AYAKA MCGILL

Participants sing Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" on the opening day of Osaka Expo 2025 in Osaka, western Japan, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Osaka Expo opens in Japan offering a vision of the future. Here’s what to know
The Expo 2025 has opened in Osaka with more than 10,000 people singing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to celebrate the start of the six-month event. This year’s theme is “Creating a future society for our lives.”
 
Japan Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shows Osaka Expo mascot Myaku-Myaku, a red-and-blue creature that symbolizes cell and water, as he speaks at a news conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Nicolas Datiche/Pool Photo via AP)
Japanese leader says he hopes Osaka expo will help reunite a divided world
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has attended the opening ceremony for Expo 2025 Osaka and expressed his hope that the event will help restore global unity in a world is plagued by conflicts and trade wars.
 
Takamatsu Gushiken uses a hand hoe to delicately move dirt in a cave while searching for the remains of those who died during the Battle of Okinawa towards the end of the World War II in 1945, in Itoman, on the main island of the Okinawa archipelago, southern Japan, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
An Okinawan bone digger searches for remains from one of the fiercest battles of World War II
Takamatsu Gushiken hunts caves in Okinawa’s jungles for the bones of those who died in the WWII Battle of Okinawa, one of the war’s bloodiest. He considers the bones silent witnesses of Okinawa’s wartime tragedy.
 
Sake brewer Mie Takahashi stirs mixture of steamed rice with koji mold and water in a tank at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Once taboo, more Japanese women are brewing sake
Mie Takahashi is one of a small group of female toji, or master Japanese sake brewers. Only 33 female toji are registered in Japan’s Toji Guild Association out of more than a thousand breweries nationwide. That’s more than several decades ago.
 
Samoa's Prime Minister Afioga Fiame Naomi Mata'afa addresses the final press conference at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (William West/Pool Photo via AP)
Commonwealth nations adopt their first ocean declaration
Commonwealth countries have adopted their first ocean declaration during their summit held for the first time in the Pacific island nation of Samoa.
 
People wave flags as Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive in the village of Siumu, Samoa, on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Charles gets a warm welcome on his first visit as king to Samoa. But uneasy questions await
Britain’s King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla have arrived in Samoa ahead of a biennial summit of 56 leaders of Commonwealth countries. The summit is being hosted for the first time in a Pacific Island nation.
 
Fishermen Taula Fagatuai, left, and Faalogo Afereti Taliulu talk on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, about the New Zealand navy ship HMNZS Manawanui that sank not far from them in the village of Siumu, Samoa. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Samoan coast where King Charles will visit worries about the future after ship damaged reef
People who live in villages along the Samoan coastline where a New Zealand navy ship ran aground, caught fire and sank this month are worried about their livelihoods and the future of tourism and fishing in the area as they prepare for the arrival of Britain’s King Charles III on Wednesday.
 
A farmer operates harvester machine on a rice terrace during harvest in Kamimomi village, Okayama prefecture, Japan on Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ayaka McGill)
Aging farmers face extreme temperatures as they struggle to maintain Japan’s rice crop
In the remote village of Kamimomi in Japan’s western Okayama Prefecture, a small group of rice farmers began their most recent harvest in sweltering heat, two weeks sooner than usual.
 
Visitors watch the giant panda Shin Shin at Ueno Zoo, a day before giant panda couple Ri Ri and Shin Shin's return to China, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japanese fans bid farewell to beloved panda pair before their return to China
Thousands of Japanese fans have bid farewell to their beloved panda couple that made their final public appearance at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo before returning to China for medical treatment.
 
This photo provided by the city of Ashiya shows Tomiko Itooka, being celebrated for her 116th birthday at the nursing home she lives in Ashiya, western Japan, on May 23, 2024. (City of Ashiya via AP)
A Japanese woman who loves bananas is now the world’s oldest person
Tomiko Itooka is now the world’s oldest living person at age 116. Guinness World Records confirmed the Japanese woman’s status Thursday, following the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas. Itooka lives in a nursing home in southeastern Japan.
 
Visitors take a photo in front of a convenient store at Fujikawaguchiko town, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, with a backdrop of Mr. Fuji on April 28, 2024. The town of Fujikawaguchiko, known for a number of popular photo spots for Japan's trademark of Mt. Fuji, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 began to set up a huge black screen on a stretch of sidewalk to block view of the mountain in a neighborhood hit by a latest case of overtourism in Japan. (Kyodo News via AP)
To fend off tourists, a town in Japan is building a big screen blocking the view of Mount Fuji
The Japanese town of Fujikawaguchiko has had enough of tourists. Known for a number of scenic photo spots that offer a near-perfect shot of iconic Mount Fuji, the town on Tuesday began constructing a large black screen on a stretch of a sidewalk to block the view of the mountain.
 
Visitors look at the seasonal cherry blossoms at the Ueno Park Friday, April 5, 2024, in Tokyo. Crowds gathered Friday in Tokyo to enjoy Japan’s famed cherry blossoms, which are blooming later than expected in the capital because of cold weather. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Crowds picnic to see Tokyo’s cherry blossoms at full bloom
Crowds are gathering in Tokyo to enjoy Japan’s famed cherry blossoms, which are blooming later than expected in the capital because of cold weather. Cherry blossoms, known as “sakura” in Japanese, are the country’s favorite flower.
 
Evacuees warm up together in a shelter in the earthquake-hit Anamizu, Ishikawa prefecture, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Thousands of people made homeless overnight are living in weariness and uncertainty on the western coast of Japan a week after powerful earthquakes hit the region. (Kyodo News via AP)
Thousands forced from homes by a deadly Japan earthquake on New Year’s face stress and exhaustion
Thousands of people made homeless overnight are living in weariness and uncertainty on the western coast of Japan a week after a powerful earthquake left at least 180 dead and dozens missing.
 
A person cleans his car from snow in Wajima in the Noto peninsula facing the Sea of Japan, northwest of Tokyo, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. Monday's temblor decimated houses, twisted and scarred roads and scattered boats like toys in the waters, and prompted tsunami warnings. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Snow hinders rescues and aid deliveries to isolated communities after Japan quakes kill 161 people
Rescue teams are working through snow to deliver supplies to isolated hamlets after a powerful earthquake hit western Japan, killing at least 161 people.
 
Police officers go into a building at the premises of a temple to search for victims in Wajima in the Noto peninsula, facing the Sea of Japan, northwest of Tokyo, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, following Monday's deadly earthquake. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
A woman in her 90s is rescued alive 5 days after Japan’s deadly earthquake
A woman in her 90s has been pulled alive from a collapsed house in western Japan, 124 hours after a major quake slammed the region, killing at least 126 people, toppling buildings and setting off landslides.
 
Police officers remove the debris from a fire at a market in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. A series of powerful quakes set off a large fire in the town of Wajima, as well as tsunamis and landslides in the region. (Kyodo News via AP)
Death toll reaches 100 as survivors are found in homes smashed by western Japan earthquakes
The death toll from a major quake in western Japan has reached 100, even as rescue workers fought aftershocks to carefully pull people from the rubble. Deaths had reached 98 earlier Saturday, but two more deaths were reported in Anamizu.
 
A resident checks her destroyed house in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Monday’s temblor decimated houses, twisted and scarred roads and scattered boats like toys in the waters, and prompted tsunami warnings. (Kyodo News via AP)
Scenes of loss play out across Japan’s western coastline after quake kills 92, dozens still missing
Rescue workers are braving the cold to save people still trapped under collapsed buildings in western Japan.
 
Sardines and mackerels are seen washed up on a beach in Hakodate, Hokkaido, northern Japan Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. Thousands of tons of dead sardines have washed up on a beach in northern Japan for unknown reasons, officials said Friday. (Kyodo News via AP)
Thousands of tons of dead sardines wash ashore in northern Japan
Thousands of tons of dead sardines have washed up on a beach in northern Japan for unknown reasons. The sardines and some mackerel washed ashore in Hakodate on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido on Thursday morning, creating a sliver blanket along a stretch of beach about a half mile long.
 
SoftBank’s Son says AI will surpass human intelligence in a decade, urges Japanese firms to adopt it
Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son says he believes artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence within a decade, urging Japanese companies to adopt it or be left behind.