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BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2023

Japanese CEOs facing inflation are talking more about merit-based pay

On one hand, such talk can be seen as a sign of corporate Japan casting aside the remains of a compensation system based on across-the-board rewards and seniority.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2023

What fracking can tell us about the future of fusion

Energy breakthroughs such as with fusion usually come through refinements of existing technologies and processes, not blinding flashes of transformation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 14, 2023

Superorganism’s Orono Noguchi: 'I've chilled out on my stubbornness about hating Japan'

The Japanese vocalist has strong opinions about her home country. Meanwhile, she and her pop band get intergalactic on their second album, 'World Wide Pop.'
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 12, 2023

About 94% of people in Japan feel effects of rising prices, BOJ says

In the survey released Wednesday, 52.7% of respondents said they felt prices have gone up by a large margin and 41.6% said they felt it has slightly gone up from a year ago.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Jan 9, 2023

Naomi Osaka's withdrawal from Australian Open raises questions about star's future

Tennis writer Ben Rothenberg, who has authored a biography of Osaka due out later this year, believes she has already taken a 'meaningful step back' from the sport.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2023

Goldman to cut about 3,200 jobs this week after cost review

The firm is expected to start the process midweek and the total number of people affected will not exceed 3,200.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 9, 2023

Make sure your nouns and verbs match when talking about what to wear

Did you notice more kimono than usual being worn on Jan. 9 this year? That's because it was Coming of Age Day, an occasion for which Japanese youth sport their 'Sunday best.'
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 5, 2023

NFL and medical experts caution against speculation about cause of Damar Hamlin's condition

'Reckless speculation on social media is a source of disinformation and could lead to other unintended negative consequences,' physicians wrote in an open letter.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Jan 5, 2023

The global struggle for tech mastery

The past year offered some old lessons about great-power competition. But it also introduced some new ones about how technology is changing the strategic terrain.
Scientists use a raft inside the Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector located about 1 kilometer under Mount Ikeno near the city of Hida, Gifu Prefecture, in this undated image obtained on Wednesday
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 28, 2025

Researchers in U.S. and Japan offer insight into ghostly neutrinos

The new study is providing insight into the difference in mass between neutrino types, a key unanswered question.
The USS Annapolis nuclear-powered submarine is anchored at a naval base on Jeju Island, South Korea, in July 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Oct 30, 2025

South Korea to build nuclear-powered subs in U.S., Trump says

Washington’s decision to share the closely held nuclear technology with Seoul could have implications for Tokyo’s own defense policies.
The Nikkei 225 stock average broke 52,000 just days after breaking 51,000.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 31, 2025

Nikkei 225 breaks 52,000 as records continue to topple

The surprise rally remains strong despite significant economic uncertainty.
Jera's Hekinan thermal power station in Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture. Jera gets about 2 million metric tons of LNG per year from Russia's Sakhalin-2.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2025

Japanese utilities say they can replace Sakhalin-2 if supply interrupted

The United States this month urged Japan, along with other Russian energy buyers, to stop imports as it pushes the Kremlin towards ending the war in Ukraine.
Volunteers sort donated food items at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank's South Los Angeles warehouse on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 1, 2025

Trump administration cannot suspend food aid benefits, U.S. judges rule

Two federal judges ruled that the administration must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits amid the ongoing government shutdown.
Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist and New College of Florida trustee, walks through protesters on his way out of a bill signing event in May 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 3, 2025

Trump’s college czar has a ‘secret weapon’ to transform campuses

President Donald Trump has called the accreditation system a "secret weapon” for forcing changes in academia, and Nicholas Kent is uniquely well-positioned to wield it.
Wopke Hoekstra, climate commissioner of the European Union, during a news conference on the "EU's New Strategy To Shape A Global Clean And Resilient Transition" in Brussels on Oct. 16.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 3, 2025

Trump pivot is a ‘watershed moment’ for climate, says EU’s Hoekstra

While calling the U.S. absence from COP30 as a "watershed moment," the EU’s climate chief pointed to the continuing engagement of many U.S. governors and mayors on climate issues.
Green marks the spot where a fissure formed, then fused back together in this artistic rendering of nanoscale self-healing in metal. Red arrows indicate the direction of the pulling force that unexpectedly triggered the phenomenon.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 21, 2023

Self-healing metal? It's not just the stuff of science fiction

Scientists have witnessed pieces of pure platinum and copper spontaneously heal cracks caused by metal fatigue during nanoscale experiments.
The nuclear-powered USS Annapolis submarine makes a port call at South Korea's Jeju Island on Monday. It was the second such visit by a U.S. submarine to the country in the span of about a week.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2023

Nuclear Consultative Group strengthens Northeast Asian deterrence

The logic for trilateral coordination between the U.S., Japan and South Korea is compelling. The NCG is an important first step toward that goal.
A general view inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas. Tourists wishing to see the area should expect far stricter supervision if visits to the border resume.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 26, 2023

Travis King crossing puts North Korea border tours under scrutiny

Some predict changes could include making the tours smaller, keeping groups behind glass or back away from the border where troops from both sides stand almost face to face.
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Dec. 29. Meloni is expected to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden this week.
WORLD
Jul 27, 2023

Meloni to tell Biden privately Italy plans break with China

The Italian prime minister is not planning to go public on her decision to break with China during her short trip to Washington.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in July 2022
WORLD / Politics
Jul 30, 2023

Biden presses ahead with effort to broker Israeli-Saudi rapprochement

The fact that U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan returned to Jeddah so soon after his last visit suggests prospects for an accord.
U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2023

Italy and U.S. eye deeper ties as Rome weighs pivot from China

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been working on a delicate choreography to reshape diplomatic relations with China.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on July 29
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 6, 2023

U.S. prosecutors ask for protective order, citing threatening Trump post

Despite a history of online bullying, Trump’s campaign issued a statement insisting that he was practicing his First Amendment rights.
A view of Lahaina after wildfires driven by high winds burned across most of the town several days ago, in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, on Thursday
WORLD
Aug 11, 2023

Hawaii recovery to take years as Maui wildfire death toll rises

The fast-moving inferno spread from the brush outside of town and ravaged the historic city of Lahaina that was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
A Taiwan Air Force Mirage 2000 jet fighter landing at Hsinchu Air Base in Hsinchu, Taiwan, in April.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 12, 2023

China’s military, ‘chasing the dream,’ probes Taiwan’s defenses

Day by day, the People’s Liberation Army is turning up the pressure, deploying an ever-wider array of planes and ships.
The U.S. Federal Reserve building in Washington
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 14, 2023

The Fed is playing a waiting game to try to avoid a recession

An increasing number of economists — including the Federal Reserve’s own staff — are predicting the U.S. will escape a recession.
What remains of a home destroyed by wildfire on Maui island, Hawaii
WORLD
Aug 15, 2023

Maui teams search through ashes as many await news of loved ones

Destruction and ongoing hazards left by wildfires stymie search operations as hundreds of people in Lahaina, on Maui island, remain unaccounted for.
U.S. President Joe Biden during an event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday. The president has crisscrossed the nation visiting groundbreakings and factories to sell his agenda, dubbed Bidenomics, with the Inflation Reduction Act as the centerpiece.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2023

Fires and heat block Biden from taking victory lap for climate law

It’s not the first time circumstances beyond Biden’s control have undone his efforts to revel in a victory.
The Inflation Reduction Act’s tax breaks for clean energy will help mitigate climate change but they will not meet the 2050 net-zero carbon goal.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2023

Biden’s climate bill was too tame

U.S. President Biden and the Democratic Party's Inflation Reduction Act was too tame on fixing the climate.
Social division and the polarization of the American political system are becoming more and more apparent.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2023

Where is the America I once knew headed?

The sociopolitical transformation I witnessed in San Francisco is not just a West Coast phenomenon, but perhaps a nationwide trend.

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