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By spurring the ASEAN countries to deepen cooperation, with one another and with others, U.S. tariffs could bring about an even more prosperous — and, crucially, resilient — grouping.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2025

Trump vs. a united ASEAN

By spurring the ASEAN countries to deepen cooperation, U.S. tariffs could bring about an even more prosperous — and, crucially, resilient — grouping.
The launch of Vayve Mobility Eva, India's first solar electric vehicle, at the New Delhi auto show in January. An uptick in SEV development and adoption could help least developed and small island states leapfrog to a cleaner transport sector.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2025

Solar EVs are a ray of hope for cutting emissions

Decarbonizing transport is key to cutting emissions in least developed and small island developing states, where travel demand is growing. Solar EVs offer a bright way forward.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (right) speaking at the Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

Japan OKs gender policy guidelines featuring aid for women's startups

The initiative contains support for female entrepreneurship through gender equality centers set up by local governments.
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.
Gen. Jennie Carignan, Canada’s Chief of the Defense Staff, attends an interview with The Japan Times on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2025

Japan ‘priority’ as Canada eyes bigger Asian footprint, military chief says

Ottawa's concerns about what it sees as growing challenges to the current world order are driving its Asia push.
Japanese pension funds are moving to appoint chief investment officers with expertise to improve risk management and help make more effective market deals.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2025

Japanese pension funds holding $400 billion hire their first CIOs

Until recently, senior administrators often with limited experience doing deals in financial markets were responsible for making investment decisions.
A plastic bottle lies on the sand at Maccarese beach in Italy in 2018.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 10, 2025

Development banks to invest €3 billion in ocean plastics fight

Plastic waste entering the water could triple to up to 37 million metric tons per year by 2040, from around 11 million tons in 2021, the U.N. estimates.
Of the 1,830 children who got into a traffic accident between 2020 and 2024, 613, or 33.5%, ran out into the street, according to a government report.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2025

Dart-out cases common among schoolchildren's traffic accidents in Japan

Of the 1,830 children who got into such accidents while walking between 2020 and 2024, 613, or 33.5%, ran out into the street.
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.
A hydroelectric dam near Shannan in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in March 2025
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2025

Catastrophe on the roof of the world

As the source of 10 major rivers that sustain nearly 20% of the world’s population, the Plateau’s degradation threatens regional water security, food systems and biodiversity.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a Liberal Democratic Party executive meeting in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

As election looms, Ishiba pledges ¥1 quadrillion GDP by 2040

Ahead of the Upper House election, the prime minister has unveiled the ambitious target, along with raising the average income by at least half.
South Korean musical "Maybe Happy Ending" won big at the 78th Tony Awards in New York on June 8. From left: Hunter Arnold, Dez Duron, Marcus Choi, Hue Park, Helen J. Shen, Darren Criss, Will Aronson and Jeffrey Richards.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jun 11, 2025

South Korean musical 'Maybe Happy Ending' tops Broadway's Tony Awards

The awards celebrated Broadway's biggest year since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testifies before a Senate Committee in Washington, on May 14.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 11, 2025

Kennedy's firing of CDC panel undermines vaccine confidence, experts say

The firing of the vaccine committee comes weeks before a public meeting in which advisers were to vote on the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine boosters.
A pollster for the national census leaves a note at a house in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, in September 2020 after no one answered the door.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 11, 2025

Japan faces staffing challenges for crucial census

The pollster workforce is aging, while increased public concerns over privacy have led more residents to refuse to participate.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard (second from right) poses with U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass (third from left) and U.S. Marines during a visit to the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture on June 4.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 11, 2025

U.S. intel chief warns ‘warmongers’ fomenting nuclear war after Hiroshima visit

U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s unusual remarks seemed to echo Russian talking points on the war in Ukraine.
Politics find a way into the bedroom as a stay-at-home wife (Ami Chong, left) clandestinely tends to a series of johns (including Kenji Iwaya, right) in “A Unique Country in Asia.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2025

