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BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 17, 2023

Shohei Ohtani keeps everyone guessing about future plans

For the Los Angeles Angels’ pitchers and catchers, spring training officially started at the team’s training facility Wednesday. But for the team’s two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, who has been hitting and throwing in Arizona all month, the preparations for the most important year of his career...
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 16, 2023

Kishida’s child care plans raise questions about who will pay and how

Details of the proposal have become a hotly debated topic as Japan looks ahead to key local elections in April.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Feb 16, 2023

Lewis Hamilton vows to continue speaking out about social issues

Hamilton has used his platform to highlight racial injustice, promote diversity and address a range of issues from the environment to human rights.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 15, 2023

What Kazuo Ueda’s past says about the BOJ’s future

Japan’s new central bank boss, Kazuo Ueda, is being likened to a wise old policy 'owl' rather than a 'dove' or a 'hawk.'
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2023

ChatGPT has a lot to say, even about Japan-U.S.-China ties

OpenAI's ChatGPT was launched just over two months ago and is so effective at generating human-like prose that it is almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 9, 2023

Bucking tradition, young Chinese are choosing to focus on themselves over starting a family

Doubts are growing among couples about the overall benefits of having children.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2023

What could Japan do about foreign spy balloons over its territory?

The nation may have already seen Chinese spy balloons over its skies, including two instances of remarkably similar design to the alleged spy balloon shot down by the U.S.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2023

Japan's chip equipment makers in the dark about new China export restrictions

Five chip-related firms — Advantest Corp., Nikon Corp., Resonac Holdings Corp., Lasertec Corp. and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd — said they were unaware of any contact with the trade ministry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 28, 2023

Translations and books about Japan for your 2023 reading list

From Osamu Dazai to Yu Miri, the year ahead promises of trove of books about Japan and newly translated literature.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 27, 2023

Kuroda’s head-fakes make the unthinkable plausible

Skepticism about the Bank of Japan’s intentions is clouding Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's last months on the job.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Jul 12, 2023

Japan is about to release 1.3 million tons of Fukushima wastewater. Should we be concerned?

Environmental journalist Mara Budgen joins the podcast to discuss Japan’s plan to discharge millions of tons of wastewater from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant into the ocean.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2023

Academic fudging raises questions about ‘nudging’

'Nudges,' virtually invisible prompts that seek to change human behavior, aren’t going to solve big problems in society but they can help fix unknowingly bad behaviors.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Jul 5, 2023

Didier Drogba works to educate African players about fake agents

The campaign includes a pamphlet for players with practical advice such as how to identify a fake agent, what to look for in a contract, and a player's rights as a foreign employee.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 28, 2023

Russian general knew about mercenary chief’s rebellion plans, U.S. officials say

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, may have believed he had support in Russia’s military.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2023

The West must offer the 'Global South' a new deal

Countries in Africa, Asia and South America should support Ukraine against Putin. But the West could help by being less hypocritical.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2023

Japanese public institutes have relaxed attitude about data protection, expert says

The warning comes a week after the arrest by Tokyo police of a Chinese researcher for an alleged data leak.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 23, 2023

Politically speaking, how should Japan talk about gender?

When trying to pass legislation on topics dealing with the LGBTQ+ community, lawmakers found themselves using a katakana term as a compromise.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2023

What’s not to like about Rudd’s appointment as Canberra’s man in Washington?

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has the resume and qualifications to serve Canberra well in Washington.
Visitors walk past a military fence at Imjingak peace park in the border city of Paju on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 21, 2023

U.S. worries mount over soldier after silence from North Korea

U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said Washington was fully mobilized in trying to contact Pyongyang, including through U.N. communications channels.
Then-Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang holds a copy of China's constitution during a news conference at the National People's Congress in Beijing in March.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 26, 2023

China ousts foreign minister as world grasps for clues as to why

There are still several questions over Qin Gang's fate and whether he will continue to serve in the government as a state councilor.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to reporters following the Senate Republicans weekly policy lunch at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in April.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 29, 2023

After McConnell freezes midsentence, U.S. Senate GOP stands by him

Senate Republicans are standing by their longtime leader, brushing off questions about his health after he froze midsentence at the start of his weekly news conference Wednesday.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump makes his way inside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York on April 4. Trump was indicted on Monday over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election — the most serious legal threat yet to the former president as he campaigns to return to the White House.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 2, 2023

Trump charged with conspiracy for efforts to overturn 2020 election

The indictment alleges Trump knowingly spread lies about the election in order to undermine public faith in the vote and remain in power.
Australian Ambassador to Japan Justin Hayhurst (center) walks beside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right) during the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima in May.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2023

Tokyo-Canberra ties key to Indo-Pacific’s future: Australian envoy

"We’ve never been more important to each other," says Justin Hayhurst, Australia’s new Ambassador to Japan.
A downgrade by Fitch Ratings is being viewed as a condemnation of partisan U.S. politics, including the recent debt ceiling standoff and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2023

Fitch’s U.S. downgrade stokes the very fight it warned against

Washington’s hostile political factions have quickly taken up the agency's downgrade of U.S. government debt as a new weapon of political combat.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington. After its downgrade of the U.S., Fitch’s AAA club now consists of Germany and Australia, along with seven others, including smaller, rich countries such as Switzerland and Luxembourg.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2023

Pristine AAA bond universe just got a whole lot smaller

Fitch's U.S. downgrade is the latest example of a decadelong trend in rich economies as worries about high and rising debt burdens come to the fore.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has since the start of the Ukraine invasion destroyed the norms that developed during the Cold War to prevent a nuclear arms race or the eventual use of such weapons.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2023

Russia outnumbers the U.S. 10-to-1 in tactical nukes. Now what?

Never mind that Vladimir Putin is breaking all nuclear taboos and China is beefing up its arsenal. U.S. nuclear doctrine is still fundamentally sound.
Elizabeth Kutschke at the park with her son Ben, who was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2023

When a $2 million gene therapy is not enough

Ben is one of a growing number of patients with spinal muscular atrophy whose doctors are turning to additional drugs in addition to gene therapy.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with the Chinese Communist Party's foreign policy chief, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Jakarta on July 13.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 16, 2023

Southeast Asia uses great power competition to dodge failures

The U.S. needs to rethink its approach toward Southeast Asia, counter China's narrative, and engage in effective public diplomacy.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes