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BUSINESS
May 14, 2021

CEOs criticize Japan’s slow vaccine push, saying growth at risk

While Japan has fared better during the pandemic compared with its Western peers, executives fear that the pace of inoculations will have an impact on potential recovery.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
May 13, 2021

Foreign sumo fans finding ways to make voices heard

When sumo goes through a crisis the voices calling loudest for needed change and the protection of rikishi are often those from abroad.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2021

Unseen digital cash will stretch your money

These invisible blockchain tokens could still turbocharge our everyday money: by making it move faster and stretching its worth.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2021

Will Moon Jae-in's appeasement policy work this time?

History may eventually show that Mr. Moon's fanciful but unrealistic appeasement policy vis-a-vis North Korea between 2017 and 2022 failed to work.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2021

The limits to U.S.-China climate cooperation

The best we can hope for is that the two superpowers are disciplined enough to avoid endangering humanity's survival as they jostle for geopolitical advantage.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 12, 2021

After $260 billion slide, Alibaba aims to show the worst is over

Alibaba has agreed to a record $2.8 billion penalty from Beijing and vowed to change certain practices deemed anti-competitive.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2021

France’s culture war intensifies

Few in France are happy with the country's political leaders, which is why successive presidents have failed to win reelection.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
May 10, 2021

Naomi Osaka says Japan must carefully weigh risks of staging Tokyo Olympics

Osaka said staging the games should remain a topic of discussion as long as the subject was 'making people very uncomfortable.'
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
May 9, 2021

National Stadium holds Tokyo 2020 track test event — minus fans

Sunday's competition, held behind closed doors due to the state of emergency, offered organizers and athletes a chance to trial anti-infection protocols that will be used at the Tokyo Games.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2021

Climate targets must 'be realistic and demand the impossible'

About a third of all human greenhouse emissions in history have happened since 1997, when world leaders adopted the Kyoto Protocol with an ambition of limiting such pollution.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2021

Tesla killed it on Bitcoin (and also sells cars)

You may recall Tesla only got into the Bitcoin game the very same quarter, announcing it would also start accepting the stuff for car payments.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
May 6, 2021

Tom Wilson violence may force NHL to reconsider stance on fighting

Social media exploded after the repeat offender took down Artemi Panarin and punched Pavel Buchnevich, while sports shows replayed the incident on a loop.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 4, 2021

Focus on sentence endings to 'see the future' in Japanese

Once you get an idea of what kinds of verbs come at the end of Japanese sentences, particularly in news reports, your brain can concentrate on deciphering the rest in more detail.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 4, 2021

Australia's probe of Chinese firm's port in Darwin signals trouble for Beijing

The investigation risks further hurting China-Australia ties, which have plummeted since Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent investigation into the origin of COVID-19.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2021

The trust gap between winning and losing sides in elections

A gap between the winning and losing sides' willingness to accept the outcome of a presidential contest is nothing new.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 3, 2021

China deletes social media posts mocking India amid backlash

Photos of the Tianhe module launch and its fuel burn-off were compared with a mass outdoor cremation in India, and captioned 'China lighting a fire versus India lighting a fire.”
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2021

India’s COVID-19 crisis threatens a global oil recovery

Stay-at-home advisories are likely to hit motor fuels, which until now had been supported by a mass switch from public transport to private cars and motorbikes.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2021

The two sides of Chinese GDP

And the key takeaway here is that China remains a poor country, despite its phenomenal headline GDP growth over the past four decades.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 1, 2021

Hate speech can’t be met with indifference and ignorance

When the head of DHC began making anti-Korean comments, many news outlets decided it was just better not to talk about it.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2021

Science shows why simplifying is hard and complicating is easy

Spotting solutions that are simple and elegant, in other words, requires mental effort or what the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman calls slow as opposed to fast thinking.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 1, 2021

Japan's political state of play following the by-elections

The LDP's inability to pick up seats in the by-elections was unsurprising; after all, two of those seats were only up for election because of highly publicized scandals.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2021

Marine Le Pen doubles Macron's pandemic pressure

Emmanuel Macron's voter base of affluent urban white-collar workers still supports him, but his push for economic reform and European integration no longer resonates.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2021

Kick Russia out of the Iran nuclear talks

Zarif says that Russia 'put all its weight” against the deal because, as the Times dryly explains, 'it was not in Moscow's interests for Iran to normalize relations with the West.”
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2021

When the CEO’s son makes $3 million, I worry

Transactions with related parties, which include both relatives of and entities controlled by company insiders, have a long and checkered history.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2021

The myth of America’s Anglo-Saxon political traditions

America's founding fathers were well aware of the Saxon theory — Thomas Jefferson studied the subject — but they didn't emphasize it publicly.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2021

The pandemic will be more deadly this year — particularly for India

The more people infected in emerging countries, the more opportunities COVID-19 will have to develop into fresh strains and prolong this death and misery.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2021

As satellites proliferate, telescopes go dark

Satellites reflect sunlight, causing bright trails across the night sky, which in turn can impede crucial observations or corrupt astronomical data.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan