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JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 23, 2021

As Japan reboots 44-year-old nuclear reactor, experts sound alarm

Kansai Electric Power Co. restarted the No. 3 reactor at its Mihama station in Fukui Prefecture on Wednesday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 23, 2021

Sydney residents banned from leaving city as coronavirus cluster grows

Australia's largest city of Sydney re-introduced "soft touch" COVID-19 curbs on Wednesday to contain a widening outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant, mandating masks in offices while neighboring states closed their borders.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 23, 2021

Saudi operatives who killed Jamal Khashoggi received paramilitary training in U.S.

The training, approved by the State Department, underscores the perils of military partnerships with repressive governments.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 23, 2021

China condemns latest U.S. warship transit of Taiwan Strait

The latest mission comes around a week after Taiwan said 28 Chinese air force aircraft entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone in the largest reported incursion to date.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 23, 2021

Know your news: Shohei Ohtani

How closely have you been following the MLB phenomenon that is Shohei Ohtani this stellar season? Step up to the plate and show us your stuff, slugger.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League
Jun 23, 2021

B. League sets standards for entry to new top flight in 2026-27

Clubs will be required to exceed $10.8 million in sales and maintain average crowds of at least 4,000 in order to take part in the 'New B1,' league officials announced Tuesday.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jun 23, 2021

As seas rise, coastal communities face hard choices over 'managed retreat'

Rising seas, driven by melting glaciers and polar ice and by the expansion of warming oceans, threaten low-lying communities from the Pacific islands to U.S. cities.
JAPAN / Media
Jun 23, 2021

Takashi Tachibana, who shed light on Lockheed scandal, dies at 80

Tachibana's work is often credited with having played a major role in bringing down the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, Japan's most powerful leader in the postwar era.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2021

Japan reaches Suga’s target of 1 million vaccine doses per day

The milestone was achieved on June 14, according to data compiled using figures released from the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2021

Europe is finally hitting Google where it hurts most

Forget the $9 billion of fines that came before. They barely scratched the surface. For Google, this is the big one.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 23, 2021

Can Japan fix the gender gap in its politics?

Currently, only 10% of Diet members in the House of Representatives and around 20% in the House of Councilors are female.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2021

With one month to go, Tokyo 2020 chief says positive legacy still possible

While the original meaning of the Olympics was “not fully communicated” in recent years, Tokyo 2020 presents an opportunity for the event to return to its roots, Seiko Hashimoto said.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jun 23, 2021

Wrestlers preparing for tough conditions at early Nagoya Basho

With sweltering temperatures and strict restrictions on activities, sumo's first grand tournament outside Tokyo in over a year will challenge rikishi more than usual.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2021

What 16th-century Venice teaches us about crypto

If Bitcoin and its ilk are to survive, they will need to find a way to betray their libertarian roots and cut their own deals with the state.
Donald Trump’s demand for Ukrainian resources in exchange for aid may be unseemly, but Europe should accept it as the price of keeping the U.S. engaged in Ukraine and Europe's defense.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2025

Trump’s resource grab in Ukraine is a price worth paying

Europe shouldn’t complain. This is a cost of its defense failures.
Leaders of patients' groups submit signatures opposing the move by the government to raise the medical copayment ceiling on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2025

Japan to rethink medical copayment hike amid patient outcry

Many patients, especially those undergoing costly but effective cancer therapy, say a hike might force them to abandon their treatments.
The 50th ASEAN-Japan commemorative summit was held in Tokyo in December 2023. Japan has strong relations with ASEAN member countries and should continue leveraging this position to pursue its Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 14, 2025

Why ASEAN is crucial to a Free and Open Indo-Pacific

Tokyo understands ASEAN's centrality to the Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision better than Washington does and should continue leading in defending this regional order.
The government's stockpiled rice in Tokyo in 1999. Since 1995, the government has been stockpiling around 200,000 tons of rice from the annual harvest to ensure that there is enough to go around during emergencies.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2025

Government taps rice stockpile to reverse price increases

This will be the first time the stockpile has been used to reduce prices instead of due to emergencies.
While Valentine’s Day in the West is traditionally associated with men giving flowers to women, in Japan the day has typically involved women giving gifts of chocolate to men.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 14, 2025

A sweet Japanese Valentine's Day tradition is nearly dead

The custom of giri-choco, loosely meaning "obligatory chocolate,” was once commonplace in offices around the country.
U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Thursday
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Trump floats idea of U.S., Russia and China halving defense spending

Trump’s proposal highlights how willing he is to upend standard foreign-policy craft and foster closer ties with two U.S. adversaries.
In a 2024 survey, a total of 14.7% of respondents said they had more or less friendly feelings toward China, up 2.0 percentage points from 2023, and 56.3% said they had such feelings toward South Korea, up 3.5 percentage points.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 14, 2025

Japanese sentiment on China and South Korea improves, survey shows

A total of 14.7% of respondents said they had more or less friendly feelings toward China while 56.3% said they had such feelings toward South Korea.
China frequently shifts between warming and freezing relations with Japan, driven by its domestic issues, often using softer rhetoric while masking aggressive actions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 14, 2025

Are China-Japan relations truly 'warming,' or is this just fool’s gold again?

As the trade war between the U.S. and China heats up, Beijing is turning to its familiar playbook, using softer language to court American allies and partners while offering things like greater cooperation and more dialogue — part of its ongoing divide-and-conquer strategy.
U.S. Steel workers rally outside the company's headquarters in Pittsburgh in support of the takeover by Japan's Nippon Steel back in September.
EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2025

The Nippon Steel deal’s lessons for the world

Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s stiff opposition to the deal may have created space, if not impetus, for President Donald Trump to resurrect the acquisition.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embrace as they attend a joint press conference at the White House on Thursday. While the leaders emphasized close ties, mounting trade tensions overshadowed the meeting.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2025

Despite the hugs, Trump-Modi meeting was mostly transactional

The Modi-Trump bromance was on full display at the White House summit, but substantive issues where India and the U.S. diverge, including trade, lurked nearby.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 15, 2025

Trump says new tariffs on autos coming around April 2

The auto threat offers to put some of the biggest brands in Japan, Germany and South Korea in Trump’s crosshairs.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House in Washington on Feb. 7.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2025

U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel were blindsided by Trump investment talk

The proposed investment following Donald Trump's meeting with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba wasn’t communicated to either of the steelmakers beforehand.
Talks on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. taking a controlling stake in Intel's factories at the request of Trump administration officials are in very early stages, and the exact structure of a potential partnership hasn’t been established. But the intended result would have the world’s largest made-to-order chipmaker fully operating Intel’s U.S. semiconductor factories.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 15, 2025

TSMC considers running Intel’s U.S. factories after Trump team request

Trump officials raised the idea of a deal between the two companies in recent meetings with the Taiwanese chipmaker, and TSMC was receptive.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks at the Munich Security Conference in the German city on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 15, 2025

Vance attack on Europe overshadows Ukraine talks at security conference

The U.S. vice president said what worried him most about Europe was an alleged censoring of free speech and "out-of-control" immigration.
A Ukrainian serviceman watches an inspection of damage to the radiation containment shield of Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant following a Russian drone strike in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on Friday.
WORLD
Feb 15, 2025

Russian drone attack 'damaged Chernobyl plant's confinement structure'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the International Atomic Energy Agency had earlier reported that radiation levels remained normal at the plant.

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’