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The ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference with Japan at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers' meeting in Jakarta on July 13
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2023

Is ASEAN part of the 'Global South'?

Despite the effort put into its formation, the Group of 20’s failure to function as hoped may well have brought about the Global South narrative.
Veteran Japanese investors are split over whether to put their money into Chinese bonds.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 27, 2023

Friends who help manage $640 billion clash on China bonds

While they’ve been friends for at least a decade, their take on trading China bonds couldn’t be more diametrically opposed.
Contrary to some news reports, the movie "Oppenheimer," starring (left to right) Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh, has not been banned in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2023

'Oppenheimer' spurs debate on the atomic bombings

Christopher Nolan’s biopic has triggered a debate on the rights and wrongs of dropping the bomb. It could lead to a more useful discussion in Japan — assuming it’s ever released here.
Olga Kharlan (left) and Anna Smirnova compete during the Fencing World Championships in Milan on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 28, 2023

Ukrainian fencer disqualified for refusing to shake hands with Russian

Olga Kharlan, a four-time Olympic medalist and world champion, won the individual sabre bout 15-7 and then refused to shake hands with her opponent.
Pan Gongsheng
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jul 29, 2023

China’s central bank chief is taskmaster Xi couldn’t let retire

Pan Gongsheng is expected to turn around growth slowdown for the world's second largest economy and safeguard the $60 trillion domestic financial system.
A woman in Vatican City on July 19 during a heat wave. Projecting temperatures is inherently imprecise because modern humans have never experienced such extremes.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 29, 2023

An overheating planet requires extreme climate solutions

Projections say warming will only get worse, but humans exert control over planet-warming pollution and can change these models’ trajectories.
An inside page of The Japan Times from 1973 carried a story about the discovery of some old Japanese chess pieces.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Aug 1, 2023

Japan Times 1973: 8 'oldest' shogi pieces found in castle's ruins

An ancient discovery and moments that mark the atomic bombings fill past August pages of Japan Times.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has urged FIFA and UEFA, soccer's global and European governing bodies, to solve the disparity created by the length of the Saudi Arabian transfer window.
SOCCER
Aug 2, 2023

Jurgen Klopp unhappy with Saudi transfer deadline

The Premier League's transfer window closes on Sept. 1, but Saudi Pro League clubs can sign players until Sept. 20.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, attend a document signing ceremony during the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, in October 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2023

China’s weaponization of race and history

BRICS nations seek a more equitable global architecture that represents the interests of the Global South as China uses race to challenge the West.
Migrants at a base near Tripoli hand out food to other migrants after they were detained by the Libyan navy in September 2015.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2023

An immigration wake-up call

Well-designed immigration policies in advanced economies could ease inflationary labor-market shortages and preventing humanitarian tragedies.
More than 30 samples of drugs made by Synokem, including generic abortion pills, have failed quality tests conducted by Indian regulators and public health researchers since 2018.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2023

Global abortion pill provider buys from maker with poor quality record

More than 30 samples of drugs made by Delhi-based Synokem Pharmaceuticals have failed quality tests conducted by Indian regulators.
China and India both began liberalizing their economies around the same time in the 1980s. But China invested more in human-capital and is now benefiting from that decision.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2023

Unlike China, India cannot be an economic superpower

In the 1980s, the belief among observers was that an authoritarian Chinese regime would mismanage its economy while a democratic India would thrive.
An S-400 surface-to-air missile system outside the town of Gvardeysk, near Kaliningrad, Russia, in March 2019. The S-400 is one of the defense items India has procured from Russia.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 15, 2023

A new tide of weapons imports, production and development

Some countries are beginning to diversify when looking for partners for their arms needs.
Visitors to the "Henri Matisse: The Path to Color" exhibition at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum face tough decisions in the gift shop.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 5, 2023

Matisse gachapon, Hockney parfaits: Japan’s next-level art merch

A Tokyo art exhibit doesn’t feel complete without a room filled wall-to-wall with custom trinkets.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other leaders of the Group of Seven, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meet during their summit in Hiroshima on May 21. 
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 7, 2023

The G7 leaders’ vision on nuclear disarmament

Geopolitical rivalries and the failure to address the complicity of G7 members in perpetuating a nuclearized world are stymieing nonproliferation efforts.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2023

Nuke ban treaty still out of reach as Japan marks atomic bombings

Japan, which is positioned under the "nuclear umbrella" of the U.S., has refrained from joining the treaty, citing its own “tough security environment.”
Heat haze permeates the skyline of Manama, Bahrain.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 10, 2023

How is climate change driving dangerous 'wet-bulb' temperatures?

Dubai, for example, is forecast to see air temperatures hover around 43 degrees Celsius. But climate experts say air temperature alone can be misleading.
Travellers walk through Beijing Daxing International Airport on April 24.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 11, 2023

China reopened its doors, but tourists are staying away

A rebound in domestic tourism hasn't been mirrored by inbound tourists, with several barriers harming the country's appeal.
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2023

Nuclear threats grow stronger and more immediate

In this world, unilateral disarmament and the hope that setting an example will inspire other nations to follow suit is fantasy.
A harvesting combine burns after hitting an anti-tank mine in a wheat field near the village of Vilkhivka, in Ukraine's Kharkiv Region, in July 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2023

Feed the people, not the factory farms

There can be no excuse for Russia, in pursuit of its war of aggression against Ukraine, to target that country’s grain exports.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Aug 16, 2023

Future of sumo could feature bigger rings — and better care

Though notoriously slow to change, the next 50-100 years could see a number of major developments that alter how sumo is contested and enjoyed.
While the U.S. today accounts for only 25% of global economic output, the dollar remains involved in nearly 90% of all foreign-exchange transactions.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2023

The real cost of de-dollarization

While there are currently no viable alternatives that could usurp the greenback, the biggest threat to its hegemony comes from the US government itself.
Lionel Messi is tossed in the air by his teammates after Miami's win in the Leagues Cup final on Nashville, Tennessee, on Sunday.
SOCCER
Aug 21, 2023

Lionel Messi's Inter Miami eyes treble after Leagues Cup triumph

Messi and Miami will play in the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup before returning to MLS play.
Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas (left) battles for the ball against English forward Lauren James during in the final of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Sydney on Sunday. Spain won the match 1-0.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2023

FIFA boss should read the pitch on women’s pay

More than 2 billion people are expected to have tuned in. About 2 million attended matches in person. Both records. The FIFA Women’s World Cup generated more than $570 million to break even.
People watch a live stream of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft's landing on the moon, at an auditorium of Gujarat Science City in Ahmedabad, India, Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Aug 24, 2023

‘India is on the moon’: Nation’s success opens next space chapter

The mission makes India the first nation to reach the moon's south polar region in one piece and adds to the achievements of the country’s space program.
A demonstration is held in Hong Kong on Thursday over the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 24, 2023

The Fukushima hysteria has a lesson for the nuclear renaissance

From the reaction prior to the Fukushima release across Asia, you’d think Tokyo was embarking on a program to poison the region’s water supplies.
Solar panels at a proof-of-concept site for green hydrogen production in Vredendal, South Africa
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2023

The key to greening heavy industry

If the world’s vast ocean resources can be tapped directly to produce hydrogen, there will be no holding back the green transition.
Carlos Alcaraz serves during his match against Novak Djokovic in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Aug. 20.
TENNIS
Aug 27, 2023

Djokovic and Alcaraz on collision course at U.S. Open

A little more than six weeks after an enthralling Wimbledon final, the two men could meet again at Flushing Meadows
A man rests at a fresh food market in Shanghai, China, in early August. The world's second largest economy was meant to drive a third of global growth this year, so its dramatic slowdown in recent months is sounding alarm bells across the world.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 28, 2023

China’s economic slowdown is rippling across the globe

Policymakers are bracing for a hit to their economies as China’s imports of everything from construction materials to electronics slide.
Noah Lyles of the U.S. celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the Men's 4x100m final at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 28, 2023

Noah Lyles takes tentative steps into Usain Bolt's big shoes

The question now is whether Lyles will be able to continue his fine form into next year's Paris Olympics.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building