Search - japan

 
 
Singaporean Ambassador to Japan Ong Eng Chuan says his country hopes to “collaborate closely” with Japan in the area of quantum computing technology.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 20, 2025

Singapore envoy eyes stronger cyber and digital links with Japan

Quantum computing is one particular area of interest as Japan develops its technical capability via a collaboration with Intel.
If tax exemptions are revised, small parcels containing products bought from Shein and PDD Holdings' Temu shipped into Japan could be subject to the country’s sales tax, which mostly stands at 10%.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 20, 2025

Japan considers taxing small parcels as Shein and Temu expand

An experts group has discussed problems related to existing exemptions, including concerns about the channel being a conduit for illegal drugs and counterfeit goods.
An aircraft approaches Haneda Airport. During the month of June, many travelers from South Korea landing at the airport will be eligible for fast-track entry procedures.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2025

Japan and South Korea to trial priority lanes for travel between the countries

The one-month trial program in June will be available to passport holders from either country who have visited the other at least once within the previous year.
A mock-up of Japan's state-of-the-art railgun, which is currently undergoing testing, is displayed at the three-day DSEI Japan defense exhibition in the city of Chiba on Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 21, 2025

Railguns, missiles and lasers: Japan uses massive defense event to highlight shift

The range of products and systems being displayed at DSEI Japan in Chiba is both diverse and sophisticated, and comes amid soaring international tensions.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato (right) and Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda wait for a group photograph to be taken at a meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors’ in Banff, Canada, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 22, 2025

Japan and U.S. reaffirm commitment to letting markets set currency rates

Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have made a point of not discussing a target yen-dollar rate.
Paraguayan President Santiago Pena speaks during an interview with The Japan Times in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 23, 2025

As Taiwan looks to boost ‘unofficial ties,’ Paraguay’s leader offers facilitator role

Paraguayan President Santiago Pena stressed his government is “more than willing to support and be a strong ally” to Taiwan.
An employee of Kyowa Industrial walks next to the company's factory in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2025

Tariff crossfire hits Toyota, Nissan and Ford suppliers in Japan

Thousands of small and midsize makers of auto parts in Japan, including suppliers for Toyota and Nissan, are facing a crisis as U.S. tariffs threaten their bottom lines.
A concept model of the Global Combat Air Program's fighter jet is displayed during the DSEI Japan defense exhibition in the city of Chiba on Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 23, 2025

GCAP next-gen fighter joint venture likely to be running by this summer

Headquartered in the United Kingdom, the new business will be responsible for the industrial side of the Global Combat Air Program.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, shakes hands with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 24, 2025

U.S. and Japan eye June G7 leaders’ summit for possible tariff deal

Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, met separately with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington.
Visitors walk along Nakamise-dori as they visit Sensoji temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district in March.
JAPAN
May 24, 2025

Travelers avoid trips to Japan over viral comic book’s quake prediction

Ryo Tatsuki, whom some claim predicted Japan’s 2011 earthquake, gives July 2025 as the date of the impending event in a 1999 graphic novel.
A worker walks near a fishing vessel under maintenance at the Kidoura Zosen K.K. shipyard in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2025

Japan looks to use U.S. shipbuilding cooperation as card in tariff talks

By highlighting its cooperative stance toward the United States, the Japanese government hopes to fend off U.S. tariffs.
Modern pentathlete Ayumu Saito competes in the laser run at nationals in 2022.
MORE SPORTS / Modern Pentathlon
May 25, 2025

2028 Olympic hopeful giving modern pentathlon some time in the sun in Japan

As modern pentathlon takes on a Japanese flavor with a "Sasuke"-inspired event, Ayumu Saito is working to raise the sport’s profile in Japan.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shows off a gift from U.S. President Donald Trump as they hold a joint news conference at the White House on Feb. 7.
JAPAN
May 25, 2025

Prime Minister Ishiba aims to advance U.S. tariff talks with G7 summit in mind

Speaking to reporters in Kyoto, Ishiba said there has been progress in negotiations, pointing to discussions on trade expansion, nontariff measures and economic security.
The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning sails through the Miyako Strait in Okinawa Prefecture on its way to the Pacific in April 2021.
JAPAN
May 26, 2025

Chinese aircraft carrier conducts fighter jet operations in East China Sea

This was the first time Japan announced that the Liaoning aircraft carrier was conducting training in the area home to the disputed Senkaku Islands.
Japan may offer cooperation on shipbuilding expertise and an Alaska natural gas project as part of trade talks with the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 26, 2025

Japan touts ships expertise and LNG investment, with tariff talks key

There is rising momentum in the negotiations as the U.S. tariffs threaten to drag Japan’s economy into a technical recession ahead of the Upper House election.
Donald Trump’s approval of Nippon Steel’s U.S. Steel partnership signals a key step in U.S.-Japan economic and security cooperation amid rising competition with China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 27, 2025

Nippon Steel partnership go-ahead boosts U.S.-Japan cooperation

The move is a sharp departure from Trump’s earlier, politically motivated stance opposing foreign ownership of U.S. Steel.
Rock band Mrs. Green Apple performed an emotional rendition of hit song “Darling” on the final night of the Music Awards Japan.
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2025

Songs, stars and strategy: Japan debuts its newest awards ceremony

From viral hits to legacy tributes, Japan's 'answer to the Grammys' delivers a celebration of J-pop's past and present at its inaugural event in Kyoto.
Demonstrators hold signs during a protest in support of international students at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
May 28, 2025

Japanese universities urged to open doors to students blocked from Harvard

The education ministry has asked universities nationwide to support students affected by the White House's push against foreign enrollments at Harvard.
More Chinese families are clustering in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, a district renowned for having the finest educational environment in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2025

Chinese parents are fueling Tokyo’s education race

International schools in Tokyo are already witnessing an influx of children from the newly arrived, highly involved Chinese households.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, will attend a fourth round of ministerial-level tariff talks in the United States on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 29, 2025

Japan offering fund to aid U.S. shipbuilding as part of tariff negotiations

The United States has called on allies including Japan to help revive U.S. shipbuilding, amid concerns over China's dominant share in the global market.
U.S. Steel Edgar Thompson Works in Pennsylvania
BUSINESS / Economy
May 29, 2025

Trump’s Nippon Steel bid support boosts Japan’s trade talk hopes

The apparent breakthrough raises the possibility that Japan could get some new traction in its bid to get tariffs on autos and other exports removed.
The Central Business District of Lagos. Japan is reasserting a commitment to do more business with Africa as it emerges from years during which its private sector was particularly risk-averse.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2025

Japan seeks to grow Africa investments to ease reliance on China

The country aims to do more business with Africa as it emerges from years during which its private sector was particularly risk-averse.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's economic revitalization minster, speaks to members of the media at the Japanese Embassy in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 31, 2025

Japan says progress made in U.S. tariff talks, but details are scarce

The two sides are eyeing the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in June as a possible setting to announce a trade deal.
Tugboats assist a liquified natural gas tanker as it docks at a port in Yantai, China, in February. In 2021, China became the largest importer of LNG, and as of this year, China now has the most long-term LNG contracts.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jun 1, 2025

China is eroding Japan's LNG dominance. How does that affect Japanese buyers?

Japanese companies have long held the leading position in the buying and trading of one of the world's key energy sources, but that era of hegemony has come to an end.
A woman walks past a store in Seoul's Daerim neighborhood, home to thousands of ethnic Chinese. China has displaced longtime foe and former colonial power Japan in many South Koreans' minds as the country's most distrusted neighbor in recent years.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 2, 2025

China displaces old foe Japan in South Koreans' minds ahead of vote

Analysts say that a series of clashes between Beijing and Seoul in recent years over history, territory and defense are the root cause of the schism.
U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House in Washington in February.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Ishiba eyes trade meeting around Trump's birthday before G7 meet, report says

Some government officials have said a deal announced on June 14 — the U.S. president's birthday — might have special symbolic significance for him.
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jun 2, 2025

How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic

Labor shortages and shifting mindsets are driving younger Japanese workers to challenge the country’s traditional office culture.
TSMC’s plan to build a second factory in Kumamoto Prefecture is key to Japan’s ambitions to regain leadership in semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025

TSMC flags delays in Japan expansion while U.S. plans advance

The sudden influx of workers from TSMC’s first plant is already bogging down rural infrastructure in Japan.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani meets with his U.S. counterpart, Pete Hegseth, at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 3, 2025

Why Japan isn’t panicking about Trump’s foreign policy

Hegseth’s SLD speech is the first extended statement about U.S. policy and it checked all the boxes.
Tokyo police declared that Japanese young men and women were simply "not accustomed to one another’s society" due to their cultural upbringing — and thus freewheeling dance venues and foreign customs needed to be reined in.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Jun 4, 2025

Japan Times 1925: Tokyo police impose curfew on ‘social dances’

In June 1925, concern over “the moral effects of the Western dancing” on Japanese youth led to restrictions on social venues.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes