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BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 31, 2021

A $2 billion Japanese startup aims to fix polarized news via an algorithm

SmartNews, which uses an algorithm to provide what it says is an unbiased, nonpartisan mix of information, is one of Japan's most valuable startups.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2021

Climate talks: Glasgow, Greta and good intentions

If we want to leave a livable planet to future generations, we must understand why there may be a disjuncture between promises and what is actually delivered to fix climate change.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2021

Why financial firms can’t be climate change cops

Trying to force an industry that's designed to pursue profit to become the climate-change sheriff sounds a bit like foxes guarding henhouses.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 31, 2021

Printing coupons and eating swans typify North Korea's economic and food woes

North Korea has long suffered from food insecurity, with observers saying that mismanagement of the economy is exacerbated by international sanctions over its nuclear weapons.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Oct 31, 2021

Manchester United eases pressure with resounding win over Tottenham

United put last weekend's 5-0 thrashing by Liverpool behind them with a superb performance, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford scoring against the London side.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 31, 2021

‘The Easy Life in Kamusari’: Leave the city behind, the mountains are calling

In Shion Miura's novel, a young man from Yokohama finds it difficult to fit in with a rural mountain community, but he soon discovers there's more to life than the trappings of city living.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Food Sustainability in Japan
Oct 31, 2021

It will take more than swapping your eel for eggplant to save Japan’s unagi

The hard truth is that the growing appetite for Japanese unagi is having an adverse effect on their numbers. Improving ecosystems and vegetarian alternatives can only do so much.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Oct 31, 2021

COP26 aims to banish coal. Asia is building hundreds of power plants to burn it.

In Asia, home to 60% of the world's population, coal's use is growing rather than shrinking as rapidly developing countries seek to meet booming demand for power.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 31, 2021

Lifting the lid on Shibuya’s designer toilets

The Tokyo Toilet Project has received considerable media coverage for its upscale public facilities. But how do these stylish porcelain thrones actually stack up?
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2021

Voting in Japan's Lower House election kicks off in first test of Kishida’s popularity

All 465 seats — 289 single-member districts and 176 elected under proportional representation — will be contested, with the ruling bloc widely seen as maintaining a simple majority.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 30, 2021

U.S. successfully tests hypersonic booster motor for weapon in Utah

The Pentagon successfully tested a booster rocket motor on Thursday designed to power a launch vehicle carrying a hypersonic weapon aloft, the U.S. Navy said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 30, 2021

Pfizer won the first round, but Moderna sees final victory ahead

Pfizer has been first across the finish line in nearly every leg of the COVID-19 vaccine race, but Moderna executives say their company's mRNA technology gives it an advantage.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 30, 2021

China’s 'tiger moms' switch kids to sports after tutoring purge

Beijing's clampdown has sent parents scrambling to find alternative classes that give their children an advantage in the nation's intensely competitive education and labor market.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani embraces teammate Enrique Hernandez following Game 5 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium in New York on Wednesday.
BASEBALL / Sac Bunts
Nov 1, 2024

Shohei Ohtani in position to continue winning after first World Series title

Ohtani finished his first season with the Dodgers with a championship.
The Chiba Prefectural Police headquaters in the city of Chiba
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 1, 2024

Hotel worker found dead in Chiba in suspected murder

Hitomi Saeki, 56, was reportedly bound at the wrists and had what appeared to be slash wounds on her neck.
People use umbrellas during a hot summer day in Ginza, Tokyo, in August.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 1, 2024

Extreme heat takes big toll on work and elderly mortality in Japan: report

The annual Lancet Countdown report says the world is facing elevated threats in 10 of 15 health indicators due to climate change.
The U.S. aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and two Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers transit the Philippine Sea in April 2017. Washington has recently deployed additional carrier strike groups to the Middle East as tensions in the region grow.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Nov 1, 2024

Both U.S. presidential candidates’ security strategies raise concerns

Whoever wins the election will be strongly constrained by the challenging geopolitical environment. Plus, there is unease about both candidates' foreign policy stances.
Officials gather at the BRICS summit in Russia on Oct. 24. It it estimated that by 2040-2050, the gross domestic product of the Group of Seven countries will be surpassed by that of emerging economies, raising questions as to whether the U.S. is prepared for this shift.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Nov 1, 2024

The U.S. is unprepared for a multipolar world

There is little acknowledgement in the U.S. that the world it now made up of multiple centers of power, which risks making Washington's foreign policy ineffective.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an official welcoming ceremony with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on June 19. Some 10,000 Korean soldiers are headed to the battlefields of Ukraine to assist Russia in its illegal invasion.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2024

North Korea troop deal exposes Putin's weakness

Many North Korean soldiers will die and some will desert despite the consequences, but their military impact will likely be insignificant.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (right) shakes hands with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell before their meeting at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Friday morning, ahead of the announcement of Japan and the EU's new defense and security partnership.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 1, 2024

Japan and EU launch defense and security tie-up amid mutual China concerns

The move is aimed at developing, deepening and strengthening cooperation and dialogue across all areas of security and defense, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya says.
Democratic Party for the People chief Yuichiro Tamaki’s personal YouTube channel has more than 326,000 subscribers, by far the highest number among party leaders.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 1, 2024

How Japan’s new kingmaker party won over young voters

The Democratic Party for the People's election gains can be traced to two different factors: its youth-oriented policies and skillful use of social media platforms.
A perfect storm of political uncertainty at home and abroad is brewing for markets in Japan.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 1, 2024

Investors in Japan place — and hedge — their bets ahead of U.S. election

Donald Trump's lead in U.S. battleground-state polls, coupled with the outcome of Sunday's Lower House election, is fueling bets on the dollar against the yen.
Government Pension Investment Fund saw a loss of 3.6% in the three months through September, with assets totaling ¥248.2 trillion ($1.6 trillion), it said Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 1, 2024

GPIF has worst loss since 2020 as yen strength hits assets

GPIF, one of the world’s largest state pension funds, incurred losses in three of four major asset classes.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2024

Japan’s potential kingmaker says BOJ shouldn’t hike before March

The central bank needs to closely examine the results of next year’s wage deal results before moving on policy again, Tamaki said.
Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. In its revised estimates, the Cabinet Office cut its inflation-adjusted GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal year ending in March 2025 to 0.7% from 0.9% projected in July.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 1, 2024

Japan cuts growth forecast again for current fiscal year on weak exports

In its revised estimates, the Cabinet Office cut its inflation-adjusted GDP growth forecast for the year ending in March 2025 to 0.7% from 0.9% projected in July.
A military medic checks on injured Ukrainian soldiers on a military evacuation train on Oct. 18.
WORLD
Nov 1, 2024

Russia speeds up advance in Ukraine as mood darkens in Kyiv

A gain of more than 200 square kilometers adds to territory taken in a grinding summer offensive that’s involved huge losses of Russian troops and equipment.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui attend a ceremony in Moscow on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 1, 2024

North Korea says will stand by Russia until 'victory' in Ukraine

North Korea's Choe Son Hui was in Moscow as the West believes up to 10,000 North Korean troops are training in Russia and on the brink of entering the war in Ukraine.
In recent years, anglophone publishers have perked up to the potential of “healing fiction,” driven by a healthy appetite for East Asian literature. Japan figures prominently in this literary landscape, and a fondness for felines in the "iyashikei" (healing type) genre has proven commercially viable abroad.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 2024

Cat companions and the 'healing fiction' boom

Japan's "iyashikei" (healing type) cultural products are gaining audiences, and non-Japanese readers are craving cozy feline literature in translation.
A woman walks past a poster with an image of Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi for the 2024 Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), which is currently underway through Nov. 6.
CULTURE
Nov 2, 2024

Spend Culture Day weekend in Ginza with TIFF and Yuko Mohri

The Tokyo International Film Festival is great chance to see noteworthy films, while the Artizon Museum presents playful art installations by Yuko Mohri.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight