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A police officer walks past posters of Liberal Democratic Party candidates, as well as one showing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, outside the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday. As Japan’s foreign population continues to rise, one of the talking points during Sunday’s election was how the country should deal with the increase of international residents.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

Foreign residents closely follow Japan's election and party pledges

As electoral results could impact their lives, The Japan Times asked several foreign residents to weigh in.
The diffusion index on living conditions in Japan is at its lowest level in nearly 16 years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 24, 2025

Japan might be in a technical recession already

GDP appears to have declined for a second consecutive quarter, while wages remain stagnant and consumer sentiment weak.
Police officers prepare the venue where Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was scheduled to deliver his first campaign speech for the Upper House election, on July 3 in Kobe.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 24, 2025

Police detect 889 threatening posts ahead of Upper House poll

The National Police Agency confirmed the 889 threatening posts through cyber patrol and also thanks to reports from the public between June 16 and Saturday.
Fuji Rock still excites Hitsujibungaku — (from left) bassist Yurika Kasai, lead singer and guitarist Moeka Shiotsuka and drummer Hiroa Fukuda —  even as its flock grows abroad.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 25, 2025

Hitsujibungaku’s pop-fueled rise to stardom

Rock trio Hitsujibungaku is set to make its fourth appearance at Fuji Rock this weekend on its most primetime stage yet — the White Stage right before headliner Haim.
Chloe Kelly celebrates with the trophy after England's win over Spain in the Euro 2025 final in Basel, Switzerland, on Sunday.
SOCCER
Jul 28, 2025

Resilient Chloe Kelly takes center stage as England wins Euro 2025

Kelly came to the Lionesses' rescue several times in Switzerland.
Hajime Kawano and his family traveled from Japan to see Ichiro Suzuki be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, on Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 28, 2025

Ichiro's Hall of Fame induction becomes family affair for some fans

Some traveled from Japan to the United States to be part of Ichiro's big moment.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte looks at military equipment on the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami stealth frigate during a visit to the MSDF's naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in April.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 29, 2025

Japan and NATO to launch defense-industrial talks, top envoy says

The talks will aim to explore new areas of cooperation and facilitate coordination between the two sides’ defense and security industries.
Incredibly popular in summer, Japanese wind chimes are said to cool the mind by giving the wind a voice.
LIFE / Bilingual
Jul 31, 2025

A language built on the wind, from mountain gusts to wind chimes

A breeze is always appreciated in summer, and Japan’s rich wind vocabulary reflects a deep cultural connection to nature, poetry and everyday life.
The NISAR satellite is encapsulated in its payload fairing at the Indian Space Research Organization’s Satish Dhawan Space Center on July 18.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Jul 31, 2025

When Earth’s surface shifts, a new satellite will see it

The satellite is a joint mission between NASA and India’s space agency and will track tiny shifts across almost all of Earth’s land and ice regions.
In “Stigmatized Properties: Possession,” Yahiro Kuwata (Shota Watanabe, left) is a steel worker from Fukuoka who moves to Tokyo to become a TV personality and ends up renting a haunted apartment.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 31, 2025

'Stigmatized Properties: Possession': Layered lead faces ghosts and show business

In the sequel to his 2020 haunted apartments horror, Hideo Nakata creates goose-pimply moments of terror with common paranormal phenomena.
Brett Clark, Dai-ichi Life Holdings' senior managing executive officer in charge of the Asia-Pacific region
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2025

Japan’s Dai-ichi Life eyes M&A in Southeast Asia for growth

Japan’s biggest listed life insurer is looking at the Philippines and Malaysia as emerging markets that offer business opportunities as more households ascend to middle class.
A synchronous speaker stands in a dubbing studio in Munich. The rise of AI raises the question of whether voice dubbing actors will be needed in the future.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 1, 2025

Voice actors push back as AI threatens dubbing industry

As AI-generated voices become more sophisticated and cost-effective, voice actor industry associations are calling for tighter regulations.
Actor Nicholas Hoult, Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet attend the Los Angeles premiere of “Superman” at the TCL Chinese Theater on July 7.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2025

Hollywood has lost the plot on telling stories

Western culture seems to have reached an impasse — wistful for our youth and unable to come up with any new ideas.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends a talk session with SoftBank group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son in Tokyo on February 3.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 6, 2025

OpenAI releases two ‘open’ AI models after DeepSeek’s success

The release is a new business strategy for the ChatGPT developer and allows users to customize and run AI systems themselves.
This undated handout photo released by the Australian Defence Force on Tuesday shows the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force JS Mogami frigate sailing at an undisclosed location.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 6, 2025

The Japan-Australia frigate sale is a big deal. Here’s why.

For the Japanese government, this will make for the largest defense export to date.
Airbnb's second-quarter net income was $642 million, beating analyst expectations.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 7, 2025

Airbnb warns of slowing growth despite strong Q2 earnings

Results were surprisingly strong in the second half of last year, as travelers ultimately booked trips that they had delayed, which could make for tough comparisons.
Haji Karam Jat (right), a fisherman, and his family members walk along an embankment in Keti Bandar town of Thatta district near the Indus delta, in the south of Pakistan on June 25.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 7, 2025

Death of a delta: Pakistan's Indus sinks and shrinks

More than 1.2 million people have been displaced from the region in the last two decades as the downstream flow of water into the delta has fallen 80% since the 1950s.
Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Asim Munir (second from left) during his visit at the Tilla Field Firing Ranges to witness the Exercise Hammer Strike, a high-intensity field training exercise conducted by the Pakistan Army's Mangla Strike Corps, in Mangla, Pakistan, on May 1
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 12, 2025

India decries 'saber rattling' after Pakistan army chief's reported nuclear remarks

Indian media reports quoted Pakistan's Field Marshal Asim Munir as saying: "We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we'll take half the world down with us."
Kaoru Mitoma celebrates scoring Brighton's second goal against Chelsea in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Feb. 8.
SOCCER
Aug 12, 2025

Kaoru Mitoma looks to build on Premier League success with Brighton

No Japanese player will be more essential for their team’s Premier League ambitions than Kaoru Mitoma.
Athletes compete in the final of the women's 100 meter hurdles at the Paris Olympics in August last year.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Aug 16, 2025

New gene testing system in disarray ahead of world championships in Tokyo

With the world championships in Tokyo looming, athletics federations are struggling to comply with new rules concerning gene tests for female athletes.
The All Blacks' Ardie Savea faces off with Pumas wing Rodrigo Isgro during their Rugby Championship match on Saturday in Cordoba, Argentina.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Aug 17, 2025

All Blacks beat Argentina 41-24 to reclaim top world rank

Ahead 31-10 at the interval, New Zealand held off a second-half fightback from the Pumas in Cordoba and ultimately emerged as the victors by scoring six tries to three.
Arsenal's Declan Rice celebrates after his club's win over Manchester United in Manchester, England, on Sunday.
SOCCER
Aug 18, 2025

Arsenal edges Manchester United at Old Trafford in season opener

The Gunners were far from impressive at Old Trafford but earned a huge three points thanks to a glaring error from United's stand-in goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.
Actors in period costume pose on a re-creation of a Tudor wine fountain at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England, in April 2010. England’s recent wine boom is hitting limits due to scale, costs and competition.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2025

England’s sparkling wine is losing its fizz

It really doesn’t help having higher taxes now measured on alcohol content. The going is only getting tougher for fledgling startups.
Shoichi Takahashi holds a photo of himself when he was younger, in Otaru, Hokkaido, on May 17.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2025

103-year-old remembers Soviet attack right after WWII

"Since we had been fighting Americans, it was beyond my imagination that Soviets launched an attack on us three days after the end of WWII," Takahashi said.
Rohingya refugees fleeing from Myanmar into Palang Khali, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, in November 2017
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 22, 2025

U.N. investigation seeking justice for Rohingya hit by cost-cutting

A million Rohingya, a Muslim minority group, fled a Myanmar military offensive in August 2017 — a campaign seen by prosecutors as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.
A screenshot from an AI-generated video showing what could happen to Tokyo if Mount Fuji erupted
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2025

Tokyo releases AI-generated video of Mount Fuji erupting

With Mount Fuji 100 kilometers away, the video from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government aims to inform Tokyoites about how an eruption could still seriously impact their lives.
Nipponia Hotel Ise Kawasaki Merchant Town in Ise, Mie Prefecture
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Sep 8, 2025

Why more hotels in Japan are offering room-only service

Hotels hit by labor shortage hope to reduce their burden, while restaurants and the local community aim to attract more visitors.
As generative AI like ChatGPT becomes more popular, evidence is growing that it may harm mental health by encouraging dependency, weakening critical thinking and even contributing to delusional episodes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 25, 2025

ChatGPT’s mental health costs are adding up

From brain rot to induced psychosis, the psychological cost of generative AI is growing and flying under the radar.
A journalist holds the blood-covered camera of Palestinian photojournalist Mariam Dagga, who was killed during an Israeli strike on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, during her funeral on Monday.
WORLD
Aug 26, 2025

Israel hits Gaza hospital, killing at least 20 people, including five journalists

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel deeply regretted what he called a "tragic mishap."
Kunitake Toriya, a former corporal in the Imperial Japanese Army who had trained for a suicide attack mission, speaks about his wartime experiences in front of the photographs of his comrades at Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum in Chikuzen, Fukuoka Prefecture, in June.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2025

Destined for death, former kamikaze pilot recalls wanting to live

Kunitake Toriya yelled "Banzai" in his heart when his suicide mission was called off. Now, 80 years on, he is determined to share his story.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight