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October 06, 2024
The Independent Voice in Asia
October 06, 2024
Shigeru Ishiba
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While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
JAPAN / Society
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
By Karin Kaneko
A weak yen, robust inbound tourism and social media have shone a spotlight on a park in Tokyo where men gather in search of sex.
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Canadian Ambassador to Japan Ian McKay, who is also his country's Special Envoy for the Indo-Pacific, takes part in an interview with The Japan Times last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Canada eyes joint coast guard patrols with more Asian partners, envoy says
By Gabriel Dominguez
Canada is recognized as a leader in terms of its "Dark Vessel Detection" technology designed to identify vessels fishing illegally in protected maritime areas.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda ahead of their meeting on Wednesday. Ishiba's comment after the meeting that he doesn't believe Japan needs an additional interest rate hike has surprised the financial market.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Ishiba's U-turn on interest rates surprises market
The market is being perplexed by the statement by Ishiba, who had been critical of Abenomics.
Prominent food critic Yukio Hattori has died after collapsing at his cooking school in Tokyo, it was learned Saturday.
JAPAN / Society
'Iron Chef' star Yukio Hattori dies at 78
Best known for his television appearances, Hattori garnered international acclaim, including the Chevalier award for promoting French cuisine in Japan.
As is the trend in movies and TV, the games with the biggest budgets at Tokyo Game Show 2024 were by and large remakes and remasters.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
At Tokyo Game Show 2024, nostalgia was king
By Samantha Low
Indie gems were on the show floor, but the nostalgia from remakes and remasters drew the biggest crowds this year.
As is the trend in movies and TV, the games with the biggest budgets at Tokyo Game Show 2024 were by and large remakes and remasters.

JAPAN

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs on Saturday
11 Japanese nationals flee Lebanon on SDF plane
This was the first evacuation of Japanese nationals from Lebanon using SDF aircraft since tensions flared up in the Middle East in October last year.
Sakie Yokota shares her thoughts ahead of her abducted daughter's 60th birthday, on Thursday in Kawasaki.
Sakie Yokota expresses hopes for a reunion on daughter's 60th birthday
Megumi Yokota was abducted by North Korea in 1977 at the age of 13. If a reunion is realized, "I just hope to hug her silently," Sakie said.
Japanese government to survey stockpiles at designated shelters
Torrential rain in Noto Peninsula to be designated a severe disaster, Ishiba says
Young language carer hopes to support others facing hardships in Japan
Government looks to improve safety at Japan's dangerous railway crossings

BUSINESS

Jera's liquefied natural gas fired power plant inside the company's Anegasaki Thurmal Power Station in Ichihara, Japan.
Japan firms unite to cut methane emissions from LNG supply
By Shoko Oda and Tsuyoshi Inajima
Twenty-two firms are joining an initiative that aims to leverage their buying power to curb methane emissions from liquefied natural gas supply chains.
Containers are stacked at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT) in Portsmouth, Virginia, on Wednesday.
U.S. port strike throws spotlight on big union foe: automation
By Doyinsola Oladipo
Companies view automation as a path to better profit while unions see it as a job-killer.
Ministry reports issues facing bookstores
Saudi Arabia's PIF mulls larger stake in Nintendo: report
Boom in Samurai bond issuance drives up yen swap costs
By Masaki Kondo
Stepped-up global easing risks making it harder for BOJ to hike
By Paul Jackson and Christopher Anstey

WORLD

Tesla CEO Elon Musk jumps on stage to join Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
Trump rallies with Elon Musk at site of assassination attempt
By Stephanie Lai
For Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla and SpaceX and the world’s richest man, it’s his most prominent moment yet as part of a political campaign.
Israeli soldiers patrol near the Israel-Lebanon border on Friday amid ongoing hostilities with Hezbollah.
Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
The alert came with Israel engaged in an intensifying war with the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which officials said would be hit "without concession or respite."
Macron calls for halting weapons to Israel for Gaza conflict
By Talya Minsberg
Thousands march around the world for cease-fire ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary
Emails show early U.S. concerns over Gaza offensive and risk of Israeli war crimes
By Humeyra Pamuk
Hunted yet unrepentant: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar remains committed to Israel's destruction
By Samia Nakhoul

Sports

Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani celebrates after blasting a homer to right field in the second inning of Los Angeles' Game 1 victory over the Padres on Saturday.
Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
By Rob Woollard
Ohtani crushed a 372-foot (113-meter) three-run rocket into right field off Padres starter Dylan Cease in the second inning to help the Dodgers tie it up at 3-3.
Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
Giants ace Tomoyuki Sugano announces plans to join MLB
Japanese baseball fans flock to LA to see playoff-bound Ohtani
By Rory Carroll
Padres excited to renew rivalry with Dodgers in postseason

Opinion

Shigeru Ishiba's nascent administration is attracting something of a reputation for flip-flopping — and it hasn’t even been a week.
Don’t take Japan's new leader literally. But should you take him seriously?
Gearoid Reidy
Ishiba will discover that his supply of capital with the public will run out quickly if he offers no break from his predecessor.
Japan shouldn’t work with the Taliban, not even to build schools
By Sadiq Amini
The Russian war economy’s days are numbered
By Anders Aslund
Pete Rose fans are wrong: He's not worthy of the Hall of Fame
By Adam Minter
Ishiba faces challenges from the opposition — and his own party

ENVIRONMENT

HIF Global's Haru Oni clean hydrogen plant in Punta Arenas, Chile, last month
Latin America gears up for clean hydrogen boom but the road is not smooth
By Oliver Griffin, Lucinda Elliott and Fabio Teixeira
Government leaders expect a major boom for the region from clean hydrogen, produced using electricity from renewable sources that do not emit carbon.
Study documents extinction of 610 bird species and ecological impacts 
By Will Dunham
Green hydrogen hype fades as high costs force project retreat
By William Mathis
How climate change affects Japan's typhoons
By Jessica Speed
Despite snowy winter, Swiss glaciers 'on track to disappear'
By Agnes Pedrero and Elodie LE MAOU

CULTURE

Cameron Lew, who makes music under the name Ginger Root, recently released “Shinbangumi,” an album that was influenced by the glimmering pop echoes of Japan in the 1980s as well as the nerviness of Devo, the loose rock-pop of Hall & Oates and even Haruomi Hosono’s ’70s explorations of exotica.
Ginger Root expands on effervescent retro sound
By Patrick St. Michel
New release "Shinbangumi" comes after a whirlwind year for the American artist who blends glittering pop echoes of 1980s Japan with a mish-mash of Western influences.
Japan's 'master of horror' Kiyoshi Kurosawa highlights 'B-movie' appeal
By Claire Lee
‘Super Happy Forever’: Melancholy romance makes most of fleeting happiness
By James Hadfield
‘See You Tomorrow’: A pursuit of passion grounded in reality
By Mark Schilling
Netflix war epic to open Asia's largest film festival
By Claire Lee

LIFE

For one night in Tokyo last month, Daniel Calvert (left) and Quique Dacosta brought their wildly different culinary styles together into a a remarkable service.
A meeting of Michelin minds at Tokyo's Sezanne
By Robbie Swinnerton
Daniel Calvert doesn't says no to most requests for pop-ups at two-Michelin-starred Sezanne — except when the chance to work with three-starred Quique Dacosta came up.
Sake, coffee and fish bones: Anything goes for Sushi M’s cocktails
By Melinda Joe
Get yourself in a pickle with this uber-tangy banh mi
By Simon Daly
Japan's flat-packed furniture doesn't skimp on aesthetics
By Mio Yamada
Award ceremony for Japanese alcohol held in Paris

COMMUNITY

Having grown up in North Carolina, where people are chatty and friendly, Duane Levi says Kansai and Osaka in particular had a similar vibe.
Duane Levi: 'Once you are able to create something that has sustainability … you’re going to get help and support.'
By Patrick St. Michel
Unable to get a job in PA and recording, Duane Levi forged his own path in the Japanese music scene and has introduced many artists to the market here.
What’s a mother to do when your non-Japanese child is bullied in school?
By Harriet Ocharo
Saying good riddance to what bugs me about a Japanese summer
By Jordan Allen
‘The people I’d seen in kimono didn’t have as much melanin as I do’
By Baye McNeil
Andreas Fuchs: ‘I love that no two days are the same’
By Louise George Kittaka

Editors' Picks

LIFE
Sure, Tokyo’s trains are amazing. But are they ruining your trip?
By Justin Randall
Walking through Tokyo's varied neighborhoods and the sub-communities within them can be the best way for a tourist, even one with limited time, to take the city in.
CULTURE
Japan’s biggest Louise Bourgeois exhibit yet leans into ambivalence
By Thu-Huong Ha
Bourgeois is perhaps best known among the general public for her giant steel spider sculptures, particularly in Tokyo, where a nearly 10-meter tall bronze cast of the original spider has loomed over the walkway in Roppongi Hills since 2003.
BASEBALL
Japan great Ayami Sato helps shine light on women's baseball in new documentary
By Jason Coskrey
Ayami Sato is one of the best female players in baseball history.
JAPAN
Tokyo passes nation's first customer harassment ordinance
By Yukana Inoue
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike speaks to a reporter on Sept. 27. Aggressive acts toward front-line workers, dubbed "customer harassment," have become a growing problem.
JAPAN
Ishiba omits divisive proposals in first policy speech as PM
By Gabriele Ninivaggi
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his inaugural policy address to parliament in Tokyo on Friday.

Podcast

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

Longform

Wozme, founded by dancer and choreographer Wakaba Kohei, is composed of Kana Kitty, Ami Ishii, Akane Watanabe and Natsuki. Its aim is to inject elegance and beauty, traits traditionally associated with femininity, into the sometimes grotesque art form of butoh dance.
Wozme, an all-women dance troupe, wants to move the needle in butoh
By Zoria Petkoska

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SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Sasakawa works for a sustainable blue economy
Sasakawa works for a sustainable blue economy

WHAT’S TRENDING

JAPAN
High temperatures to continue in Japan throughout October
By Karin Kaneko
The city of Kumamoto on Sept. 18, when the temperature climbed to 37.5 degrees Celsius
JAPAN
Masamitsu Yoshioka, last Pearl Harbor bombardier, dies at 106
By Sam Roberts
Masamitsu Yoshioka in 2023, when he was 105
JAPAN
Tokyo passes nation's first customer harassment ordinance
By Yukana Inoue
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike speaks to a reporter on Sept. 27. Aggressive acts toward front-line workers, dubbed "customer harassment," have become a growing problem.
COMMENTARY
The Russian war economy’s days are numbered
By Anders Aslund
A funeral is held for Russian military personnel and civilians killed in the war with Ukraine, at a cemetery in Luhansk, in Russian-controlled Ukraine, in May 2023. The U.S. estimates that 120,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and another 180,000 injured, further worsening the nation's manpower shortages and economic output.
JAPAN
Ishiba omits divisive proposals in first policy speech as PM
By Gabriele Ninivaggi
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his inaugural policy address to parliament in Tokyo on Friday.