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JAPAN / Politics
Jul 19, 2022

Kishida meets top South Korean diplomat, but improved ties remain elusive

Despite strained ties in recent years, Park Jin's visit offered a rare chance for Tokyo and Seoul to make headway on the wartime labor issue.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 18, 2022

Tapping into the wisdom of Japan's small communities

While working in broadcasting, Adam Fulford was able to see a lot of Japan. Now he sees the bigger picture, learning from his travels as a way to seek a sustainable path moving forward.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 16, 2022

Musk says Twitter dragged feet on deal and now rushing trial

Elon Musk's lawyers say Twitter officials are unfairly pushing for a 'warp speed” trial and have asked that the case be heard next year instead.
There is a global trend toward economic bifurcation with the U.S. and China leading the charge — and multinational solutions are needed to address the new challenges.
COMMENTARY
Feb 28, 2024

The inexorable movement toward a divided global economy

Efforts to protect national economies from threats require multinational solutions. Chains are only as strong as their weakest link.
“True View of Mount Asama” by Ike Taiga
CULTURE
Mar 1, 2024

Ike Taiga's revolutionary act of capturing natural beauty

Idemitsu Museum of Arts showcases the Edo Period painter's realistic landscapes at the first retrospective of his work in Tokyo in 13 years.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 1, 2024

More than decade after 2011 quake, Japan still slow to compile evacuation plans

The nation has failed to make progress in crafting plans to help evacuate elderly people and people with disabilities in the event of natural disasters.
Factions, cliques, caucuses — whatever they may be called, groupings in legislatures are not unusual in many countries.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Perspectives
Mar 2, 2024

Is the funding scandal unraveling the LDP?

The media is caught up in the money-politics scandal of the moment, framing factions as all good or all bad. Things are a lot more nuanced than that.
The assembly line at a production facility for Nio, a maker of electric cars, in Hefei, China, on Dec. 4. U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered an investigation into auto software that could track U.S. drivers, part of a broader effort to stop electric vehicle imports from China.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Mar 2, 2024

The politics and economics behind Biden's China car espionage probe

The U.S. leader's saber-rattling as another opportunity to demonstrate he is tough on China, experts say.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the AUKUS security partnership after a trilateral meeting, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego in March last year.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 3, 2024

AUKUS eyes defense tech collaboration with Japan, report says

Japan’s involvement in the partnership would be limited to specific projects and would exclude nuclear-powered submarines.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani speaks to members of the media in Glendale, Arizona, on Thursday.
BASEBALL / MLB / Sac Bunts
Mar 4, 2024

How Shohei Ohtani mastered the media

By promising to meet with the press, the star circumvented the need for people to go digging into his marriage.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2024

Court rejects class action suit opposing nuclear plant in Ehime

Local residents in Oita, less than 50 kilometers from the facility, had called into question the safety of the plant during natural disasters.
It turns out that the mutations that make some people vulnerable to the neurological condition once had a useful function, protecting their ancestors from pathogens.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2024

Ancient DNA could be hiding all kinds of health secrets

Ancient genomes are unlocking the past and may provide blueprint for the origin of diseases.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2024

U.S. asks Japan to lift ban on Osprey flights

The tilt-rotor aircraft was grounded after one of them crashed into the sea off Yakushima, Kagoshima, in November, killing all eight U.S. airmen on board.
A U.S. V-22 Osprey lands on the USS Mesa Verde ship during excercises in the Baltic Sea in September.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 8, 2024

U.S. lifts Osprey flight ban, eyeing aircraft's return to Japan's skies

Tokyo and Washington will closely coordinate a timeline for resuming flights of Osprey V-22 aircraft in Japan, three months after a deadly accident.
Displaced Palestinians wait to receive United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) aid, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 9, 2024

UNRWA report says Israel coerced some agency employees to falsely admit Hamas links

