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“Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron" provides an in-depth look into the octogenarian auteur’s creative process and personal reflections.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2024

‘Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron’ documentary meditates on auteur's creativity and legacy

Filmed with unparalleled access to Studio Ghibli, director Kaku Arakawa captures the vulnerability and genius behind master animator Hayao Miyazaki’s latest feature.
A restaurant owner waits for customers at her empty restaurant in Seoul on Oct. 31.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 11, 2024

South Korea's fading nightlife signals shift in hard-drinking culture

The change has been driven by corporate Korea's slowdown on after-work drinking sessions, younger female workers' refusal to partake and inflation.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Peruvian counterpart, Dina Boluarte, meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima on Nov. 14.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2024

U.S. wakes up to China’s growing presence in its ‘backyard’

China has long eyed Latin America’s food and mineral resources, using them to build business connections for over two decades.
Japan's success isn't rooted in mystical Eastern wisdom; it's driven by practical public policies, social standards and education, not secret life hacks.
COMMENTARY
Dec 10, 2024

Two words for current ‘ancient Japanese wisdom’: think again

Japan's success isn't rooted in mystical Eastern wisdom; it's driven by practical public policies, social standards, and education, not secret life hacks.
Najem al-Moussa, 36, his wife Bushra al-Bukaai, 30, and their five children at their home in Athens on Tuesday.
WORLD / Society
Dec 12, 2024

Syrian refugees in Europe fear being forced home after Assad's fall

"I consider my life to be here. Not just me, but my children," said one Syrian refugee who is living in Athens.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike (center) answers questions at the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly plenary session on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2024

Tokyo to make day care free to boost birth rate

The move will expand a policy of free day care for second-born and subsequent children to first-borns as well.
A protester wears a mask depicting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during a rally calling for his impeachment, in Seoul, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / ANALYSIS
Dec 12, 2024

South Korea's soft power gains at risk from extended political crisis

How the country — a top global destination for medical and plastic surgery tourism — gets through the period of uncertainty will impact foreign visitor numbers.
The head priest of Kiyomizu Temple writes the kanji "kin," which was chosen by the public as the character that best represents 2024, on Thursday in Kyoto.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2024

'Kin' selected as the kanji of 2024 after strong year for Japanese athletes

The choice also reflected the Liberal Democratic Party’s slush-fund scandal and the spate of robberies involving shady part-time jobs.
Nobuhiro Torii, executive vice president of Suntory Holdings, who will be promoted to president, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 13, 2024

Suntory Holdings names executive vice president as next boss

Nobuhiro Torii, 58, will be the first president from the firm's founding family since Nobutada Saji, 79, who served in the post from 2001 to 2014.
In a year of anime hits, Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s “Look Back” stood out from the bunch.
CULTURE / Film / 2024 in Review
Dec 13, 2024

Big franchises and bold voices dominated anime in 2024

In a year of major box-office hits such as “Conan” and “Haikyu!!,” smaller animators used nontraditional tools to stand out from the rest.
Nippon Life Insurance, Japan’s largest insurer by assets, will buy $250 million worth of convertible notes and $300 million of preferred securities issued by TCW Group.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2024

Nippon Life ramps up global push with $550 million TCW deal

The announcement comes just a day after Nippon Life agreed to buy Bermuda-based Resolution Life Group Holdings for about $8.2 billion.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s factory (left) in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Feb. 23, the day before it was officially opened
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 22, 2024

Chip cities rise in Japan’s fields of dreams

Injections of cash are transforming once-sleepy areas, lifting stagnant house prices and triggering construction booms.
Tokyo Union Church volunteers prepare food for unhoused individuals. The church helps people regardless of religion, race or sexuality.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Dec 16, 2024

From the stage to the streets, make a difference this holiday season

Discover the joy of giving back through a variety of charitable efforts. Helping others helps you, too.
People watch a TV screen, broadcasting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivering an address to the nation, at a railway station in Seoul, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 14, 2024

Yoon Suk Yeol: from rising star to impeachment

He rose from public prosecutor to South Korea's highest office in just a few years, but as president, Yoon staggered from scandal to scandal.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts at the end of his team's loss to Juventus on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Dec 15, 2024

Man City boss Pep Guardiola says no regrets over contract extension

Following a series of disappointing Premier League performances, City finds itself in fifth place with 27 points, trailing leader Liverpool by nine points.
Customers queue at a bank ATM in Lagos. Roughly 93% of total currency in circulation sits outside of banks.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 16, 2024

Nigeria’s dying ATMs leave a cash-shaped hole filled by agents

Roughly 93% of total currency in circulation — or 4 trillion naira ($2.6 billion) — sits outside of banks as of September.
Indian activists angered over the jailing of a leading Hindu monk in Bangladesh try to break a police barricade during a protest in Kolkata on Nov. 28 demanding his release.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2024

Bangladesh’s descent into Islamist violence

An unstable Bangladesh mired in radical Islamism and political violence has long been India’s geopolitical nightmare
Book Santa is a program that delivers books to children in need for Christmas, but it also operates year-round.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 17, 2024

Looking for ways to be charitable in Japan? Give the gift of reading.

Book donations are just one of many ways you can give back to the community during the holidays.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (left) and his wife, Melania (right), pose for a photo with Akie Abe, the widow of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday in this image posted on Melania Trump's X social media account.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 16, 2024

Akie Abe, widow of slain prime minister, meets with Trump

Her meeting has raised some eyebrows for coming before that of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who was unable to meet Trump last month despite numerous requests.
A Taiwan High Speed Rail bullet train arrives at Nangang Station in the city of Taipei.
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2024

Taiwan’s bullet train a testament to shinkansen’s export potential

The line runs the length of Taiwan, over mountainous, unstable territory that makes the island a perfect test bed for the fast trains.
Ko Sung-kook, a conservative commentator who hosts Kosungkook TV on YouTube, meets his fans during a rally to support President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 16, 2024

Inside South Korea's right-wing YouTube world openly embraced by Yoon

The impeached president's claims of "anti-state" pro-North Korean sympathizers as justification for martial law is a familiar theme on right-wing channels.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump embraces SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 17, 2024

SoftBank pledges $100 billion U.S. investment at Trump event

SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son’s announcement this time marks the highest-profile commitment by a company to expand investment in the U.S. since Trump’s election win.
Sulaiman, a Rohingya refugee who recently fled Myanmar, poses for a picture at a refugee camp near the town of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Nov. 22.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 17, 2024

How Myanmar’s junta is suppressing information about a hunger crisis

Junta representatives have warned aid workers against releasing data and analysis that indicate millions of people in Myanmar are experiencing serious hunger.
Adriano gestures during his friendly farewell match at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium on Sunday.
SOCCER
Dec 17, 2024

Brazil's fallen 'Emperor' Adriano bids farewell to soccer

After the 2006 World Cup, he gradually lost his place in the national team and club soccer, plagued by weight and alcohol issues.
Former England assistant coach Steve Holland has been named the new manager of Yokohama F. Marinos, taking over from interim coach John Hutchinson.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 17, 2024

Former England assistant Holland named Yokohama F. Marinos manager

Holland takes over from John Hutchinson, who stepped in as interim coach when Harry Kewell left the club due to a run of poor results in July.
Nobuko Nishizawa, the younger sister of Kotaro Nishizawa, director of a mental health clinic in Osaka who died in an arson attack three years ago, prays outside the site on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 17, 2024

Three years on, mourners remember those lost in Osaka arson attack

“My life completely changed," said one woman who lost her son in the attack on a mental health clinic in Osaka’s Kita Ward that left 26 dead.
Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida (left) and Honda President and CEO Toshihiro Mibe hold a news conference in Tokyo in March. Both automakers have been working together for months on a deal of some sort.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 18, 2024

Honda and Nissan might combine to form world’s No. 3 auto group

Mitsubishi, which has been working closely with Nissan since 2016, also might join the grouping.
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump clash with police while storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Dec 29, 2024

Will the guardrails of U.S. democracy hold?

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump continues to express admiration for authoritarian leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (right) and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Tokyo on Dec. 10 prior to talks on political, trade and economic relations
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2024

Finnish PM seeks boosted military tech ties with Japan

“Finland is keen to deepen bilateral relations, and Japan is an important strategic partner for Finland,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told The Japan Times.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Jan 5, 2025

'Guernica' is always with us

How do we account for the past year, almost nine decades after "Guernica," when all the boundaries of horror have been pulverized?

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan