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Members of emergency services work at the scene after a vehicle plunged into a crowd outside a nightclub, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles on Saturday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 20, 2025

Driver charged after plowing into Los Angeles nightclub crowd, injuring 30

The suspect, identified as 29-year-old Fernando Ramirez, was charged on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
Venus Williams competes during the Miami Open in March 2019.
TENNIS
Jul 21, 2025

Venus Williams prioritizing fun over results in return from long break

Williams is setting new personal goals, prioritizing enjoyment over results.
A police officer walks past posters of Liberal Democratic Party candidates, as well as one showing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, outside the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday. As Japan’s foreign population continues to rise, one of the talking points during Sunday’s election was how the country should deal with the increase of international residents.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

Foreign residents closely follow Japan's election and party pledges

As electoral results could impact their lives, The Japan Times asked several foreign residents to weigh in.
Modern global politics, marked by personal rivalries, nickname-driven rhetoric and apocalyptic religious fervor, resembles a “re-medievalization” that challenges the ideals of the Enlightenment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2025

The Middle Ages are making a political comeback

Increasingly medieval language from the world’s leaders does not bode well for the rest of us.
“As the first party in parliament, we have to fulfill our responsibility with the public so as to prevent politics from stagnating or drifting away,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said at a news conference at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 21, 2025

Ishiba clings to leadership after election setback

In the wake of another electoral setback, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s political capital has plunged.
An armored truck transports Russia's Geran unmanned combat aerial vehicles before a military parade on Victory Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, in Moscow on May 9.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2025

Russian TV shows teenagers making arms at 'world's biggest drone factory'

The suicide drones are used by Russia to attack Ukraine.
Fuji Rock Festival turns the green slopes of Niigata Prefecture’s Naeba Ski Resort into a summer escape that offers soundtracks for every mood.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 22, 2025

JT picks: What not to miss at Fuji Rock 2025

Ready for Fuji Rock? Here are The Japan Times crew's recommendations for must-see artists at next weekend's three-day music festival.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a news conference at Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Monday, a day after his coalition lost its Upper House majority.
COMMENTARY
Jul 22, 2025

Ishiba loses his ‘mandate from heaven’

After Sunday’s humiliation at the polls, whatever mandate from heaven Ishiba once commanded is lost.
London’s worsening disorder — from soaring petty crime to reckless delivery riders and rising drug use — reflects a decades-old pattern of authorities and citizens normalizing lawlessness.
COMMENTARY
Jul 23, 2025

What turning a blind eye to deviant behavior is doing to London

The city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, needs to take growing disorder on the streets more seriously.
Japanese passport holders have visa-free access to 190 destinations out of 227 globally.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 24, 2025

Japan ties with South Korea for second most powerful passport

Japan continues to hold the world’s second most powerful passport — tied with South Korea — according to a new global ranking.
Ichiro presents then-Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson with the bat he used to break the single-season hits record in 2004.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 24, 2025

Hall of Fame always held deeper meaning for Ichiro

Ichiro, who will be inducted into the Hall on Sunday, is so familiar with the storied museum that he could probably lead the tour that new inductees receive.
In Junglia’s Dinosaur Safari attraction during a media preview on Thursday, a casual drive through a habitat for the prehistoric creatures goes haywire when several Tyrannosaurus rexes break out of containment.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2025

Junglia, Japan’s newest theme park, opens in northern Okinawa

Open from July 25, the new Junglia theme park turns an old golf course into 22 dinosaur- and adventure sports-themed attractions.
In the village of Harie, private "kabata" springs are fed from natural groundwater for a unique take on sustainable living.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 26, 2025

How a single current keeps Shiga’s ‘village of water’ in concert

The quiet community less than an hour from Kyoto makes for a pleasant day trip away from the ancient capital’s crowds.
While the pace of gains in consumer prices in the capital slowed in July from a year earlier, the data send a fresh reminder that households are still coping with higher living costs overall.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 25, 2025

Tokyo inflation slows while staying well above BOJ’s target

A decline in utility costs helped slow the overall gauge, but households are still coping with higher living costs overall.
The city of Obihiro in Hokkaido amid scorching heat on Thursday
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2025

Extreme heat grips Japan, including even Hokkaido

Several cities in Hokkaido experienced record-high temperatures on Thursday, and Hokkaido Railway has suspended portions of its rail lines as a safety precaution.
Manhattan Beach on the California coast
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 25, 2025

‘Unprecedented’ ocean heat waves in 2023 suggest climate tipping point

The world’s oceans experienced a staggering amount of warming in 2023, as vast marine heat waves affected 96% of their surface.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after arriving at Prestwick Airport, near Glasgow, Scotland, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 26, 2025

Trump's distraction methods fall flat against Epstein uproar

The Republican's well-worn methods of changing the subject when a tough topic stings politically are not working.
Reporters and photographers, including long-time baseball beat writer Keizo Konishi, swarm around Ichiro Suzuki during the World Baseball Classic in San Diego in 2009.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 27, 2025

Three decades and a pile of notebooks: The beat writer who chronicled Ichiro’s career

For nearly three decades, this journalist's job revolved around one man — Ichiro Suzuki. But covering the baseball legend was never boring.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte looks at military equipment on the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami stealth frigate during a visit to the MSDF's naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in April.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 29, 2025

Japan and NATO to launch defense-industrial talks, top envoy says

The talks will aim to explore new areas of cooperation and facilitate coordination between the two sides’ defense and security industries.
Yukinori Okamura (left), curator at the Maruki Gallery for "The Hiroshima Panels," explains the artworks to visitors on July 4 in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2025

Almost 80 years on, 'Hiroshima Panels' pass on memories of atomic bombing

The late artist couple Iri and Toshi Maruki created the panels and continued to paint pictures of the aftermath for over 30 years based on their experiences and witness accounts.
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya speaks at a rally in Tokyo on July 21, a day after the Upper House election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 29, 2025

A fringe party or political force: Will the real Sanseito stand up?

There were a few things that might raise eyebrows, but nothing especially scary. Sanseito's published policy platform is relatively benign.
Katie Ledecky competes in the final of the women's 1500m freestyle swimming event during the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Monday.
MORE SPORTS / Swimming
Jul 30, 2025

Ledecky wins 22nd world title as Popovici savours 'scary' gold

The masterful win in Singapore moved Ledecky four short of the retired Phelps' career tally of 26 world gold medals.
A notice board at a station in Tokyo announces suspended shinkansen services due to a tsunami warning after a strong quake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday. 
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2025

A troubling reminder of Japan's vulnerability to natural disasters

There is considerable work to be done. Multiple studies and surveys of municipalities show that they are not prepared for a big incident.
Naomi Osaka pumps her first after winning a point against Jelena Ostapenko in their third round of the WTA Canadian Open in Montreal on Friday.
TENNIS
Aug 2, 2025

Sevastova topples Pegula as Osaka advances to fourth round in Montreal

Osaka is one match away from her first quarterfinal run at either a Grand Slam or WTA 1000 event since she returned from maternity leave at the start of 2024.
Miyu Yamashita poses with the trophy after winning the Women's British Open in Porthcawl, Wales, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Aug 4, 2025

Miyu Yamashita shows nerves of steel to win Women's British Open

Yamashita's previous best performance in a major was a tie for second place at last year's Women's PGA Championship.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial stands as a powerful reminder of the human cost of war and the importance of deep compassion and empathy that can inspire efforts to build a more peaceful world.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 5, 2025

Nuclear destruction through the eyes of a 10-year-old

Still, I wasn’t sure how Max would react to the enormity of the human suffering that took place in Hiroshima.
Taiwan has arrested six people on suspicions of stealing trade secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. after the chipmaker reported a number of former and current staff to authorities.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 6, 2025

Taiwan arrests six in probe of TSMC chip technology leak

The chipmaker had reported a number of former and current staff to authorities on suspicion they illegally obtained core technology.
A video on Bayraktar's Instagram account of the Belgian photographer approaching an elderly worker in Tokyo's Shibuya has gone viral, garnering almost 9 million views.
LIFE / Digital
Aug 6, 2025

Photographer Bleg Bayraktar is winning social media with politeness

Japan holds a special place in the heart of the Belgian photographer, who has shot portraits in various countries and cultivated a reputation for being incredibly respectful.
Palestinians sit on a hill looking out over the Mediterranean Sea and a camp for displaced people in Gaza City on June 2.
WORLD
Aug 8, 2025

'How much worse could it get?' Gazans fear full Israeli occupation

Fear and despair have spread in the enclave amid rumors that Israel might decide on a full occupation of Gaza.
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah prior to a friendly on Aug. 4.
SOCCER
Aug 10, 2025

'Tell us how he died': Salah criticizes UEFA tribute to 'Palestinian Pele'

The Palestine Football Association said that al-Obeid, 41, was killed by an Israeli strike targeting civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight