Search - 2021

 
 
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / OUR PLANET
Feb 4, 2024

For Japan, earthquakes are an existential matter

The New Year's Day quake was a stark reminder of how Japan has been shaped by rumbling, grinding and often deadly convulsions and volcanic activity.
The Fugaku supercomputer at Riken Center for Computational Science in Kobe in June 2020. Many companies leverage its simulation capabilities to streamline processes, saving labor on experiments and calculations crucial for the development of large products.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2024

Fugaku supercomputer tops predecessor in corporate usage

While Fugaku has primarily garnered attention for academic applications it has also proved instrumental in product development.
Military vehicles carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles during a military parade in Beijing in 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

Fear and ambition propel Xi’s nuclear acceleration

As China’s arsenal grows, its military looks to warheads as both defensive shield and potential sword — to intimidate and subjugate adversaries.
BASEBALL / Sac Bunts
Feb 5, 2024

Fighters' Tsuyoshi Shinjo needs to match substance with style in third season

Nippon Ham manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo is trying to turn around the Fighters after last-place finishes in 2022 and 2023.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Education minister under fire for unreported ties to Unification Church

Masahito Moriyama said he could not remember 2021 meeting with the group or the agreement he signed with it for electoral support.
The Japanese government forecast that number of digital workers in 2026 will fall short of projected needs by 2.3 million.
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2024

Japan struggles with digital transformation

Japan's general tendency toward risk aversion reduces the readiness to adopt new policies, procedures and technologies.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida enters his office on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 12, 2024

Japan's LDP concerned about headwinds in Lower House by-elections

The Nagasaki race is designed to fill the vacancy of a former LDP member embroiled in a funds scandal.
Hisashi Oka, president and CEO
ESG CONSORTIUM
Feb 14, 2024

OAT Agrio grows better farms with green tech, agrochemicals

OAT Agrio Co. Ltd. produces environmentally friendly fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals for the sake of both better food security and nature. In a recent interview with The Japan Times, the company’s president, Hisashi Oka, talked about its hands-on efforts to learn more and continue improving...
Renesas Electronics will buy software firm Altium in the biggest acquisition yet of an Australian-listed company by a Japanese buyer.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2024

Japan chipmaker Renesas to buy software company Altium for $5.9 billion

The move marks the biggest acquisition yet of an Australia-listed company by a Japanese buyer.
Shanghai's financial district under heavy rain. China's economy has slowed down, with some pointing to a possible balance sheet recession.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2024

Mr. Xi, only change will help China weather the storm

How does Xi Jinping plan to address China's growing economic woes? Only openness to change will allow the global power to survive these turbulent times.
A new report by the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility estimates that it could take up to 320 years for Black Americans to catch up to their white counterparts in quality of life.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2024

Black Americans gain no ground on income and wealth

One study estimates that it could take up to 320 years for Black Americans to catch up to their white counterparts' in quality of life.
Kylian Mbappe has reportedly informed PSG of his intention to leave at the end of the season.
SOCCER
Feb 16, 2024

Kylian Mbappe informs Paris Saint-Germain of intention to leave team

Mbappe declined to activate a clause that would allow him to remain with PSG for another year.
Alexei Navalny, who Russian authorities say died on Friday, attends a 2019 rally in Moscow with his wife, Yulia Navalnaya (right), in memory of murdered dissident Boris Nemtsov.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2024

Navalny was too brave to be allowed to live

Alexei Navalny never stopped speaking truth to the powers of Russian despotism. His fearlessness was simply too much for the Kremlin to bear.
Mining magnate Dan Gertler in Congo in 2012
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 20, 2024

China's dominance of EV metals prompts U.S. to revisit stockpile 'panic button'

Budget cuts have shrunk U.S. strategic reserves to record lows, leaving it facing shortages of the raw materials needed to execute an energy transition.
Yasuhiro Otomo and Miku Narisawa during one of Odyssey Nature Japan's educational fishing programs.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 22, 2024

A young 3/11 survivor and her vow to protect the ocean

At 12, Miku Narisawa experienced a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami that destroyed her home. Now she is working to protect it.
A relative of a missing passenger on MH370, in Beijing on the one year anniversary of the aircraft's disappearance.
WORLD
Feb 23, 2024

