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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 4, 2020

When you can’t travel in actual reality, go virtual

During these strange days, the idea of online anything is proving more attractive — and vital. Families experience first-time conference calls, while musicians around the world put on internet gigs for locked-down audiences. Travel, too, is just a tap away, thanks to virtual reality.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Apr 3, 2020

Russian boxing coach diagnosed with coronavirus after returning from Olympic qualifiers

A Russian national boxing team coach has tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home from Olympic qualifiers cut short in London last month.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 3, 2020

Climate disasters seen increasing armed conflict risk in large countries

Countries with large populations and low levels of development are most likely to see a rise in the risk of armed conflict after extreme weather events, according to a new study that researchers said underscored the need to boost their resilience.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League
Apr 2, 2020

Evessa player tests positive for COVID-19 in B. League first

A member of the Osaka Evessa has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, while several other players, club and arena staff have complained of sickness, the team announced on Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2020

Demand for health gadgets soars amid lockdowns

Fitness-tracking gadgets are selling out, home exercise classes have never been more popular and robotics crews are pivoting to making sanitation robots. The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered a seismic wave of health awareness and anxiety, which is energizing a new category of virus-fighting tech.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2020

SoftBank abandons $3 billion WeWork share purchase deal

SoftBank Group Corp. is scrapping an agreement to spend $3 billion (¥322 billion) to buy WeWork stock from former CEO Adam Neumann and other shareholders, despite threats of legal action from some members of the company’s board.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2020

Stranded tourists flock to Tokyo immigration bureau already overwhelmed by seasonal rush

Scores of foreign nationals queued up at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau on Wednesday, as tourists unable to return home — after international flights from Japan were suspended due to COVID-19 — added to the typical numbers attending the bureau.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2020

How Tesla fought to keep its U.S. plant open despite lockdown order

Tesla Inc.’s lone U.S. assembly plant posed a risk to public health by staying open for days in spite of San Francisco Bay area shelter-in-place orders, according to documents obtained through a California public records request.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 1, 2020

U.S. and South Korea near tentative troop-funding deal, report says

The U.S. and South Korea have tentatively reached a military cost-sharing agreement, the Yonhap news agency reported, potentially ending months of bickering over demands from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump for a massive increase.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 31, 2020

Abe and deputy Aso avoid joint meetings as lockdown pressure builds

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his deputy won't attend meetings together to cut coronavirus risks as pressure for a lockdown builds, with domestic cases topping 2,000 and a minister saying the country's containment strategy was stretched to the limit.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 31, 2020

U.S. base workers set for furlough in blow to South Korea alliance

The U.S. military is set to put almost half of its 8,500 South Korean civilian workers on furlough, as the two sides bicker over the Trump administration’s demands for a massive increase in troop funding.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League / HOOP SCOOP
Mar 31, 2020

Virus-shortened B. League season produced memorable performances

Despite last Friday's abrupt end to the B. League season, the campaign gave fans a number of memorable feats since its opening weekend last October.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Fincity.tokyo
Mar 31, 2020

FinCity. Tokyo meet-up sees sector heavies discuss Tokyo's role as a future global financial center

During the bubble economy of the 1980s, Japan was a behemoth of global finance, with Tokyo and its financial institutions vying neck and neck with New York City and London. But everything changed when the country’s asset price bubble burst in 1992, generating a loss of 100 trillion yen — approximately...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Mar 29, 2020

Global wave of consumer default underway, beginning in China

Like millions of people around the world, Zhang Chunzi borrowed money she thought she would be able to repay. Then the new coronavirus changed everything.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 29, 2020

U.S. immigration rules bar thousands of foreign nurses

As the coronavirus pandemic threatens to strain nursing staffs at hospitals across the United States, Melanie N. Beckham knows where to find reinforcements. But first, the Trump administration needs to give its approval.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 29, 2020

Ex-Venezuelan spy chief Hugo Carvajal may surrender to U.S.

The former head of Venezuela's military intelligence unit, Hugo Carvajal, is discussing his possible surrender with U.S. authorities, three people familiar with the matter said on Saturday, after prosecutors charged him earlier in the week with drug trafficking, alongside Venezuelan President Nicolas...
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Mar 29, 2020

Disappointed Naomi Osaka voices support for postponement of Tokyo Olympics

Tennis star Naomi Osaka, the poster girl of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, took to social media on Saturday to show her support for the decision to postpone the games until next year.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2020

Flying low: The battle over Tokyo’s airspace

Haneda Airport's new flight paths commence despite concerns from aviation experts and public opposition.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League
Mar 28, 2020

Players react to cancellation of season's final weeks due to COVID-19 pandemic

After the B. League announced the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 campaign due to the COVID-19 outbreak on Friday, some players shared their mixed emotions about this season, which ended abruptly.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2020

Is the pandemic a moment of promise or peril?

We are about to make a historical step — hopefully forward — as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 27, 2020

Stacks of urns in Wuhan prompt new questions about virus's toll

The long lines and stacks of ash urns greeting family members of the dead at funeral homes in Wuhan are spurring questions about the true scale of coronavirus casualties at the epicenter of the outbreak, renewing pressure on a Chinese government struggling to control its containment narrative.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2020

Fossil-fuel giant Russia tiptoes toward low-carbon future

Fossil fuel-rich Russia has for the first time set out a greener economic path for the coming three decades, in a long-term, low-carbon development plan released this week.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 27, 2020

Nearly all Vietnamese minors at Dutch asylum centers were trafficked out, official says

Almost all the Vietnamese children who arrived in Dutch asylum centers in recent years disappeared and were probably trafficked, the Dutch government adviser on human trafficking has said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2020

Alibaba suffers culture conflicts

At Lazada, the Southeast Asian arm of Alibaba Group Holding, staffers are furious over demands that they submit health reports daily and other coronavirus-prevention steps seen as too invasive, highlighting a long-running culture clash with management from China.

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