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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 9, 2023

Second coming of once-banned conspiracy theorists after Twitter amnesty

Twitter has turned into what campaigners call a cesspool of misinformation, hate-filled conspiracies and racial slurs.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Dec 30, 2022

Brazilians rush to hospital after news of Pele's death

'You didn't even see the other players,' one fan said. 'You just fixated on Pele and what he would do. Pele and Santos are what made me fall in love with football.'
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2022

Elon Musk's Twitter lifts rule against COVID-19 misinformation

The move comes after the mercurial billionaire reinstated a slew of accounts on the social media network that had previously been banned for violating its content rules.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2022

An eye for an eye doesn’t work in disinformation war

In the struggle to win the ideological narrative wars, democracies are tempted to resort to disinformation to match the fabrications of their more autocratic enemies. It's a bad idea.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 14, 2022

Google, Facebook and Twitter to tackle deepfakes or risk EU fines, document says

The updated code of practice on disinformation spells out examples of manipulative behavior such as deepfakes and fake accounts that the signatories will have to tackle.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 28, 2022

'Protect the truth': A Marcos return in Philippines triggers fear for history

Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr.'s presidency, set to begin on June 30, has many people worried about losing access to books and other accounts of his father's rule.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 12, 2022

Propaganda around Russian invasion of Ukraine reveals failings in Meta's moderation

The social media giant's content policies and enforcement mechanisms have enabled pro-Russian propaganda, according to those that moderate its services.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 5, 2022

Eight years after Maidan Revolution, Ukraine better equipped for information war with Russia

A vanguard of volunteers are fighting Russian propaganda, which for years had spread inside Ukraine and beyond.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 17, 2022

The Queen’s Jubilee year has just started, but the bad news hasn’t stopped for the royals

For all the differences, the troubles of Prince Andrew and Prince Charles both raise murky questions about money and how it moves in the opaque world of royalty.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2022

Behind Neil Young vs. Spotify, a fraught relationship with musicians

In the past, many musicians have spoken out over what they see as the unfairness of the streaming model overall.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jan 24, 2022

A shinkansen to space (and other news found beneath the sofa)

While you may have done a 'big clean' around your house at New Year's, there are still a few news stories that our writer would like to tidy up.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2022

Bad news for London and New York: Finance hubs are becoming obsolete

COVID-19 has shown just how little location now matters for many jobs and businesses in finance and gave executives confidence that more operations could be managed remotely.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2021

Sayonara and good riddance to 2021. Enter the Tiger.

There were many winners and losers in 2021, a year in which the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus once again dominated the headlines.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2021

24 confirmed dead in suspected case of arson in Osaka

One source said police received a report that the fire started from a liquid that came out of a paper bag held by a man who appeared to be in his 60s.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 2, 2021

Facebook and Instagram remove Chinese network over fake COVID-19 claims

The claims targeted English-speaking audiences in the United States and Britain and Chinese-speaking audiences in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Tibet.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Nov 30, 2021

Scores hoping to enter Japan in limbo — again — after latest entry ban

The country's new entry measures — which together with Israel are among the world's most stringent — mean that from Tuesday all new visitors are barred from entry.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 6, 2021

At least eight dead by being crushed at Texas music festival

People began to fall unconscious, and the mayhem escalated until 9:38 p.m. when a 'mass casualty incident' was triggered.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 15, 2021

YouTube's moves against election misinformation were potent

Stricter policies resulted in sharp drops in false and misleading videos on Facebook and Twitter, underscoring YouTube's power across social media.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 8, 2021

Kishida calls for new economic approach in first policy speech

Kishida on Friday vowed to transform the Japanese economy by implementing a “new model of capitalism,' identifying growth and the distribution of wealth as “mutually necessary.”
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Sep 22, 2021

How do you deflect a controversy? Keigo Oyamada blames the media.

Musician Keigo Oyamada cries foul over how he was portrayed in a pair of magazine articles that ended up causing him a job at the Tokyo Olympics.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Aug 30, 2021

Japan's new Digital Agency prepares for daunting task of overhauling tech policy

Past efforts have stumbled due to insufficient resources and bureaucratic divisions, and an ability to overcome these structural issues will make or break the new agency.
OLYMPICS
Jul 23, 2021

At long last, the Tokyo Olympics have begun

After a tumultuous year, an unprecedented Olympics got underway in Tokyo in the age of the new normal.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 17, 2021

Biden says social media ‘killing people’ with virus fiction

Biden's comments came shortly after the head of the CDC said the U.S. is seeing a 'pandemic of the unvaccinated” in parts of the country where inoculation rates are low.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jun 26, 2021

Can a Japanese mom's YouTube post keep anti-vax conspiracies at bay?

Some of Japan's more vaccine-hesitant residents might find comfort in the experiences of parents and grandparents on social media getting the jab.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2021

Facebook, YouTube erred in censoring COVID-19 ‘misinformation’

Social media fact-checkers don't have any special knowledge or ability to sort fact from misinformation. What they have is extraordinary power to shape what people believe.
According to a survey by the Japanese Red Cross Society, over 25% of respondents in Japan saw or heard false news or information during natural disasters.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2025

Over 25% in Japan encountered false information during disasters

Nearly half of all respondents, 47.4%, were aware of Disaster Prevention Day. But 74.3% said they had never participated in local disaster response drills.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past