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Up until very recently, the business of packaging semiconductors — encasing chips in materials that both protect them and connect them to the electronic device they’re part of — was, at best, an afterthought for the industry.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 22, 2023

A new front is opening up in the U.S.-China conflict over chips

The process of packaging semiconductors is increasingly seen as the "secret sauce" — a path toward achieving higher performance.
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 22, 2023

Things get warmer with Xi; Johnny’s get the cold shoulder

While Japan and China look to ease tensions, NHK makes things tense with a Johnny’s-less “Kohaku” announcement.
Cormorant fishing master Youichiro Adachi (left) holds the leashes tied to the necks and bodies of cormorants on the Nagara River in Oze, Gifu Prefecture, on Sept. 8.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 30, 2023

Environmental change threatens Japan's cormorant fishing legacy

The method of fishing was once common in Japan, and a version of it has also been practiced in China
Bengals quarterback Jake Browning passes against the Ravens in the third quarter of their game at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium on Nov. 16.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Nov 23, 2023

Bengals and Steelers in transition heading into division showdown

Two teams undergoing significant midseason changes and turmoil will collide when when the Cincinnati Bengals host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Many moods come and go, inspiring our art. Though love could be fleeting, it proved the most inspirational of all.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Nov 27, 2023

Tales of a Closed Country: Part 2

Even Japan's "sakoku" policies couldn't deter the lovers, artists and poets from their muses. After all, we humans tend to look for beauty where we can.
A person walks past a COP28 sign in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 1.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 28, 2023

Biggest climate talks ever confront global chaos and record heat

Greenhouse gas emissions are still rising, and promises to cut pollution remain insufficient to take the risk of unmanageable warming off the table.
Sultan Al Jaber strongly denied reports that he used his position as COP president to pitch new oil and gas investments to governments.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2023

COP28 president denies using climate talks to push oil deals

The allegations against Sultan Al Jaber have fanned long-running suspicions over the wisdom of a petrostate hosting the climate talks.
Hayao Miyazaki came out of retirement this year with “The Boy and the Heron,” which opened to critical acclaim and has so far earned ¥8.56 billion — a good showing but not enough to take the top spot at the box office for the year.
CULTURE / Film / 2023 in Review
Nov 30, 2023

The year that defined the post-Miyazaki era

The success of “Oshi no Ko,” “Detective Conan” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” proved that anime is the mainstream now.
A truck unloads tons of coal inside a warehouse in Tondo, Metro Manila, in 2016. Independent show ample potential for renewables in Japan and Southeast Asia.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Dec 3, 2023

How Japan's renewable underestimates are impacting Asia's energy transition

Contrary to Japan's stance, independent projections paint a picture in which renewables can power the fast developing region.
Filmmaker Kah Wai Lim (left) interviews the owners of 22 independent cinemas across Japan about the difficulties and joys of running a “mini-theater” in “This Magic Moment.”
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2023

‘This Magic Moment’: Mini-theaters keep indie cinema love alive

Kah Wai Lim highlights the resilient determination of small theater owners across the country who keep their businesses afloat against the odds.
While broad-based action at the COP28 summit is critical, the fact is that just a few key actors such as the U.S., China and India have the power to bring about a radical reduction in global emissions.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2023

COP28 can deliver progress on climate change, but will it?

Committed global climate action at every level of government, the economy, and society is needed to tackle such a complex, multifaceted challenge.
People wait to board trains at the Hongqiao railway station in Shanghai ahead of the National Day holiday on Sept. 28.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 7, 2023

China holds back from easing of Mao-era rules, in blow to economy

An internal passport system has largely tethered people's destinies to their place of origin since the 1950s.
The COP28 climate conference is being held at Expo City Dubai for a total of 100,000 attendees, 2,000 of which are from fossil fuel companies.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 11, 2023

COP28 like a trade show? That’s not a bad thing.

Some lament the presence of many fossil fuel representatives among the 100,000 attendees of COP28 in Dubai, failing to recognize their key role.
The Royal Theater in the city of Gifu screens 35-millimeter films.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Dec 18, 2023

Mini-theater showing 35mm films is struggling to survive

Massive amounts of funds are needed to renovate the aged facility and people involved in the theater are seeking ways to keep the place alive.
U.S. President Joe Biden greets his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Woodside, California, on Nov. 15 during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 19, 2023

Thaw in U.S.-China ties driven by domestic issues

There were no breakthroughs in Biden-Xi summit. But since then, there has been a lowering of tension and a rare sense of stability in the relationship.
While Hayao Miyazaki’s return to filmmaking, “The Boy and the Heron,” did not attain the ¥10 billion milestone that the beloved animator’s movies had once routinely surpassed, it debuted at the top of the North American box office and became the first original anime film to lead the box office in the United States and Canada.
CULTURE / Film / 2023 in Review
Dec 15, 2023

Japan’s auteurs and anime triumphed in 2023

From Hayao Miyazaki's “The Boy and the Heron” to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Monster,” the box-office hits kept coming.
A U.S. Steel coke works in Clairton, Pennsylvania
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2023

A steel deal that’s good for Japan and the U.S.

Nippon Steel’s announcement that it plans to purchase U.S. Steel has triggered an uproar in the United States.
Workers push damaged solar panels into a machine to be recycled at the We Recycle Solar plant in Yuma, Arizona.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 25, 2023

'Urban mining' offers green solution to old solar panels

Silver, copper, aluminum, glass and silicone are all commodities that can be harvested from old panels and have value on the open market.
Economists often struggle to predict business downturns and different economic theories may apply in different situations.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2023

What economists got wrong about the Great Recession

Macroeconomics faces challenges and limitations in predicting and understanding economic events.
A colorful coral reef made out of wool to raise awareness about climate change, at a museum in Baden-Baden, Germany, in January 2022
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Dec 31, 2023

The art world's big planetary problem

Over the last five years, it’s become increasingly clear to major art institutions in Japan and around the world that the sector has a sustainability issue.
Books published by Tuttle Publishing on a bookshelf in Infinity Books in Tokyo's Sumida Ward on Saturday
CULTURE / Books
Jan 3, 2024

Asia publishing mainstay Tuttle rides new wave of interest in Japan

The back catalog of Tuttle, which traces its history in Japan to 1948, is in high demand, and it has even branched out to graphic novel versions of classic Asian literature.
Carbon capture could help mitigate emissions at polluting power plants, but with the technology largely unproven at scale, it also risks extending their lives.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 5, 2024

The world’s next big carbon capture challenge? Figuring out how to use it

Fossil fuel industry's involvement raises fears that the technology might be used to prolong oil and gas extraction, while costs and scalability could limit its utility.
Makoto Miyauchi, CEO of B-Lot
ESG CONSORTIUM
Jan 8, 2024

Young B-Lot is on the realty A list for renovations plus innovations

It has been 15 years since the founding of B-Lot Co., a real estate investment, consulting and management company, and nine years since it was publicly listed. It is still a relative youngster in the industry, which is also polarized between giant players serving large enterprises and small ones targeting...
Donald Trump’s wealth and foreign ties are under scrutiny after a new report from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sheds light on financial conflicts during his presidency. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2024

Trump took $7.8 million in foreign cash while in office. He’d do it again.

National security is at stake if a president puts his or her wallet before the public interest.
Snow falls on collapsed buildings in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 7, as the area began to look toward recovery from the massive earthquake that struck on Jan. 1.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jan 17, 2024

'Noto is kind, right down to its soil': A community's long road to recovery

Volunteers are coming together to help each other in the wake of disaster. However, eventually isolated rural villages will need rethinking.
NBA players take part in a training session in Johannesburg in 2015. The Basketball Africa League, now entering its fourth season, is the NBA’s sole professional league outside the U.S., and its most ambitious international expansion since it attempted to break through in China two decades ago on the coattails of Hall of Fame center Yao Ming.
BASKETBALL
Jan 14, 2024

NBA’s Africa league struggles to find fans as it faces mounting losses

The Basketball Africa League is the NBA’s sole professional league outside the U.S., and its most ambitious international expansion in years.
A vehicle carrying Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang arrives during an official visit in Kehrsatz, near Bern, in Switzerland, on Monday. Li is visiting Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 16, 2024

China set to woo global elites with large delegation at Davos forum

Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang will make a special address on Tuesday, and will be the most senior Chinese official to attend Davos since President Xi Jinping in 2017.
Li Qiang at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Jan 17, 2024

In Davos, Chinese premier takes aim at trade 'barriers'

Li's remarks came as the World Economic Forum's 54th annual conference is preoccupied with a slew of global risks, including wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced his resignation after eight years in office on New Year’s Eve, 1999. His chosen successor was then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who succeeded him.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2024

Putin’s search for a usable past

Money was the one thing that would animate his reign. It was clear from the start that the businessman took precedence over the politician in Putin’s personality.
People gather on top of Tata Consultancy Services pavilion on which a slogan related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) is displayed, during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 18, 2024

Philippines to propose ASEAN AI regulatory framework

The move will be a challenge in ASEAN, a region comprised of 10 countries with widely differing views on censorship, intellectual property, misinformation and social media.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.