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The Seven & I takeover saga is being closely watched as a test case of Japan’s openness to foreign capital, after recent governance reforms banned corporations from ignoring overtures that may raise value for shareholders.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025

Seven & I shares fall amid report it may reject buyout offer

The company said it is still having constructive discussions with Couche-Tard after a report said it would reject the offer.
A passenger jet with a special livery featuring the popular anime series Gundam is unveiled at Haneda Airport, Tokyo, on Monday ahead of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025

JAL and Bandai Namco unveil Gundam jet ahead of Osaka Expo

The Boeing 737-800 jet, whose livery also features the expo's official mascot, Myaku-Myaku, will be used for domestic flights until around November.
The Supreme Court has rejected FC2's appeals against two separate rulings made against it by the Intellectual Property High Court in July 2022 and May 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 4, 2025

FC2 infringed on Dwango's patent, Japan's top court rules

The Supreme Court rejected FC2's appeals against two lower court rulings ordering the Las Vegas-based firm to stop violating Dwango's patent on a video comment-posting system.
A S-300 missile system is seen during the National Army Day parade in Tehran on April 17, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025

Russian missile experts flew to Iran amid clashes with Israel

It could not be determined what the seven specialists were doing in Iran.
Billboard advertisements for host clubs in the Kabukicho area of Tokyo.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2025

Tokyo police step up crackdown on sex worker scout group

The group is believed to have earned about ¥7 billion over five years by dispatching women to the sexual service businesses that offered the best pay.
TikTok has complained to Australia’s government for excluding YouTube from a nationwide move to curb social media.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 5, 2025

TikTok blasts Australia for YouTube carve-out in social media ban

The Chinese-owned short-form video platform described the move as a "sweetheart deal” that’s "illogical, anti-competitive and short sighted.”
Items from Shohei Ohtani's 50-50 season are seen in an exhibition at Tokyo Node on Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 5, 2025

Tokyo fans get the Dodgers on their doorstep

In a big play to grow the team's fanbase, an exhibition connected with the MLB Tokyo Series is offering a taste of the LA experience.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito (center) during the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly's plenary session on Wednesday in Kobe
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2025

Efforts to identify whistleblower against Hyogo governor likely illegal, panel says

The report found the governor's rebukes of prefectural officials to be "largely true" and called on him to "fulfill his accountability."
People walk past the Department of Education building in Washington on Feb. 4.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 6, 2025

Trump to order U.S. Education Department abolished, WSJ reports

Trump has repeatedly called for eliminating the department, calling it a "big con job."
Masamune Goto (front) pilots his boat during a powerboat racing competition at Tokyo's Tamagawa boat course on Feb. 23.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 6, 2025

Powerboat racing revs up bid to shed shadowy reputation in Japan

Powerboat racing started more than 70 years ago under a special gambling law that classifies it alongside horse racing, speedway and cycling in Japan.
Seven & I named Stephen Hayes Dacus as its first foreign chief executive on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2025

Seven & I announces measures to fend off Couche-Tard takeover

The announcements are the latest twist in a saga that began last year when Seven & I rebuffed a takeover offer from Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard.
Elementary and junior high school students study online at Free School Mirai in the city of Nagano.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Mar 17, 2025

Schools face challenges in evaluating students not attending classes

There is concern that assessing students through grades may run counter to supporting those who cannot attend school.
Antonio Costa, president of the European Council (left), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, arrive for a special European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 7, 2025

EU leaders agree on defense surge and support Zelenskyy after U.S. aid freeze

The European Union's defense summit in Brussels took place amid fears that Russia, emboldened by its war in Ukraine, may attack an EU country next.
Lewis Hamilton is in his first season with Ferrari after a move from Mercedes.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Mar 7, 2025

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc put on show for Ferrari fans in Milan

Some 35,000 "tifosi" attended the event as seven-time world champion Hamilton performed smoking tire burnouts after filling the city streets with noise.
Couche-Tard has made clear that it wants to learn from Seven & I Holdings to improve its North America operation, and has ruled out going hostile in takeover talks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 7, 2025

Couche-Tard holds talks for sale of U.S. shops in Seven & I deal

The retailer last year proposed to purchase Seven & I Holdings for $18.19 per share, but so far hasn’t been able to enter negotiations with the firm.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani is expected to return to a two-way role this season.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 9, 2025

