Search - about-us

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2021

IOC president's Hiroshima visit fuels speculation about his true intent

A trip that's officially being made to send a message of peace has instead stirred controversy amid the pandemic and raised questions about Thomas Bach's real purpose.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 15, 2021

Former Olympic marathoner has 'mixed feelings' about Tokyo Games with no spectators

Still, Mara Yamauchi believes that athletes will not be affected by the restrictions brought about by COVID-19 and the lack of spectators at the majority of Olympic venues.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jul 9, 2021

China's Didi crackdown is all about controlling big data

The crackdown shows how big data is quickly turning into the next major battleground in a clash of superpowers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2021

No closer to knowing anything about UFOs

U.S. intelligence report concludes we need more data to confirm if UFOs are really out there
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2021

Already dirt-cheap, solar panels are about to get even more powerful

A push for more powerful units underscores how further cost reductions could advance the shift away from fossil fuels.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2021

Delta variant brings about fresh challenges for Japan

As cases continue to rise in Tokyo, the spread of the more contagious variant has renewed concerns over an infection rebound nationwide.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2021

Big Tech’s car obsession is all about taking eyes off the road

What's at stake, essentially, is something even more valuable than profitability: The last unclaimed corner of consumers' attention during their waking hours.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 23, 2025

As Trump threatens tariffs, his orders kick off more extensive trade overhaul

The U.S. president's executive order on trade touched on sweeping changes to rules that have governed U.S. trade policy for decades.
An oil pump jack. Big U.S. oil companies believe withdrawing from the Paris Agreement only limits Washington's ability to influence an ongoing global energy transition and exposes them to an uneven regulatory environment.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 23, 2025

Trump's climate withdrawal creates rare discord with Big Oil

A shift in the U.S. power industry away from coal has contributed to a roughly 17% decline in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions since 2007.
Steps against diversity form part of U.S. President Donald Trump's broader campaign targeting the federal bureaucracy, which he has sometimes disparaged as the "deep state" secretly working against his agenda.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2025

Trump accelerates campaign to remake federal bureaucracy

The U.S. president says his orders ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs would make America a "merit-based country" once again.
A U.S. district judge did little to hide that he was highly skeptical of Donald Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 27, 2025

Judge scoffs at legality of Trump’s bid to limit birthright citizenship

"This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” the judge said of Donald Trump's executive order.
Hanna Shelest outside her apartment building in Odesa, Ukraine, on Jan. 20
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2025

I spent Trump’s inauguration in Ukraine. This is what I saw.

In nearly three years since Russia’s invasion, Odesa has moved from shock and fear to denial and, finally, adaptation.
Protestors rally to oppose U.S. President Donald Trump's order to pause all federal grants and loans, in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 29, 2025

Trump’s spending halt spawns day of chaos before getting blocked

Trump's order seemed to touch on a wide swath of programs running the gamut from anti-poverty initiatives to medical research.
Chief among the worries surrounding DeepSeek is the fact that it collects and stores data in servers in China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 31, 2025

DeepSeek’s AI restricted by ‘hundreds’ of companies in days

Companies have worked to block access due to concerns about potential data leaks to the Chinese government and what they view as weak privacy safeguards.
Even before U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office this month, uncertainty motivated businesses to rush shipments.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Jan 31, 2025

Companies race to ship goods to the U.S. ahead of potential tariffs

Even before Trump returned to office, uncertainty motivated many businesses to rush shipments to the U.S.
Silicon Valley’s shock at DeepSeek exposes U.S. tech elites’ insularity and the unintended consequences of U.S. policies aimed at restricting China’s technological progress.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2025

Why Chinese tech keeps surprising the West

DeepSeek is the latest product from China to shock the U.S. tech broligarchy. It won’t be the last.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 1, 2025

Trump says Ishiba will visit him next week

"They’re coming in to speak to me and I’m looking forward to it," the U.S. president told reporters in the Oval Office.
The USAID building in Washington on Saturday. Senior security staff have been put on leave by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump after they refused to allow representatives from billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access restricted parts of the building, people familiar with the matter have said.
WORLD
Feb 3, 2025

More USAID staff ousted after clash with Musk's team as Trump dismantles agency

The fast-moving developments follow an executive order by Trump last month to halt and reevaluate U.S. foreign aid.
Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's president, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21
WORLD / Politics
Feb 4, 2025

Trump attack on South Africa exposes divisions over race and land

White landowners possess three-quarters of South Africa's freehold farmland, compared with 4% for Black landowners.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive to hold a news conference at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 5, 2025

Trump's Gaza stunner builds on his expansionist aims

Since Trump's return to the White House a little more than two weeks ago, his "America First" approach seems to have morphed into "America More."
A Palestinian sits among the rubble of buildings destroyed during an Israeli offensive in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2025

Trump aides defend Gaza takeover proposal but walk back some elements

Trump shattered decades of U.S. policy with a vaguely worded announcement saying he envisioned transforming Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shows a gift from U.S. President Donald Trump, as they hold a joint news conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 8, 2025

Foreign leaders embrace the art of flattery in wooing Trump

Ishiba became the latest figure to offer ample compliments to a president known for his transactional approach to foreign policy.
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance will acquire Banner Life Insurance in the United States as it seeks to expand its business overseas amid sluggish domestic market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2025

Meiji Yasuda to acquire U.S. peer Banner Life

Japanese life insurance companies are expanding overseas for growth as the domestic market shrinks.
The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold sails in the front of a formation with the Philippine Navy Jose Rizal-class frigate BRP Jose Rizal (center), the Royal Australian Navy Hobart-class air warfare destroyer HMAS Hobart (left) and the Maritime Defense Force Akizuki-class destroyer Akizuki, during a multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity exercise in the South China Sea last Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 10, 2025

Calls grow louder for joint maritime patrols near Philippine hot spots

Some want Manila to consider joint coast guard and naval patrols near Chinese government vessels operating in disputed waters of the South China Sea.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance waves during a bilateral meeting with the president of the European Commission held at the Chief of Mission's residence at the U.S. embassy in Paris on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Vance warns Europe against overregulating emerging AI

JD Vance’s appearance in Paris is his first major engagement on his first foreign trip as Donald Trump’s vice president.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in July 2018
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

In U.S. policy reversal, Trump and Putin agree to Ukraine talks

Trump's move blindsided European allies, who feared the more conciliatory American stance amounted to a giveaway to the Russian leader.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at the conclusion of a joint news conference in the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

India's Modi and Trump agree to trade talks to lower tensions

The agreements came hours after Trump unveiled a roadmap for reciprocal tariffs on every country that puts duties on U.S. imports, including India.
Mary Jean Burke, first executive vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees National VA Council, speaks during a rally against U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, outside the Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Thousands fired in U.S. government as Trump and Musk purge workers

Termination emails have been sent in the past 48 hours to workers across the government, mostly recently hired employees still on probation.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami