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Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 23, 2021

Pfizer pill adds to growing U.S. stockpile of COVID-19 treatments

Infections are rising across the country, but the treatments will give doctors a larger arsenal with which to fight severe coronavirus cases.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 23, 2021

‘Underdogs’: It’s a colorful life in Manila’s underbelly

Tsuyoshi Kumeta's documentary captures the bustle and squalor of the capital of the Philippines as it follows four Japanese men living in the city's slums over the course of seven years.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Dec 22, 2021

Chris Broad's 'Blade Runner' fantasy comes to life

Chris Broad invited us up to visit his new Blade Runner-inspired studio in Sendai, where we recorded this episode of Deep Dive.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2021

Yes, vote-buying is illegal. But why?

A public promise of cash payments to a large number of voters isn't illegal; a private promise of money is.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2021

As Japan braces for omicron, authorities prepare to quarantine close contacts

On Tuesday, the government instructed all omicron close contacts to be quarantined at a facility monitored by central or local government officials for 14 days.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2021

Avoiding the worst over Ukraine and Taiwan crises

No global structure of peace can be stable and secure unless all parties recognize others' legitimate security interests.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 22, 2021

Volunteers: The unsung heroes at the Tokyo Paralympics

Japan's Paralympics volunteers went out of their way with every person treating the competitors with respect and compassion and leaving a lasting, positive impression of the country.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2021

Japan reports first community transmission of omicron variant

Japan reported its first community transmission of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in Osaka Prefecture, with three people confirmed to have contracted the virus through unknown routes, the prefecture's governor said Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 22, 2021

How Japan-North Korea relations changed under Kim Jong Un

Last Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un marked 10 years in power. Recent observers have focused on nuclear weapons and diplomacy with South Korea and the United States, but there are under-discussed considerations related to Japan-North Korea ties.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 22, 2021

Fintech startup Finatext has worst Tokyo debut in two decades

The firm is expecting a net loss of u00a51 billion this fiscal year, but co-founder Ryota Hayashi says he's in no rush to generate profit, though added it could do so quickly if required.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2021

Biden can promise action, but omicron is in charge right now

The U.S. president's biggest policy promise during the 2020 campaign was perhaps his vow to attack COVID-19 in a professional and competent way.
The Shenzhen Japanese School in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 20, 2024

Xi’s nationalism faces a reckoning after the murder of a Japanese boy

The Chinese government is now grappling with online hatred spilling over into real-life violence.
A man holds a walkie-talkie device after he removed the battery during a funeral for those killed after hundreds of paging devices exploded in a deadly wave across Lebanon the previous day, in Beirut's southern suburbs on Wednesday.
WORLD
Sep 20, 2024

Exploding pagers attack shakes global trust in supply-chain security

While booby-trapped devices have been used in spycraft for years, the scale and violence of the attacks in Lebanon alarmed even some seasoned officials.
An Israeli fighter jet takes off at an unidentified location to conduct strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, in this photo released on Thursday.
WORLD
Sep 20, 2024

Israel unleashes strikes on Lebanon as U.S. and U.K. urge restraint

The U.S. said a diplomatic solution was achievable and urgent, and Britain called for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
A smartphone running ChatGPT4o as it tries to solve a geometry problem in San Francisco on May 28.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 20, 2024

OpenAI unveils new ChatGPT that can reason through math and science

The new technology is part of a wider effort to build AI that can reason through complex tasks.
U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 20, 2024

U.S. accuses social media giants of 'vast surveillance'

Tech companies "harvest an enormous amount of Americans' personal data," says FTC chief Lina Khan.
OpenAI announced a new reasoning model on Thursday that it said was capable of surpassing human experts in a number of technical benchmarks for the first time. The new model received the company's first "medium" rating on bioweapon risk.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2024

Battle rages over U.S.' first binding AI safety bill in California

The legislation has exposed a deep divide across the tech industry and the political establishment, upending the usual coalitions.
Colombo International Container Terminals, seen from the Galle Face promenade, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Monday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 20, 2024

A deepening U.S.-China rivalry hangs over Sri Lanka’s election

The three countries are all jockeying for influence with lawmakers and investors.
The percentage of South Korean respondents with a good impression of Japan jumped from the previous year to 41.7%, the highest level since the survey began in 2013.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2024

Survey shows record number of South Koreans view Japan positively

Nearly 42% of South Koreans have a favorable impression of Japan, according to the East Asia Institute.
Though none will yet say it openly, some in German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party believe he should follow his idol U.S. President Joe Biden and step aside for a more charismatic champion.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2024

Far-right's fate in German regional vote could break or make Scholz

The vote in Brandenburg could trigger a party backlash against Olaf Scholz or, if his party holds the state, confirm him as their candidate for 2025.
A police officer explains with a loudspeaker the correct way of interacting with the deer on July 25 at Nara Park in the city of Nara.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 20, 2024

Nara urges respect for sacred deer after viral abuse video sparks outcry

A video showing a man kicking a deer began circulating on social media in late July, resulting in the lodging of over 100 police reports.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Analysts polled ahead of Friday were in agreement that the BOJ would choose not to make any rate adjustments.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 20, 2024

Bank of Japan leaves rates unchanged as Ueda signals pause

The central bank on Friday kept the uncollateralized overnight call rate steady at 0.25% following a two-day meeting of its Policy Board.
A drone view shows a burned area following a recent wildfire on Mount Penteli, near Athens in August.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Sep 20, 2024

As wildfires wipe out forests, Greeks debate: To replant, or not?

Tree loss raises the risk of flash floods from rains on denuded grounds no longer protected by tree canopies and root systems, as well as higher air temperatures.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Israeli-American Council National Summit in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD
Sep 20, 2024

Donald Trump says Jews will be partly to blame if he loses election

Trump argued that Israel would likely cease to exist within two years should Harris win the election.
The Fair Trade Commission says rules preventing pro baseball players from freely choosing their agents for contract negotiations could violate the antimonopoly law.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2024

Japan FTC warns pro baseball body over agent rules

The body's rules have limited agents for players to lawyers and prohibited players from choosing lawyers who had already been picked by other players.
Rice in a field in Tambasasayama, Hyogo Prefecture in August. Rice prices jumped 28.3%, posting the largest increase since September 1975.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2024

Japan core consumer prices up 2.8% in August

Rice prices shot up 28.3%, electricity rates soared 26.2% and city gas rates 15.1%, following an end of government subsidies.

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