Search - people

 
 
Yuzuki Komiya (left) competes in the first national high school sumo tournament for girls in Tachikawa, western Tokyo, on Saturday.
SUMO
Aug 14, 2024

Women's sumo takes big step forward with first high school championships

Athletes from all over the country took part in the historic meet, with many expressing hope that the tournament would lead to greater exposure for women’s sumo.
A ward for heatstroke patients at a hospital in Chennai, India, in May. The country experienced a severe heat wave over the spring and summer, raising concerns about the long-term impact of climate change-induced extreme heat on human health.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2024

Climate change: A health emergency in the making

Global warming's impact on health is an increasingly urgent issue — just look at excess deaths caused by extreme heat. But are health care systems well-equipped enough?
What began as a nonviolent student protest against Bangladesh’s highly politicized system of public-sector job quotas quickly escalated into an anti-government Gen Z revolution.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2024

The fall of Bangladesh’s iron lady

What began as a student protest against the country’s highly politicized system of public-sector job quotas quickly escalated into an anti-government Gen Z revolution.
Srettha Thavisin in Bangkok on Wednesday. He became the fourth Thai prime minister to be ousted by the Constitutional Court in the past two decades.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 15, 2024

Thai political upheaval shows royalists still firmly in charge

The difference this time is that former leader Thaksin Shinawatra is now in an alliance with his former conservative adversaries as part of a deal struck last year.
Christian Musema, a laboratory nurse, takes a sample from a child declared a suspected case mpox — an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus that spark-off a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever; at the the treatment center near Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on July 19.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2024

WHO calls mpox outbreak in Africa a global health emergency

The WHO last called mpox a public health emergency of international concern in May 2022
An Apple Store in New York on July 29
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 15, 2024

Developing new tabletop home device, Apple pushes ahead with robotics shift

The company now has a team of several hundred people working on the device, which would offer a twist on products like Amazon’s Echo Show 10 and Meta Platforms’s Portal.
For centuries, Japanese people have been scaring themselves with horror stories as a way of cooling down during the stifling summer months.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 16, 2024

New tales in translation to give you chills and thrills this summer

Recent fright-filled releases with supernatural creatures, shrewd sleuths and creepy killers provide welcome relief from the sweltering heat.
Yamazen has released a portable air conditioner with a solar panel.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 16, 2024

Japanese companies aim to help prevent nighttime heatstroke

To combat this summer's heat waves both day and night, companies are encouraging people to utilize products and services aimed at helping them avoid heatstroke while sleeping.
The parliament building in Tokyo. With concerns about summer heat rising and many elections taking place in summertime, it may not be tenable to conduct campaigns as in the past given health risks to candidates, their staff and voters.
JAPAN / Politics / Boiling Point
Aug 17, 2024

Hotter summers pose a threat to Japan's tradition of stump speeches

Balancing health concerns with legal restrictions as well as candidates' desire to be as publicly visible as possible, even in super hot weather, might be tricky.
Only two other class of persons were treated with anything like the merciless ferocity meted out to lovers: subversives and Christians.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Aug 17, 2024

Love was a most subversive affair in Edo Japan

As the shogunate required order in society, love was seen as a threat to rational thinking — something that you might die for.
Surgeons perform the world’s first genetically modified pig kidney transplant into a living human at Massachusetts General Hospital in March.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 16, 2024

Hurdles remain in Japan for transplants of pig organs into humans

Among the issues are the risk of previously unknown infectious diseases, animal welfare and the need to protect recipients from discrimination.
Earthquakes are a fact of life in Japan, but there are strategies to keep yourself from spiraling into stress and despair over future catastrophes.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 17, 2024

Dreading the Big One? How to manage pre-disaster anxiety.

Anxiety about potential natural disasters can take its toll, but mental health experts say there are practical solutions.
South Africa's 49-year-old skateboarding Olympian, Dallas Oberholzer, competes in the men's prelims during the Paris Games on Aug. 7.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2024

The oldest Olympians might hold the key to slowing down aging

As we age, the number of mitochondria in our cells declines, but that happens much more slowly in people who continue to do strenuous exercise.
Children practice tennis at a club in Beijing on Wednesday. Zheng Qinwen's historic tennis gold at the Paris Olympics this month followed a decadeslong surge in the sport's popularity among China's burgeoning middle class.
OLYMPICS
Aug 16, 2024

China's Olympic tennis glory tracks booming middle classes

Zheng Qinwen's tennis gold at the Paris Olympics followed a decadeslong surge in the sport's popularity among China's burgeoning middle class.
A destroyed Russian tank sits outside the Ukrainian-controlled town of Sudzha, in Russia's Kursk region, during a media tour organized by Ukraine on Friday.
WORLD
Aug 17, 2024

Ukraine says Russia incursion 'advanced' as Kyiv seeks 'fair' negotiations

Kyiv's troops last week launched a major counteroffensive into Russia's Kursk region, sending more than 120,000 people fleeing.
A college student paints graffiti on a wall at Dhaka university in the capital on Monday following weeks of student-led protests that toppled autocratic Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2024

Bangladesh student protesters eye new party to cement their revolution

Their hope is to avoid a repeat of the last 15 years, in which Sheikh Hasina ruled the country of some 170 million people with an iron fist.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2024

How Trump’s intimidation tactics have reshaped the Republican Party

Those seen as disloyal to Trump and his Make America Great Again agenda have been the target of threats by his most ardent supporters.
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.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (center right) arrives in Tel Aviv on Sunday — his ninth trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war began when Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 19, 2024

Blinken to push for Gaza cease-fire while Israel launches more strikes

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making his ninth trip to the region since the war began. 
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 19, 2024

Harris heads to Chicago with momentum as GOP attacks her economy plans

A recent poll shows U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris narrowly leads former President Donald Trump in a head-to-head matchup.
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus salutes to the attendees before taking an oath to head of the interim Bangladesh government, in Dhaka on Aug. 8.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 19, 2024

Bangladesh's Yunus reassures on Rohingya refugees and garment exports

Muhammad Yunus again committed to hold free and fair elections "as soon as we can complete our mandate to carry out vital reforms" in the nation.
Doctors shout slogans as they hold placards during a protest rally demanding justice following the rape and murder of a trainee medic at a hospital in Kolkata, in New Delhi, on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 19, 2024

Protests spread over Indian doctor's rape and murder

Activists say the incident highlights how women in India continue to suffer despite tougher laws following a similar crime in Delhi in 2012.
A man tests his lung function free of charge using a device provided by the Tokushima Prefectural Government at an event organized by companies.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 19, 2024

Japan takes new steps against lifestyle-linked lung disease COPD

A health ministry survey highlighted 16,384 deaths from COPD in 2021, making it the ninth leading cause of death among men.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 19, 2024

Singapore’s Wong hands out fresh perks ahead of election

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong sought to reassure citizens their voices are being heard during his first and last National Day Rally before Singapore's general election.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to members of the press at David Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2024

Blinken says Israel accepts Gaza proposal and urges Hamas to do the same

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier said this latest push for a cease-fire was probably the best and possibly last opportunity for a deal.
An ambulance is parked at the entrance of the emergency room of Saitama Hospital in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, on July 24.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Boiling Point
Aug 20, 2024

How Japan's health care system is gearing up for more heatstroke cases

Rising heatstroke cases are weighing on the nation’s health care system, which is already wrestling with the growing burden of a rapidly aging population.
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.
By enabling a few wealthy individuals to wield disproportionate influence, today’s global economy increasingly marginalizes and disenfranchises much of the world’s population.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2024

To preserve democracy, tax the rich

What the world needs are progressive tax systems that redistribute income from the rich to the poor without weakening socially beneficial incentives.
Tourists enjoy the beach in Malaga, Spain, on Aug. 14.
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2024

Package deals make comeback in Europe among budget-conscious sun seekers

The combination of a cost-of-living crisis and disruption from strikes and glitches has added to the appeal of a fixed-price package without unexpected add-on costs.
Climbers converge in front of Mount Fuji's 5th Station, which leads to the popular Yoshida trail, in Narusawa, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 11.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Aug 20, 2024

Mount Fuji’s new measures bear fruit in tackling dangerous 'bullet climbing'

Restrictions implemented on the popular Yoshida trail have significantly reduced the number of "bullet climbers" and reduced bad behavior associated with the practice.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan