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July 13, 2025
 

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Liam Denning
American autoworkers assemble Honda Accords at the Japanese company's Marysville Auto Plant in the state of Ohio in December 2017.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 1, 2025
Ford is as American as apple pie. Or is that Honda?
Trump's 25% auto tariffs will raise car prices, complicate manufacturing and prioritize outdated protectionism over industry trends like electrification and software.
Canada faces a tough decision on how to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's economic threats, particularly regarding energy exports, with options ranging from strategic energy cuts to export taxes.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025
Weaponizing Canadian oil would rattle Trump
Reducing crude output has the potential to inflict real pain on U.S. refiners and consumers.
Donald Trump could take a cue from China's approach in Africa, where, rather than attempting to buy countries outright — like Greenland — Beijing has secured access to critical minerals and influence by offering money, expertise and labor to nations pursuing economic development.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2025
Why would Trump buy Greenland when he can rent it?
U.S. strategic interest, however crudely Trump advertises it, reflects warranted concerns about encroachment by Russia and China.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Nov. 13. Trump’s presidency is expected to disrupt U.S. energy transition efforts through weakened policies and heightened trade tensions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2025
Can Biden’s green boom survive Trump’s wrecking ball?
The incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump promises to undo at least some of the progress made on decarbonization under President Joe Biden.
A gas station damaged by Hurricane Helene in Perry, Florida, on Sept. 27. Extreme weather and climate change are exposing the flaws in how we handle hazardous waste.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 3, 2024
Toxic waste is at the mercy of climate change
Among Hurricane Helene’s roster of disasters is a storm surge that deluged a retired nuclear power plant in Florida. While radioactive material there remains secure, according to operator Duke Energy, one of the plant’s industrial wastewater ponds overflowed amid the flood. With luck, any resulting...
California has ambitious climate policies. But the state should shift more green energy-related costs from electricity bills to taxes to promote fairness and sustainability.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2024
California's crushing power bills challenge its climate goals
California is incredible, but making it livable, what with its droughts, floods, fault-lines and wildfires, has never been cheap.
Storage tanks at the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage project controlled by oil companies Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies in Norway. The Norwegian government is funding 80% of the initial investment for the state-of-the-art facility.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2024
A giant carbon dump gives glimpse into net-zero future
As the cost of renewables declines at pace with fossil fuel use, the need for carbon, capture and storage tech will diminish, making cost reductions a challenge.
As mind-numbingly big as the clean-energy price tag may be, it’s actually a bargain compared with the potential economic destruction of unabated climate change.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2024
$215 trillion to save the planet is a bargain
And as mind-numbingly big as $215 trillion may be, it’s actually a bargain compared with the potential economic destruction of unabated climate change.
This video screen grab shows a refinery in Ryazan, Russia, that Ukraine attacked in a drone strike last month.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2024
Ukraine’s drone attacks light a fuse under global oil supplies
At least 10 refineries have been hit so far. About 13% of Russia’s capacity has been knocked offline, analysts at RBC Capital Markets estimate.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a presidential permit for energy development that he signed during a tour of an oil rig in Midland, Texas, in July 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2024
How the planet could survive another Trump term
In his first term, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, rolled back environmental regulations, unleashed gas drilling and more.
Graphite, now deemed an essential mineral by the U.S., is the single biggest ingredient by weight in the batteries that go into electric vehicles and the power grid. It is also used in a variety of defense applications.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2023
Biden deploys Pentagon to beat climate change and China
A $37.5 million grant to Graphite One acts as a relaxed form of venture capital as the White House supports nascent parts of the domestic cleantech supply chain.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2023
What Exxon won’t tell you about climate costs
Society might be willing to make sacrifices if it meant avoiding even worse damage from global warming.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2023
What fracking can tell us about the future of fusion
Energy breakthroughs such as with fusion usually come through refinements of existing technologies and processes, not blinding flashes of transformation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2022
Nuclear power has one last chance to flourish in the U.S.
Climate urgency, energy security concerns and government support make this a make-or-break moment for U.S. atomic energy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2022
Midterms move climate battle beyond Washington
With the U.S. Federal government headed for gridlock, the fate of energy legislation lies with the states.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2022
Putin’s Ukraine war forces ugly bargains on food and fuel
The war in Ukraine has laid bare the world's addiction to freely flowing fuel and grain. Disrupted supplies and surging prices will force the have-nots into desperate choices.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2022
Elon Musk isn’t the only one to blame for the Twitter mess
From Larry Ellison to Marc Andreesen, Tesla CEO Elon Musk doesn't have backers on Twitter deal as much as well-heeled enablers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2022
The Republican climate plan forgets about the climate
The GOP is flashing just enough green to woo voters in vulnerable Democratic House districts.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2021
Gasoline at $3 a gallon isn’t as painful as it used to be
November's year-over-year price increase is the sharpest in monthly data going back to the early 1990s.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2021
Energy’s year of recovery more like a remission
Until news of the COVID-19 vaccine broke, energy had been the worst performing sector in 2020, falling by more than half.
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
Nissan clinches $4.5 billion bond deal after orders soar
Nissan Motor has raised $4.5 billion through a junk bond sale in U.S. dollars and euros, part of which carries a record-high coupon rate.
Chinese fighters came within 30 meters of Japanese spy aircraft, Tokyo says
A Chinese JH-7 fighter jet makes an near an Air Self-Defense Force YS-11EB surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea this week in this image released Thursday.
What Japanese politics could look like after Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (center) waves to attendees as he departs after delivering a campaign speech in Yokohama on Sunday.
An emoji used to say it all. Now it might say too much.
Apple’s Craig Federighi shows off a set of emoji at a conference on June 13, 2016. While the small pictures have proved helpful in conveying nuance in our texts, younger people are using them less often.
‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.
Rare vintage shots and first-time shows at TOP’s 30th anniversary
The museum's curators selected a wide array of works from the archives for the milestone exhibitions. Among other photos, Nobuyoshi Araki's work from the series "Winter Journey" (1990) was included in the "Continuity and Change" exhibition that concluded in June.
New IG Arena set to dial down temperature at Nagoya Basho, in a good way
With IG Arena getting glowing early reviews as the Nagoya Basho’s replacement venue, it may be a while before fans wax nostalgic about the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.
Once a niche, anime is now mainstream content for Netflix and other streaming services
Though Netflix remains the dominant choice globally for anime viewers, Amazon Prime Video has also invested heavily in anime, steadily adding titles to their catalogue.

Podcast

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

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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