As Shohei Ohtani embarks on Year 2 in Dodger Blue, a unique encore begins

Ohtani has won two Most Valuable Player Awards as a two-way player, for the Angels in 2021 and 2023.
US President Donald Trump listens to a reporter as he speaks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 8, 2025

Trump threatens Russia with sanctions until Ukraine peace reached

Trump's threat of banking curbs and tariffs followed a report Monday that the White House was preparing to give Russia possible sanctions relief as part of the push to end the war.
The Ukedo Elementary School Ruins in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, in January. The Fukushima Prefectural Government offers training sessions for new prefectural government recruits to visit the school, the prefecture's sole preserved disaster-hit structure.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2025

14 years on, prefectural governments work to pass on lessons to new hires

Many prefectural officials who were involved in front-line operations in the immediate aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami are retiring.
Members of a Liberal Democratic Party panel discuss proposals about allowing spouses to retain their respective surnames, in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 10, 2025

Eternal debate over surname law comes to fore again

Since last October’s general election, momentum has picked up for a legislative change to allow married couples to retain different surnames.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at an Upper House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Monday. The opposition's slamming of the Liberal Democratic Party over its position on corporate and group donations, as well as their own divisions over whether to restrict or ban such contributions, cast uncertainty over Ishiba’s hopes of reaching a consensus within the month.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 10, 2025

Opposition parties split on whether to restrict or ban corporate donations

Their division casts uncertainty over Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s hopes of reaching a consensus on the matter within the month ahead of a summer election.
South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun speaks during an interview on Feb. 27 in Seoul.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 11, 2025

South Korean lawmakers to visit Osaka Expo

Lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun said he will encourage South Koreans to visit Japan for the expo.
People hold a Ukrainian flag and a Taiwan flag during a protest to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Taipei on Feb. 23.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Mar 11, 2025

‘We are not Ukraine’: Top Taiwan officials temper comparisons after U.S. U-turn

Top Taiwanese officials believe the U.S. will stay invested in the island's security as Washington remains united on the need to counter China.
Tiger Woods waves to the fans at The Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Torrey Pines in San Diego on Feb. 16.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Mar 12, 2025

Tiger Woods has surgery for ruptured Achilles tendon

The recovery time from an Achilles rupture can often last several months, which would almost certainly rule Woods out from playing in any of this season's majors.
A handout image received from Manchester United on March 11, 2025, shows Foster + Partners' illustration of a proposed new 100,000-seat stadium, unveiled as part of the regeneration of the Old Trafford area.
SOCCER
Mar 12, 2025

Manchester United to leave Old Trafford for new 100,000-seat stadium

The stadium, which will be built on land surrounding Old Trafford, will cost around $2.6 billion and the timescale for the project is five years.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri ahead of pre-season testing in Bahrain on Feb. 27
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Mar 12, 2025

Piastri commits long-term to McLaren

Piastri won a sprint race in his rookie season and finished fourth overall in 2024, when he was also the only driver to complete every racing lap.
Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu told The Japan Times in an interview last week in Taipei that he hopes with the island democracy can strengthen ties with Japan and other like-minded nations “at every level.”
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 12, 2025

Taiwan’s No. 2 diplomat seeks higher-level ‘unofficial’ Japan meetings as ties grow

Taipei has been shifting away from its competition with China over formal recognition, focusing instead on pragmatism to circumvent diplomatic obstacles.
South Korean evangelical preacher Jun Kwang-hoon speaks during a rally to support impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on March 8.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 12, 2025

South Korean pastor vows revolt against Yoon's impeachment

Experts say the pastor has tapped into a far-right constituency that expanded in the wake of Yoon's martial law declaration.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's arrest on an ICC warrant for crimes against humanity related to his brutal drug war is a victory for affected families, but it may plunge the country into political chaos.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2025

The law finally caught up with Rodrigo Duterte

A reckoning for Duterte — the man they called "The Punisher” — is long overdue. The former Philippine president’s anti-drug crusade killed thousands of people.
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin walks back to the bench after an interception during the fourth quarter against the Denver Broncos in an AFC wild card game at Highmark Stadium on Jan 12.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Mar 13, 2025

Damar Hamlin returns to Bills with one-year extension

Hamlin started 14 games for the Bills last season, part of his remarkable comeback since going into cardiac arrest after a hit to the chest during a game in 2023.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaks at an event in Auckland on Sept. 20.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 13, 2025

New Zealand pitches itself as safe haven in ‘global storm’

Christopher Luxon’s center-right government wants more foreign direct investment to boost economic growth ahead of a 2026 election.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?