‘A Unique Country in Asia’: Sex and politics make for strange bedfellows

With sex work and small talk, Kenji Yamauchi’s politically sharp film paints a complex portrait of modern Japan.
U.S. Marines conduct beach rehearsals with the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) in preparation for Exercise Kamandag in Aparri, the Philippines, on May 23.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 11, 2025

U.S. military drills in Philippines end — but anti-ship missile system stays

Confirmation that the NMESIS coastal defense system will remain in the Philippines is likely to anger Beijing, which has already been calling for the missile system to be removed.
June is Pride Month, which means it’s the perfect time to get acquainted with how sexual minorities have been represented in Japanese fiction if you’re not familiar with these narratives already.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 11, 2025

Pride and prose: Novels that illuminate queer lives in Japan

From Yukio Mishima and Haruki Murakami to Li Kotomi and Akira Otani, dive into Japanese fiction’s LGBTQ+ narratives in honor of Pride Month.
Novak Djokovic plays a forehand return to Italy's Jannik Sinner during their men's singles semifinal match on day 13 of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on June 6, 2025.
TENNIS
Jun 11, 2025

No rest, no gain: Novak Djokovic’s go-to tools for a mind and body reset

Japan residents with deep pockets now have a chance to replicate Djokovic’s wellness and longevity routines at Aman Tokyo.
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.
Former Lower House lawmaker Shiori Yamao at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 11, 2025

DPP withdraws election candidacy of scandal-hit Shiori Yamao

The move came in the wake of backlash aimed at the party for fielding Yamao, who has been mired in a series of scandals.
U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng shake hands at Lancaster House in London on Monday.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2025

Deal to get U.S.-China trade truce back on track is done, Trump says

The deal removes Chinese export restrictions on rare earth minerals and allows Chinese students access to U.S. universities.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before a Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services budget in Washington on May 20.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 12, 2025

Kennedy replaces fired U.S. CDC vaccine panel members

His appointments include several who have advocated against vaccines.
In an annual gender gap report, Japan recorded its strongest gains in economic participation, where its score climbed to 61.3% from 56.8% in 2024.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 12, 2025

Japan ranks 118th out of 148 countries in gender gap report

Japan's gender parity ranking was unchanged from a year ago and is still the lowest among Group of Seven countries.
United Wa State Army (UWSA) soldiers march during a media display in Pansang, Wa territory in northeast Myanmar in 2016. The armed group controls one of the world's largest tin mines.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 12, 2025

China-backed militia secures control of new rare earth mines in Myanmar

Beijing is heavily reliant on Myanmar for the rare earth metals and oxides needed to produce magnets that power critical goods.
Relatives of victims who died in the Air India plane crash mourn as they wait outside the postmortem room at a hospital, in Ahmedabad, India, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 12, 2025

Search for answers hastens in Air India crash that killed over 240

Questions are growing over how and why the 787-8 Dreamliner, bound for London, exploded into a huge fireball just minutes after takeoff.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has no plans to dissolve the Lower House during the current session, which lasts through June 22.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 13, 2025

Upper House election set for July 20, media report says

Campaigning for the election is set to begin on July 3.
Momentum appears to be building toward what Osaka Expo organizers hope will be a boom period for the event as they try to recoup ballooning costs via ticket sales. But long lines are making some guests weary.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2025

Two months in, Osaka Expo organizer struggles to improve experience as crowds grow

Even before the expo reaches its peak attendance, some visitors are already growing weary of the long lines.
The public breakdown between U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk highlights a familiar pattern among authoritarian leaders: They elevate allies only to discard them when their loyalty falters or their influence threatens the throne.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2025

No loyalty lasts: Why authoritarians always betray their allies

The very public and acrimonious split between U.S. President Donald Trump and his once-favorite aide, Elon Musk, would be amusing if it were not so terrifying. Their puerile public feud demonstrated just how insecure — even unhinged — the world’s most powerful person and its wealthiest really are....
A 250-meter-long bus stop roof using perovskite solar cells in the city of Osaka
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 13, 2025

Government paper seeks to link next-gen energy tech to business opportunities

The white paper stated that Japanese products are leading the world in terms of their durability and larger sizes, which are key features for commercialization.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji