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For Japan, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins indicated the possibility of asking for market-opening measures for agricultural products.
BUSINESS
May 6, 2025

U.S. agriculture secretary to visit Japan for trade talks

The U.S. agriculture secretary indicated the possibility of asking for market-opening measures for agricultural products.
The tie-up between Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and its new partners will target U.S. middle-market companies, according to executives.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 7, 2025

SMBC teams with private lenders to offer $1.7 billion of credit

The tie-up between the Japanese banking conglomerate and its new partners will target U.S. middle-market companies, according to executives.
Sailors inspect an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Arabian Sea in 2020. An F-18 fighter jet tipped off the flight deck of the carrier into the Red Sea on Tuesday.
WORLD
May 7, 2025

Another fighter jet falls into sea from U.S. aircraft carrier

An F-18 tipped off the flight deck of the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier into the Red Sea on Tuesday, the second such incident in about a week.
The global shipping industry is also contending with U.S. measures beyond the barrage of levies.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 7, 2025

World’s trade superhighway feels strain from U.S.-China decoupling

Among signs of disruption are plunging fees, fewer services and a pall of uncertainty over what for decades has been one the main maritime highways of the global economy.
Tatsumi Onose (right), who plays the part of Commodore Matthew Perry in Shimoda's Black Ship Festival, says the historical episode the event is based on should be remembered for its positives more than its negatives.
LIFE / Travel
May 8, 2025

Celebrating Japan’s defeat at Shimoda’s Black Ship Festival

Held this year from May 16 to 18, an event to the south of Tokyo turns a historical episode of national humiliation into a plain old good time.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from the media at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2025

Trump administration to announce trade deal with Britain

The agreement would be the first deal announced since Trump imposed stiff tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners.
Liberal Democratic Party Upper House member Shoji Nishida answers questions from reporters in parliament on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 8, 2025

LDP lawmaker Shoji Nishida refuses to retract remarks over WWII exhibits

Nishida said that descriptions at a monument to commemorate the "Himeyuri" nursing corps who died in the Battle of Okinawa had rewritten history.
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost waves from the main central loggia balcony of the St Peter's Basilica, after the cardinals ended the conclave, in The Vatican, on Thursday.
WORLD
May 9, 2025

Robert Prevost surprises as first U.S. pope, taking name Leo XIV

Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected as the surprise choice to be the new leader of the Catholic Church on Thursday.
Workers sew garments along a production line at Thanh Cong Textile Garment in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on April 28.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 12, 2025

Chinese factories are looking for the next China

Tariffs have resulted in the cost of sending products to the United States soaring in recent weeks, forcing companies to find new trade routes.
A bulk carrier arrives at the Port of Los Angeles on April 28.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 13, 2025

China tariff relief spurs shipping rush and price hike U-turns

The temporary tariff relief means that U.S. companies will try to quickly ship out products that were being held in factory warehouses in China.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
May 13, 2025

Trump’s diplomatic frenzy spins big gambles as signs of success

The latest moves reveal a White House eager to show it has momentum to pivot from a volatile first 100 days.
FemUniti was founded in 2024 by Setsu Suzuki (right) and Meagan Ward (second from left) to empower women entrepreneurs and connect them to resources and opportunities.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
May 19, 2025

Detroit-Nagoya network empowers women-owned businesses around the world

Supporting women in business is a “blueprint for the future,” says the cofounder of femUniti — and she has the data to back it up.
A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker is tugged toward a thermal power station in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture, in 2017.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2025

Japan under pressure from U.S. to invest in Alaska LNG pipeline

Doubts over the pipeline's profitability and viability leaves Japan's participation in the $44 billion (nearly ¥6.7 trillion) project uncertain.
Over 30 years, U.S.-China trade talks have largely failed because Beijing prioritizes protecting its political system, making only symbolic concessions, while Washington struggles to win lasting changes.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2025

The U.S. will never win a trade war with China

For sure, the 90-day truce is merely temporary relief. As long as negotiations continue as they are, the U.S. will not be able to win a trade war with China
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (right) speaks during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on May 6.
SOCCER
May 16, 2025

FIFA president says international fans will be welcome at World Cup in U.S.

The world will be welcomed to the United States for the 2026 World Cup and this year's Club World Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Thursday, days after a meeting with officials from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD
May 16, 2025

Israeli onslaught kills scores in Gaza as Trump visits Gulf

Most of the victims were killed in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in airstrikes that hit homes and tents, Palestinian medics said.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaks in the Oval Office after President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with the U.K. on May 8. The agreement is far from a win for London, which has chosen deference over strength in dealing with Washington's bullishness.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2025

Lessons from the U.S.-U.K. trade deal: Don’t appease a bully

The tariff agreement signed between London and Washington does little to boost the U.K. economy and, despite appearances, is a diplomatic defeat for Prime Minister Starmer.
A new U.S. citizen holds a U.S. flag after a naturalization ceremony in Boston on March 11.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2025

U.S. citizenship could soon look very different

Trump's vision tilts heavily toward the wealthy and well-to-do, with special shortcuts for them and barriers to entry for the rest.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency President Hiroshi Yamakawa speaks at a press briefing in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 17, 2025

Japan remains committed to moon missions as Trump cuts NASA budget, JAXA chief says

U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed a $6 billion cut to NASA's budget could upend the Artemis program to return people to the moon.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to deliver a speech marking his 100th day in office at Macomb County Community College Sports Expo Center in Warren, Michigan, on April 29.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
May 18, 2025

Trump’s deals cast China both as foe and prize, blurring signals

Pick through the details of recent U.S. trade negotiations and an outline of Donald Trump’s vision for the global economy starts to come into focus. As do its contradictions.
A woman inspects damage from a tornado in London, Kentucky, on Saturday. More than 25 people have died after severe storms swept through the southern U.S. states of Missouri and Kentucky, officials and local media reports said.
WORLD
May 18, 2025

Severe storms and tornadoes kill more than 25 in south-central U.S.

More than 100,000 people have been left without power in Kentucky, and five counties have declared a state of emergency.
Former U.S. President Joe Biden departs Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Jan. 20.
WORLD / Politics
May 18, 2025

Release of 2023 Biden recording renews debate on his capabilities

The four-minute audio clip comes as a book is being released alleging the White House staff covered up Biden's decline even as he was seeking reelection.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer (left) U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (second from left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (second from right) and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's economic revitalization minster, pose for a photo ahead of a meeting in Washington on May 1.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
May 19, 2025

China-U.S. trade truce prompts nations to consider tougher tactics

After China’s tough negotiating tactics earned it a favorable deal, nations taking a more diplomatic and expedited approach are questioning whether that’s the right path.
Federal workers shout chants during a rally across the street from the Internal Revenue Service headquarters in March.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2025

Trump's mass layoff threat drives U.S. government workers to resign

Mass layoffs at the largest agencies have yet to materialize and courts have slowed the process.
It was reported that Malaysia would deploy 3,000 units of Huawei’s primary AI offering by 2026.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 21, 2025

Malaysia downplays Huawei deal as U.S. checks China’s AI reach

The move underscores the Asian nation’s delicate position in the U.S.-Chinese AI race.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato (right) and Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda wait for a group photograph to be taken at a meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors’ in Banff, Canada, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 22, 2025

Japan and U.S. reaffirm commitment to letting markets set currency rates

Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have made a point of not discussing a target yen-dollar rate.
A man draped in the Israeli flag gestures as Metropolitan Police officers secure the area outside the Capital Jewish Museum following a shooting that left two people dead in Washington early Thursday morning.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2025

Two Israeli embassy staffers shot and killed outside Jewish museum in Washington

The gunman shouted "free Palestine," authorities said, with U.S. and Israeli leaders expressing shock and outrage over the killings.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 23, 2025

Netanyahu links embassy shootings to hostility over Gaza

Netanyahu has vowed to press on with the war and there was no sign that the Washington killings would affect the conduct of Israel's military operation.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 23, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court shields Fed but lets Trump fire agency leaders

In a ruling Thursday that let Trump oust officials at two other agencies, the court said its decision wouldn’t apply to the Fed.
Paraguayan President Santiago Pena speaks during an interview with The Japan Times in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 23, 2025

As Taiwan looks to boost ‘unofficial ties,’ Paraguay’s leader offers facilitator role

Paraguayan President Santiago Pena stressed his government is “more than willing to support and be a strong ally” to Taiwan.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes