Capital city of Kyoto Prefecture, cultural anchor of Greater Kyoto in Japan
Weston Higginbotham, a 20-year-old Auburn student, has been found deceased by a volunteer search‑and‑rescue team in a mountainous area outside Kyoto, Japan. His family says the grief is overwhelming; authorities have not immediately disclosed a cause of death. He went missing on May 29 during a family trip to Kyoto.
The yen has weakened to multi-decade lows as US rates remain higher than Japan's. Intervention is being considered, but the long-running carry trade and energy costs keep downward pressure on the currency. Markets are watching potential official action and the broader implications for Japan's economy and global markets.
Kyoto's Gion Matsuri festival, one of Japan's oldest rites, draws crowds for a centuries-old parade of 12-ton floats. Scholars describe it as an offering to deities, rooted in epidemic protection, while the Meiji-era split of Shinto and Buddhism reshaped its religious practices.
A coordinated U.S.-Japan intervention in late July has only temporarily strengthened the yen. The currency has given back roughly half the gains from the operation and is trading near ¥159–¥160 to the dollar as of mid-August. Analysts say the yield gap between U.S. and Japanese debt and Japan's domestic policy mix are keeping downward pressure on the yen.
Japanese milk buns have become a viral staple, driving a surge in softened bread products and influencing supermarket offerings across the UK, with Waitrose and other chains reporting rising sales and social-media demand.
Yayoi Kusama has died at 97 in Tokyo, with a life spanning seven decades of radical art. Born in Matsumoto in 1929, she rose from early visions to international fame, with Infinity Mirror Rooms and pumpkin motifs shaping modern sculpture and installation art.