Japan

[ad_1] Purring grinders and espresso machines, steaming water swirled over drippers, the occasional clink of a spoon, the air rich with fruity and chocolaty aromas — the SCAJ World Specialty Coffee Conference and Exhibition is was good for more than just a buzz.The Specialty Coffee Association of Japan (SCAJ) organized Asia's largest specialty coffee event for the 21st year from Oct. 9 to 11, and it was the biggest yet […]

[ad_1] State and federal officials, already grappling with back-to-back hurricanes that have killed hundreds across the U.S. Southeast, are now contending with another disaster-related threat: disinformation over their relief efforts and the cause of the storm.Conspiracy theories and hate speech targeting the government’s storm response erupted across social media — especially on X — after Hurricane Helene devastated the region, with former U.S. President Donald Trump and X owner Elon […]

[ad_1] UNITED NATIONS – More than 370 million girls and women alive today — or 1 in 8 worldwide — have experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18, the United Nations children's agency said on Wednesday.The number rises to 650 million, or 1 in 5, when taking into account "non-contact" forms of sexual violence, such as online or verbal abuse, UNICEF reported, in what it called the […]

[ad_1] Since 2014, veteran DJ and broadcaster Peter Barakan has been bringing blues, jazz and other roots musicians to Tokyo for an annual festival called Peter Barakan’s Live Magic!. After a decade, the event is coming to an end — but it's not going out quietly. The 11th edition of Live Magic!, billed as the festival’s finale (in its current form, at least), will take place at Yebisu Garden Place […]

[ad_1] A U.S. military helicopter made an emergency landing on a beach in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Thursday, with no reports of injuries or damage to the aircraft. The aircraft — an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter that belongs to the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron at U.S. Naval Air Facility Atsugi — landed at around 11:06 a.m., according to base spokesperson Gregory Mitchell. He added that three individuals were on board. At […]

[ad_1] With pledges to strengthen maritime security and promote decarbonization, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba made his international debut Thursday at summits related to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — a diplomatic start that saw the new leader keep a low profile after raising eyebrows over ideas such as the creation of an “Asian NATO.”In his first overseas trip since he assumed office earlier this month, Ishiba took […]

[ad_1] When I stepped into the Taro Nasu gallery, I commented that it felt quite spacious — at least, more so than I had expected."Maybe for Tokyo,” said Masako Hosoi, the gallery’s director. "But Taro is always trying to make his gallery as small as possible, that’s his theory,” she said, referring to the owner, Taro Nasu, who is also a director. "We can’t be a big gallery just like […]

[ad_1] Han Kang has been named the 2024 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature, the first Asian woman and the first writer from South Korea to receive the award.Han was selected “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life,” the Swedish Academy said in its announcement on Thursday.Writer and committee member Ann-Karin Palm noted Han’s “really intense lyrical prose that is both tender […]

[ad_1] Aomori – The Federation of Electric Power Companies (FEPC) of Japan asked Aomori Prefecture on Thursday to accept a new proposal for nuclear waste returned from overseas to be delivered to the prefecture, only to be refused.During the day's meeting with Aomori Gov. Soichiro Miyashita at the prefectural government office, FEPC Vice Chairman Toshiharu Sasaki presented the idea of delivering to Aomori a small amount of high-level radioactive waste […]