Search - special-issue

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2014

Japan outlines sanctions reward for N. Korea's action on abductions

Japan will lift some of its sanctions on North Korea to reward the progress it has made in setting up an “unprecedented” panel to reinvestigate the abduction issue.
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2013

Improving relations with Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori have set the stage for talks over the sovereignty of the Northern Territories.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 25, 2011

When will the Japanese media stop avoiding antinuke sentiment?

On Dec. 15, freelance journalist Tomohiko Suzuki held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan about his new book, "Yakuza and Nuclear Power," which describes Suzuki's stint as a worker on cleanup detail at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor last summer. Though the book...
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S. SEMINAR
Sep 24, 2010

New vision of Japan-U.S. ties needed at key turning point

Japan-U.S. relations are at a turning point and the Futenma base dispute — which has strained bilateral ties since the Democratic Party of Japan took power a year ago — is also symbolic of the broader and longer-term changes that affect the alliance, American experts said at a recent seminar in Tokyo....
EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2009

Knitting the alliance

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and U.S. President Barack Obama held a summit and a joint news conference Friday in Tokyo, their second meeting following their first in September on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly meetings. They reaffirmed that the Japan-U.S. alliance is the basis for...
EDITORIALS
Jan 20, 2005

Unfinished tasks for Mr. Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, speaking at the Liberal Democratic Party's annual convention Tuesday, again expressed his resolve to privatize postal services, saying that "without constant efforts for reform, possibilities for Japan's development will be closed." Mr. Koizumi defines postal privatization...
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2002

Clarifying the whole truth

The government's investigation into the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s has made some progress, although the findings include shocking details. Credit goes to an 11-member fact-finding mission that returned Tuesday from two days of difficult activities...
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2002

Koizumi-Kim talks a year in the works

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's stated intention to visit Pyongyang is the result of a year of assessment by Tokyo of whether North Korea is serious about improving bilateral ties.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2002

Asian issues carry much weight on global stability

NAGO, Okinawa Pref. -- There were times when relations between the European Union and Japan suffered from having a narrow focus, centered on economic matters.
COMMENTARY
Jul 13, 1999

Break deadlock on base issues

U.S. President Bill Clinton expressed hope June 25 that all pending issues concerning U.S. military bases in Okinawa, including the issue of the Marine Corps Futenma Air Station, will be resolved before he attends a Group of Eight summit there in July 2000. "I don't want to go over there and have all...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jun 29, 2023

Democracy-minded Yoon faces challenges in dealing with China

A recent thawing of ties between Tokyo and Seoul could help enhance economic security and keep Beijing in check.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 11, 2023

Japan needs to reassure neighbors on release and safety of treated radioactive water

Scientists have concluded that the plan to discharge the ALPS-treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the ocean is the most realistic solution to the storage issue.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2022

Japan to allow prefectures to declare medical state of emergency if COVID cases hit records

The government announced it will let prefectures enact stronger measures if infections soar above the level of the last wave and their health care system is threatened.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 4, 2022

Key meetings may offer clues on China’s economic path forward

Top of mind for investors is whether Beijing will begin easing up on its zero-tolerance approach to combating COVID-19 outbreaks.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 24, 2022

Next-gen activists take on nukes

2022 has been an important turning point as many countries around the world renewed their determination to cooperate with each other to abolish nuclear weapons in the face of the looming nuclear threat arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
More than 30 samples of drugs made by Synokem, including generic abortion pills, have failed quality tests conducted by Indian regulators and public health researchers since 2018.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2023

Global abortion pill provider buys from maker with poor quality record

More than 30 samples of drugs made by Delhi-based Synokem Pharmaceuticals have failed quality tests conducted by Indian regulators.
Members of the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, and U.S. armed forces carry national flags during the opening ceremony of joint military exercises in Taguig, Philippines, in October 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 27, 2023

How Japan can make the most of its latest diplomatic tool

Japan recently decided to establish a policy of Official Security Assistance. But how can it ensure its success?
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 3, 2023

Kishida aims to draw 'Global South' support in upcoming trip

Kishida plans to find common ground with emerging economies over the topic of food security, an area of increased attention since the invasion of Ukraine.
Barbed wire fences are seen outside a shuttered Great Wall Park compound where Cambodian authorities said they had recovered evidence of human trafficking, kidnapping and torture during raids on suspected cybercrime compounds in the coastal city of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, last September.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 4, 2023

Hit Chinese movie raises fears of travel in Southeast Asia

Offering a look at the workings of cybercrime in Southeast Asia, “No More Bets” has dampened Chinese travelers' desire to go there.
Cooling towers and reactors at a nuclear power plant in Cattenom, France
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 17, 2023

Nukefluencers are on a quest to push clean power from reactors

Influencers are tapping into a generation that’s increasingly anxious about climate change by focusing on how nuclear energy is carbon-free.
A woman takes her meal alone in Tokyo's Yanaka neighborhood. As the country ages, Japan's average caloric intake has been shrinking.
PODCAST / deep dive
Oct 20, 2023

Table for one? What depopulation in Japan means for dinner.

As Japan’s population ages and more people find themselves isolated, solving their dietary needs is shaping the way the country feeds itself.
Kanata Kimoto had his womb and ovaries removed in Thailand when he was 24, so he could have his legal gender status changed. Now he questions whether such an invasive and costly procedure was necessary.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 22, 2023

Calls grow to abolish Japan's surgery requirement for gender change

Between 2004 and 2022, a total of 11,919 people had their gender changed through the law in Japan.
In almost 30 years of fighting wildfire, Art Gonzales has seen blazes grow progressively bigger and stranger.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 20, 2023

‘It’s all-consuming.’ Wildfire whispering is now a year-round job

What was once limited to certain months now encompasses an entire ‘fire year'
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 20, 2023

Former finance minister elected as Lower House speaker

The 79-year-old Fukushiro Nukaga, a 13-term Diet member and former finance minister, was chosen, replacing Hiroyuki Hosoda.
The city of Lyon after sunrise from the Fourviere esplanade as France issued a "red alert" for four southern regions amid a spell of excessively hot weather in August.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 25, 2023

Record-breaking weather in 2023 shows impact of climate change

July was not only the hottest month in over 170 years of record-keeping, but likely the hottest month in over 100,000 years.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attends a news conference during the Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday. The Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas on Israel fundamentally changed the nature of this year's meeting.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 9, 2023

Dispelling myths about Japan’s ‘balanced’ Middle East diplomacy

Unfortunately, many in the Japanese media do not seem to understand what is really happening in the Middle East.
Pro-Palestinian supporters gather in a show of solidarity at the National Monument in Jakarta on Nov. 5.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2023

Asia’s Muslims grow weary of the West’s double standards

Indonesia and Malaysia have long taken a strong pro-Palestinian stance and neither has diplomatic ties with Israel.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell