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BUSINESS / View from Osaka
Dec 19, 2020

From Expo 2025 to tourists, Kansai’s hopes for the coming year

Economic recovery and making plans for a post-coronavirus world are set to be on the minds of residents and businesses in the region going into 2021.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 18, 2020

As Singapore ventures back out, migrant workers are kept in

As the government prepares for the final phase of reopening this month, migrant workers will not be part of it.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 18, 2020

Five things to watch in Japanese politics in 2021

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's power atop the government is not assured, and with some significant elections scheduled, domestic politics could once again shake things up at the top.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 18, 2020

Pfizer first drugmaker to seek COVID-19 vaccine approval in Japan

Officials said the approval would be made 'a top priority in the screening process' once the firm submits data from an ongoing clinical trial specific to Japan, expected in February.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2020

Magnitude 5.1 earthquake jolts Izu Oshima area

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake, which measured a weak 5 on the shindo (intensity) scale, was detected in coastal Izu Oshima, on Friday at 6:09 p.m. In the same vicinity, a magnitude 4.7 earthquake, which measured 4 on the shindo scale, was detected at a depth of 10 kilometers in coastal Niijima-Kozushima,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Regional voices: Chubu
Dec 18, 2020

Musical improvisation: Karaoke venues find new uses for their multimedia spaces

Firms have seen sales fall by as much as 40% amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but have also been able to tap into new demand.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Dec 18, 2020

Carp's Ryosuke Kikuchi captures eighth straight Golden Glove

Kikuchi's award capped off a historic season in which the second baseman did not commit a single error for the Central League side.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Dec 18, 2020

Hokkaido fishing villages face tough decision over nuclear disposal sites

While a traditional industry is slowly dying out, some see a nuclear site as bringing valuable income, while others feel very differently.
Tobias Bieker settled in Osaka in 2018 and started "Unpacking Japan" as a side project with ZenGroup five years ago.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 11, 2025

Tobias Bieker: ‘A good interviewer helps the guest shine’

The host of the "Unpacking Japan" podcast offers his take on Osaka life, Japanese jazz and writing fiction.
Kawasaki Frontale's Kota Takai (right) in action with Al-Nassr's Cristiano Ronaldo in an Asian Champions League semifinal match in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on April 30
SOCCER
Jul 8, 2025

Tottenham signs Japan defender Takai from Kawasaki Frontale

British media reports said Europa League champion Tottenham paid a fee of £5 million for the 20-year-old.
U.S. President Donald Trump (left) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at Morristown Airport, New Jersey, on Sunday. Trump on Monday sent letters to 12 countries notifying them of new "reciprocal" tariff rates effective Aug. 1.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 8, 2025

Japan stands its ground after Trump letter delivers 25% U.S. tariff shock

Tokyo holds the line on its negotiating position, especially when it comes to auto exports.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 8, 2025

Japan to set up 'control tower' for crimes by foreign residents

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said the organization at the Cabinet Secretariat will work "to realize an orderly and inclusive society with foreign residents."
South Korean Ambassador to Japan Park Cheol-hee delivers a speech at a reception marking the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between Japan and South Korea on June 19 in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 8, 2025

Ishiba thanks outgoing South Korean envoy

Park Cheol-hee said he hopes that cooperation will continue under the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.
Elon Musk said his "America Party” is dedicated to defeating Republicans who backed U.S. President Donald Trump’s massive tax-cut and spending bill.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 8, 2025

Musk faces a daunting path in challenging U.S. two-party system

Musk announced the birth of the "America Party” — dedicated, he said, to defeating Republicans who backed Trump’s massive tax-cut and spending bill.
Vast improvements in AI-generated video is shaking the foundations of the creative industry.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 8, 2025

AI video becomes more convincing, rattling creative industry

To measure the progress of AI video, you need only look at Will Smith eating spaghetti.
Search and rescue teams work along the shoreline as another passes by on a boat in the Guadalupe River in Center Point, Texas, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jul 9, 2025

More than 160 people still missing days after deadly Texas floods

The death toll includes at least 27 girls and counselors from a nearby youth summer camp, with more still missing.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to reporters in Washington on June 27.
BUSINESS
Jul 9, 2025

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent to visit Japan next week for Expo

The visit comes after Donald Trump stated his intention to raise tariffs on all Japanese imports to 25% — slightly higher than the 24% rate initially announced in April.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Tuesday. Trump's latest comments suggest he is running out of patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin after having openly expressed admiration for him in the past.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 9, 2025

Trump slams Putin again as he backs more weapons for Ukraine

U.S. President Donald Trump said he’s also looking "very strongly” at a bill introduced in the Senate that would impose severe sanctions on Russia.
U.S. President Donald Trump (center) with Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the White House on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 9, 2025

Trump vows no tariff extension and hardens threats on copper and drugs

The U.S. president stresses he would not offer additional extensions on country-specific levies set to now hit in early August.
Emperor Naruhito delivers a keynote speech via video at the Seventh Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters held at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2025

Emperor gives video speech at U.N. event on water and disasters

He urged people "to take new action" to tackle water-related issues around the world.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (left) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embrace at the G20 Leaders' Summit In Rio De Janeiro in 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 9, 2025

Brazil’s Lula hosts Modi in bid to turn India into a major trade partner

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is desperate to finally crack the code on a relationship that has never fully taken off thanks to a litany of incompatibilities.
Two specimens of the Japanese beetle have been detected for the first time in France.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Jul 9, 2025

France worries about Japanese beetles after finding two

The insects threaten plum trees, apple trees, vines, corn, soy, green beans and asparagus, among other cultivated plants.

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan