Tag - explainer

 
 

EXPLAINER

Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's Osaka manufacturing facility in the city of Osaka on Wednesday
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Mar 28, 2024
What we know so far about Kobayashi Pharma's supplement deaths
The Osaka-based drugmaker is finding itself under further scrutiny as the search to pinpoint the cause of the deaths continues.
Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attend the opening ceremony of the Gangdong Greenhouse in North Korea in this picture released on March 16.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Mar 27, 2024
North Korea reaches for familiar playbook in talks with Japan
Pyongyang blowing hot and cold on a potential leaders summit is meant to gain the upper hand in negotiations to realize such a meeting.
Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara watches the season opener against the Padres next to the Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani in Seoul on Wednesday. Concerns have emerged over how the scandal might affect Ohtani's future in the MLB.
BASEBALL / MLB / EXPLAINER
Mar 25, 2024
Ohtani’s former interpreter’s gambling scandal: What we know so far
Here is a breakdown of events leading to the interpreter’s firing ahead of the baseball superstar's plan to speak to the media about the scandal.
Tokyo will forge ahead with a next-generation fighter aircraft it is jointly developing with Rome and London following an agreement last week between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, to revise Japan’s strict defense export guidelines.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Mar 18, 2024
Japan’s eased defense export rules open door to more changes
The speed at which the Kishida administration has been pushing through defense reforms has stunned many even as the regional security environment worsens.
Travel agency workers in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, take calls Tuesday for reservations for a government-subsidized tourism discount campaign.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 12, 2024
How to get discount reservations for Hokuriku trips
The campaign is aimed at revitalizing the tourism industry in the region amid cancellations and a decrease in tourists following the Noto earthquake.
A formal conclusion that famine has arrived in the Gaza Strip could come as early as next week.
WORLD / EXPLAINER
Mar 6, 2024
Famine looms in Gaza: How will the world know it has arrived?
The U.N. has said that more than a quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million people are "estimated to be facing catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation."
PFAS does not break down easily and remains in the body and the environment for a number of years, and is thus called “forever chemicals.”
JAPAN / Explainer
Mar 4, 2024
Japan’s food safety panel drafts intake limit for 'forever chemicals'
The report spells out the “tolerable daily intake” of PFAS through food for the first time. Here's what you need to know.
Ground Self-Defense Force troops participate in a joint military drill and demonstration with the U.S., British, Canadian, German and other countries' militaries in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, on Jan. 7.
COMMENTARY / Japan / EXPLAINER
Feb 5, 2024
The Rosetta Stone to decipher Japan's new security deals
Japan has already signed several agreements this year that, together with previous ones, form a dense web of security pacts — one worth untangling.
A majority of pollen allergy cases in Japan are caused by cedar trees, which cover 18% of Japan’s forests, due mostly to Japan’s forestation policy after World War II.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Feb 4, 2024
As hay fever season approaches, here’s what you need to know to prepare
Your eyes start itching, your nose keeps running and you can’t stop sneezing. It's nearly time for Japan's dreaded hay fever season.
Volunteers work at the site of a soy sauce-maker in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Jan 31, 2024
Quake-hit Noto faces a long road to recovery. Here's how you can help.
After initially asking people to refrain from coming as volunteers, municipalities in Ishikawa are now open to outside help.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is questioned about fundraising parties by reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Dec 7, 2023
Understanding the LDP political funding scandal and its implications
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his ruling LDP are in hot water over suspicions that party factions underreported funds for years.
Children and their parents wait at an outpatient area at a children's hospital in Beijing on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Nov 25, 2023
What we know so far about surging respiratory illnesses in China
While emphasizing that the full situation remains unclear, experts say there is little to suggest the cases were caused by a new virus.
A Houthi military helicopter flies over the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea in this photo released Monday.
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Nov 22, 2023
Houthi ship hijacking stokes fears of escalating Israel-Hamas war
The group warned they would continue to target vessels linked to Israelis until the end of the military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza.
The role of cryptocurrencies in terrorist financing has once again come into focus after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
BUSINESS / Tech / EXPLAINER
Oct 25, 2023
Crypto's role in terrorist financing comes under renewed scrutiny
Cryptocurrency's role in terrorist financing has come under renewed scrutiny following a deadly attack in Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
A Philippine-flagged boat is blocked by a China Coast Guard vessel during an incident that resulted in a collision between the two ships in the disputed waters of the South China Sea in this screen shot taken from video on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / EXPLAINER
Oct 23, 2023
After collisions at sea, could Sino-Philippine tensions boil over?
Tensions are rapidly surging between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea, where the two countries have overlapping claims.
A Palestinian with dual citizenship waits outside the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the hope of getting permission to leave Gaza, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Oct 18, 2023
What is the Rafah border crossing and why is Egypt keeping it shut?
The crossing is the sole route for aid to enter Gaza directly from outside Israel and the only exit that does not lead to Israeli territory.
The Japan headquarters of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, in Tokyo on Friday
JAPAN / Explainer
Oct 13, 2023
What’s next in the Unification Church saga?
The government sought a court order on Friday to strip the Unification Church of its religious corporation status. The process is just beginning.
Noriyuki Higashiyama (right) and Yoshihiko Inohara attend a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Oct 3, 2023
Unpacking the latest Johnny & Associates news conference
The flood of information released during the agency's latest news conference may have been difficult to grasp. Here's what you need to know.
Japan bought yen in September 2022, its first foray in the market to boost its currency since 1998, after a Bank of Japan decision to maintain an ultraloose monetary policy drove the yen as low as ¥145 per dollar.
BUSINESS / Markets / EXPLAINER
Oct 2, 2023
What intervention by Japan to stem yen weakness could look like
Aside from verbal intervention, the government has several options to stem what it considers excessive yen falls.
Group of Seven leaders, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (center), lay floral wreaths at the Cenotaph for Atomic Bomb Victims in the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on May 19.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Sep 20, 2023
Kishida eyes return to stalled fissile treaty. That may be a nonstarter.
Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Kishida said Japan will work to facilitate discussions between nuclear and nonnuclear weapon states.

Longform

High-end tourism is becoming more about the kinds of experiences that Japan's lesser-known places can provide.
Can Japan lure the jet-set class off the beaten path?