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JAPAN
Feb 1, 2022

Former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, known for controversial views, dies at 89

Ishihara left his mark on Japanese politics as a staunch hawk whose nationalistic views often ruffled the feathers of Japan's neighbors.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 1, 2022

Why economic security in Japan needs to include the defense industry

At present, the defense industry appears to be absent from government efforts to achieve economic security.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 1, 2022

Johnson faces fresh calls to quit as report slams lockdown parties

The report into the lockdown gatherings — at a time when Britons were all but banned from social mixing — pointed to 'serious failures of leadership' at the heart of government.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 31, 2022

NATO concerned over Europe's energy security amid standoff with Russia

The European Union depends on Russia for around a third of its gas supplies and any interruption would exacerbate an existing energy crisis caused by a shortage.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 31, 2022

The hard-line Russian advisers who have Putin’s ear

Some analysts in Moscow still see a pragmatic streak in Putin, but there are growing signs that the 'radicals' in his inner circle are gaining sway.
OLYMPICS / Longform
Jan 31, 2022

The legacy of the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics

As we count down to the opening of the 2022 Games in Beijing next month, we examine the impact of the first Winter Olympics held in Asia on Hokkaido's largest city.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 31, 2022

North Korea says missile tested Sunday was Hwasong-12 intermediate-range weapon

In an unusual sign for significant weapons tests, leader Kim Jong Un did not appear to have attended the latest launch — a move analysts said may be designed to normalize the tests.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2022

Will Russia’s anti-NATO gambit succeed?

Stopping NATO expansion has been one of the Kremlin's main foreign-policy objectives for a decade, but Putin's approach may yielded the opposite result.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2022

American book-banning tradition is as old as the Mayflower

One activist said, 'Why is everyone so upset? Controlling what children read is entirely different from controlling what adults read.”
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2022

How much has the pandemic cost the world?

In responding to the pandemic, policymakers have faced an awful dilemma: keep the economy open and risk more COVID-19 deaths, or impose lockdowns and destroy livelihoods.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 30, 2022

Living by the code: In China, COVID-era controls may outlast the virus

Beijing already had a vast ability to track its 1.4 billion citizens before the pandemic — now that monitoring is far more expansive.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2022

Activists demand stop to Japan-funded coal plant in climate-vulnerable Bangladesh

Climate campaigners said the project contradicts Japan's commitment, made with other wealthy G7 nations last May, to end funding for 'unabated' coal power overseas by the end of 2021.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Jan 29, 2022

The spotlight shifted away from Peng Shuai and some players and fans want it back

By posting pictures of their protest in support of Peng at the tournament on social media, local activists are keeping the conversation going.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jan 29, 2022

Hong Kong study says COVID-19 can spread from hamsters to humans

The researchers say they have found evidence that pet hamsters can spread COVID-19 to people, and linked the animals to human infections in the city.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 29, 2022

As a Supreme Court justice pondered retirement, Biden bet on a hands-off strategy

The president believed pressuring Stephen Breyer, the court's oldest justice, to retire might backfire. A chorus of liberals took a different approach.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2022

Debating whether nuclear power is green energy or not

Having emerged from the anti-nuclear movement, today's European Greens never dreamed that once-ostracized nuclear power would regain respectability as a clean alternative.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 28, 2022

Kremlin says Putin will take his time to study the U.S. and NATO responses

Putin is seeking to rewrite Europe's post-Cold War order to give Russia a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe — something he says is critical to Russia's long-term security.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 27, 2022

Stephen Breyer’s exit from U.S. top court tees up new clash between Biden and GOP

The next justice would reinforce the court's outnumbered liberal wing and potentially serve for decades but won't shift the ideological balance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 27, 2022

‘Pure Japanese’: Dean Fujioka’s passion project is a fascinating muddle

A typical genre-movie premise gets complicated in director Daishi Matsunaga's film about a stuntman living out his fantasies of old-school heroism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2022

Why the EU can’t get its act together on Ukraine

Geopolitically, Europe is much less than the sum of its 27 parts as its inaction amid the Ukraine crisis demonstrates.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jan 26, 2022

Mitakeumi primed to shed ‘inconsistent’ image with historic ozeki promotion

Rather than solely benefiting from good timing and a weakened top division, Mitakeumi is arguably just now fulfilling the potential he has always had.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 26, 2022

China’s COVID-19 blame game fizzles over infection-by-mail theory

The abrupt reversal in tone shows the pressures China faces in managing the official narrative as they look to contain omicron outbreaks while also hosting a successful Winter Olympics.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 26, 2022

Pfizer and BioNTech launch trial of omicron-targeted COVID-19 vaccine

The companies plan to test the immune response generated by the omicron-based vaccine both as a three-shot regimen in unvaccinated people and as a booster shot.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jan 25, 2022

War may loom, but are there off-ramps?

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration and NATO are expected to respond, in writing, to Russia's far-reaching demands in the next several days in an effort to maintain diplomatic talks.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 25, 2022

Omicron offers hope pandemic could stabilize, WHO official says

While the rapid spread of the omicron variant offers hope for 'stabilization and normalization,” it comes with a heavy dose of caution, as many obstacles to taming the pandemic remain.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 25, 2022

Packers' Matt LaFleur: 'No debate' on wanting Aaron Rodgers back

The Packers, who lost a playoff game as the NFC's top seed for the second year in a row, must quickly pick up the pieces for next season.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 24, 2022

Putin could burst Xi’s Olympic dream with a war in Ukraine

Russia has little incentive to antagonize China, its largest trading partner with total trade valuing $112 billion in 2020.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 24, 2022

Biden weighs deploying thousands of troops to Eastern Europe and Baltics

The move would signal a major pivot for the Biden administration, which up until recently was taking a restrained stance on Ukraine, out of fear of provoking Russia into invading.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2022

Who is winning the U.S.-China trade war?

The Sino-American trade war does not spell the end of globalization. Rather, it may mark the beginning of a new world trading system that no longer has the U.S. or China at its center.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2022

How a billionaire’s global cruise empire imploded in Hong Kong

Lim Kok Thay started a cruise ferry and gambling boat business in 1990s Hong Kong and turned it into one of Asia's biggest cruise operators.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami