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Russian President Vladimir Putin is welcomed by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a ceremony at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 17, 2023

Putin arrives in China to meet 'dear friend' Xi

China this week welcomes representatives of 130 countries for a forum on Xi's vast trade and infrastructure Belt and Road Initiative.
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.
Troy Sutton, a virologist at Pennsylvania State University, on July 25, 2023. Sutton says that health officials referred to the public controversy over the lab leak theory in advising him to pursue different experiments.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 18, 2023

Lab leak fight casts chill over virology research

While some believe practices such as gain-of-function research could fend off the next pandemic, others worry that they are more likely to start one.
Without the World Games, the Sumo World Championships remain amateur sumo's top-level international competition.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Oct 18, 2023

Sumo's Olympic dream requires fresh approach

A new variant of the sport wouldn't replace the professional or amateur versions, but would instead create a new path to participation and fandom.
Obtaining dual nationality and having it uniformly recognized by authorities in Japan is no simple matter.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 19, 2023

When Japan's dual nationality ban meets a legal gray zone

Lawyer Yuri Kondo decided to naturalize as an American citizen. What followed was a mix of ambiguity and the feeling of a loss of identity.
An inspector from the International Atomic Energy Agency observes crates of fish to be taken as samples from Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2023

IAEA inspectors test Fukushima fish

China and Russia have banned Japanese seafood imports since the discharge began but Japan says it is safe, a view backed by the IAEA.
For Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, tackling the impact of rising prices has become a key priority.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 19, 2023

Upcoming parliament session puts Kishida's stimulus package in spotlight

Tackling inflation has become a key priority for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as economic trends have played a part in his low approval ratings.
Xi Jinping speaks during the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 19, 2023

Xi says green projects will anchor China’s overseas spending

Beijing is in a unique position to help mitigate climate change as the world’s largest producer of everything from solar panels to batteries.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a prime-time address to the nation about his approaches to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, humanitarian assistance in Gaza and continued support for Ukraine in their war with Russia, from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 20, 2023

Biden to seek billions in aid for Israel as invasion of Gaza nears

On the ground in the Gaza Strip, Israel appeared to be getting closer to a full-scale invasion of the seaside enclave ruled by Hamas.
Labyrinth organizer Russell Moench sparked controversy with transphobic tweets, leading booked artists to pull out of the highly regarded electronic music festival’s 2023 edition.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 20, 2023

Art and politics clash at Labyrinth 2023

A controversy surrounding the prestige electronic music festival sparks an old debate over separating art and the artist.
Chinese President Xi Jinping during the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Wednesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 20, 2023

Europe’s snub turns Xi’s Belt and Road into Global South party

The Chinese leader appears to have reformed the initiative as a club for emerging economies known as the Global South.
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'
A deal between Mitsubishi Electric and Australia’s Department of Defence taps the company’s know-how in electronic and optical systems.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 20, 2023

In industry first, Mitsubishi Electric secures defense deal with Australia

The deal taps the company’s know-how in electronic and optical systems.
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.
Samples of The Japan Times winning news coverage, recognized by the World Association of News Publishers Asian Media Awards.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2023

Japan Times wins awards for breaking news and feature reporting

The Japan Times receives gold awards for breaking news coverage and feature writing at the World Association of News Publishers Asian Media Awards.
An assembly engineer works on a TWINSCAN DUV lithography system at ASML in Veldhoven, Netherlands, in June.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 21, 2023

The multimillion-dollar machines at the center of the U.S.-China rivalry

Complex lithography machines that print intricate circuitry on computer chips are at the heart of Washington's tough new measures on Beijing.
People demonstrate against the government on Nov. 5, 2022, after nearly 160 people died in a crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon district on Halloween that year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 21, 2023

Little punishment or change after South Korea’s Halloween calamity

Families of the 159 people crushed to death last year say the government has never acknowledged its mistakes or accepted responsibility.
There are a lot of reasons for why the Pacific saury is becoming scarcer, including overfishing in international waters and changing ocean conditions.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Longform
Oct 23, 2023

A saury state: How the price of 'autumn's fish' skyrocketed

A fish so cheap and abundant that even the cats would ignore it, the Pacific saury is becoming a sought-after dish as stocks dwindle.
The nuclear-powered icebreaker Yakutia during the ship's launch ceremony in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in November 2022
WORLD / Politics
Oct 22, 2023

NATO admiral says growing China-Russia ties raise risk in Arctic

Moscow is busily realigning commercial ties after its invasion of Ukraine — all while boosting oil shipments to Beijing.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2023

Drug scandal at Nihon University American football club seen spreading

The university suspended the football club's activities indefinitely in August following the arrest of one person the same month over cannabis.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 23, 2023

In blow to Kishida, LDP loses one of two seats in by-elections

An independent candidate backed by the opposition won in the Tokushima-Kochi Lower House race, while the LDP pick won in the Nagasaki Upper House poll.
A water company employee fills bottles with potable water in Pozoblanco, Spain, in September 2023. The struggle for drinking water in this village of 18,000 has become a glimpse of what may lie ahead for parts of Europe where drought and extreme heat are on the rise.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 23, 2023

A peek into Spain's future: water by truck, not tap

Tanker trucks have been deployed to deliver 180,000 liters of potable water a day
A view of destroyed houses in the Beit Hanoun district of Gaza Strip as seen from Sderot, Israel, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 23, 2023

Israel strikes Gaza and Lebanon as Netanyahu convenes generals

Israel has amassed tanks and troops near the fenced border around Gaza for a planned ground invasion aiming to annihilate Hamas.
PRESS
Oct 23, 2023

The Japan Times wins two gold at WAN-IFRA Asia Media Awards 2023

The Japan Times, Ltd. (Chairperson, Publisher and President: Minako Suematsu) is a double Gold award winner (small-medium company category) in the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) Asia Media Awards 2023.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivers a policy speech during an extraordinary session of parliament in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 23, 2023

The economy takes center stage in Kishida’s policy speech

"'The economy, the economy, the economy.’ I will focus my attention on the economy more than anything else,” Kishida said in opening remarks.
Samples of The Japan Times winning news coverage, recognized by the World Association of News Publishers Asian Media Awards.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Oct 23, 2023

The Japan Times wins two gold at WAN-IFRA Asia Media Awards 2023

The Japan Times, Ltd. (Chairperson, Publisher and President: Minako Suematsu) is a double Gold award winner (small-medium company category) in the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) Asia Media Awards 2023.
Ukrainian commandos known as Kukhar (left), 23, and Askold, 38, who conceal their identities, in a bare office used as a safe house in Kyiv on Oct. 5. Inside the commando raids unnerving Russia in Crimea; the lightning assaults are part of a larger campaign using drones and missiles to degrade Russian forces and demoralize the public.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 23, 2023

Inside the commando raids unnerving Russia in Crimea

The lightning assaults are part of a larger campaign using drones and missiles to degrade Russian forces and demoralize the public.
Members of the Ground Self-Defense Force disembark from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during a live fire exercise in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in May 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 23, 2023

Kishida's proposed tax cuts put higher defense spending on hold

The plan to raise defense spending partly through tax hikes has been put on ice. In fact, it was never likely to deliver fast results.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan