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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2021

Israel’s vaccine data has lessons for all

Tiny Israel is set to immunize its population months before far bigger and richer countries, partly by ordering early but also by sharing patient information after vaccination.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 29, 2021

WHO team in Wuhan visits hospital that treated early COVID-19 cases

The mission to look at COVID-19's origins has been plagued by delays, concern over access and bickering between China and the United States.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2021

GameStop's ‘French Revolution’ is a crypto-farce

If WallStreetBets is checkmate for old-school finance, then surely they'd want to win fair and square.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 28, 2021

Rumors and fear hinder Philippine plan for coronavirus vaccine drive

According to one rumor circulating in the Philippines, the coronavirus vaccine will allow President Rodrigo Duterte to kill people at the push of a button.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2021

Was the Capitol riot sedition? Just read the law

In many nations, the threat of sedition prosecutions has been used to criminalize dissent — to intimidate, and even imprison people who object to what the government is doing.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2021

Asia’s movie rebound is good news for everyone

In the absence of Hollywood fare, 'The Eight Hundred,” a Chinese war epic, became the world's top-grossing movie with a $460 million take.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2021

Netflix gets to say 'I told you so,' for now

The firm's strategy of spending heaps of borrowed money to produce future programming left it remarkably and uniquely prepared for the COVID-19 crisis.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 22, 2021

Diet in review: Suga defensive on virus response but steadfast on Olympics

Japan's prime minister took heat from one opposition lawmaker after another during three days of question-and-answer sessions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2021

Race back to anime’s halcyon days with 'Redline'

The action-packed film about adrenaline-chasing racers in a distant galaxy draws fervent fans for its 10th anniversary.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 21, 2021

Vietnam steps up 'chilling' crackdown on dissent ahead of key Communist Party congress

The country has seen a record number of political prisoners, longer jail terms, and increased harassment of activists in recent years.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2021

Google should fix the news industry it broke

It's in the interest of the tech giants to help the news business develop sustainable economic models, as it might ease criticism they face for having destroyed their old business models.
Officials and government leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin (center right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (center left) attend a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Victory Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Moscow on May 9.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 9, 2025

Secret Russian intelligence document shows deep suspicion of China

Some officials believe Beijing is trying to recruit Russian spies and steal sensitive military tech, at times by luring disaffected Russian scientists.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung (center) and his wife, Kim Hye-Kyung, arrive for a ceremony to mark the 70th Memorial Day at the Seoul National Cemetery on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 9, 2025

South Korean president's election law violation trial postponed indefinitely

The Seoul High Court cited the constitution for its decision to put off the hearing without specifying a date.
Amid growing global tensions and military rearmament, allies in Europe and Asia increasingly fear that under Donald Trump, the U.S. has become an unreliable partner — undermining trust, unity and the foundation of the postwar international order.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2025

Whose side is the U.S. on? Doubts strain alliances

The U.S. once anchored a stable world order. Now, with rising threats from China and Russia, allies scramble to adapt as Washington sends mixed signals on defense and trade.
The messy, transactional fallout between Donald Trump and Elon Musk has exposed a toxic alliance built on money, power and chaos — one that now threatens both men’s influence and the stability of U.S. governance.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 9, 2025

The MAGA odd couple turns combustible

The world’s most powerful man and the world’s richest man have fallen out. No matter who wins, America loses.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes warms up before Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans last February. Flag football is set to debut at the 2028 Olympics — but if the NFL wants the sport to thrive globally, it should resist overshadowing it with high-profile pro players.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2025

NFL stars don’t belong on the Olympics' flag football field

If the NFL is really serious about growing football’s global footprint, it and its players should sit the Olympics out.
Members of law enforcement operate amid a standoff between police and protesters following multiple detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in the Los Angeles County city of Compton, California, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

Los Angeles ICE raids fuel controversy over masked agents

The moves have ignited a politically charged debate over whether the agents are protecting their identities or engaging in intimidation tactics.
Japan faces soaring rice prices, a powerful farming cooperative resistant to change, declining farmer numbers, falling rice consumption and conflicting government policies that hinder effective reform of the sector.
COMMENTARY
Jun 10, 2025

How ‘vintage’ rice is shaking up Japanese politics

Rice is where consumers have drawn the line. The staple rose by 98% in the past year, adding almost half a percentage point to headline inflation.
Apple’s delayed AI rollout in China, hindered by regulatory hurdles and declining local popularity, may still succeed through a partnership with Alibaba.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2025

Can Apple salvage the AI iPhone in China?

Despite earlier reports that Apple Intelligence could launch in the country in May, the lack of a fresh announcement isn’t a total shock.
A B-2 stealth bomber drops a dummy bomb during a drill. As diplomacy falters, military options against Iran are gaining traction. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2025

Could U.S. and Israel destroy Iran’s nuke program? Yep, here’s how.

Having lost control of its decimated proxies — Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis — Iran has few moves left on the chessboard.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits one of his country's nuclear material production sites in this photo released in January.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 11, 2025

North Korea constructing new enrichment facility for nuclear bombs, experts say

The apparent new facility could help Pyongyang follow through on pledges to continue ramping up production of fissile materials.
A Japanese actress known for voicing Hello Kitty sparked national debate with an anti-immigration blog post, highlighting rising tensions over Japan’s growing foreign population and the government's slow response to related concerns.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 12, 2025

Cultural anxiety and Japan's immigration pains

Japan must address legitimate public worries without inflaming xenophobia — or risk populist backlash.
Get those umbrellas out, rainy season has arrived in much of Japan.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 12, 2025

In the forecast for June — a lot of talk about the weather

From "tsuyu" to "amayadori," the current season has no shortage of vocabulary for downpours, floods and wet weather.
The executive order U.S. President Donald Trump signed imposing a “gold standard” in science appears to champion research integrity but is seen by experts as a political move to control which evidence is accepted.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2025

This isn’t how you ‘restore gold standard’ science

There’s widespread concern the executive order could allow government officials to flag almost anything as not up to their definition of "gold standard.”
Demonstrators deploy a giant banner reading "We the People," the first three words of the U.S. Constitution's preamble, during a "No Kings" rally in Los Angeles on Saturday, on the same day as President Donald Trump's military parade in Washington.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 15, 2025

As Trump celebrates army’s founding, his critics take to the streets

U.S. President Donald Trump held a military parade the same day that hundreds of protests took place, in what amounted to a split-screen show of force.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on April 7. Netanyahu is playing a risky game by launching a war against Iran that may not stop its nuclear program and could trigger a wider conflict beyond Israel’s control.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2025

Netanyahu’s big gamble risks a quicker Iranian bomb

Whether the air strikes can indeed succeed is a very big "if.” It’s more likely that Israel can do no more than delay Iran’s nuclear program.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrives at Calgary International Airport in Canada on Sunday for a Group of Seven leaders' summit.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2025

Polls show support for Ishiba recovering ahead of election

A survey conducted over the weekend by Kyodo News showed the approval rating for Ishiba’s Cabinet at 37.0%.

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