A decade after MH370, planes still at risk of vanishing off the map

An industrywide push to eliminate the chances of a similar case has been stymied by bureaucracy and financial pressure.
Smoke rises from the Posco steel mill in Pohang, South Korea.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2024

South Korea’s biggest polluters made millions from carbon sales

Seoul was one of the first in Asia to start an emissions-trading system, but it has fallen short of encouraging industrial polluters to reduce pollution.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei index is on a roll, having broken its bubble-era record last week.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 27, 2024

What explains the recent surge in Japanese stock prices?

Japan needs for increase domestic capital investment, technological innovation and sound risk-taking to improve long-term competitiveness.
Farmers shout slogans as they burn an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers during a march toward New Delhi to push for better crop prices, at Shambhu Barrier, the border between Punjab and Haryana states, on Feb. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 29, 2024

India's farmer protest fuels opposition hopes of denting Modi's appeal

India's beleaguered opposition parties have been searching for a narrative to counter the popular leader.
Maurice Shelton (left) and his lawyer Motoki Taniguchi spoke about alleged racial bias on behalf of the police at a recent press conference.
COMMUNITY / Voices / Black Eye
Feb 29, 2024

Making Japanese history by being Black history

Three individuals have stepped up to try and make a difference in the country we live in. They should be applauded.
The world needs to avoid the mistakes and pitfalls that go with providing debt relief and should craft sustainable solutions for financially distressed nations. 
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2024

Developing countries’ never-ending debt crisis

Creditors have a role in resolving debt crises. This means all eyes are on China, which is the single most important creditor for debt distress.
With the rise of populist, anti-democratic political movements and parties, many democracies are increasingly relying on the courts to uphold their constitutional order.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2024

Judgment days for democracy

Populist politics have increasingly strained many countries’ constitutional orders, leading to more instances of courts asserting themselves.
Chai Wanrou at the Daming Palace National Heritage Park, in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China. The 28-year-old is part of a growing movement that envisions a future with no husband and no children.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 7, 2024

More Chinese women choosing singledom as economy stutters

Chinese President Xi Jinping last year stressed the need to "cultivate a new culture of marriage and childbearing."
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 8, 2024

Biden takes on Trump and Republicans in State of the Union speech

The 68-minute speech gave Biden, who is suffering from low approval ratings, a chance to speak directly to millions of Americans about his vision.
Knives displayed for sale at the "Survival & Prepper Show" in Longmont, Colorado, on March 2
WORLD / Society
Mar 11, 2024

Disaster 'prepping' finds broad appeal as climate and politics threaten safety

Researchers say the number of Americans getting ready to survive political upheaval and natural catastrophes has doubled in size since 2017.
Yusuke Yamazaki, former president of Nishiyama Farm, arrives at Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 13, 2024

Ex-Nishiyama Farm president arrested after deportation from Indonesia

Yusuke Yamazaki had been on the international wanted list for his alleged involvement in investment fraud involving overseas fruit sales.
Gold beans for sale inside a Luk Fook Holdings International jewelry store in Shanghai on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2024

Gold beans all the rage with China’s Gen Z as deflation bites

Weighing as little as 1 gram, the beans — and other forms of gold jewelry — are increasingly viewed as the safest investment bet for young Chinese.
Fans cheer during a friendly match between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Kiwoon Heroes ahead of the Major League Baseball Seoul Series in Seoul on Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 18, 2024

MLB brings Shohei Ohtani, season openers and big dreams to Seoul

With a set of stars from the region, 2024 is turning out to be baseball’s moment in Asia.
A police officer walks outside the entrance of the family house of detained Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, Myanmar, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 20, 2024

No bids as Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside mansion auctioned

A decadeslong dispute over the property between the Nobel laureate and her brother prompted the attempted sale.
The resignation of Vietnam President Vo Van Thuong on Wednesday is "not really a good sign for a country often boasted for having very strong political stability.”
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 21, 2024

‘Political earthquake’ shakes up succession battle in Vietnam

The ouster of a second president in just over a year leaves a leadership vacuum in one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies.

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