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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.
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2021

Government OKs discharge of Fukushima nuclear plant water into sea

Any release of treated water into the Pacific will be done in small quantities each time and carried out over a period of about 30 years.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2021

Tokyo 2020 creative chief quits over Naomi Watanabe 'Olympig' pitch

Hiroshi Sasaki floated the idea of comedian Naomi Watanabe descending from the sky in porcine form during the opening ceremony, a magazine reports.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2021

Fifth of men think media reports about gender pay gap are 'fake news'

Efforts to close the gender pay gap risk stalling as countries recover from COVID-19, researchers said on Monday as a global poll showed almost a quarter of men thought the issue was "political correctness gone too far."
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 21, 2021

'No plan, no Q, nothing': QAnon followers reel as Biden inaugurated

In one Telegram channel with more than 18,400 members, QAnon believers were split between those still urging others to 'trust the plan' and those saying they felt betrayed.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 19, 2021

Chuck Mills, who inspired Japan's college football to flourish, dies at 92

The Chicago native brought Utah State and Wake Forest to Japan for exhibition games before taking local coaches under his wing in the United States.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 10, 2021

Apple and Amazon remove Parler after use in U.S. Capitol riots

Parler, which is popular with extremist groups seeking an alternative to more mainstream social media sites, has come under fire since the storming of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2021

These are the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol

There were infamous white nationalists and noted conspiracy theorists who have spread dark visions of pedophile Satanists running the country. Others were more anonymous, people who had journeyed from Indiana and South Carolina to heed U.S. President Donald Trump’s call to show their support. One person,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2021

Trump supporter rage simmered on social media before D.C. violence

In some of the more obscure corners of the internet, the calls for violence and revolution have been consistent in the months since Trump lost re-election.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on a pair of Orion augmented reality glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2025

Meta shelves fact-checking in policy reversal ahead of Trump inauguration

It plans to implement on Facebook, Instagram and Threads a system of "community notes" similar to that used on rival X.
Social media giant Meta slashed its content moderation policies on Tuesday, including ending its U.S. fact-checking program, in a major shift that conforms with the priorities of incoming president Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2025

Big Tech rolls out the red carpet for Trump ahead of his inauguration

Since the November election, a stream of senior moguls have traveled to meet with Trump at his Florida estate.
Tiger Woods says the situation in the Los Angeles area takes precedence over the status of the Genesis Invitational, the PGA Tour event he has hosted since 2019.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Jan 16, 2025

Tiger Woods has no news on status of Genesis Invitational amid wildfires

With wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area, Woods said that real life carries more weight than the event.
Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally surged in French legislative elections last year. Despite social media being a key megaphone for political campaigning, issues like voter dissatisfaction still play a determinant role in electoral outcomes.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 5, 2025

Social media alone didn’t decide last year’s elections

Last year's record number of elections around the world hold some important lessons. One is that social media wasn't the key determinant of outcomes that many made it out to be.
Prince Hisahito heads to greet the Emperor and Empress on the occasion of his 18th birthday in Tokyo on Sep. 6.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2025

Japan's Prince Hisahito to hold first news conference on March 3

It is customary for Imperial Family members to hold a press conference when they reach the age of majority.
Roki Sasaki talks about his marriage announcement during an interview at the Los Angeles Dodgers' training camp in Glendale, Arizona.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 22, 2025

Roki Sasaki surprises Dodgers teammates with marriage news

Dodgers rookie Roki Sasaki surprised teammates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Friday with the big news.
A rally in support of South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Jan. 18. Young men have emerged as a key demographic that has come out in support of Yoon, in contrast to the many young women participating in protests opposing him.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2025

Men, media and MAGA deepen South Korea’s split

Political polarization in South Korea is evermore extreme, with many young men rallying around impeached President Yoon, fueled by online media and a MAGA-inspired movement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an online Security Council meeting from the Kremlin in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 11, 2025

Russian disinformation 'infects' AI chatbots, researchers warn

A well-resourced Moscow-based operation is said to be distorting the output of chatbots by flooding large language models with pro-Kremlin falsehoods.
The Voice of America building in Washington on Sunday, a day after more than 1,300 of the employees of the media broadcaster, which operates in almost 50 languages, were placed on leave
WORLD / Politics
Mar 18, 2025

China and Russia eager to fill void as Trump axes U.S.-funded media

Trumps moves come after years of efforts by Beijing and Moscow to promote their own worldview on the global media landscape.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks as Vice President JD Vance looks on during a meeting with President Donald Trump and President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador in the White House in Washington on April 14. Rubio and his aides shut down a State Department office on Wednesday that tracks and counters global disinformation from foreign actors, including the governments of China, Russia and Iran, U.S. officials said.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 17, 2025

U.S. State Department closing office targeting foreign disinformation

The GEC had come under intense criticism from some Republicans who said it was straying from its mission, accusing it of disfavoring opinions by conservative media in particular.
A video circulating on Chinese social media depicting a "U.S. sweatshop"
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 18, 2025

Chinese vent anger at Trump's trade war with memes and mockery

Chinese online warriors have taken advantage of the massive strides in AI to create memes highlighting that many of the goods bought by Americans are made in their country.
A Japanese newspaper headline includes the word "tariff" in Japanese.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 9, 2025

Trump once called it his favorite word. Now, the Japanese version is all over the news.

Learning how to talk about tariffs, imports and exports is becoming increasingly necessary in everyday conversation.
Men read newspapers with front-page articles on the India-Pakistan conflict, in Amritsar, India, on May 8, a day after India launched strikes on Pakistan.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2025

No truce in India-Pakistan disinformation war

Platforms such as Facebook and X are still flooded with misrepresented footage of the attacks that killed at least 60 people and sent thousands fleeing.
AI hallucinations — when generative models fabricate information — are becoming more frequent, harder to detect and increasingly dangerous as we embed the technology deeper into society.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2025

AI hallucinations? What could go wrong?

The notion that we can’t ensure that AI will produce accurate information is, uh, “disturbing” if we intend to integrate that product so deeply into our daily lives.
Taiwan, under constant threat from AI-powered disinformation by authoritarian regimes, has emerged as a global leader in digital democratic defense.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2025

Taiwan provides a model for digital defense of democracy

As the U.S. and others struggle to confront AI-driven disinformation, Taiwan’s resilience has become its latest key export.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji