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April 27, 2024
 

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Tim Culpan
For Tim Culpan's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
With U.S. protectionism hindering Chinese electric vehicle makers' overseas expansions, Japanese giants like Honda are poised to capitalize.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 24, 2024
Japan is poised to fill an EV gap left by China
A new Honda facility in Canada shows that Asia’s auto industry is ready to meet North American needs.
Wind turbines off the coast of Zhunan Township, Taiwan. Misguided policies threaten to sink outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen’s hopes of achieving his renewable energy targets.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2024
Taiwan’s wind power ambitions are in peril
Misguided policies threaten to sink outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen’s renewable energy targets, putting a lot on the incoming administration's plate.
Vietnam is sitting on around 17% of the world’s known rare-earth reserves, second only to China. 
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2024
Vietnam should seize a 'rare' opportunity to take on China
Vietnamese officials have approved plans to supercharge rare-earths production, aiming to process as much as 62,500 tons of the minerals by 2030.
Hyundai Motor's Casper mini sport utility vehicles on a production line at a factory in Gwangju, South Korea, in October 2021
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2024
A hidden hero will drive Korean trade closer to the U.S.
The U.S. is fast catching up to China as a destination for South Korean goods, lagging by just 1.4 percentage points last year.
The single biggest factor that will make satellites more accessible is the advent of private launch providers led by SpaceX.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 5, 2024
You too may one day have your own satellite
Demand for personal satellites will rise as their uses range from monitoring crops to watching over the family dog.
The burned wreckage of a Japan Airlines passenger plane lies on the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Wednesday. AFP-JIJI
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 4, 2024
One of aviation’s biggest challenges played out on a Tokyo runway
Authorities across the globe are aware of the need to prevent runway incursions — lessons from the Haneda crash may bring us a step closer to eliminating them.
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.
New JAL chief concerned about yen’s ‘excessive’ weakness
Mitsuko Tottori became Japan Airlines’ first female CEO on April 1, having risen through the ranks as a flight attendant and heading the flight attendant and customer experience divisions.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Yen inches closer to intervention point as BOJ meeting starts
The rate of the yen against the U.S. dollar is displayed in the trading room at foreign exchange brokerage Gaitame.com in Tokyo on Thursday.
Princess Aiko makes debut at imperial garden party
Princess Aiko attends an imperial garden party in Tokyo on Tuesday.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.
For amateur sumo, a fresh start offers hope against time-wasting and gamesmanship
Wrestlers prepare for the start of a bout at the 2023 Sumo World Championships in Tokyo. Starting this month, placing one hand on the clay first is no longer allowed.
LDP veteran Nikai's youngest son expected to succeed him in Wakayama
Toshihiro Nikai, former secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, announced in March that he would not run in the next Lower House election to take responsibility for the political funds scandal that rocked his party and his own faction.
New workers name Shohei Ohtani as 'dream boss' for two years running
Shohei Ohtani has been overwhelmingly voted as the “dream boss” for people who started working in April, according to a survey.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

A young restaurant leads the way in Karuizawa
A young restaurant leads the way in Karuizawa

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