Search - world

 
 
The race to succeed Fumo Kishida as the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party promises to be the most competitive in memory. There is no heir apparent and the party's internal structure has been decimated by scandal.
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2024

Kishida’s tenure has simple lessons for his successor

The race to succeed Kishida promises to be the most competitive in memory. There is no heir apparent and the LDP's internal structure has been decimated by scandal.
Produced by Toei Animation, “Girls Band Cry” follows five young women who form a band and navigate the Japanese rock landscape.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Aug 17, 2024

Prepare for a new wave of anime-born bands

'Girls Band Cry' and its in-real-life band Togenashi Togeari offer the latest evolution of mixed-media music projects.
The volunteer lifesavers of Nishihama Surf Lifesaving Club never know what's in store at the start of their day.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Aug 19, 2024

It's no simple day at the beach for Japan's volunteer lifesavers

Protecting beachgoers from drowning, heatstroke and possible tsunami, lifesavers are seeking formal recognition for what they do.
Berlin's growing military engagement with Indo-Pacific allies and partners is meant to signal that Germany "stands firmly at the side of those countries that are committed to complying with international law and do not accept it being called into  question," German Navy chief Vice Adm. Kaack told The Japan Times.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2024

Sea lane fears drive German military's Asian engagement, navy chief says

Developments in the Indo-Pacific, both economic and geopolitical, have direct implications for the security and prosperity of Germany, Vice Adm. Jan Christian Kaack says.
Xander Schauffele hits from the sand on the 18th fairway during the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship golf tournament at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Aug 21, 2024

Xander Schauffele: No. 1 ranking is motivator, not inflated purses

Schauffele said that there's a different motivating factor on his mind at this stage of his career — turning that No. 2 into a No. 1.
Kotozakura (left) defeats Terunofuji at Dolphins Arena in Nagoya on July 28.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Aug 21, 2024

NFL-style changes sumo could and should make

Many of the sport’s centuries-old systems and methodologies are an increasingly awkward fit in the modern world.
Novak Djokovic celebrates on the podium after winning the gold medal in men's tennis at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 4.
TENNIS
Aug 22, 2024

Novak Djokovic can distance himself from rivals at U.S. Open

Djokovic has nothing left to prove and can put more daylight between himself and his two historic rivals by winning another Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open.
Japan coach Futoshi Ikeda consoles Fuka Nagano after their quarterfinal loss against the United States at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 3.
SOCCER
Aug 22, 2024

Nadeshiko Japan parts ways with coach Futoshi Ikeda

The 53-year-old led Nadeshiko Japan to the last eight at the Women's World Cup last year, but the team was unable to improve on that showing in Paris earlier this month.
University students in Varanasi, India, protest against a recent rape and murder of a doctor in West Bengal. Despite some improvements in legislation following high-profile cases, such as the 2012 gang rape, violence against women has worsened, with recorded rapes increasing.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2024

Protests won’t change India's attitude toward rape

Despite some improvements in legislation following high-profile cases, such as the 2012 gang rape, violence against women has worsened, with recorded rapes increasing.
Keiichi Tanaami died on Aug. 9 after a 60-year career as a Pop Art pioneer. He was 88.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 24, 2024

Remembering Keiichi Tanaami's surreal grotesqueries

The Pop Art pioneer passed away at age 88 on Aug. 9. His posthumous retrospective, “Adventures in Memory,” turns nightmare into fantasy.
Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 26, 2024

TikTok tourists trample on Angkor Wat in viral Temple Run recreation

Some of these viral videos have received more than 2 million views and inspire copycat versions daily.
Giant figures depicting Russian authors Anton Chekhov, Alexander Pushkin, Daniil Kharms and Fyodor Dostoyevsky are paraded through a carnival in central Moscow in September 2015.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2024

When art is all that remains

Looking at the Kremlin today, one wonders, “Do they really now know how this story ends?” Art will always have the last word.
Instead of secretly arming against the combined nuclear forces of China, Russia and North Korea, the U.S. must launch a global campaign to restart arms control.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2024

Why is the U.S. fighting nuclear threats behind closed doors?

Secret armaments or doctrinal shifts without public messaging will only make adversaries more paranoid and a full-on arms race all but inevitable.
Tokyo-Yokohama again ranked first on this year's annual top 100 science and technology clusters ranking by the U.N.'s World Intellectual Property Organization.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 28, 2024

Tokyo-Yokohama still tops the U.N.'s science-tech cluster rankings

The rankings are based on patent filing and scientific publishing data to identify local concentrations of world-leading science and technology activity.
Naomi Osaka hits a return against Karolina Muchova during the second round of the U.S. Open in New York on Thursday.
TENNIS
Aug 30, 2024

Naomi Osaka reflects after losing to Karolina Muchova in second round of U.S. Open

Osaka, who won the title in 2018 and 2020, missed last year's edition after the birth of her daughter.
China's Xia Zhou celebrates after crossing the line to win gold in the women's T35 100-meter final on Friday at the Paris Paralympics.
PARALYMPICS
Aug 31, 2024

China extends lead in Paralympic medals table after track success

The Chinese, who have topped the medal standings at every Paralympics since Athens in 2004, finished the second day of competition with 12 gold.
Local miners collect small rocks as they mine for gold in Benguet province in the northern Philippines.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 1, 2024

Toxic, deadly, cheap: Life for women gold miners in the Philippines

One in three of the illegal mining workforce is female — and women are 90 times more at risk of dying on the job than men.
Naoya Inoue (left) and TJ Doheny pose after the official weigh-in ahead of their boxing super-bantamweight title fight in Yokohama, on Monday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Sep 2, 2024

Unbeaten 'Monster' Inoue still feels pressure ahead of Doheny clash

Inoue is stepping into the ring for the first time since he stopped Mexico's Luis Nery in front of 55,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome in May.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attends a new conference for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 25.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 3, 2024

Africa's rising importance for Japan’s Indo-Pacific goals

Africa is becoming an increasingly important element of Japanese FOIP strategy. It is a work in progress, but it is proceeding.
Maestro Seiji Ozawa (center) lays flowers at the cenotaph for atomic bomb victims at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in October 2005.
JAPAN / History / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Sep 9, 2024

Maestro Seiji Ozawa’s prayer for peace lives on in Hiroshima

His musical roots — and passion — can be traced back to the city where the first atomic bomb was detonated.
Hiromi Kawakami’s “Under the Eye of the Big Bird” takes place in a future where humans have developed genetic mutations that allow them to read minds and have powers of prescience.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 3, 2024

'Under the Eye of the Big Bird': Hiromi Kawakami's speculative future sets civilization adrift

The author reimagines sexual reproduction, family ties and societal roles in a passionless world that is neither a dystopia nor an improvement on reality.
Japan's Naoya Inoue (left) and Ireland's TJ Doheny fight during their super bantamweight title match at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on Tuesday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Sep 3, 2024

'Monster' Inoue eyeing Vegas bout after stopping injured Doheny

The unbeaten Inoue was declared the winner when Doheny was left hobbling and unable to continue following a barrage to the body.
Weighting the total number of medals won by each country by value — three points for gold, two for silver and one for bronze — reveals that the 12 countries with the highest medal count in Paris are all advanced economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2024

The geopolitics of Olympic medals

A larger population offers a broader talent pool, and economic development supports better sports infrastructure and policies.
Beyond losing the American market, China is losing some of its own manufacturing companies, which are shifting parts of their production to countries such as Vietnam and Mexico to avoid U.S. tariffs.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2024

The rise and coming fall of Chinese manufacturing

Despite China's significant investments in technology, the decline of its manufacturing sector seems inevitable.
American Jessica Pegula serves to Poland's Iga Swiatek during their women's quarterfinal on Wednesday at the U.S. Open in New York.
TENNIS
Sep 5, 2024

Pegula stuns Swiatek at U.S. Open as Americans continue to surge

Pegula swept past 2022 champion and four-time French Open winner Swiatek 6-2, 6-4 to reach a maiden semifinal at the majors after falling in six quarterfinals.
Held annually in Cologne, Germany, Gamescom is the world's largest gaming convention, meaning it attracts attendees and exhibitors from near and far.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Sep 7, 2024

Traveling to Germany is ‘worth the cost’ for Japan’s indie studios

"Nothing beats seeing players' faces as they play our game in person, and getting to ask them directly about their experience, both positive and negative.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko, are welcomed upon their arrival at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, South Korea, on Friday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 6, 2024

Never take Japan-South Korea relations for granted

The two leader’s final meeting is both an opportunity to review recent achievements and to underscore the centrality of the Japan-South Korean partnership.
The world’s largest system of hydroelectric power has been on standby since late 2022, when droughts drained the reservoirs that feed it. China's torrential downpours of the past few months are switching that immense machine back on.
COMMENTARY
Sep 6, 2024

A flood of hydro is washing coal from China's grid

The world’s largest hydroelectric system, located in China, has been dormant since late 2022 due to droughts, but recent heavy rains are now reviving its operations.
Brazil's Indigenous Chief Raoni Metuktire at Igarape Park in the country's Para state in 2023
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 7, 2024

As the Amazon’s biggest champion approaches 100, he’s still fighting

The Amazon’s plight set the tone for Raoni Metuktire’s remarkable life, which has taken him out of Brazil’s central Mato Grosso state and all over the world.
Jessica Pegula hits a return during her U.S. Open women’s final against Aryna Sabalenka, at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens on Saturday.
TENNIS
Sep 8, 2024

Sabalenka downs Pegula to win U.S. Open thriller

The 26-year-old from Belarus clubbed 40 winners to become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to capture both hardcourt majors in the same season.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji