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Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 7, 2021

Once a synchro star, host Japan struggles to retain bronze in artistic swimming

Though Japan has never won gold since synchronized swimming became an Olympic sport in 1984, it has taken either silver or bronze, in duet or team, every year except for London 2012.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 7, 2021

Chinese Olympic athletes warned over Mao badges

The IOC said it had issued a warning to the two Chinese cycling medalists who wore badges featuring the head of their country's former leader Mao Zedong at the Tokyo Olympics podium, breaching a rule on political gestures, and that the case was now closed.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 7, 2021

Olympics a hit for Japan’s athletes, not for its prime minister

For Prime Minister Suga, the Olympics are more of a letdown and unlikely to improve his chances in a looming general election or provide much of a boost to the economy.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 7, 2021

Samurai Blue challenge awaits Japan's young stars after missing Olympic podium

A bawling Takefusa Kubo was all you had to see to understand the impact of Japan's 3-1 loss to Mexico on Friday.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 7, 2021

Tokyo Games show the pandemic can be beaten, Olympic health adviser says

The Olympics in Tokyo showed that measures such as social distancing, mask wearing, hand sanitizing along with testing and tracing worked when implemented as a package.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 7, 2021

Olympic organizers slap COVID-19 rule-breakers with warnings and punishments

The chief of Tokyo 2020's main operation center told reporters the accreditation of eight individuals had been revoked and those of another eight paused over COVID-19 guideline violations.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 7, 2021

Paris 2024 presses on with Plan A, but studies Tokyo’s Plan B

The next Summer Olympics are less than three years away. Paris says it's prepared, but so was Tokyo.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 7, 2021

To the Olympic victors go the spoils — and for Americans, maybe a tax bill

Medals are not the focus of the IRS. Rather, it's the prize money the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee awards its medalist as well as the lucrative endorsement contracts.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 7, 2021

With eye on gold, Japan women's basketball team looks to avenge first loss to U.S.

The previous best Olympic finish for the Japanese women's team, which now sits at No. 10 in the world, was fifth at the 1976 Montreal Games.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 7, 2021

American Nelly Korda takes gold in women's golf; Japan's Mone Inami in playoff for silver

Japan's Mone Inami came up a stroke short in her bid to win gold on home soil, finishing a shot back of world No. 1 Nelly Korda of the U.S. in the final round of the women's golf tournament on Saturday at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Runaway youths have recently been gathering in areas such as the Toyoko area of the Kabukicho entertainment district in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, where they often get into trouble.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2025

Japan to allow youths to stay at shelters without parental consent

Those under the age of 18 will be able to use shelters even if obtaining prior consent from those with parental authority is expected to be difficult.
Kinoko no Yama wireless earbuds, which were released by Meiji in March and sold in limited quantities
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2025

Snack makers try to keep long-selling products 'fresh'

Related products and fan events are being offered by companies in a bid to engage with consumers.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shakes hands with Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya at the start of their working lunch at a hotel in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 7, 2025

Blinken in final Japan visit as Trump's return weighs on Tokyo's mind

The top U.S. diplomat sought to reassure Tokyo that the U.S.-Japan alliance will remain robust even after Donald Trump returns to the White House in less than two weeks.
Many Japanese dating apps have ways to detail specific interests that can be as narrow as one particular TV show, game or an artist.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Swiping in Japan: How Gen Z is changing the dating app game

The once-stigmatized apps are flourishing as a new normal for dating among Gen Z in Japan, albeit with a different approach to before.
An investigation conducted by the antitrust watchdog in 2023 and 2024 found that a post office in the Kanto region collected penalty fees from subcontractors without giving them a sufficient explanation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Japan Post received administrative guidance over poorly explained penalties

Penalty fees for failed deliveries and for complaints about cigarette odors were not explained adequately to subcontractors, the Fair Trade Commission found.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda speaks during the 2025 CES event in Las Vegas on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Toyota invests in Japanese rocket startup as SpaceX races ahead

The investment is the latest sign of progress in the Japanese government’s push to nurture the country’s private space sector.
The yen hit its lowest level against the dollar since July on Tuesday, prompting a warning from Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato over speculative moves.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 7, 2025

Japan warns on speculative FX moves after yen hits six month low

Any further changes in expectations over the trajectory of rates in the U.S. or Japan could sharply ramp up speculation of renewed intervention.
A portable charger containing a lithium-ion battery that overheated in an accident during a reenactment experiment in December at the Consumer Affairs Agency
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Consumer Affairs Agency warns of risks from battery-powered heated devices

Injury reports linked to lithium-ion battery-powered heating gear have surged over the last 10 years.
A hole, several meters wide, on the edge of the tarmac at Miyazaki Airport in Miyazaki, after an unexploded World War II U.S. bomb blew up less than a minute after a passenger jet taxied past on Oct. 2
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2025

Timed detonator from dud shell likely behind airport blast

Experts have identified a bomb that detonated at Miyazaki Airport as one of the explosives dropped by U.S. forces during World War II.
A subsidy for epidural childbirths was one of Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's campaign promises when she ran for her position last year.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Tokyo looks to ease the pain — both physical and financial — of childbirth

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is looking to begin offering a subsidy for epidural childbirths in fiscal 2025.
Nippon Steel CEO Eiji Hashimoto speaks to reporters about its lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Nippon Steel committed to long-shot lawsuit against U.S. government

Eiji Hashimoto, the steelmaker's CEO, says he is convinced that litigation is the “best course of action” in response to the blocking of its acquisition of U.S. Steel.
Volunteers take care of children at a children’s play space opened for survivors of the earthquake in the city of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 31, 2024.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Professor highlights crucial importance of volunteer aid after major quakes

Although volunteers often face criticism on social media, an expert in disaster management argues that volunteers are essential from the very moment a disaster strikes.
Some people are questioning the U.S. decision to block Nippon Steel’s takeover of U.S. Steel, citing the lack of clear evidence of any national security risk from Japan — a country that hosts over 50,000 U.S. troops and relies on America for defense.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 7, 2025

Biden's Nippon Steel move: A troubling snub of a key ally

Preventing the takeover of U.S. Steel is bad enough. Declaring Japan a national security risk is worse.
A Tesla showroom in Beijing in January 2024. In today's world, the car isn’t the biggest moneymaker for automakers; instead, it is the services attached to the connected vehicle.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2025

China’s EVs may change the world in unimaginable ways

China has about 100 EV brands and they claim about 80% of the new electric vehicle market.
Actor Ryo Yoshizawa at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December 2021
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2025

Japanese actor fired from beer ad after drunken escapade

Ryo Yoshizawa was "drunk" and "accidentally made his way into an apartment room next to his," his talent agency Amuse said in a statement.
Nissan's Ariya electric crossover sport utility vehicle on the production line at the company's plant in Kaminokawa, Tochigi Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Japan’s carmakers vow closer ties to regain ground in China

Japan’s automakers are united in their struggle to regain ground they’ve lost to the flashy offerings that have turned China into a global EV superpower.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’