Search - about-us

 
 
Private companies are rushing into risky, profit-driven geoengineering projects to fight climate change without clear regulations, raising fears of dangerous unintended consequences.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2025

Geoengineering’s risks need to be studied more

With for-profit organizations already releasing chemicals into the oceans, it’s important for scientists with no financial stake in this industry to collect data.
Switzerland's Alayah Pilgrim celebrates after scoring her team's second goal against Iceland in their UEFA Women's Euro 2025 Group A match in Bern, Switzerland, on Sunday.
SOCCER
Jul 7, 2025

Swiss beat Iceland 2-0 to keep alive Women's Euro knockout hopes

Iceland became the first team to be eliminated from the competition.
Fluminense's Thiago Silva before the FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinal match against Al Hilal in Orlando, Florida, on Friday.
SOCCER
Jul 7, 2025

Youthful Chelsea ready for Thiago Silva reunion at Club World Cup

Silva initially made his name at Fluminense, and returned to the side upon leaving Chelsea.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (background center) talks with local farmers in Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture, on Friday. The candidates of the Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan are set to go head-to-head for the seat there.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 9, 2025

Districts with single contested seat hold promise of success in Upper House vote

Both the ruling and opposition parties are directing a large part of their election campaign efforts to seats in such constituencies.
China’s economy shows signs of a possible recovery despite structural challenges and imperfect GDP data, but its future growth and global impact hinge on trade relations with the U.S. and how economic progress is measured.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2025

Taking GDP out of the China equation

There are problems with looking at China’s vitality through the GDP lens — the data is widely perceived to be finessed by officials
Brave Blossoms head coach Eddie Jones will be relying on an inexperienced lineup again as Japan looks to beat Wales for a second time on Saturday in Kobe.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Jul 10, 2025

Jones urges Brave Blossoms to 'create history' against Wales

The Brave Blossoms came from behind to beat the Welsh last weekend and they are now looking to claim consecutive wins over a Tier One country for the first time.
Palestinian children stand in line for food distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jul 16, 2025

One in 10 children in its clinics are malnourished, U.N. Palestinian refugee agency says

More than 5,800 children have been diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition.
Tomoko Tamura, chairperson of the Japanese Communist Party, attends a debate with other party leaders in Tokyo in October. Her party urges voters to end the LDP’s business-centered politics and U.S. dependence by supporting its social, economic and foreign-policy reforms.
COMMENTARY / Japan / From Party Leaders
Jul 16, 2025

JCP vows fairer taxes, stronger social safety net and a commitment to peaceful diplomacy

Tamura says LDP’s politics are now in a terminal and critical state with the party unable to respond to domestic and international issues or the wishes of the people.
WNBA All-Stars Caitlin Clark (right) and Kelsey Plum prior to the All-Star Game in Indianapolis on Saturday.
BASKETBALL
Jul 20, 2025

Clark urges more pay for WNBA players as labor talks intensify

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert struck a positive tone with reporters, saying she felt a recent meeting with players had been productive.
Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
WORLD
Jul 20, 2025

Israel issues new evacuation orders in central Gaza as hunger worsens

Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of war and there are fears of accelerating starvation.
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.
Ayaka Ohira (center) celebrates the launch of “Shinsei Galverse” with interpreter Himari Lala Shimizu and executive producer Jack Baldwin.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 24, 2025

Ayaka Ohira: ‘Being outside of the traditional path gave me more freedom’

Anime director Ayaka Ohira talks about her newly launched ‘Shinsei Galverse’ series and how she navigates the industry as a self-taught female artist.
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.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years