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Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 1, 2020

Ski, party, seed a pandemic: Travel rules that let COVID-19 take flight

Nine months into an outbreak that has killed 1 million people, Ischgl, Austria, is where the era of global tourism collided with a pandemic.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 30, 2020

In hot spot U.S. states, virus testing means long lines and delays

The U.S. is again grappling with a shortfall of testing that has hobbled the nation since the pandemic’s early weeks, and now threatens to further undermine containment efforts at a crucial moment.
Japan Times
ESG CONSORTIUM
Mar 25, 2019

Employee programs on long-term wellness

The concept of health and productivity management has become an important business approach for companies in recent years to keep growing, even within Japan's already mature business communities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 5, 2015

A new vision for healthy aging

To realize the enormous potential of older people, we must reject the stereotype of them being frail and dependent.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2014

Cooperation key to curbing Ebola

The raging epidemic of Ebola virus disease in West Africa underscores the urgent need for international cooperation in dealing with emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 28, 2010

Is the Atsugi tragedy finally drawing to a close?

During the 18 years I have been writing this column, few stories have haunted me as much as that about the Japanese-owned incinerator that, for more than a decade, fumigated the U.S. Naval Air Facility at Atsugi in the Kanagawa Prefecture cities of Yamato and Ayase.
JAPAN / Q&A
Oct 23, 2009

Lowdown on H1N1 vaccinations

With swine flu inoculations now under way for medical workers, other people may be anxious about when it will be their turn. As cooler weather sets in, and with it higher risks of contracting the new H1N1 virus, the government is administering vaccinations on a priority basis, with healthy working-age...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 20, 2008

Notes on 'Later Term Elderly People Medical Treatment' joke

Stop me if you've heard this one. A bunch of elderly people are sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office, catching up on neighborhood gossip and their own health woes. As Mrs. Sato goes on about her lumbago, Mr. Kobayashi interrupts. "Where's Suzuki-san?" he says. "He's usually here by now."...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2008

Billing Catch-22 traps patients

On Oct. 6, 2005, when Nobuhito Kiyosato went to the Kanagawa Cancer Center, where he had been treated for kidney cancer since 2001, he was told there would be a major change in his treatment.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 1, 2007

Taiji officials: Dolphin meat 'toxic waste'

For what is believed to be the first time anywhere in Japan, elected officials have openly condemned the consumption of dolphin meat, especially in school lunches, on grounds that it is dangerously contaminated with mercury.
EDITORIALS
Oct 15, 2005

Reining in medical expenditures

The Japanese spent 31.4 trillion yen for medical services in fiscal 2004, or about 246,000 yen per person, an increase of 2 percent from the previous year. The figure of 2 percent may be a small and acceptable growth, requiring no stricter lid on the rise of the nation's medical spending. But Japan's...
COMMENTARY
May 24, 2004

Blowing smoke on tobacco

The government has begun belated efforts to restrict smoking in Japan, which has long been a smokers' haven. In May 2003, the government enacted the Health Promotion Law to reduce exposure to passive smoking. In March it signed the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control --...
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 31, 2023

U.S. to end COVID emergency declarations in May

The U.S. response has gradually shifted to the background, though the uptake of the latest booster shot remains modest and about 500 people are dying each day from COVID-19 in the nation.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Dec 23, 2022

China lacked a 'zero COVID' exit strategy. Its people are paying the price.

The abrupt shift has left the nation scrambling to avert a collapse of its public health system.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 9, 2022

End of 'zero-COVID' threatens to overwhelm China with infections

Unlike the whack-a-mole pattern of outbreaks that took place in the U.S. and Europe over months and years, China is likely to see a wave of infections engulf the country all at once.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Oct 7, 2022

What did Japan learn from its largest and deadliest COVID wave?

While the surge of infections — fueled by the BA.5 subvariant of the omicron variant — has subsided, some important questions remain unanswered.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 26, 2023

My Number woes put digital minister Taro Kono under pressure

Another misstep could deal a further blow to the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and jeopardize the political standing of Kono.
Even as some countries have moved to legalize or decriminalize marijuana, Japan has maintained a zero tolerance policy on the drug, prohibiting its possession or sale.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Aug 7, 2023

Navigating Japan's maze of cannabis-related laws

Japan has maintained a zero tolerance policy on cannabis, but the legality of other products on the market, including ones sold as CBD, is murkier.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter dance at a White House Congressional Ball in Washington, on Dec. 13, 1978.
WORLD
Nov 20, 2023

Former U.S. first lady Rosalynn Carter dies at 96

Seen as unassuming and quiet before coming to Washington in 1977, Carter developed into an eloquent speaker, campaigner and activist.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 27, 2023

Japan to start trial of over-the-counter sales of morning-after pills

The health ministry will allow 145 stores nationwide to sell morning-after pills until the end of March.
Pages from a new Otaku Dictionary catalog the lexicons of Japan’s various subcultures.
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 30, 2023

A problematic otaku dictionary and the Japanese approach to sitting

An “Otaku Dictionary” has Japan’s subcultures upset at an attempt to define them.
An epidemic-prevention worker in a protective suit stands guard at the gate of a residential compound in Beijing in November last year.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 14, 2023

Scientists see lost opportunities for long COVID research in China

While China's unique experiences could provide valuable insights, there is little to suggest that the country is interested in conducting such studies.
In the quest for immortality, some researchers believe mind uploading will be our ticket to an eternal existence.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 8, 2024

Japan’s take on immortality; problems in Palworld

As scientists and technologists attempt to tackle the problem of aging and death, we discuss Japanese ideas about immortality.
Canned ready-to-drink cocktails, including Asahi Breweries' 9% Clear Cooler Strong chūhai produced in conjunction with Seven & I Holdings, at a 7-Eleven store in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Tuesday
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2024

Asahi calls time on new strong chūhai amid low-alcohol shift in Japan

New versions of the canned fizzy cocktails with alcohol content of 8% or higher will not be launched in order to “reduce inappropriate drinking.”
The latest figure is significantly less than a previous projection released in 2015 that said more than 8 million people would have dementia by 2040.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2024

Nearly 6 million elderly people in Japan will have dementia by 2040

While the figure is lower than a previous projection, the latest estimate still showed a steady growth in the number of people with dementia.
A member of the National Animal Health and Production Research Institute takes a swab from a duck during surveillance of the poultry section of the Orussey market, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 7.
WORLD
May 21, 2024

The disease detectives trying to keep the world safe from bird flu

Front-line work in low-income countries is increasingly vital to a global system to detect viruses that jump between animals and humans, the way COVID-19 did.
The World Health Organization's headquarters in Geneva
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 2, 2024

WHO countries prolong talks on pandemic accord

Despite increasing momentum in recent months, only 17 of the draft agreement's articles had been fully approved by countries by the deadline.
Kazane Kajiya, 27, (second from left) and others filed a lawsuit against the state, arguing that the Maternal Health Law infringes upon their constitutional rights by restricting women's ability to make decisions about their own bodies.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 13, 2024

In Japan, a legal fight for the right to sterilization surgery

The plaintiffs' argue that the Maternal Health Law infringes on their rights by restricting a woman's ability to make decisions about their own bodies.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person