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August 10, 2025
 

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A Japanese submarine captain (Takao Osawa, center) goes rogue with a nuclear-armed vessel in “The Silent Service.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2023

‘The Silent Service’: Submarine thriller runs shallow

While it has the makings of a potent geopolitical thriller, Kohei Yoshino’s film struggles to work as a standalone feature — or generate thrills.
(From left) G.R.D.V., Marao and Ryuseigun Saionji make up BBBBBBB (seven Bs pronounced one letter at a time), an Aichi Prefecture-based project whose brand of digital hardcore has made it one of the up-and-coming figures in Japan’s contemporary underground scene.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 28, 2023

BBBBBBB's sense of humor cuts through the noise

The Aichi Prefecture-based digital hardcore project finds inspiration in the loud chaos of Hollywood blockbusters from the 1990s.
Students from Yanagawa High School and its Thai-affiliated junior high school pose for a photo during an exchange event in August.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Oct 2, 2023

Pioneering Thai-Japanese school aims to nurture global minds

Yanagawa Junior High School Thailand is affiliated with a school in Fukuoka Prefecture.
The cast of Chelfitsch’s play “The Window of Spaceship ‘In-Between’” includes individuals with different levels of Japanese-language proficiency. They participated in workshops hosted by the theater company to promote more inclusivity in Japanese theater.
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 29, 2023

Chelfitsch challenges Japanese theater's language barriers

The theater company questions the status quo of the Japanese stage by casting non-native speakers in new project, 'The Window of Spaceship "In-Between."'
Aoi Suzuki and her two sons head back down to a barbecue after watching the sun set.
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 28, 2023

Traveling Okinawa with a broken heart

Writer and photographer Lance Henderstein reads us his article on traveling Okinawa during the rainy season.
The idea of renting a library bookshelf has proved popular in some areas.
CULTURE
Oct 3, 2023

Libraries with individually owned bookshelves spreading in Japan

Such libraries are helping revitalize local communities by creating a place where people can mingle through events.
School children try on a space suit during an exhibition on space technology organized by the Indian Space Research Organisation and a college in Mumbai.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Sep 29, 2023

Inside the changes at India's space agency

The moon landing was a win for the country's low-cost space engineering, as well as a quiet initiative to rebrand its space agency as approachable.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2023

Cambodia's dictatorship marches on and nary a word

Just as quickly as countries condemned Cambodia’s sham elections, its new leader, Hun Manet, was welcomed by the U.N.
Tupac Shakur
CULTURE / Music
Sep 30, 2023

Suspect in rapper Tupac Shakur's 1996 slaying charged with murder

The charges marked a breakthrough for a long-unsolved case that was a defining moment in the history of rap music.
The Mikomotojima Lighthouse in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture, was designed by Richard Henry Brunton, a Scotsman who was employed by the Meiji government to build lighthouses across Japan in the 19th century. In "The Japan Lights," author Iain Maloney connects his personal travels and experiences in Japan to Brunton's pursuits.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 1, 2023

'The Japan Lights' traces a journey of self-discovery in the wake of 3/11

Iain Maloney's wise book connects his travels in Japan to the pursuits of Richard Henry Brunton, a Scotsman who built lighthouses across the country.
Yvie Oddly poses in front of Eagle Tokyo Blue, a Ni-chome bar instrumental in organizing many events around the Japan visits of "RuPaul's Drag Race" stars.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 2, 2023

A 'Drag Race' tour brings inspiration and profits

When the competitors of "RuPaul's Drag Race" come through Tokyo, the local scene gets a major boost.
American disability rights activist Helen Keller paid a visit to Japan 75 years ago this month.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Oct 2, 2023

Japan Times 1948: Helen Keller recounts impression of Japan tour

Kanto residents continued to come to terms with the violence following the previous month's earthquake, and Helen Keller pays a visit to Japan.
A Palm Sunday procession makes its way toward a government-sanctioned Catholic church in Youtong village in China's Hebei province
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2023

The Holy See shows how to deal with China

In China, the relationship between politics and religion is unique, and the Holy See has adopted a sophisticated approach to diplomacy with Beijing.
A screen at the Karolinska Institute shows this year's laureates Katalin Kariko of Hungary (left) and Drew Weissman of the U.S. during the announcement of the winners of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 2, 2023

Pair win medicine Nobel for work related to COVID-19 vaccines

Their findings "fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system," the Nobel committee said.
Akira Otsuka (left) and Miki Tamaki formed the performing arts troupe DamaDamTal in 2016. They have performed in every edition of the Nakanojo Biennale in Gunma Prefecture since 2017 and credit the festival as a source of inspiration for new productions.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 4, 2023

DamaDamTal turns abstract dreams into visual art

The Japanese performing arts troupe led by Miki Tamaki and Akira Otsuka gets creative in the mountains of rural Gunma Prefecture at Nakanojo Biennale.
A woman (Yoko Maki) haunted by the trauma of her husband’s unexplained disappearance hires a detective to find answers in Rikiya Imaizumi’s “Undercurrent.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 5, 2023

‘Undercurrent’: All is not lost in cathartic drama

Yoko Maki and Arata Iura deliver committed performances in Rikiya Imaizumi’s introspective film about people who vanish for inexplicable reasons.
Rows of sequins affixed to Faig Ahmed’s “Door to Yourself” gives the work its sparkle.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 6, 2023

Oku-Noto Triennale brings art into stark relief against rocks and sea

Taking place in the remote city of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, the contemporary art event's pretty program aims to instill pride in the local community.
Writer Jon Fosse poses in Oslo in 2015. Since his debut novel was published in 1983, Fosse has written poems, essays, children’s books, plays and novels.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 5, 2023

Norwegian playwright and author Jon Fosse wins literature Nobel

The Swedish Academy cited Fosse's “innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”
Rahm Emanuel, U.S. ambassador to Japan, and Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, discuss the importance of preserving the history of interned Japanese Americans.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 6, 2023

U.S. ambassador honors artworks by interned Japanese Americans

“This is not a great moment for America, and we have to own it,” Rahm Emanuel said at a reception in Tokyo.
Mysteriously suspended on the water of the Fugan Canal in Kansui Park, Hiroko Kubo’s “Mountain Dogs” (2023) are made from materials that reflect the industries of Toyama.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 7, 2023

An introspective Go For Kogei turns its attention to Toyama

The craft-art festival focuses on the historically industrial city to explore the Hokuriku region's crafts in an urban setting.
The charges against a former U.S. Army soldier underscore the volume of national security secrets flowing to China, which has made aggressive efforts to recruit spies and steal technology.
WORLD
Oct 7, 2023

Ex-U.S. soldier accused of trying to give classified info to China

The underscore the volume of U.S. security secrets flowing to China, which has made aggressive efforts to recruit spies and steal technology.
Dendrobium orchids — highly sought after due to their use in traditional Chinese medicine — growing in the wild in Nepal.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Oct 8, 2023

The orchid obsession: How science and smuggling meet in a global trade

Love of the flowers has a dark side, with the desire for rare varieties underpinning a robust illegal trade believed to have wiped out entire species.
The Brave Blossoms leave the pitch after their loss to Argentina at the Rugby World Cup in Nantes, France, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Oct 9, 2023

Japan shows heart in bittersweet finale at Rugby World Cup

Japan's hopes at the Rugby World Cup were dashed in a thrilling match against Argentina.
Afghanistan finished fifth in its Asian qualifying group for the 2022 FIFA World Cup before failing to reach the 2023 Asian Cup.
SOCCER
Oct 11, 2023

'We're not monsters,' says Afghanistan coach ahead of WC qualifiers

Coach Abdullah Al-Mutairi is targeting a berth in the 2027 Asian Cup.
Alma Zadic, Austria's justice minister, during an interview in Vienna on Sept. 26
WORLD / Politics
Oct 11, 2023

In Europe's politics, disinformation and hate pose growing threat

Austrian Justice Minister Alma Zadic believes public institutions simply don’t have the resources to match the output of bad actors.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 12, 2023

Sota Fujii becomes first player to win all eight major shogi titles

The 21-year-old took the Oza crown, having won Game 4 to finish the best-of-five match against 31-year-old Takuya Nagase.
A struggling novelist (Rie Miyazawa) wrestles with life’s bigger questions after taking a job at a care facility for people with severe disabilities in “The Moon.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2023

‘The Moon’: Provocative drama bites off more than it can chew

Yuya Ishii’s film courts controversy with a fictionalized retelling of a real-life knife attack at a care facility for people with mental disabilities.
Singer-songwriter Aina The End (center) plays a young woman who strives to overcome her hardscrabble life and become an indie musician in “Kyrie.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2023

'Kyrie': Musical melodrama celebrates youth

Shunji Iwai's film about indie musicians and female friendships may have an overstuffed plot, but it also has a visual energy unique to the director.
A woman hands out pamphlets outside a voting center in central Sydney on Oct. 3. A coming referendum will decide whether to recognize Indigenous Australians in the Constitution.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2023

Australia’s First Nations vote is coming down to love against war

Australia was founded as a federation in 1901 without formal recognition of the continent’s Indigenous peoples.
Naoya Hatakeyama’s “Rikuzen Takata 2011-2023” is a display of hundreds of color contact prints of his hometown, Rikuzen Takata, Iwate Prefecture. The images show the shifting landscape of a place that was heavily affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 13, 2023

Tokyo Biennale 2023 seeks healing through art

The contemporary art festival creates safe spaces for its artists and their works by embracing a “we accept anything” maxim.
U.S. backtracks on Japan tariff calculation, taking effective rate lower
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, said the U.S. made a clerical error in not including a “reciprocal” tariff rate ceiling for Japan in the trade deal.
Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
Japan starts survey on foreign nationals' unpaid resident taxes
In the most recent regular session of parliament, problems were highlighted regarding some foreign workers leaving Japan without paying outstanding taxes after completing their stay periods.
How Pakistan shot down India's cutting-edge fighter using Chinese gear
An Indian Air Force pilot gets out of a Rafale fighter jet during its induction ceremony at an air force station in Ambala, India, September 2020.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person
Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
Cheer with caution: Expert advises sports fans have game plan for extreme heat
A Cardinals fan fans himself during the seventh inning of a game against the Pirates in St. Louis, Missouri, in June 2022.
Australia's warship selection signals Japanese defense industry's arrival
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate. Australia's selection of an upgraded version of the Mogami-class warship for its next frigate class could prove to be a watershed moment for Japan’s defense industry.
Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
Will the movement seeking Ishiba’s resignation succeed?
Liberal Democratic Party youth division head Yasutaka Nakasone (center) and other members speak to reporters in Tokyo on July 25.
Photographer Bleg Bayraktar is winning social media with politeness
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.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person
By Naoko Abe

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