National / Social Issues Mar 2, 2021

Anime is booming. So why are animators living in poverty?

The workers who make the Japanese shows the world is binge-watching can earn as little as $200 a month. Many wonder how much longer they can endure it.

National Feb 25, 2021

Deaths in Japan fall for the first time in more than a decade

The health ministry reported that the number of deaths across the nation dropped by more than 9,300 in 2020 to around 1.4 million.

National / History Dec 4, 2020

He escaped death as a kamikaze pilot. 70 years later, he told his story.

Kazuo Odachi hid his wartime past from almost everyone, but finally published his memoirs, which were recently released in English.

National / Social Issues Nov 28, 2020

A job for life, or not? A class divide deepens in Japan.

Recent court rulings threaten to further entrench the long-standing divide between so-called regular workers and the growing ranks of nonregular workers, many of whom are women.

Business Sep 27, 2020

Japan is paying firms to make things at home. But China’s pull is still strong.

The pandemic — and Beijing’s increasingly combative behavior during it — has driven home the risks of overreliance on China for the production of a broad range of goods.

Business / Corporate Sep 3, 2020

Japan's convenience stores are told to stop pushing 24-hour schedules

The firms' business models have been criticized for putting profit ahead of the needs of franchise owners.

Asia Pacific Apr 15, 2015

Forget Fukushima: China powering ahead with plans for new reactors

In February, four years after pressing pause on one of the world's most ambitious nuclear energy programs, China quietly green-lighted the construction of two new nuclear reactors. The first new approvals in over two years, the decision seems to bode well for the almost 200 ...

Asia Pacific Feb 22, 2015

Despite dangerous smog, most Beijingers go mask free

In early January, a toxic cloud of smog settled over Beijing. For nearly a week, it wreathed the city in a choking, yellow haze. Levels of PM2.5 — microscopic particles that can be absorbed into the lungs and bloodstream endangering human health — peaked at ...