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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2022

Tokyo loses population for first time in 26 years amid pandemic

The population of the capital has dropped by about 48,600 people to just under 14 million, the first decline since 1996.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 31, 2022

Buyback regulation concerns are overblown, Tokyo Stock Exchange chief says

Kishida's 'new capitalism” has been among the major themes for investors in Japan since he became prime minister last autumn.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jan 31, 2022

Book ban efforts spread across the U.S.

Challenges to books are nothing new, but according to educators, librarians and free-speech advocates, the tactics and venues where they play out are changing.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 31, 2022

Can the U.N. do more than talk about the Russia and Ukraine crisis?

The U.N. Security Council is due to meet to discuss Russia's troop build-up on the border with Ukraine, but there will be no action by the council — even if Russia were to invade Ukraine.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 31, 2022

NATO concerned over Europe's energy security amid standoff with Russia

The European Union depends on Russia for around a third of its gas supplies and any interruption would exacerbate an existing energy crisis caused by a shortage.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jan 31, 2022

'Big dates, big fireworks': North Korea signals more launches as anniversaries loom

Japan and South Korea find common ground amid growing possibility that Pyongyang will test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile to mark key dates.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 31, 2022

Hong Kong's 'COVID-zero' strategy is on the brink of collapse

Officials instead are pursuing what they call 'Dynamic Zero,” an approach that emerged from China and aims to work toward no new infections while acknowledging some may still occur.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 31, 2022

The hard-line Russian advisers who have Putin’s ear

Some analysts in Moscow still see a pragmatic streak in Putin, but there are growing signs that the 'radicals' in his inner circle are gaining sway.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 31, 2022

A year after Myanmar coup, growing surveillance threatens lives

A new cybersecurity law that is expected to take effect in the coming weeks, is aimed at complete control of electronic communications, data protection and VPN services in the country.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jan 31, 2022

Hokkaido towns seek coexistence with foreign workers

Municipalities are coming up with ideas to welcome newcomers as members of communities while also trying to stop young people from leaving their hometowns.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 31, 2022

From 'hypersonics' to workhorse weapons, North Korea showcases missile diversity

A spate of tests in January has underscored the nuclear-armed state's rapidly expanding and advancing arsenal amid stalled denuclearization talks.
OLYMPICS / Longform
Jan 31, 2022

The legacy of the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics

As we count down to the opening of the 2022 Games in Beijing next month, we examine the impact of the first Winter Olympics held in Asia on Hokkaido's largest city.
The size of the carry trade strategy is hard to determine because currency transactions, unlike stock trades, aren't tracked on exchanges. We only have estimates.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 14, 2024

How big is the yen carry trade, really?

There is now worry that the unwinding of yen-funded carry trades would wreck investors’ frothy exposures to U.S. technology and AI-related companies.
U.S. President Joe Biden enters the stage after an introduction by his daughter, Ashley Biden, on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2024

Joe Biden begins a long and necessary goodbye

It took grace, maturity and generosity for Biden to bow out. A measure of resentment has also accompanied his exit.
In September, world leaders will meet in New York for the United Nation's Summit of the Future to strengthen international cooperation on digital technology and innovation, as well as development financing, security, employment and gender equality.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2024

The U.N. is charting a new course for our technology future

By closing digital and data divides through international cooperation, we can foster a technology culture that addresses global challenges.
North Korean soldiers are seen outside a guard post (top) from near South Korean guard post in the South Korean border city of Paju in April 2022. A North Korean has defected to the South by walking across the heavily fortified border that separates the peninsula, Seoul's military said Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 20, 2024

Second North Korean soldier defects to South this month

Preliminary figures from the Unification Ministry show this year until June some 105 people had defected.
Work begins on the Oura Bay side of the Henoko area in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Tuesday for a replacement facility for U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station from Ginowan.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2024

Construction begins in Oura Bay for Henoko base relocation project

The Okinawa prefectural government is demanding that the work be halted, claiming that the ministry has not completed its prior consultation with the prefecture.
A huge black screen was set up to block a view of Mount Fuji from across a convenience store in Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on May 21. The screen was removed last Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2024

Screen blocking view of Mount Fuji removed to avoid typhoon damage

Town authorities had erected the screen on May 21 to dissuade tourists from flocking to the spot, following local residents' complaints about visitors' bad manners.
The Supreme Court has upheld a damages order against police for removing a heckler during a stump speech by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2019.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 21, 2024

Japan's top court finalizes damages order over removal of heckler

Hokkaido police officers grabbed the heckler's shoulder and arm, moved her away from the location, and followed her for about an hour afterwards.
Yukio Edano, a former leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, speaks to reporters on Aug. 9 to express his intention to run in the party's leadership race.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 20, 2024

CDP faced with division as it heads into leadership race

The next CDP leader will be expected to unify the different groups within the party and cooperate with other opposition parties to increase its seats during polls.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi holds a news conference Tuesday. The party has decided to hold its leadership election on Sept. 27.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 20, 2024

Is factional support still key for aspiring LDP presidential candidates?

Despite persistent claims the groups won't play any role in the September vote, factional ties remain strong to this day.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a news conference in Tokyo on Aug. 14
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2024

Kishida to visit U.S. just before stepping down

While in New York, Kishida is expected to hold bilateral meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden and other global leaders.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to members of the press at the David Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2024

U.S. push for Gaza cease-fire falls short on key points, officials say

Israeli and Hamas officials have downplayed the idea that a cease-fire deal could be imminent.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks in Nashville, Tennessee, in July.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2024

Kennedy reportedly considering ending campaign to join Trump

As an independent, U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could siphon enough votes away in the tight race to have an impact.
The World Health Organization is not recommending the use of masks amid the recent mpox outbreak, a spokesperson for the organization said.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2024

Mpox 'is not the new COVID,' World Health Organization says

Mpox's risk to the general population is low, the organization said.
Lawson Bank's automated teller machines. The number of Lawson Bank ATMs installed outside convenience stores rose to 174 as of the end of June from 80 three months before.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2024

Convenience store ATMs on the increase in Japan

Competition for making ATMs multifunctional, going beyond just withdrawing cash, and more user-friendly has been intensifying.
A glittering cast of Tokyoites comes together in a collection of dreamlike vignettes in Atsuhiro Yoshida’s novella “Goodnight Tokyo.”
CULTURE / Books
Aug 21, 2024

'Goodnight Tokyo': Late-night search for meaning become magical in the big city

Atsuhiro Yoshida's novella, composed of intersecting vignettes, is a fitting introduction to an atmospheric, visually adept writer known for his quirky worldbuilding.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past