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March 08, 2025
 

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JAPAN

According to the Cultural Affairs Agency, shodō is defined as the act of writing kanji and kana characters using traditional brushstrokes and techniques.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
Japan to again propose calligraphy for UNESCO heritage list
The government is expected to submit the fresh proposal to UNESCO by the end of the month.
Ayako Sono
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
Japanese writer Ayako Sono dies at 93
Renowned Japanese writer Ayako Sono, known for many best-selling novels and essays, died of natural causes at a Tokyo hospital. She was 93.
Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of Ispace, speaks during a news conference in September 2024.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
Japan startup targets June 6 moon landing
Ispace hopes to have its own moment of glory, after the unsalvageable "hard landing" of its initial attempt in 2023.
Yuichiro Tamaki, who has been reinstated as leader of the Democratic Party for the People, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
Tamaki sets sights on Upper House election after retaking DPP reins
By Eric Johnston
The opposition party aims to increase its seat count in the upper chamber of parliament from 12 to 21.
The Lower House Budget Committee votes for the fiscal 2025 budget in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
Budget clears Lower House in key win for Ishiba
By Gabriele Ninivaggi
The budget’s approval in the Lower House has long been seen as an indispensable requirement for the survival of the Ishiba administration.
The iconic ring-shaped roof at the venue of the World Exposition in Osaka on Friday
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
Osaka Expo ring roof recognized as world's largest wooden structure
The 60,000-square-meter Grand Ring has the largest building area on record for a wooden structure, according to Guinness World Records.
Ground Self-Defense Force helicopters return after dropping water as they fight a wildfire around Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, on Sunday. Firefighters were still battling Japan's biggest forest fire in half a century on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
Japan's worst wildfire in half a century spreads
By Kyoko Hasegawa
White smoke billowed from a forested area around the city of Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, six days after the blaze began amid record low rainfall.
Nihon Hidankyo Assistant Secretary-General Jiro Hamasumi delivers a speech at the third meeting of signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on Monday at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
Nihon Hidankyo executive urges abolition of nuclear weapons at U.N. meeting
"Atomic bombs are the 'devil's weapons' that rob people of their future," said Jiro Hamasumi, assistant secretary-general of Nihon Hidankyo.
The Supreme Court has rejected FC2's appeals against two separate rulings made against it by the Intellectual Property High Court in July 2022 and May 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 4, 2025
FC2 infringed on Dwango's patent, Japan's top court rules
The Supreme Court rejected FC2's appeals against two lower court rulings ordering the Las Vegas-based firm to stop violating Dwango's patent on a video comment-posting system.
Natsumi Sakai, a Lower House member of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, during an interview in parliament last month
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
Gender equality in politics remains elusive in Japan
Japan has a long way to go before fully achieving gender equality in politics.
Prince Hisahito attends his first news conference at Akasaka Estate in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
At first news conference, Prince Hisahito pledges to fulfill royal duties
The prince, who is second in line to the throne, underlined the importance of thinking of the people as a member of the imperial family.
Officials from the Meteorological Agency hold a news conference about the heavy snow forecast, on Sunday in the city of Saitama.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
Snow forces highway closures in Tokyo
By Jessica Speed
The closures are set to begin at around 4 p.m. for major routes including the Tomei Expressway, Shin-Tomei Expressway and Joshinetsu Expressway.
Yuji Iwasawa is the second Japanese to assume the ICJ's presidency, behind Hisashi Owada, the father of Empress Masako.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 4, 2025
Japan's Iwasawa elected as head of International Court of Justice
He is the second Japanese to assume the ICJ's presidency, behind Hisashi Owada, the father of Empress Masako.
Female crew members chat in the women-only rest area aboard the Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Shiranui in November 2022.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
Women in SDF see their roles expand — but challenges remain
Issues such as harassment prevention and a lack of promotion to senior positions remain significant hurdles for women wanting to join.

ASIA PACIFIC

The Auckland skyline at sunset in 2023. New Zealand's economy was the worst performing in the developed world last year, according to HSBC.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 4, 2025
New Zealand's economic missteps hasten exodus to sunnier shores
By Lucy Craymer
A total of 128,700 people permanently left the Pacific nation of 5.3 million in 2024, provisionally the largest exodus on record.
Taiwanese Defense Minister Wellington Koo gives a short speech during a media briefing in Taipei on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 4, 2025
Taiwan says U.S. will 'not abandon' Asia-Pacific region
The remarks by Taiwan's defense minister came days after U.S. President Donald Trump's fiery clash with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
U.S. F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets are seen on the flight deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson at a port in Busan, South Korea, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 4, 2025
North Korea slams U.S. 'provocations' over aircraft carrier visit to Busan
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea's leader, hinted that her country could respond with the testing of nuclear-capable missiles or other technology.

WORLD

U.S. military aid to Ukraine halted at 3:30 a.m., a source with knowledge of the matter said, after U.S. President Donald Trump paused assistance late on Monday following a clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 4, 2025
U.S. military aid pause is a blow to Ukraine, but not fatal for now
By Max Hunder and Pavel Polityuk
The U.S. pause could have a real impact on the war within months, undermining Ukraine's air defenses and precision strike capabilities in particular.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers a statement on plans to strengthen the European defense industry and the EU's military capabilities in Brussels on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
EU proposes €150 billion defense loan plan as Trump pulls back
By Andrea Palasciano and Jorge Valero
Any push for new EU borrowing is going to have to win the backing of the 27 member states, a significant hurdle.
A S-300 missile system is seen during the National Army Day parade in Tehran on April 17, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
Russian missile experts flew to Iran amid clashes with Israel
By James Pearson, Polina Nikolskaya, Anton Zverev and Parisa Hafezi
It could not be determined what the seven specialists were doing in Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
Trump pauses military aid to Ukraine after clash with Zelenskyy
The pause will last until the U.S. president determines the country’s leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace, a senior defense official said.
Lithuania will become the first country in the EU to leave a multilateral arms regulation agreement when it withdraws on March 6.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
Lithuania to walk out on global disarmament treaty
By Luca MATTEUCCI
Lithuania's controversial move comes at a time of heightened tensions in international relations over its neighbor Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
An event marking World Obesity Day in Brussels on March 6, 2024. Without a serious change, researchers estimate that 3.8 billion adults will be overweight or obese in 15 years — or around 60% of the global adult population in 2050.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 4, 2025
60% of adults will be overweight or obese by 2050, study says
Data from 204 countries paints a grim picture of a major health challenge facing the world.
A worker paints a robotic elephant model at a workshop in Thrissur, in India's Kerala state on Feb. 25.
WORLD / Society
Mar 4, 2025
Animal rights activists in India offer robot elephants to replace real ones
By Satish BABU
Accidents involving spooked elephants trampling crowds are common in India, leading some temples to switch to the robot versions.
Houses and buildings lie in ruins in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Jan. 19 following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
Egypt's alternative to Trump's 'Gaza Riviera' aims to sideline Hamas
By Andrew Mills
Cairo's plan does not tackle issues such as who will foot the bill for Gaza's reconstruction or outline any specific details around how the strip would be governed.
Mourners react during the funeral of two Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD
Mar 4, 2025
Israeli fire kills two Palestinians in Gaza amid impasse over ceasefire
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
A first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas ended over the weekend with no agreement on what will happen next.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
Trump says Ukraine deal still possible despite Zelenskyy feud
Trump’s relatively optimistic assessment could revive prospects for a deal that appeared to be scrapped last week to give the U.S. revenue from Ukraine’s minerals.

BUSINESS

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has decided to withdraw from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a spokesperson said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025
Japan’s SMFG joins Wall Street in exiting net zero banking group
By Sheryl Tian Tong Lee, Hideki Suzuki and Nao Sano
Japan’s second-largest bank has decided to withdraw from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.
Trucks wait in line to cross into the United States near the border customs control at the World Trade Bridge, in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, last November.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 4, 2025
Trade wars intensify as U.S. tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China take force
Beijing condemned the move and swiftly retaliated, saying it would impose 10% and 15% levies on a range of agricultural imports from the United States.
A man looks at an electric car inside an SAIC-GM Wuling dealership in Jakarta. Electric vehicle sales in Indonesia totaled just 43,188 last year.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 4, 2025
China’s EV makers are facing a reality check in Southeast Asia
Despite local aspirations to own EVs, they are still beyond the reach of many, and access to a reliable source of electricity is also not always a given.
A Prada sign sits at an entrance to one of its stores in central Milan, Italy, in 2017. Prada and Capri could finalize a deal for Versace this month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025
Versace owner Capri jumps on Prada moving closer to purchase
By Tommaso Ebhardt
A purchase would run counter to a decadeslong trend of Italian fashion groups being taken over by foreign firms.
A passenger jet with a special livery featuring the popular anime series Gundam is unveiled at Haneda Airport, Tokyo, on Monday ahead of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025
JAL and Bandai Namco unveil Gundam jet ahead of Osaka Expo
The Boeing 737-800 jet, whose livery also features the expo's official mascot, Myaku-Myaku, will be used for domestic flights until around November.
The Seven & I takeover saga is being closely watched as a test case of Japan’s openness to foreign capital, after recent governance reforms banned corporations from ignoring overtures that may raise value for shareholders.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025
Seven & I shares fall amid report it may reject buyout offer
The company said it is still having constructive discussions with Couche-Tard after a report said it would reject the offer.
U.S. President Donald Trump, and C.C. Wei, chief executive officer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., announce investments in the United States, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 4, 2025
TSMC announces $100 billion investment in new U.S. chip plants
By Daniel Avis
The announcement comes amid concerns Taiwan could lose its "silicon shield" against a Chinese invasion if its companies build too many factories overseas.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that if Japan and China try to weaken their currencies and put the United States "at a very unfair disadvantage," he could impose fresh tariffs on them.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 4, 2025
Trump, claiming Japan guiding yen lower, hints at fresh tariffs
Trump said that if Tokyo tries to weaken its currency and put the U.S. "at a very unfair disadvantage," he could unleash more measures.
Takeover bids in Japan are expected to reach a record this year amid growing pressure on companies to boost shareholder returns.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 4, 2025
Japan small-cap fund tops rivals with stocks few analysts cover
By Aya Wagatsuma
The NicheJungle Japanese Orphan Companies SDG Fund has exited positions in 20 companies at a profit, with half of these firms taken over since the fund's 2022 launch.
Toyota’s announcement to hand out perks to its shareholders comes as some Japanese firms begin reintroducing perks to attract retail investors.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025
Toyota to hand out shareholder perks to entice retail investors
By Momoka Yokoyama and Aya Wagatsuma
Some Japanese firms have begun reintroducing perks to attract retail investors, a practice that has drawn criticism from some global funds.

ENVIRONMENT

A herd of sheep move across a solar farm in Haskell, Texas, on Dec. 2, 2024.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 4, 2025
Sheep grazing under solar panels help U.S. farmers to survive crop-price slump
By P.J. Huffstutter
Instead of plowing fields, Raines spent the year ferrying his flock of sheep to solar farms, to munch on the grass that grows around the gleaming panels.

Opinion

The international system led by the United Nations faces challenges such as failing to maintain peace, end corruption and implement reforms, raising concerns of a League of Nations-like collapse.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2025
Transitioning to a new global structure without a League of Nations-style collapse
By Edo Naito
Like many idealistic efforts throughout history, the League of Nations teetered for years before its final collapse as the end of World War II.
Shiori Ito is the first Japanese director to have been nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature film. "Black Box Diaries," which tells the story of her quest for justice following her rape in 2015, hasn't been released in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 4, 2025
Can Shiori Ito’s documentary open Japan’s black box?
By Atsushi Funahashi and Chelsea Szendi Schieder
Concerns about footage in "Black Box Diaries" have stopped its release in Japan. But Shiori Ito's story needs to be brought to people’s attention — in all its harrowing details.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with Russia's President Vladimir Putin after the Group of 20 Summit in Osaka in June 2019. Putin managed to pocket every concession made by Abe over the years and demanded more.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2025
Abe’s Russia outreach flopped — Trump should take note
By Brad Glosserman
Supporters of Trump’s policy argue that China is the bigger threat and the U.S. should steer Moscow away from Beijing.
Seven & I has spent months fending off Couche-Tard’s takeover bid with complex maneuvers, but instead of chasing defensive strategies, it should focus on strengthening its core convenience-store business, which still has untapped potential.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 4, 2025
7-Eleven’s time-wasting isn’t so convenient
By Gearoid Reidy
Retail is a fast-moving industry — and months spent fending off Couche-Tard means less focus on strategy.

