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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2021

How to be smart about taxes on Bitcoin

Lots of crypto investors might be tempted to hide their heads in the tax-planning sand, and it's easy to see why. The tax issues are complex.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 11, 2021

What we know about the Indian variant as COVID-19 sweeps South Asia

India has recorded the world's sharpest spike in coronavirus infections this month, with political and financial capitals New Delhi and Mumbai running out of hospital beds, oxygen and medicine.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
May 8, 2021

Former weightlifter says women being told to 'be quiet' when complaining about transgender competitor

New Zealand's Laurel Hubbard is on track to become the first transgender athlete to compete at an Olympics.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 6, 2021

Vaccines work on this India variant. Experts fret about the next.

As infections surge by more than 300,000 cases for 14 straight days, India's limited ability to track new mutations emerging from its outbreak is a growing concern for scientists.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 4, 2021

Your car is about to be a software platform, subscriptions and all

Most major automakers are fleshing out a strategy for selling upgrades via over-the-air software updates, and a rash of them will start popping up in the wild in the next few months.
Then-U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol attend an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework event at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 15, 2025

U.S. designated South Korea a 'sensitive' country amid talk of nuclear weapons

The move after the South Korean president briefly imposed martial law and amid talk of Seoul potentially developing nuclear weapons.
A ship fires missiles toward an undisclosed location, after U.S. President Donald Trump launched military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released on Saturday.
WORLD
Mar 17, 2025

U.S. vows to keep hitting Houthis until shipping attacks stop

The Houthi-run health ministry said U.S. airstrikes on Saturday killed at least 53 people.
Bank of Japan headquarters building in February. In January, the BOJ voted to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25%, taking it to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 17, 2025

Bank of Japan unlikely to raise rates this week as trade war intensifies

The central bank voted to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25% in January, taking it to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
Megan Garcia
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 18, 2025

Teen’s suicide turns mother against Google and AI chatbot startup

Megan Garcia says her son would still be alive today if it weren’t for a chatbot urging the 14-year-old to take his own life.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the White House on Thursday directing the secretary of the Department of Education to take steps to close the agency.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2025

Cutting the department of education is theater, not a plan

Despite all the pomp, Trump is focused on fixing the wrong problem and that presents Democrats with a perfect opportunity.
Federal officers carrying out U.S. immigration enforcement near Rockville, Maryland, prepare a Filipino man for transport to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office for processing on Feb. 6.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 24, 2025

Thousands of agents diverted to Trump immigration crackdown

U.S. federal agents who usually hunt down child abusers, money launderers, drug traffickers and tax evaders are now pursuing immigrants who live in the U.S. illegally.
The BYD logo is displayed at the Beijing Auto Show on April 25, 2024. The Chinese battery and carmaker saw a surge in revenue last year, a stock filing showed on Monday, surpassing the $100 billion mark and beating rival Tesla as the Shenzhen-based firm accelerates its overseas expansion.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 25, 2025

BYD sales top Tesla as tech focus wins over Chinese drivers

BYD has risen quickly to the top of China’s car market — the world’s biggest and most competitive for electric vehicles.
Ukraine will do its "job" and hold up its end of agreements reached with the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Kyiv on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

U.S. says Black Sea truce set even as the Kremlin lays out terms

The U.S. said Russia and Ukraine agreed to the ceasefire even as the Kremlin said its involvement would depend on a series of preconditions.
European Union nations and Japan fret about a world without the U.S. security umbrella. They could ease their fears by moving closer together.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 26, 2025

Japan-Europe: The security alliance the world needs now

Even before Trump’s return, Europe and Japan both rapidly needed to shift from their peacetime posture to one preparing for war.
Travelers wait to check in at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Mar 28, 2025

Economic turbulence shakes U.S. airlines as travel demand falters

With demand slowing, airlines have started culling flights to avoid lowering fares and to protect margins.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press aboard Air Force One before arriving at Palm Beach International Airport in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 29, 2025

Trump prompts U.S. allies to reopen nuclear weapons debate

Donald Trump's attacks on NATO and the established world order are undermining the confidence of its allies under the U.S. security umbrella.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions are rekindling long-simmering discussions about whether overseas governments will accelerate efforts to rely less on the dollar.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Mar 29, 2025

Trump is eroding the dollar’s dominance in world markets

The U.S. president's escalating fusillade of tariffs and bid to roll back decades of globalization is shaking confidence in the U.S. currency.
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at a rally in Surrey, British Columbia, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 30, 2025

Trump drama drowns out Canadian Conservatives’ election message

Trump has drowned out the debate on domestic issues with his barrage of tariffs and proclamations that the country should be the 51st U.S. state.
Customers browse Amorepacific cosmetics at the store inside the company's headquarters in Seoul.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 31, 2025

Seoul overtakes Paris in beauty boom with dealmakers rushing in

South Korea last year became the top exporter of cosmetics to the United States, overtaking France, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
In a series of meetings and calls over the weekend, officials inside U.S. President Donald Trump's White House and State Department acknowledged that Russian President Vladimir Putin is actively resisting Washington’s attempts to strike a lasting peace accord with Ukraine.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2025

Trump officials eye a longer road to Ukraine peace as frustration mounts

At the start of his administration, the Trump team set out to reach a full ceasefire by April or May. They hoped to broker a lasting peace deal in the following months.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing, as headlines from articles on U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs are displayed, at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 2, 2025

White House says Trump to go ahead with tariffs as nervous world awaits trade war

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said reciprocal tariffs on countries that impose duties on U.S. goods would take effect immediately after Trump announces them.
Japanese cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama. The United States will start collecting new 25% import duties on cars and car parts from Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2025

Japan has some cards to play in trade war with the United States 

It could offer voluntary restraints on exports, or it could offer to buy more from the U.S. in order to reduce the trade surplus with that country.
U.S. officials have insisted that Washington remains committed to NATO, an alliance that has seen American military might underpin Western security for over seven decades.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2025

NATO presses to keep Trump on board, but is he hobbling alliance?

As the Trump administration savages Europe, undercuts Kyiv and warms to Russia, there is fear that even if the alliance is salvaged, it runs the risk of being hollowed out.
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%

The higher "reciprocal” rates are based on a government tally of levies and nontariff barriers that countries impose on U.S. goods.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio shakes hands with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers meeting at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.
WORLD
Apr 3, 2025

U.S. to remain in NATO, Rubio says, but higher defense spending needed

Rubio said Washington’s goal is for member states to prioritize defense spending to enable the alliance to become “stronger and more viable.”
U.S. President Donald Trump walks in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington on Wednesday, the day of his remarks on tariffs.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 4, 2025

For Trump, tariff gamble brings political risk

If his promises to recast the economy don't work out, it could cause political headwinds for his party and economic pain for his constituents.
A doctor administers COVID-19 vaccinations to members of the Latino community in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, in August 2021.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 5, 2025

As U.S. ditches diversity in clinical trials, all eyes on Europe

The United States once led the world in running clinical trials that aimed to look like the nation at large.
People embrace at the site of a deadly Russian missile strike on a residential area, where multiple children and adults were killed, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, on Saturday.
WORLD
Apr 6, 2025

Zelenskyy slams 'weak' U.S. response to Russian strike on his hometown

The missile strike on his hometown killed 18 people, including nine children.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes