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Tim Culpan
For Tim Culpan's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Eom Dong-hwan, South Korea's minister for its defense acquisition program and administration, speaks at a ceremony marking Poland's receiving of its first delivery of South Korean K2 Black Panther tanks and K9 self-propelled howitzers in Gdynia, Poland, in December 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2023
South Korea’s defense ambitions can be met by tech
Decades of facing down North Korea has forced Seoul to slowly build its own arms-producing capabilities instead of relying heavily on the U.S.
A cryptocurrency mining center in Russia
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2023
Bitcoin’s power-hungry history offers lessons for AI’s future
As AI grows, so does its energy footprint, but its developers needn't look much further than bitcoin's recent past to find climate-friendly solutions.
Japan's HII-A rocket carrying a lunar lander is prepared for launch at Tanegashima Space Centre on Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture on Aug. 27.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 6, 2023
Yes, we do need another moonshot — or five
This renewed interest in moon landings is stoking fears of increased rivalry and another arms race.
An efficient, just-in-time strategy for manufacturing made Toyota’s production system famous.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 30, 2023
Toyota shuts factories, investors shrug. That’s resilience.
An efficient, just-in-time strategy for manufacturing made Toyota’s production system famous.
Superconductors are materials that exhibit no electrical resistance and eliminate magnetic fields. South Korean researchers think they may have created a compound that achieves that at room-temperature.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2023
LK-99 and the desperation for scientific discovery
The new room-temperature superconductor LK-99 could change the world. Or not.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2023
AI is helping create the chips that design AI chips
The human role in artificial intelligence development is slowly being handed over to machines and algorithms.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 28, 2023
Japan’s latest chip deal shows a savvy strategy shift
There’s reason to believe the $6 billion bid for JSR won’t repeat previous failures
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2023
This key health metric still evades gadget makers
Measuring blood pressure has been around for more than a century, but is proving tricky to digitize.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2023
Where will startups turn to now that SVB is gone?
Silicon Valley Bank played an important role in financial innovation tied to the world’s tech hub. Its demise could be profound.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2023
Splitting up social media may be its only hope
Keeping different groups away from each other could be the best way to prevent a total meltdown of digital society.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 9, 2023
SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son may have one big bet left
The Vision Funds are almost exhausted, so the company will be looking for something else to buy in order to boost returns.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2023
Bet you didn't know you needed a sleep coach
Getting quality sleep is starting to look like a competitive sport in today"s health-obsessed society.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2023
Actually, it has been a wonderful year for tech’s future
Things looked bleak for the technology sector in 2022. Yet progress across the board gives reason to be optimistic about the coming few years.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2022
China has painted itself into a semiconductor corner
Lost billions, graft probes, and broken dreams are the result of over-ambitious goals to build a leading chip sector.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2022
A rookie mistake shows hackers aren't all geniuses
When a ransomware attacker isnu2019t up to snuff, the damage might be limited.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 29, 2022
The eternal optimism of Masayoshi Son
The SoftBank founder sees an upside to almost every trouble the conglomerate has faced over the past year, from slumping share prices to failed mergers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2022
The next cybersecurity crisis: Poisoned AI
A lot of machine learning relies on massive data sets of unknown provenance. Thatu2019s a problem when digital defenses are on the line.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2022
Cyber nukes could be the world’s path to digital peace
Digital escalation will continue until mutually assured destruction warrants an armistice.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2022
Australia sends a $7.5 billion cyber signal to China
The target of Canberra's new cybersecurity budget is clear, namely China u2014 and it's also a savvy way to boost the nation's defenses.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2022
Bitcoin may serve many masters in the war in Ukraine
Cryptocurrencies face a bad rap, but theyu2019re showing the world they have the ability to be a force for good with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Longform

Tokyo Healthcare University professor Takayuki Mifune explains how he is trying to re-create bonito broth from 1,300 years ago.
The quest to re-create what the Japanese ate 1,300 years ago