The assertions are contained in a report by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency dated February 2024.
Ground Self-Defense Force members disembark from a V-22 Osprey aircraft during an annual live-fire exercise at East Fuji Maneuver Area, in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in May 2022.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 11, 2024

Osprey safety concerns linger in Japan, despite U.S. reassurances

Critics have decried the lack of specifics about the cause of the deadly November crash as Tokyo and Washington tout "unprecedented" information-sharing.
The Japanese word "hanami," literally means “flower viewing.” But, a hanami gathering is more than that: It can be a picnic, a drinking party or an occasion to read poetry.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 15, 2024

We invite you to get ready for this year’s cherry blossom parties

Asking people to a party is made easy in Japanese with a few basic sentence structures. Taking your leave from a party is just as simple.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump hosts a campaign rally in Rome, Georgia, on March 9.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 15, 2024

Trump launched CIA covert influence operation against China

A team promoted allegations that Communist Party members were hiding ill-gotten money overseas, sources said.
Mary Ann Eduarte at her home in Montalban, Rizal, the Philippines.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 15, 2024

Cancer patients in the Philippines falling for alternative 'cures'

The trend was fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, when health care systems were overwhelmed and many were too scared to visit a hospital.
A man walks through the financial and business district of La Defense, near Paris, on March 13.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 19, 2024

EU's new gig-worker rules could tame 'management by algorithm'

The opaque nature of algorithmic management tools can result in random job assignments and performance ratings, and even termination.
Children and teachers walk past an electronic screen displaying Japan's Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo on March 4.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

Japan OKs bill on background checks for work involving children

Once the bill becomes a law, employers will be able to screen prospective employees for past history of sex offenses via the Children and Families Agency.
A protester in New Delhi holds a banner depicting Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who has said he was the target of an assassination plot disclosed by U.S. prosecutors in November 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2024

India’s probe links former intelligence official to U.S. murder plot

At least one person involved in the alleged attempted assassination had worked for India’s main spy agency and is still employed by the government.
From sending too many emojis than your partner might be expecting to delaying a response in order to avoid seeming overeager, the texting portion of a young relationship is unexpectedly fraught with peril.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 23, 2024

The subtle art of texting your crush for the first time

Gen Z dating app users are 50% more likely than millennials to delay responding to a message "to avoid seeming overeager.”
Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, appears in this still image taken from video released Friday in which she announced that she is undergoing preventative chemotherapy after cancer was found to have been present, following her abdominal surgery in January.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2024

Catherine’s cancer diagnosis puts U.K. royals on even more uncertain terrain

First King Charles and now Catherine, Princess of Wales, are facing grave health concerns, stretching an already slimmed-down monarchy.
Demonstrators rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on March 18 as justices hear arguments on whether the 
government has the right to encourage social media companies to remove content it deems misinformation. 
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2024

It's just fine if public officials block you on social media

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision should reduce the frequency of litigation over social-media blocking. But it won’t eliminate it altogether.
Legislative Council lawmakers in Hong Kong unanimously voted in favor of a new national security law on Tuesday. The legislation introduces penalties such as life imprisonment for crimes related to treason and insurrection.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2024

Is Hong Kong headed for a rubber-stamp legislature?

With the unanimous passing of the new national security law, Hong Kong's "patriotic" council has shown that its willingness to toe the government line.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2024

Imperial Household Agency to launch Instagram account in April

The agency will post photos related to the activities of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 27, 2024

Yen slides to 34-year low, heightening talk of intervention

Although the Bank of Japan hiked rates for the first time in 17 years last week, the yen’s weakness has persisted.
Wildlife researcher Amelia Hiorns says Japan's bears feel the pressure of human presence and have learned that encountering us is not worth their time.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 30, 2024

Amelia Hiorns: 'Guiding and introducing people to Japan's nature has been rewarding'

Wildlife researcher Amelia Hiorns shares how separate interests in Japan and in bears culminated in conservation work in the mountains of Nagano.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji