
By Mike Cohen
For the first time since White-minority rule ended, South Africa is heading into national elections in which an outright winner isn’t apparent.
Smoke billows following Israeli strikes on the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) on October 11, 2023.
WORLD / Society
May 13, 2024
Gazans strive to study as war shatters education system
By Dawoud Abu Alkas, Nidal al-Mughrabi, Aidan Lewis and Saleh Salem
The U.N. estimates that 72.5% of schools in Gaza will need full reconstruction or major rehabilitation.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu salutes to soldiers as he is driven along Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2024
Russia's Shoigu: Political survivor blamed for Ukraine setbacks
He had a decadeslong political career of unmatched longevity in post-Soviet Russia, his presence in the center of Moscow predating that of Putin himself.
Former U.S. Marines Corp pilot Daniel Duggan, who is facing extradition to the United States for allegedly breaking U.S. arms control law after he trained Chinese pilots, poses for a picture in this undated handout picture.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 13, 2024
Former U.S. Marine pilot held in Australia 'worked with Chinese hacker'
By Kirsty Needham
But the hacking case had nothing to do with him and there is no evidence that the pilots he trained in China were members of the military, his lawyer says.
A sofa floats down a flooded street in Porto Alegre, in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state, on Sunday. New rains in waterlogged southern Brazil are expected to be at their heaviest between Sunday and Monday, authorities have warned.
WORLD
May 13, 2024
Death toll from Brazil floods reaches 143 as rain continue to pour
By Lisandra Paraguassu
Another 125 people remain unaccounted for in Rio Grande do Sul state, where rising river levels are being reported.
Evacuees from the Ukrainian village of Liptsi, near the Russian border, arrive at an evacuation point in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on Sunday.
WORLD
May 13, 2024
Russian forces bear down on Ukraine border town in Kharkiv region
By Vitalii Hnidyi
Moscow troops smashed into the Kharkiv region on Friday, opening a northeastern front in the 27-month war that has long been waged in the south and east.
A Palestinian student, who plans to return to his homeland after graduation and who wishes to remain anonymous, poses for a portrait while wearing a kaffiyeh along with his commencement cap at the Auraria Campus in Denver on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2024
Campus Gaza rallies may subside, but experts see possible 'hot summer of protest'
By Brad Brooks
Academics say it's difficult to maintain the people-power energy on campus if most of the people are gone.
Andrei Belousov, economic aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2024
Putin taps economist to run defense in unexpected move
By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn
It is vital to ensure military spending aligns with Russia's overall economy, a Kremlin spokesperson said.
Palestinians who fled Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip transport their belongings in the back of a truck as they arrive to take shelter in Khan Yunis on Sunday.
WORLD
May 13, 2024
Israel pushes back into northern Gaza and ups military pressure on Rafah
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Jabalia, Gaza's largest refugee camp, hosts over 100,000 people, mainly descendants of Palestinians displaced during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
Voters register at a polling station in Gujarat, India, on May 7.
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2024
Low turnout and acrimony coloring Indian election at halfway point
By Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Swati Gupta
India began its seven-stage election on April 19, with voting scheduled to end on June 1.

BUSINESS

Pending the offer’s success, I’rom Group will be delisted and Blackstone will own 55% of the company.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2024
Blackstone to take Japan drug trial firm private in management buyout
By Lisa Du and Takako Taniguchi
A tender offer will be made to acquire I’rom Group shares at ¥2,800 per share — a roughly 50% premium to Monday’s closing price of ¥1,873.
Investing in Japanese stocks becomes harder if the yen continues to weaken, head of Japan active investments at BlackRock warns.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 13, 2024
BlackRock warns weak yen deters foreigners from Japan stocks
By Winnie Hsu
The Nikkei 225 has declined more than 6% amid concerns the currency is becoming a liability for domestic consumer spending and import costs.
SoftBank is regaining its footing just as founder Masayoshi Son readies sizable investments in artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2024
SoftBank to get more aggressive on AI after profit and asset sales
By Min Jeong Lee and Vlad Savov
The company earned a better-than-expected net income in the March quarter, helped by investment gains.
Tokiko Shimizu, the Bank of Japan's first and only female director, has been replaced by Kazushige Kamiyama after finishing a four-year term.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2024
BOJ slips backward on diversity with all-male executive lineup
By Toru Fujioka
The BOJ slipped to 156th on an index of gender balance among central banks released this year.
The downtown Johor Bahru skyline from Singapore
BUSINESS
May 13, 2024
Malaysia's Johor eyes Shenzhen-style hub with Singapore, report says
By Ram Anand and Anuradha Raghu
If approved, the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone would be nearly twice the size of China’s Shenzhen at 3,505 square kilometers.
Kai-Fu Lee, chairman of Sinovation Ventures
BUSINESS / Tech
May 13, 2024
Tech pioneer Kai-Fu Lee's AI venture aims to deliver China's ChatGPT moment
By Saritha Rai
Beijing bars foreign AI models in part due to strict censorship, but that also ensures domestic players have a big local market without global competition.
Breads developed to be eaten cold are displayed during an event in Tokyo in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2024
Shops promoting 'cold bread' hope to boost sales in summer
One company is promoting cat-shaped bread that can be eaten frozen.
Katsunobu Kato, former chief Cabinet secretary and a ruling party veteran, says the Bank of Japan must keep a close eye on economic conditions and coordinate carefully with the government in working out when to raise rates.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2024
Japan on track to normalize monetary policy, says ruling party heavyweight
By Makiko Yamazaki and Yoshifumi Takemoto
The weak yen has inflated import costs, hurting consumption and creating headaches for policymakers looking to shore up a fragile economic recovery.
Suspected intervention to drag the yen off a 34-year low against the dollar is already seen as unlikely to have a lasting effect if Japan continues alone.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 13, 2024
Yen’s fragility raises specter of a new currency war in Asia
By Tania Chen and Ruth Carson
A destabilizing slump in the yen could be the trigger that forces Japan’s neighbors to take extreme action.
People ride past a JD.com advertisement promoting a Singles Day shopping festival in Beijing in 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2024
China's e-commerce giants face a delicate balance
By Casey Hall
Chinese consumers are seeking discounts and lower-cost shopping following the pandemic.
U.S. President Joe Biden touts the economic benefits of semiconductor investment at Intel’s Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona, on March 20.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 13, 2024
Global chips battle intensifies with $81 billion subsidy surge
By Mackenzie Hawkins, Ian King, Jillian Deutsch, Yoshiaki Nohara and Yuan Gao
The rush of funding has hardened battle lines in the U.S.-China trade war, including in nations like Japan.

Opinion

Lawrence Wong will become Singapore's fourth prime minister on Wednesday. He will be tasked with steering the city-state into new territory as its economy slows down and its population ages rapidly.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2024
New Singaporean PM faces some economic headwinds
By Daniel Moss
Lawrence Wong will be sworn in as the city-state's fourth prime minister on Wednesday. Despite Singapore's strong economy, new challenges lie ahead.
Major Japanese companies are increasing ventures in the United States, with Toyota investing $13.9 billion in North Carolina alone.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 13, 2024
Japan’s gamble to hedge against U.S. political risks
By Jessica C. Liao and Shihoko Goto
As Japanese companies increasingly invest in U.S. states like North Carolina, friend-shoring ensures economic resilience in the face of political change.

Sports

Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu's squad will face the United States in Kansas City ahead of the Paris Olympics.
SOCCER
May 13, 2024
U.S. to face Japan in final tuneup for Paris Olympics
The United States men's Olympic soccer team will play its final warmup against Japan in Kansas City ahead of the tournament in France in July.
Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates with the French Ligue 1 championship trophy in Paris on Sunday.
SOCCER
May 13, 2024
Kylian Mbappe plays final match with PSG
Mbappe scored in his final home appearance as a Paris Saint-Germain player on Sunday.
Urawa's Kiko Seike (right) celebrates with Yu Endo during the AFC Women’s Championship Cup at Urawa Komaba Stadium in Saitama on Friday.
SOCCER
May 13, 2024
Kiko Seike shines as Urawa Reds Ladies add two titles to collection over weekend
By Alex Bishop
Urawa won the AFC Women’s Championship Cup on Friday and clinched the WE League title on Sunday.
Padres starter Yu Darvish reacts after striking out the Dodgers' Will Smith to end the sixth inning during his team's win over the Dodgers in San Diego on Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 13, 2024
Yu Darvish sharp as Padres hit three HRs in win over Dodgers
Yu Darvish retired the first 14 batters he faced and allowed just two hits in seven shutout innings as the Padres blanked the Dodgers.
Fever guard Caitlin Clark will begin her WNBA career when the season tips off on Tuesday.
BASKETBALL
May 13, 2024
Caitlin Clark prepares for debut as WNBA heads into new era
Clark will make her WNBA debut when the season opens this week.
Justin Reid has helped the Chiefs win the last two Super Bowl titles.
MORE SPORTS / Football
May 13, 2024
Chiefs safety Justin Reid committed to lifting up Kansas City on and off field
By Jason Coskrey
The confetti had hardly finished falling on the Kansas City Chiefs' second consecutive Super Bowl title when safety Justin Reid started looking ahead.

LIFE

George Guttridge-Smith brews tea at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture, where he serves as head of international development.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 13, 2024
Is black the new green for Japan’s flagging tea farmers?
By Cat Kerr
With coffee and bottled tea cutting into their potential profits, harvesters in Japan are dabbling in the less-regulated production of black tea.
Japan set to suffer another scorching summer
Frequent hydration and the use of parasols are believed to be needed more than usual this year to weather out the expected heat spell.
Gaming's latest culture war targets Yasuke, Japan's Black samurai
Yasuke, a historical Black samurai, will star in the newly announced Assassin's Creed Shadows — a choice that has riled some critics online.
Japan issues fresh warning on yen drops and signals readiness to intervene
Japan's top currency diplomat, Masato Kanda, poses for a photograph during an interview at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo in January 2022.
Saury fading from Japan's dining tables amid poor catches
Japan's saury catches fell to roughly 18,000 tons in 2022, hitting a record low for the fourth straight year, before picking up slightly to around 25,000 tons last year.
Emergency probe of Japan Airlines carried out following incidents
A transport ministry probe into Japan Airlines on Friday targeted daily operations pertaining to flight operations and safety management at company facilities near Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, including JAL's safety promotion headquarters.
At Japan-South Korea-China trilateral summit, a chance to manage tensions
South Korean leader Yoon Suk-yeol (left), U.S. President Joe Biden (center) and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida walk during the Camp David summit on the outskirts of Washington last August. South Korea and Japan will be going into the summit with China more aligned than before following the Camp David meeting.
Daido Moriyama’s sweeping retrospective brings Tokyo streets to Helsinki
“Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective,” currently exhibiting in Helsinki at The Finnish Museum of Photography’s K1 gallery, features 200 works, two video installations and some of the photographer’s rare photobooks and magazines.
Shiba inu of dogecoin fame dies at 18
A sticker advertising dogecoin in Hong Kong in 2022. Kabosu, the shiba inu rescue dog who became the face of the cryptocurrency, has died.
Japanese researchers confirm blood test predicts risk of Alzheimer's
The latest findings by University of Tokyo researchers raise hopes that the disease may be treated if doctors can identify people who will develop Alzheimer’s before its onset.
Foreign student numbers in Japan grew in 2023
The increase in foreign student numbers in Japan came after the government started to gradually lift its COVID-19 travel restrictions in 2022.

Podcast

Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.
What does climate change sound like in Okinawa?

Longform

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.
How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan
By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there
Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

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