Sports

Houston Dash player Yuki Nagasato greets fans after a match against Seattle Reign FC at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston on Sept. 21, 2024.
SOCCER
Mar 4, 2025
Houston Dash forward Yuki Nagasato retires after storied career
The 37-year-old appeared in 134 National Women's Soccer League matches, recording 23 goals and 25 assists.
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in action during his Qatar Open round of 16 match against Italy's Luca Nardi in Doha, Qatar, on Feb. 19
TENNIS
Mar 4, 2025
Alcaraz guns for Indian Wells three-peat as Sinner serves ban
By Rory Carroll
Poland's Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, will look to become the only woman to win the tournament three times.
The figure skater Maxim Naumov, who lost his parents when an army helicopter collided with a passenger jet above the Potomac River, drops to his knees in tears on the ice at the Legacy on Ice tribute in Washington on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Mar 4, 2025
Figure skating stars pay an emotional tribute to the Washington plane crash victims
By Juliet Macur
Dozens of stars from the sport, going back decades, attended the benefit.

LIFE

Yarn shortages are a sign that hobbies like knitting and crochet are gaining in popularity.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 4, 2025
‘Granny hobbies’ are the new self-care
By Yuko Tamura
Pastimes long associated with Japanese grandparents are booming on social media as young people look for new (old) ways to relax.

CULTURE

Excerpts from Natsume Soseki’s “Ten Nights of Dreams” and footage of dancer Min Tanaka and "shō" player Mayumi Miyata play across three large screens that are reflected in a mirror-like pool of water in the installation “Time Time.”
CULTURE / Art
Mar 4, 2025
Crowds shouldn’t stop you from seeing the hit Ryuichi Sakamoto exhibit
By Thu-Huong Ha
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo’s “Seeing Sound, Hearing Time” has far exceeded expected visitor numbers, but there could be an upside to the crowds.
Kumi Takiuchi plays a prostitute talking about her life’s pains and pleasures in detail to a psychiatrist in “Reveal.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2025
‘Reveal’: Kumi Takiuchi’s performance stuns in one-woman film
By Mark Schilling
Kazuyoshi Okuyama’s powerful drama about a sex worker baring her soul features its lead actor emoting nearly nonstop with no cuts.
Cherry blossom season set to kick off on March 21 in Tokyo
A Weathernews forecast shows the cherry blossom season will begin on March 21 in Tokyo.
Tokyo responds to Trump remarks on 'interesting' Japan-U.S. security pact
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) and U.S. President Donald Trump arrive for a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on Feb. 7.
Nagoya High Court rules not recognizing same-sex marriage unconstitutional
Following the Nagoya High Court ruling on the same-sex marriage lawsuit, lawyers and others raise banners and boards that read "unconstitutional" and similar statements on Friday in Naka Ward, Nagoya.
Foreign single mothers struggle with language barriers and visas
Forbidden from seeing friends and forced to devote herself to housework, Reina (whose name has been changed), a 37-year-old Filipino national living in the city of Nagoya, became socially isolated.
At 102, world's oldest pharmacist celebrates her calling
Kesa Hatamoto, a 102-year-old Japanese woman who is recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest pharmacist, speaks during an interview on Jan. 28 in Tokyo's Meguro Ward.
Cherry blossom season set to kick off on March 21 in Tokyo
A Weathernews forecast shows the cherry blossom season will begin on March 21 in Tokyo.
‘Granny hobbies’ are the new self-care
Yarn shortages are a sign that hobbies like knitting and crochet are gaining in popularity.
Can Shiori Ito’s documentary open Japan’s black box?
Shiori Ito is the first Japanese director to have been nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature film. "Black Box Diaries," which tells the story of her quest for justice following her rape in 2015, hasn't been released in Japan.
Japanese stocks stalled at 1989 levels as investors weigh tariffs and rates
An electronic sign displays the benchmark Nikkei stock average on a street in Tokyo. The stock average has been range-bound between about 38,000 and 40,000 since hitting a new all-time high in July last year.
Redevelopment and resistance in historic Nishiogikubo
Tsuyoshi Mizukoshi, owner of a pub in Nishiogi’s commercial area, is a community organizer who is rallying local residents against the road development plan.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Supporting women’s social participation is Cartier’s commitment
Supporting women’s social participation is Cartier’s commitment

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