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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2023

Why the future of technology is so hard to predict

It's 2023, yet we're not all riding Segways, having sex with robots or cloning humans. What gives?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2023

In defense of the art-targeting climate activists

The eco-activists targeting masterpieces can claim that civil disobedience is justified by the failure of our democracies to show sufficient concern about future generations.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 5, 2023

CCTV cameras will watch over Egyptians in new high-tech capital

Installing more than 6,000 surveillance cameras across the New Administrative Capital may help with safety, but it also gives authorities an unparalleled ability to police public spaces.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Jan 2, 2023

Recruitment issues undermining Japan’s military buildup

The SDF faces an uphill battle as it struggles with a falling birthrate and increased competition with the private sector over a shrinking pool of applicants.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Women at Work
Dec 27, 2022

Battling the odds to rise to the top: One woman's career in the IT sector

Yuki Shingu found taking a career break to help nurse her ailing father gave her a broader perspective on her rise through company ranks.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2022

Java without java? The crisis brewing in coffee

The Indonesian island is a byword for caffeine. The woes piling up for the coffee industry are on full display.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 23, 2022

What Taiwan can learn from Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy knew his audience when he addressed a joint session of Congress in Washington, Taipei should do the same if it wants to secure U.S. support.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 21, 2022

10 years after Sandy Hook, a mother's grief and healing

The massacre shocked America and the world, sparked heightened security measures at schools and renewed a contentious fight for gun control laws that continues a decade later.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Dec 15, 2022

Children of India's burning coalfields dream of a fire-free future

Youth face an uphill struggle in an area where there is no other thriving industry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2022

Sho Miyake's ‘Small, Slow but Steady’ brings audiences into a silent ring

Rather than try to beat the 'Rocky' movies at their own game, the director subverts tropes and focuses on the beauty of boxing in his film about a deaf pro fighter.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 6, 2022

From flickering fireflies to lowly dung beetles, insects are vanishing

Amid deforestation, pollution and climate change, bugs are struggling — along with the crops, flowers and animals that rely on them to survive.
School children walking on a road submerged by sea water at Timbulsloko village in Demak, Indonesia.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 24, 2023

'Slow disaster': Indonesians in sinking village forced to adapt

More than 200 people remain in one of Indonesia's fastest sinking areas, an alarming symbol of how climate change could upend coastal communities everywhere.
A disturbing factor that may ultimately defeat the all-volunteer military force is the growing political division across the U.S., which is diminishing the young people's faith in America.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2023

U.S. military’s recruiting woes are a national-security crisis

The U.S. military's struggle to entice even the most surefire candidates — the children of veterans — puts the future of the all-volunteer force in doubt.
A man sits on his own at a taco stand on Kokusai Street in Naha.
COMMUNITY / Issues
Jul 2, 2023

Peacemaking of a different sort in Okinawa

Through therapy and community outreach, counseling service TELL draws on the personal experiences of its clinicians and support workers to help various communities in Okinawa.
A woman (Rinko Kikuchi) shut off from the world confronts her unresolved fury toward her dead father in “Yoko.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 28, 2023

Rinko Kikuchi completely commits to raw performance in ‘Yoko’

The Oscar-nominated actor plays a socially isolated woman who attempts to hitchhike her way to her estranged father's funeral in Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s powerful road movie.
Migrants are seen on a metal boat as members of the Tunisian coastguard try to stop them at sea during their attempt to cross to Italy, off Sfax, Tunisia, on April 27.
WORLD
Jul 28, 2023

Tunisia says 900 migrants drowned off its coast this year

Tunisia has become a major gateway for irregular migrants and asylum-seekers attempting the perilous sea voyages in often rickety boats in the hopes of a better life in Europe.
While certain professions necessitate advanced degrees, for others, it's essential to weigh the potential benefits against the cost and debt burden.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2023

Grad school is not the escape you are looking for

Layoffs across technology and finance along with the threat from AI may make a higher degree seem a sensible bet. Don’t be fooled.
A major bonus of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme is the time it offers you to be able to plan for long-term goals. Writer Erik M. Jacobs was able to map out what he needed to pursue a career in U.S.-Japan relations, for example.
COMMUNITY / Issues / Learning Curve
Aug 8, 2023

Every situation is different on JET, but they're all similarly rewarding

As a new wave of JET Program participants arrives in the country, a program alumni shares tips on getting the most out of the experience.
Masae Yamanaka joins colleagues from Panasonic Connect to take part in the Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade in April.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Aug 3, 2023

How one woman's career in sales flourished across four companies

As she rose through sales in various companies, Masae Yamanaka stuck to her mother’s teachings: keep working, commit to actions.
The wife of an author turns into a forest after a fight with her husband and growing tired of serving as the idealized and sexualized subject of his novels in Maru Ayase's "The Forest Brims Over."
CULTURE / Books
Aug 12, 2023

Maru Ayase takes a hard look at Japanese misogyny in 'The Forest Brims Over'

Translated by Haydn Trowell, author Maru Ayase takes the reader into a surreal world to deal with a problematic issue.
Elizabeth Kutschke at the park with her son Ben, who was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2023

When a $2 million gene therapy is not enough

Ben is one of a growing number of patients with spinal muscular atrophy whose doctors are turning to additional drugs in addition to gene therapy.
A playful photo of Japanese female politicians on a work trip to Paris drew much criticism back home. The backlash may be one of the reasons women choose to avoid public service.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2023

Japan has a misery-loves-company problem

The backlash to government officials' lighthearted moment is a prime example of how to undermine workers.
Manchester Crown Court, the venue for the trial of Lucy Letby, who was found guilty of murdering seven newborn babies and trying to kill another six.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 19, 2023

'I am evil': British nurse guilty of murdering seven newborn babies

Lucy Letby, 33, was convicted of killing five baby boys and two baby girls and attacking other newborns.
Alexis Ryoko Nishizawa (left) facilitates workshops for people with curly hair during which she shares the basics with attendees.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 20, 2023

In Japan, curly hair makes you stand out. This entrepreneur says 'embrace it.'

Nishizawa has become a go-to guide for people in Japan looking to tame and style their natural wavy, curly and coily hair.
A COVID-19 test swab is placed into a tube in Hilversum, the Netherlands, in November 2020.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 22, 2023

Two years after catching COVID, patients still risk getting sick

People who were not hospitalized for acute COVID-19 still had a higher risk than uninfected people of developing long COVID-related disorders.
Takeshi Kimura, special adviser to the board for Nippon Life Insurance Co.
ESG CONSORTIUM
Aug 28, 2023

PRI’s global ESG investing talks in Tokyo to tackle ‘sense of crisis’

The leading global conference on responsible investment will be held in Tokyo for the first time this fall, focusing on what investors can do to make society sustainable at a time when many industries are struggling to meet their targets for combating climate change.
Korean writer-director Kim Sung Hwan's "Iron Mask" took one of the two top awards at this year's Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) in South Korea.
CULTURE / Film / CULTURE SMASH
Aug 30, 2023

Does South Korea now have the edge over Japan when it comes to film?

While Korean cinema tackles universal topics, Japanese studios are content to navel-gaze.
Singer Jimmy Buffett performs during NBC's "Today" show Summer Concert Series in New York City in July 2016.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 2, 2023

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett dies at 76

Jimmy Buffett, the American singer-songwriter who went from Key West beach bum to billionaire behind the always-on-vacation "Margaritaville" commercial empire, has died at the age of 76.
A self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle in San Francisco in 2017
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2023

With self-driving cars, it's the ethics we have to navigate

Do accidents involving self-driving cars today save lives tomorrow? When it comes to self-driving cars, the challenges aren't just technical, but ethical.
Nobody wishes for a medical emergency, but preparing for one while you're in a foreign country can only make things easier.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Sep 18, 2023

How to avoid medical purgatory when hospitalized in Japan

Much like a legal will, a visit to the hospital is the last thing for which you want to prepare — yet doing so will save you stress and worry.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years