Search - online

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 18, 2016

Japan's pop music scene saw a power struggle in 2016

Media, both domestic and overseas, spent a lot of time focused on the streaming services arriving in Japan in 2016. Months of "Can these platforms thrive in CD-loving Japan?" speculation reached a climax in September, when global market leader Spotify finally debuted here. There was a big press conference,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 7, 2015

Gaming videos giving passionate players a social leg up

The man wakes up early in the morning and boots up a video game to play. While playing, he simultaneously utters his unfettered feelings into a microphone to alert hundreds of thousands of young Japanese fans that he is online and ready to rock.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 1, 2014

China's 'shadow banking' challenge

A new financial service operated by China's biggest e-commerce firm Alibaba could crack open the country's economic system as it draws customers from the major state-owned commercial banks by paying higher interest rates to depositors.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 3, 2009

ART iT transforms into digital forum

When Tokyo-based quarterly magazine ART iT announced the discontinuation of its print edition and that all content would move online following the publishing of its June 2009 issue, it seemed like yet another example of how the popularity of the Internet had combined with a global economic recession...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2008

Web society opts to stay anonymous

Like a lot of 20-year-olds, Kae Takahashi has a page on U.S.-based MySpace, and there is no mistaking it for anyone else's.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 31, 2007

Whole worlds inside the screen

With a population of Net-cafe refugees in Japan reported in August to be 5,400, and the recent demise of a 28-year-old South Korean, identified as Lee, who reportedly died after playing an online computer game for 50 hours straight, many are wondering what online virtual worlds are all about.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 1, 2007

Mixi vs. MySpace -- a fight for your bytes

Since she started using the mixi Web site last summer, Yuki Nikitaki has linked up with a network of friends all over the world, including in Japan, and in Greece where she grew up.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2001

Net poses major changes for news media

Does the advent of the Internet society spell the end of the news media as we know it? Will a new breed of reporters, represented by anonymous authors in online chat rooms, oust professional journalists from the public arena?
Japan Times
LIFE / Longform
Jun 12, 2023

Hunting for marriage: Inside Japan’s matchmaking crusade

As fewer people are tying the knot and the birthrate continues to fall, a range of initiatives are being made available to those who haven’t given up on love.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 29, 2023

Chinese police urge deletion of encrypted messaging apps from children’s devices

Police in cities across China have issued warnings against kids using encrypted messaging apps such as Telegram and BatChat amid a growing crackdown.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2023

U.S. sues Google to break up ad unit in heated antitrust fight

Google said in blog post that the lawsuit 'attempts to pick winners and losers in the highly competitive advertising technology sector.'
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 12, 2023

China moves to strengthen management of independent content creators

A new string of measures represents strict oversight of not only tech companies and platform moderation but also what content can be posted online by independent creators.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / 2022 in Review
Dec 29, 2022

Kizuna AI's departure marked a new era for virtual stars in 2022

Fans were shocked when the pioneering digital character stepped down in February, but virtual YouTubers are still proving to be one of Japan's strongest pop culture exports.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2022

Japanese firms re-imagine offices to make them hubs of communication

Whether staffers are mostly working remotely or in person, firms have a similar concept in mind — that the office should be a place to strengthen networks within the organization.
CULTURE / Longform
Sep 26, 2022

Big in China, but can the party last for Japan’s artists?

Overseas artists can make a splash in China — provided they abide by the rules.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2022

The left and right’s terrible ideas for fixing the internet

The leading ideas from lawmakers are variously unworkable, unconstitutional, irrelevant and unserious, and many of them betraying a profound ignorance about how the internet actually works.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Sep 12, 2021

What makes virtual fashion shows work? Clever videos certainly help

With even big-name houses struggling for views, brands that abandoned the typical film format found the most success.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 8, 2021

Persist, pivot, prosper? Tourism businesses on weathering the pandemic

With the Olympics and a national vaccine rollout underway, The Japan Times checks in with four small tourism businesses. How are they holding up? And how did they pivot to stay in business?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2021

Under siege, China's private education giants take steps to curb fallout

The regulations marked the culmination of a monthslong campaign to rein in the ad spending wars and cut-throat competition that's come to define the sector.
Motorists drive past a giant billboard depicting Muslim people walking with their national flags toward the Dome of the Rock shrine in Jerusalem, in central Tehran's Valiasr Square on Oct. 25.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 4, 2023

In a worldwide war of words, Russia, China and Iran back Hamas

Officials and researchers say the deluge of online propaganda and disinformation is larger than anything seen before.
Vehicles and pedestrians by the intersection of Burgos and Real streets in Tacloban city, Leyte province, the Philippines, on Oct. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Nov 6, 2023

Sex trafficking plagues Philippine city where typhoon wrought havoc

Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,000 people and displaced millions, triggered a humanitarian crisis that provided fertile ground for traffickers.
Kashmiri journalists protest against internet blockade put by India's government in Srinagar in October 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 24, 2023

Internet out: India deploys shutdowns in name of security

Some blackouts last hours, others days. Some stretch for months.
Digital platforms have been flooded with disinformation, allowing foreign countries to conduct influence operations and leading to widened social divides.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 28, 2024

How democratic states are regulating digital platforms

Some platforms have been flooded with disinformation, allowing foreign countries to conduct influence operations.
A polling station is set up at the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai for the Lower House elections in October 2021. Japanese nationals living abroad have to travel to diplomatic missions that serve as polling stations to cast their votes during elections.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 30, 2024

Internet voting for Japanese abroad remains a distant prospect

Apart from the need to revise an existing law, concerns remain over the integrity of online identity verification and the confidentiality of votes.
From Malaysia to Brazil, free speech is being pitted against social media regulation.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2024

To hold Big Tech accountable, focus on the harms

The Malaysian case underscores the urgent need for effective safeguards against online abuse, while raising concerns about the potential misuse of regulatory power.
Opium is harvested from poppies in Bang Laem Village, Shan State, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 31, 2024

Drugs, scams and sin: Myanmar’s war has made it the global crime capital

Growing opium poppies is illegal in Myanmar, but small-scale farmers see it is a relatively low-risk cash crop.
The Immigration Services Agency says it is unclear whether application fee price hikes will lead to shorter processing times, but would “continue its efforts to improve efficiency to minimize any inconvenience to applicants.”
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2025

Japan's immigration processing fees to rise starting April 1

The Immigration Services Agency has cited rising prices and personnel costs for its first price hikes — of as much as 50% — in over four decades.
New Japanese passports will be printed using laser technology based on banknote printing techniques, making forgery more difficult.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2025

Applications for forgery-proof passports start in Japan

Passports issued for applications submitted from Monday onward will feature a new design.
Once known only by his first name, Sasuke Haraguchi scrapped the pretension of a crafted image for bare authenticity. He’s now an in-demand electronic producer and artist in his own right.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 25, 2025

Sasuke Haraguchi’s provocative soundtracks for digital natives

The 21-year-old electronic producer and artist taps into the chaotic nature of modern online life.
A pollster for the national census leaves a note at a house in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, in September 2020 after no one answered the door.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 11, 2025

Japan faces staffing challenges for crucial census

The pollster workforce is aging, while increased public concerns over privacy have led more residents to refuse to participate.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan