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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2021

Billionaire founder of Nidec hands reins to ex-Nissan star

Shigenobu Nagamori is stepping down almost half a century after founding his pioneering motor maker on the family farm.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 27, 2021

A look at the COVID age’s wannabe platinum cards (and apps)

It is the latest status symbol. Flash it at the people, and you can get access to concerts, sports arenas or long-forbidden restaurant tables. Some day, it may even help you cross a border without having to quarantine.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 27, 2021

Medical supplies pour into India as COVID-19 deaths approach 200,000

Over the past 24 hours, India recorded 323,144 new cases, slightly below a worldwide peak of 352,991 it reached on Monday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 27, 2021

Fighting erupts in Myanmar as junta says it will 'consider' ASEAN plan

Southeast Asian leaders had said over the weekend they had reached a consensus with the junta on steps to end violence and promote dialogue between the rival Myanmar sides.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 27, 2021

Japan to miss key 2% inflation target again as policy coordination loosened

'It's hugely symbolic that even Kuroda can't hit the target after a decade,” said a chief economist and former Bank of Japan official.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2021

When the CEO’s son makes $3 million, I worry

Transactions with related parties, which include both relatives of and entities controlled by company insiders, have a long and checkered history.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 27, 2021

Economic issues, once divisive, now bind Japan and the U.S.

The two governments' discussion of economic issues is a path to mobilization and cooperation, not contestation (at least between themselves).
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2021

America’s undimmed global cultural reach continues

The influence of American culture remains as strong as ever. The growth of a QAnon movement in Japan is the clearest example that some of its more paranoid ideas are spreading overseas.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2021

For China's property developers, Hong Kong is becoming Shenzhen's backyard

Chinese property developers have turned their sights to Hong Kong's border districts as mainlanders from neighboring boomtown Shenzhen consider parts of the former British colony as a more affordable long-term housing prospect.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2021

China widens internet crackdown with Meituan monopoly probe

China’s government has expanded its antitrust crackdown beyond Jack Ma’s technology empire, launching an investigation into suspected monopolistic practices by food-delivery behemoth Meituan.
Onosato (left) receives the Emperor's Cup from Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku in Osaka on March 23.
SUMO
Apr 2, 2025

Sumo’s 'Big 12' are an eclectic group

Only a dozen rikishi now active have lifted the Emperor’s Cup on the final day of a tournament.
Japanese cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama. The United States will start collecting new 25% import duties on cars and car parts from Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2025

Japan has some cards to play in trade war with the United States 

It could offer voluntary restraints on exports, or it could offer to buy more from the U.S. in order to reduce the trade surplus with that country.
U.S. officials have insisted that Washington remains committed to NATO, an alliance that has seen American military might underpin Western security for over seven decades.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2025

NATO presses to keep Trump on board, but is he hobbling alliance?

As the Trump administration savages Europe, undercuts Kyiv and warms to Russia, there is fear that even if the alliance is salvaged, it runs the risk of being hollowed out.
The body of a high school girl was found in a closet at the home of Masaki Eguchi, a 21-year-old unemployed man, on Tuesday in the city of Ichinomiya in Aichi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 2, 2025

Aichi man admits to stabbing Tokyo high school girl over gaming dispute

The victim went missing after saying on Friday she was going to the home of a friend she met through online gaming.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (right) and teammate Yuki Tsunoda (second from right) alongside Racing Bulls drivers Isack Hadjar (second from left) and Liam Lawson at the F1 Tokyo Fan Festival 2025 in Odaiba, Tokyo, on Wednesday
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 2, 2025

Red Bull and Racing Bulls display unity in Tokyo ahead of grand prix

Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda has moved up to replace Liam Lawson, who was demoted to the junior team.
The bus stop sign for the Ghibli Museum at Mitaka Station. The viral trend of AI-generated Ghibli-style images reflects both a longing for comfort in uncertain times and the ongoing debate over AI’s impact on art.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 2, 2025

For a brief moment, everything was Ghibli

ChatGPT will make almost anything Ghibli-ish, but it won’t draw Totoro.
Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, speaks to reporters after surpassing the record for the longest Senate speech at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD
Apr 2, 2025

Cory Booker condemns Trump’s policies in longest senate speech on record

Cheers broke out in the chamber when the senator passed Strom Thurmond's record for longest speech.
DOGE, the U.S. government reform project, embodies America's brash, fast-paced approach to change, while Japan’s cultural norms emphasize slower, more deliberate decision-making rooted in consensus.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 2, 2025

The DOGE solution? 'No thanks,' says Japan, with reason

I can’t imagine a DOGE-like beast in Japan. No one can. It is utterly alien to every tradition, precedent or cultural inclination in this country.
Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement conviction and election ban intensify France’s political divide, challenge French President Emmanuel Macron’s government and set the stage for a far-right succession battle.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2025

Le Pen’s MAGA-style martyrdom is new risk in France

One big factor could complicate Le Pen’s pivot to MAGA martyrdom, however: The antics of Trump himself.
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 2, 2025

U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan

The man has said the gun was for self-defense and that he had packed the firearm by mistake.
Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing (center) arrives to meet earthquake survivors gathered in the compound of a hospital in Naypyitaw last Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 2, 2025

Myanmar's deadly earthquake brings diplomatic payoff for junta chief

The disaster opens up diplomatic channels closed to the junta for four years after it ousted an elected government in 2021 to unleash a brutal civil war.
Declining birth rates in China are driven by a myriad of causes, such as a shrinking childbearing-age population, lifestyle changes, the one-child policy’s lasting effects, an oversupply of men and high youth unemployment.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2025

Why China’s marriage crisis matters

According to China’s 2020 census, 61% of babies are born to women aged 20 to 30. But the number of women in this cohort dropped from 111 million in 2012 to 73 million in 2024.
New vehicles parked at a pier in Yokohama on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2025

'Give me a break': Trump tariffs threaten Japan auto sector

The 5.6 million people employed directly or indirectly in the auto sector are now fearful about their future.
Goro Miyazaki joined Studio Ghibli in 1998 and directed films including 2006's "Tales from Earthsea" and 2011's "From Up on Poppy Hill."
CULTURE / Film
Apr 2, 2025

AI may be coming for anime, but Hayao Miyazaki is irreplaceable, son says

Goro Miyazaki says that though nothing can replicate the depth of his father's work, new technology brings "great potential for unexpected talent to emerge."
Aeon launches blended rice "Nisui no Takumi" on Wednesday in the city of Chiba.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2025

Retailer Aeon to sell Japan-U.S. blended rice

Under the name "Nisui no Takumi," the blended rice will be sold from around April 10 at some 2,000 stores across Japan except the Hokkaido and the Tohoku region.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is reasserting military influence in politics, pushing fiscal policies that challenge long-standing restraints and accelerating democratic backsliding — moves that are causing economic instability and political unease.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2025

Prabowo tries to remake Indonesia, but at what cost?

The economic and political pillars that emerged after the turmoil of 1998 are in peril. Markets are rightly apprehensive. 

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’