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JAPAN

A woman lays a bouquet of flowers outside Shenzhen 911±¬ÁÏÍø School following the murder of a 10-year-old 911±¬ÁÏÍø child who was on his way to the school, in Shenzhen in September.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2025
Chinese court gives death penalty to man who killed 911±¬ÁÏÍø boy
Friday¡¯s sentence was pronounced on the same day the trial opened in an unusually quick decision.
A farmer stands next to his flood-damaged rice field after Typhoon Shanshan passed through Yufu, Oita Prefecture, in August 2024.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2025
Japan plans to sell rice from emergency stockpiles to cut prices
The government will discuss selling part of its strategic rice reserve next week, the agriculture minister said Friday.
Fuji Television's poor handling of sexual misconduct allegations against celebrity Masahiro Nakai has led to an exodus of sponsors from the broadcaster.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Jan 24, 2025
What are the real issues behind the Fuji TV scandal?
Fuji TV's handling of sexual misconduct allegations against TV personality Masahiro Nakai led to a firestorm of public disapproval. Where did it go wrong?
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department in Washington on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2025
911±¬ÁÏÍø foreign minister vows to take ties with U.S. to new heights
The minister said he will work to take the two countries' cooperation to new heights by building a strong relationship of trust with the Trump administration.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his policy speech at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2025
Ishiba stresses regional revitalization in policy speech
The relocation of industrial, state and academic institutions to regions outside of Tokyo will begin with government agencies.
Sotatsu Yanase leaves the Oshima Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2025
Boyfriend of missing woman arrested after bones found on beach
The victim was identified as Shizuka Takase, a 37-year-old restaurant worker from Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Hokkaido Railway temporarily suspended train services after a 61-year-old Chinese tourist was fatally struck by a train in the city of Otaru, Hokkaido, on Thursday morning.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2025
Chinese tourist fatally struck by train in Hokkaido
The woman entered the Hakodate Line tracks near Asari Station in Otaru to photograph the ocean with her phone.
A building in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, that houses the Naha District Public Prosecutor's Office
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2025
U.S. Marine not indicted in sexual assault case in Okinawa
After comprehensive consideration, the prosecutor's office determined that it is difficult to build a case against the marine.
Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani, walks outside the federal court in Santa Ana, California, on June 4.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2025
57 months in prison sought for Ohtani's ex-interpreter
"This kind of betrayal and greed calls for a significant term of imprisonment," prosecutors argued.
Daisuke Komatsu (left), who heads the Liberal Democratic Party's group in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, and others bow in apology during a news conference at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2025
LDP Tokyo assembly members to correct funds reports
Some LDP members of the assembly kept some revenues from fundraising parties held in 2019 and 2022 for themselves and did not declare the income.
The government aims to reduce the average monthly overtime of teachers to 30 hours over the five years through the fiscal year beginning April 2029, down from the current 47 hours.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2025
Japan weighs obligatory programs to cut teacher overtime
Education boards would be required to report on the current work hours of teachers and detail measures to improve their working styles.

ASIA PACIFIC

Strong waves from the Pasig River pummel the shoreline in Manila on Nov. 17 as Super Typhoon Man-yi hits the Philippines.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 24, 2025
Disaster fatigue: When storms drown out compassion
Natural disasters in the Philippines are taking a toll not only on the most vulnerable but also on those whose very job it is to help to them.

WORLD

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Osaka in June 2019.
WORLD
Jan 24, 2025
Putin ready to talk to Trump and waiting for 'signals,' Kremlin says
The Ukraine conflict has plunged relations between the U.S. and Russia their lowest levels since the Cold War.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2025
U.S. judge temporarily blocks Trump's order limiting birthright citizenship
The judge's order prevents Trump's policy from being enforced nationwide for 14 days while he considers whether to issue a long-lasting preliminary injunction.
Graffiti created by French artist Big Ben Street Art depicting Donald Trump as Darth Vader from "Star Wars" in Lyon, France, on Nov. 6, 2024
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2025
Trump is back. But what happened to the 'Resistance'?
The U.S. has seen almost none of the mass mobilization that made opposition to Trump in 2017 the largest social movement in a half-century.
Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor Janina Iwanska, 94, a retired pharmacist, holds an undated picture from her way back to Poland, ahead of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz, in Warsaw on Jan. 7
WORLD
Jan 24, 2025
Auschwitz survivors recall their suffering 80 years after camp's liberation
An estimated 1.3 million people were sent to the Nazi death camp set up in occupied Poland as part of Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution" to annihilate European Jews.
Syrian police members attend their graduation ceremony at the Police Academy under the Syrian Salvation Government in Damascus, Syria, on Jan. 14.
WORLD
Jan 24, 2025
Syria's new leaders turn to Islamic law in effort to rebuild Assad's police
Syria's new authorities are using Islamic teachings to train a fledgling police force.
Schoolchildren in El Bosque, Mexico. Education is one of the services most frequently disrupted by climate hazards, UNICEF's executive director Catherine Russell said.
WORLD / Society
Jan 24, 2025
Climate shocks in 2024 disrupted 242 million children's schooling: UNICEF
Heat waves had the biggest impact, with at least 171 million children affected by them last year.
Afghan citizens, who are in the process for resettlement in the U.S., attend an English class on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Society
Jan 24, 2025
Afghans awaiting U.S. resettlement feel betrayal after Trump order
Some feel betrayed, with many ¡ª including those who fled Taliban rule in Afghanistan ¡ª having already spent years in limbo.
Steps against diversity form part of U.S. President Donald Trump's broader campaign targeting the federal bureaucracy, which he has sometimes disparaged as the "deep state" secretly working against his agenda.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2025
Trump accelerates campaign to remake federal bureaucracy
The U.S. president says his orders ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs would make America a "merit-based country" once again.
The Food and Drug Administration headquarters in White Oak, Maryland
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 24, 2025
Trump alarms scientists by muzzling U.S. health agencies
The move could delay essential information and slow funding for potentially life-saving initiatives.
A Palestinian man searches for the graves and bodies of his father, brother and brother-in-law at Shejaia cemetery, which was flattened by Israeli tanks and bulldozers, in Gaza City, the Gaza Strip, on Monday.
WORLD
Jan 24, 2025
Bereaved Gazans dig out bodies from city ruins and give them graves
Burials are usually carried out within a few hours of death in Muslim and Arab communities, and failure to ensure dignified burials is agonizing for families.

BUSINESS

Fuji TV's headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 24, 2025
Scandal-hit Fuji Media stock trading soars 1,767% on shakeup bet
A total of 237.8 million shares changed hands in Tokyo, compared with 12.74 million last week.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato holds a news conference at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo in October last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025
Finance chief vows to balance economic revival and fiscal consolidation
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato highlighted the need to improve 911±¬ÁÏÍø fiscal health, which is the worst among major countries.
The share of university students who accepted job offers as of Dec. 1 dipped 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier, the first decrease in four years.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2025
Share of university students in Japan who accepted job offers falls
It is the first decrease in four years, as some students who received job offers from several companies apparently hesitated to pick one.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda had sounded dovish after the central bank's December policy meeting, which led some analysts to say that rate hikes might only emerge in March.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025
BOJ takes rates to 0.5% amid calm markets after Trump inauguration
The 25-basis-point move marks the first rate increase since July and takes rates to their highest level since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Japan Airlines' chief executive officer and its chairman will be subject to a 30% pay cut for two months over an incident involving two pilots drinking.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 24, 2025
JAL top executives have their pay docked after pilot drinking incident
The punishments stem from an incident last month when two captains caused a flight to be delayed by around three hours after alcohol was found in their systems.
TikTok boasts 170 million monthly U.S. users and has become a major driver of culture and politics among young Americans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 24, 2025
TikTok¡¯s possible buyers, from Elon Musk to MrBeast
There will be no shortage of interested acquirers for the popular video service, which boasts 170 million monthly U.S. users.
Katsumi Shinagawa prepares to shred cabbage to serve with pork cutlet dishes at the restaurant Katsukichi in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 24, 2025
Climate change cooks up 911±¬ÁÏÍø 'cabbage shock'
It is the latest pain point for shoppers and eateries in Japan already squeezed by inflation.
Service inflation accelerated a tad to 1.6%, while an index excluding energy costs and fresh food prices advanced 2.4%, unchanged from the pace in November.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025
Inflation in Japan jumps to 3%, supporting the BOJ's rate-hike case
The solid inflation data support the case for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates on Friday, a move widely anticipated by markets and economists.
Mitsubishi Motors is unlikely to join Honda and Nissan's deal to create a holding company together, it was reported Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 24, 2025
Mitsubishi Motors won¡¯t join Honda and Nissan tie-up, Yomiuri says
Mitsubishi Motors hasn¡¯t made any announcements and is considering all options, a spokesperson for the company said.

Opinion

U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage with Vice President JD Vance after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States during the presidential inauguration in Washington on Monday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2025
Japan should prioritize free trade as it adapts to Trump¡¯s policies
It is difficult, if not impossible, to know what Trump and his administration will do in specific situations. Words and documents are one thing, actions another.
Mark Zuckerberg¡¯s push to loosen moderation policies at Meta puts the company on a collision course with regulations in Brazil, Latin America¡¯s largest economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2025
Zuckerberg's newfound libertarianism is worrying Brazil
Meta's loosened moderation policy puts it on a collision course with regulations in Latin America¡¯s largest economy.
Supporters of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol protest in Seoul on Tuesday. The previous leaders of the U.S. and Japan, along with Yoon, focused on strengthening alliances and regional stability through cooperation whereas newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s approach to foreign policy may prioritize transactional relationships.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 24, 2025
Japan and South Korea were stable U.S. allies. Not anymore.
Political paralysis in the U.S., Japan and South Korea has left a leadership vacuum in the Indo-Pacific.

Sports

Jannik Sinner pumps his fist during his Australian Open semifinal win over Ben Shelton on Friday in Melbourne.
TENNIS
Jan 24, 2025
Cramping Sinner subdues Shelton and returns to Australian Open final
Sinner will face Zverev in the final as he bids to become the first Italian with three Grand Slam singles titles.
Sara Saito competes at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in October last year.
TENNIS
Jan 24, 2025
Sara Saito¡¯s journey from tennis courts in Gunma to promising WTA pro
The 18-year-old Saito, who has steadily risen up the WTA rankings, is the only teenager among the eight 911±¬ÁÏÍø players in the top 200.
Novak Djokovic hugs Alexander Zverev after the Serbian great retired from their Australian Open semifinal on Friday.
TENNIS
Jan 24, 2025
Djokovic retires hurt to send Zverev into Australian Open final
The 37-year-old Serbian great's upper left leg was again heavily taped after he hurt it in the quarterfinals and he called it a day after dropping the first set.
Madison Keys celebrates after winning her Australian Open semifinal over Iga Swiatek on Thursday in Melbourne.
TENNIS
Jan 24, 2025
Only Keys stands between Sabalenka and third straight Australian Open title
Sabalenka will be the overwhelming favorite to defeat Keys and complete the "three-peat" after prevailing in four of their five previous meetings.
Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka reacts after a point against Spain's Paula Badosa during their women's singles semi-final match at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Jan. 23, 2025.
TENNIS
Jan 24, 2025
Sabalenka and Keys book big-hitting Australian Open final
The Australian Open women's final will pit two of the game's big hitters against each other.
Undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue celebrates after defeating Kim Ye-joon in their title fight at Ariake Arena on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Jan 24, 2025
Naoya 'Monster' Inoue retains undisputed title with 4th-round knockout
Promoter Bob Arum announced after the fight that Inoue will fight in Las Vegas this spring.
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels scrambles during Washington's wild-card playoff game against Tampa Bay earlier this month.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 24, 2025
Washington's 'Terminator' Jayden Daniels one win away from NFL history
The 24-year-old Californian, taken with the second overall pick in last year's draft, has electrified the NFL this season.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is pressured by Bills defensive end Greg Rousseau during a game between the two rival teams earlier this season in Orchard Park, New York.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 24, 2025
Rivals Bills and Chiefs clash again with Super Bowl on the line
The rivalry between the Chiefs and the Bills may not have the long history of the great divisional clashes, but its intensity is fueled by the high stakes in their recent meetings.

LIFE

While Japan deals with so-called overtourism, the rest of the world is just getting back to pre-pandemic levels of visits from international travelers.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 24, 2025
Global tourism is back to pre-COVID highs
Global tourism generated nearly $1.6 trillion (about ?250 trillion) in 2024, about 3% more than the previous year and 4%?more than in 2019.

CULTURE

Animated series ¡°Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi¡± premiered on Cartoon Network on Nov. 29, 2004, and ran for three seasons. The show is based on real-life J-pop band Puffy.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 24, 2025
The cartoon chaos of ¡®Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi¡¯ was ahead of its time
Love for the J-pop duo¡¯s zany Cartoon Network series has endured online for over 20 years since its premiere.

COMMUNITY

New Yorker Kenny Colvin opened Sanita, an Italian American-style cocktail bar, in Tokyo¡¯s Hatagaya neighborhood in 2020.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 24, 2025
Kenny Colvin: ¡®Work hard, drink hard, eat hard ¡­ relax hard¡¯
The owner of Sanita, a cozy cocktail bar in Hatagaya, shares his journey and inspirations.
Though he comes from a troubled home, Bach is a sweet fellow who loves to play.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Jan 24, 2025
Bach the bobtail will warm your lap and heart
This tuxedo cat loves to play with toys, but is just as happy taking it easy.

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokud¨­ in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan¡¯s ¡®children¡¯s cafeterias¡¯ are booming ¡ª but is that a good thing?

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN