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Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 10, 2022

Running your work ideas through a nemawashi cycle

Don't go into a meeting with your guns blazing. In Japan, you need to do a lot of preparation in advance so that things will go smoothly.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 7, 2022

Jan. 6 hearings aim to catch America's attention with prime-time TV debut

The televised hearings into the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol will need to produce show-stopping moments to grab a divided, distracted nation that has largely moved on.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2022

Google is sharing our personal data on a mind-boggling scale

Google transmits our locations and browsing habits 70 billion times a day to advertisers amid trillions a year by other firms, a new report shows.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 2, 2022

Johnny Depp scores near-total victory in defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard

A seven-person jury in Virginia also ruled for Heard on one counterclaim against Depp.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 18, 2022

Finland and Sweden formally ask to join NATO, in potentially its biggest expansion in two decades

If both are admitted, it would mark NATO's most significant expansion in nearly two decades, increasing the organization's membership to 32 nations.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2022

South Korea’s new president is likely a bland centrist, and that is OK

The real divide between South Korea's right and left is over foreign policy. Change will be most evident here, and Japan particularly is likely to find a Yoon presidency easier.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 11, 2022

Elon Musk says he would reverse Twitter ban on Donald Trump

The question of reinstating Trump has been seen as a litmus test of how far Musk will go in making changes, even though Trump himself has said he would not return.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 8, 2022

A wooden knife sharper than steel? Scientists say so.

Made from the same wood as musical instruments, this experimental, all-natural knife represents a whole new kind of cutting edge.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2022

India’s heatwaves are testing the limits of human survival

Each summer in India is a fresh roll of the dice on whether a freak event will occur that leads to a vast number of deaths.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 5, 2022

One voting group holds key to U.S. midterms after abortion leak: suburban women

A large majority of key U.S. voting blocs support abortion rights, but the matter has not been a top issue for voters in the past.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2022

Africa becomes collateral damage of Ukraine war

The continent's leaders have largely been reluctant to push back against Moscow, but their fence-sitting hasn't spared them from the invasion's fallout.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 3, 2022

Abortion surges as U.S. election issue with Roe v. Wade precedent on brink

It's unclear how a U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidating Roe would play among voters, especially in suburban House districts and the states where control of the Senate will be determined.
A team of scientists in 2009 set out to pick a date when the Holocene ended and the Anthropocene began. They settled on 1952, when humanity added detectable byproducts of atomic bomb testing to our planet’s surface.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2024

A century of bad choices will haunt Earth for 100,000 years

A group of scientists rejected a proposal to give our current epoch a new name: the Anthropocene, derived from the Greek word for human.
The ruling Georgian Dream Party, whose leader is pro-Russian, holds a rally in support of the government in Tbilisi on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2024

What if Russia wins in Ukraine? Ask Georgia.

A billionaire leader in Tblisi echoes Moscow as he rails against “global party of war.”
A girl walks past a tent sprayed with a message of gratitude to pro-Palestinian university students in the U.S. amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
May 3, 2024

Why Palestinians can count on U.S. students but not Arab allies to protest

Reasons range from a fear of angering autocratic governments to political differences with Hamas or doubts that it could impact state policy.
With less than two months left before the conclusion of the current session of parliament, any possibility that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida can deliver constitutional reform before the end of his term as Liberal Democratic Party president in late September, as he has promised, appears remote.
JAPAN / Politics
May 4, 2024

Debate on constitutional revision at a standstill despite Kishida's pledges

Lawmakers are instead focusing their attention on reviewing the political funds control law in the wake of the LDP's slush funds scandal.
Recent losses faced by the Conservative Party in local British elections indicate there are greater challenges ahead for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government in the upcoming national poll.
COMMENTARY
May 6, 2024

Can the Tories rebuild their train wreck of a party?

If you’re a centrist British voter, today’s Conservatives aren’t for you.
A supporter wears a mask depicting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election campaign rally for Amit Shah, the Indian Home Minister and a leader of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the city of Ahmedabad, in the Indian state of Gujarat, on April 30.
WORLD / Politics
May 7, 2024

As India votes, Modi's BJP takes aim at opposition seats to win supermajority

As the Hindu nationalist party targets 400 seats in India's lower house of parliament, it also hopes to wrest vital constituencies from the opposition.
Tourists pose in front of a convenience store with Mount Fuji on Friday in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture. Local residents are upset over littering, overcrowding and the inconvenience caused by the visitors.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 7, 2024

Thanks, tourists. Views of Mount Fuji are now blocked.

Japan needs better long-term strategies to manage tourism sustainably.
The Lower House starts discussing a security clearance bill on April 19 in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 7, 2024

Unlike 10 years ago, Japan's new security bill sparks little debate

Some point to a shift in the nation’s security stance, while opposition party lawmakers indicate a general apathy among the media to cover the story.
South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks at the Congress of South African Trade Unions National Worker's Day rally at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on May 1.
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2024

Who’s who in South Africa’s tightest post-apartheid election

For the first time since White-minority rule ended, South Africa is heading into national elections in which an outright winner isn’t apparent.
If OpenAI’s mostly male engineers are trying to build the perfect girlfriend, they are on the right track. If they are trying to build a more reliable AI model, there is still more work to do.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2024

OpenAI's new ChatGPT can flirt. What could go wrong?

What are the social and psychological consequences of regularly speaking to a flirty, fun and ultimately agreeable artificial voice?
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines (right) and Director of Defense Intelligence Agency Lt. General Jeffrey A. Kruse testify before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on worldwide threats, at Capitol Hill in Washington on May 2.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2024

Foreign attempts to sway U.S. elections increasing, officials warn

As the election approaches, U.S. officials are increasingly worried about the risks that AI poses to elections, including convincing "deepfakes" that trick voters.
Despite the proximity of Pingtan island to Taiwan, many there were unaware of Lai's inauguration on Monday — or even sure who the man Beijing has described as a "dangerous separatist" was.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 21, 2024

Taiwan inauguration barely makes ripples across strait in China

Many were unaware about the events taking place in Taipei, and some didn't even know who Lai Ching-te, the island's new president, was.
Mourners gather in Tehran's Valiasr Square on Monday to honor President Ebrahim Raisi and others who died in a helicopter crash a day earlier.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2024

Iranian President Raisi's failed experiment in ideological purity

Yet totalitarian regimes such as Iran don’t need their populations to be content, so long as they have security forces willing to kill to suppress dissent.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (left) receives a draft proposal produced by the Fiscal System Council from Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2024

Japanese advisory panel calls for strengthening fiscal resilience

The Fiscal System Council warned that the country's finances will deteriorate further if debt servicing costs swell.
Fever guard Caitlin Clark tries to drive past Liberty forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton during their game in New York on May 18.
BASKETBALL / NBA
May 23, 2024

LeBron James gives advice to WNBA star Caitlin Clark

James knows what it is like to deal with great expectations at the beginning of a career.
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan attends a meeting with Venezuela's National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez (not pictured) at the Federal Legislative Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela April 22, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
May 23, 2024

Why a prosecutor went public with arrest warrant requests for Hamas and Israeli leaders

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan accused Netanyahu and his defense minister of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Managing India's regional tensions will be critical for the nation's future, as demographic shifts and economic disparities threaten to exacerbate existing divides.
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2024

Hindu-Muslim split isn’t India’s most dangerous divide

If the long-established consensus around states’ rights continues to erode, India will be in real trouble.
OpenAI said that a Chinese network known as Spamouflage, which used its models to research social media activities, has been generating articles in various languages that were then posted on social media platforms and forums.
JAPAN / Society
May 31, 2024

Chinese group used OpenAI tech to discredit Fukushima water discharge

OpenAI said that a Chinese network used its models to generate articles in various languages accusing Japan of polluting the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear