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Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 28, 2021

As India reels, vaccine hoarding could backfire on rich nations

There is a growing realization that vaccine nationalism has the potential to ultimately prolong the pandemic.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 6, 2021

Worst COVID-19 surge in Southeast Asia hammers Philippine hospitals

Daily infections rose to a record last week in the Southeast Asian nation, where one in nearly five COVID-19 tests comes back positive.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2021

How Japan tracks arrivals from abroad to curb the spread of new virus strains

Despite stringent border controls, new variants have been found in the country, prompting the government to suspect that arrivals may not have been properly self-isolating.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 16, 2021

Germany and France halt AstraZeneca vaccine despite regulator assurances

Suspensions across Europe mark a U-turn for some countries that had previously said inoculations should continue while reports of serious blood clotting are investigated.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 10, 2021

Japan’s lack of preparedness: Lessons from Fukushima and COVID-19

Abrupt decisions, poor information dissemination and a lack of foresight hampered efforts to assist the country through crises.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 19, 2021

Japan's new COVID-19 vaccine czar Taro Kono commits to rapid yet safe rollout

The nation is preparing to vaccinate, starting with medical workers and older people, based on hopes that Pfizer's vaccine will be approved here by mid-February.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 15, 2021

Why many Asian countries are being cautious on vaccines

The nations quickest to enact social distancing and contact-tracing systems have mostly kept COVID-19 in check, but their citizens now find themselves lagging in receiving vaccinations.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2021

COVID-19 batters Asia’s already-struggling democracies

In Asia in particular, democratic or quasi-democratic governments have taken advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen their grips on power.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Dec 29, 2020

'I won’t take it': China struggles to get the world to trust its vaccines

That uncertainty presents another roadblock in China's efforts to extend its political influence across Asia, Africa and South America.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2020

Demand for private COVID-19 testing surges ahead of New Year's holiday

Many planning visits home are hoping to take precautions before they go, even as the health ministry warns of the pitfalls of unofficial testing.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 22, 2020

'Little ghosts': Hundreds of Thai migrants have died in South Korea, investigation finds

Advocates say migrants are overworked, unable to access health care and unlikely to report exploitation for fear of being deported.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 16, 2020

The virus trains: How lockdown chaos spread COVID-19 across India

Special trains operated by the government to ease suffering — and to counteract a disastrous lack of lockdown planning — instead played a significant role in spreading the coronavirus.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 11, 2020

Cases surge in South Korea with COVID-19 vaccine still months away

South Korea's daily number of new cases was once as low as two per day. That number soared tou200b 682 on Thursday, with health officials warning it could reach record highs in coming days.
Palestinians try to put out a fire at the emergency department of the Nasser Hospital after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Mar 24, 2025

Airstrike on Gaza hospital kills 5; Israel says target was Hamas militant

The Israeli military said its attack followed extensive intelligence and used precise munitions to minimize harm at the site.
Rohingya refugees hold up signs at a camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on March 14.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 28, 2025

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh fear U.S. aid cuts will deepen crisis

The U.S. had been the largest provider of aid to the Rohingya refugees, contributing nearly $2.4 billion since 2017, according to a State Department website.
Demonstrators gather in support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outside the agency's main campus in Atlanta on March 28.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 8, 2025

Volunteers on 'right side of history' fight Trump data purge

The Trump administration has gutted several federal agencies, fired tens of thousands of employees and altered or deleted thousands of government webpages since taking office.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enters the White House in Washington on April 7.
WORLD
Apr 20, 2025

Israel's Netanyahu says military to increase pressure on Hamas

Hamas, whose militants carried out the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war, has said it would only free the remaining hostages under a deal that ends the war.
Of the 721,000 childbirths reported in 2024 in Japan, 13.8% involved the use of an epidural, according to the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 22, 2025

Cases of epidural use in labor rise in Japan alongside concerns

More demand for epidurals may place a strain on the nation's anesthesiologists, who are already facing staffing shortages.
The Trump administration has launched a full-scale federal "plastic patriotism" effort to eliminate paper straws, arguing they are ineffective, hazardous, more expensive and become soggy.
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2025

A world restored: The U.S. takes the offensive against paper straws

The Trump team has issued an executive order and a national strategy to rid the country of the pulpy, soggy mess of paper straws that torments too many of America's citizens.
The government should "design a specific system by around fiscal 2026 to make standard childbirth expenses free of charge,” an expert panel said, as the aging nation seeks to reverse its declining population and shrinking pool of tax-paying workers.
JAPAN
May 15, 2025

Expert panel suggests Japan’s government make childbirth free

The proposal follows a child care policy package adopted in 2023 to reverse Japan’s declining birthrate by supporting families with young children.
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD
May 16, 2025

Israeli onslaught kills scores in Gaza as Trump visits Gulf

Most of the victims were killed in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in airstrikes that hit homes and tents, Palestinian medics said.
The Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2023 launch event in Seoul in 2023. Studies have shown connections between social media use and eating disorders.
WORLD / Society
Jun 2, 2025

How social media can 'trigger' eating disorders in young people

The glorification of thinness and promotion of fake, dangerous advice about diet and nutrition push the vulnerable toward developing eating disorders.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson (right) poses with U.S. Rep. John Rutherford on the day of a vote on final passage of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2025

Republicans and Democrats look at how to use Trump's tax-cut bill in 2026 elections

Democrats view the cuts to Medicaid and food assistance in U.S. President Donald Trump's bill as ready ammunition for their future campaign.
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya explains his campaign promises in Tokyo on June 30 for the Upper House election.
COMMENTARY / Japan / From Party Leaders
Jul 4, 2025

Japan’s Do It Yourself Party: Who we are and where we are headed

Our core philosophy is “to protect Japan’s national interests and bring about harmony in the world.”
Smoke billows during an Israeli strike on Gaza on Thursday. U.S.-based Project HOPE said the strike had hit right outside its Altayara health clinic.
WORLD
Jul 11, 2025

Israeli strike kills children near Gaza clinic, with no immediate truce in sight

Repeated attacks by Israeli forces in recent weeks have put an enormous strain on Gaza's few remaining hospitals.
Hiroe Kawashimo enjoys regular walks in the city of Hiroshima.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jul 28, 2025

Woman with disabilities from atomic bombing recalls mother's dedication

The daughter of a woman exposed to radiation from the Hiroshima atomic bombing has been frail since childhood and constantly in and out of hospitals.
A nurse takes a blood sample from a child for an HIV test at a clinic in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, South Africa, on March 12.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

Tighter borders bar poor nations from summits — on poor nations

Sudanese climate activist Roaa should have been leading meetings with other youth advocates at a United Nations climate conference in Germany in June.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers