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April 27, 2024
 

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Valerie Hopkins
For Valerie Hopkins's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Migrant workers from Tajikistan in an apartment shared by 18 people in Moscow in May 2020. The main suspects in the deadly assault are from Tajikistan. Now many other Tajiks, who fill jobs in Russia’s wartime economy, are being deported and harassed.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2024
In Moscow attack, a handful of suspects but 1 million Tajiks under suspicion
Many Tajiks who fill jobs in Russia’s wartime economy are being deported and harassed.
Police officers detain a woman during a gathering in memory of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, near the Wall of Grief in Moscow on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2024
Risking arrest, Russians mourn Navalny in small acts of protest
Bouquets at the Wall of Grief become a form of dissent in a country where such action could result in detention.
Aleksandra Popova, an activist whose husband was a co-defendant in Yegor Shtovba's trial, outside Butyrka prison in Moscow on Dec. 21. Shtovba, who has spent the past 15 months in pretrial detention, married Nadezhda Shtovba last month in a short ceremony in a prison in downtown Moscow.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 2, 2024
Young love meets Russian repression. They said ‘I do’ in a Moscow prison.
Nadezhda Shtovba did not wear a white dress to her wedding. She and her husband did not exchange wedding bands either — rings are banned in Butyrka prison.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony to present medals to soldiers in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 9, 2023
Putin, bidding to cement his legacy, will seek re-election
In the absence of genuine political opposition, Putin is all but assured of winning another six-year term that will prolong his authoritarian grip.
A Ukrainian drone pilot, call sign Darwin, operating a first-person-view, or FPV, drone on a test flight near Kupiansk, Ukraine, on Aug. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2023
Ukraine’s war of drones runs into an obstacle: China
Ukraine's latest fight is one over global electronics supply chains that run through China.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 26, 2023
With Prigozhin’s death, Putin projects a message of power
The Kremlin appears to be sending the signal that no degree of effectiveness can protect someone from punishment for disloyalty.
Liudmila Sezonova, a honey merchant, with her son Albert, in their home in Kupiansk, Ukraine
WORLD
Aug 14, 2023
They endured one Russian occupation. Now, they fear a second.
The Ukrainian city of Kupiansk was liberated last year. With fighting at their doorstep, residents fear what a second Russian occupation would mean.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 23, 2023
Even past dissent in Belarus means constant scrutiny
Aleksandr Lukashenko brutally repressed those who opposed his claim of re-election as president. The crackdown on dissent has only deepened since.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 26, 2023
One big winner of Kremlin-Wagner clash? The dictator next door.
Alexander Lukashenko is trying to use a PR victory to burnish his credentials as a credible statesman, mediator — and above all, loyal ally to Putin.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 4, 2023
‘Everything changed’: The war arrives on Russians’ doorstep
The hardship is familiar to Ukrainians, but many Russians had not expected something similar to happen on their home turf.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 1, 2022
With bluster and threats, Putin casts the West as the enemy
Declaring that Russia would annex four regions of Ukraine, which the West rejects as illegal, the Russian president has accused the U.S. and its allies of “despotism'' and “satanism.''
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 25, 2022
Ukraine fights to reclaim territory as Russia holds annexation referendums
The referendums — which are expected to culminate in the annexation of an area larger than Portugal — have raised alarm in Western nations.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 24, 2022
Ukraine war comes home to Russians as Putin imposes draft
A day after Putin announced a call-up that could sweep 300,000 civilians into military service, the Russian leader's escalation of the war effort was reverberating across the country.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 3, 2022
Russia steps up pace of missile attacks on residential targets
Some of the deadliest strikes of the war have occurred in the past week, including at a shopping mall and a residential block.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 27, 2022
Missile strike in Kyiv rattles residents after weeks of quiet
The strike on Sunday morning shook many out of the relative sense of security that has prevailed in Ukraine's capital since the Russians were pushed out of its periphery in early April.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 4, 2022
100 days of war: Death, destruction and loss in Ukraine
Russia's brutal invasion has ripped apart predictions, reawakened old alliances, tested others and spread death and destruction across Ukraine.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 3, 2022
In a museum show, Ukraine tells the story of a war still in progress
The effort to chronicle the war even as battles continue to rage in Ukraine is one of several ways that the government is highlighting the devastation its people have endured.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 18, 2022
With Ukraine taking firmer stance, peace talks grind to a halt
After weeks of trying to hammer out a peace deal, negotiators for Russia and Ukraine appear further apart than at any other point in the nearly three-monthlong war.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 18, 2022
Ukrainian holdouts in Mariupol surrender to an uncertain fate
The surrender directive, issued late Monday, made the soldiers prisoners and ended the most protracted battle so far of the nearly 3-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 28, 2022
In Lviv, new Russian strikes pierce sense of security in West
Until Saturday, the only target near Lviv that had been hit was an airplane repair factory near the city's airport.
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

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass
Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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