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August 23, 2025
 

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Rajendra Jadhav
Vanitha Anand Bhat, 43, who works with her husband, Raya Anand Bhat, 48, pours coconut oil into a plastic bottle inside their small coconut mill in Kochi, India, on July 23.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 21, 2025
Humble coconut oil turns into a luxury on rising demand, shrinking output
Output across major producer nations, from India to Southeast Asia, has been disrupted by lower rainfall and extended heat, as well as pests and disease.
A farmer removes weeds from a soybean farm in Nashik, India, on July 28.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 12, 2025
India's ethanol drive imperils its push for edible oil self-sufficiency
New Delhi is working to make more ethanol to meet its target of blending 20% of it with gasoline, but the process produces a protein-rich byproduct flooding the animal feed market.
A worker collects palm oil fruit in Sepang, outside Kuala Lumpur, in 2014.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 10, 2025
The end of cheap palm oil? Output stalls as biodiesel demand surges
Aging plantations and slow replanting have led to lower yields even as demand for palm oil rises from various sectors.
Tea garden workers pluck tea leaves inside Durgabari Tea Estate on the outskirts of Agartala, India, in 2017.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 9, 2024
India's tea prices soar as extreme weather slashes output
The price rise could support the beleaguered Indian tea industry, which has been struggling with rising production costs.
Farmers shout slogans as they burn an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers during a march toward New Delhi to push for better crop prices, at Shambhu Barrier, the border between Punjab and Haryana states, on Feb. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 29, 2024
India's farmer protest fuels opposition hopes of denting Modi's appeal
India's beleaguered opposition parties have been searching for a narrative to counter the popular leader.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 6, 2023
Rice to get costlier as weather and India's farm perks threaten supply
Rice is a staple for more than 3 billion people and nearly 90% of the water-intensive crop is produced in Asia.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Sep 19, 2022
Asian farmers plant to boost palm oil output as seedling shortage slows pace
Asia produces more than 90% of the world's cheapest edible oil used in cooking, baking and cosmetics.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 27, 2022
Food export bans from India to Argentina risk fueling inflation
Analysts say export restrictions will worsen the rise in food prices and risk producing a domino effect as a deepening crisis prompts other countries to take similar steps.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 25, 2022
Indonesia's palm oil export ban leaves global buyers with no Plan B
Vegetable oil prices have already risen more than 50% in the past six months, as factors ranging from labor shortages in Malaysia to droughts in Argentina and Canada have curtailed supplies.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 23, 2021
India's palm oil campaign faces hurdles with water and seedlings scarce
Record prices for palm, and new government promises of payouts even if prices slump, are driving an effort to boost output in India.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2019
India's electric vehicle goals being realized on two wheels, not four
Hurt by high fuel prices, Vinod Gore, a farmer in Gove village in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, ditched his petrol scooter for an electric model, underlining how two-wheelers are driving the country's goal of electrification of its vehicles.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Nov 30, 2016
Callers for dollars: Inside India's IRS scam call centers
In late September, a woman in National City, California, received a voice message on her phone saying she was in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over "tax evasion or tax fraud."
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
Women-only communities flourish in China
Chen Yani (right), nicknamed "Keke," eats lunch with friends and guests in a female co-living space she founded called "Keke's Imaginative Space" in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on July 14.
Demystifying the manufacturing success of China
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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