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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Jan 11, 2022

'Colonial wine from new, authoritarian bottles': Hong Kong retools sedition law

The Hong Kong government is expanding its use of a long-dormant sedition law in what some lawyers and democracy advocates say is intensifying a squeeze on press freedom.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 28, 2021

Naomi Osaka’s Olympics exit dashes her hopes of gold on home turf

While the first days of competition have brought some cheer for Japan, the loss of Osaka dealt a sharp emotional blow and generated discussion over the state of her game.
OLYMPICS / Longform
Jul 5, 2021

Twists and turns: Retracing Tokyo’s tumultuous path to the Olympics

Games organizers have been forced to confront ballooning costs, accusations of plagiarism and bribery, and — to top it all off — a crippling global pandemic.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Jul 4, 2021

Video game expo E3 expands its digital presence, though Sony sits out

With E3's announcements and press conferences going virtual, the latest news from companies like Nintendo and Square Enix is more accessible than ever.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 19, 2021

Japanese reporters largely cede the game to the West on Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka's willingness to speak out on issues such as Black Lives Matter sets her apart from other Japanese athletes working internationally.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 8, 2021

Websites rumble back to life after Fastly-linked outage

High traffic websites including Reddit, Amazon, CNN, Paypal, Spotify and the New York Times were listed as experiencing problems by outage tracking website Downdetector.com.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 5, 2021

North Korea’s Kim appears in public for the first time in a month

Periods of prolonged absences have become a bit more frequent for Kim since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The current break is believed to be his seventh since 2020.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 29, 2021

Can a celebrity wedding set the mood for romance?

Yui Aragaki and Gen Hoshino announced they will be getting married, proving the idea that you can't find romance after 30 is an outdated one.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
May 26, 2021

Death threats and arrests: Belarus opposition media struggles at home and abroad

The Belarusian Association of Journalists says 477 journalists were detained in 2020.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
May 18, 2021

AT&T-Discovery deal highlights media's thirst to be like Netflix

Discovery brings a global footprint with its pan-European television sports network Eurosport, as well as a portfolio of broadcast channels across Europe.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2021

Will the U.S. end its ambiguity over Taiwan?

Tokyo should think seriously about Japan's options to deal with a Taiwan contingency.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 26, 2021

Does Google Translate make foreign language learning unnecessary? Not quite

Idioms and other turns of phrase are often taken literally when left to Google Translate to make sense of things. That means translator jobs are safe for now.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 17, 2021

Clubhouse’s founder is in a state of perpetual motion

Over the past 15 years in Silicon Valley, the Clubhouse chief executive officer has explored the depths of how technology can be used to connect people in new ways.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2021

Lost in translation: Japan fumbles pandemic communication with foreign communities

Growing concern over access to up-to-date, accurate official information highlights the government's larger struggle to convey pandemic-related policies and support.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 21, 2021

Israel secretly agrees to fund vaccines for Syria as part of prisoner swap

To secure the release of an Israeli civilian held in Syria, Israel agreed to finance a supply of Russian-made COVID-19 vaccines for Damascus, an official said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 23, 2021

New virus variant may be somewhat deadlier, U.K. warns

The evidence on the fatality rate is worrisome but not yet solid, scientists said. It contrasts with news that Britain is vaccinating its people at a promising pace.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 25, 2020

Blunt claim on Senkakus overshadows progress in China-Japan meeting

During an at times uneasy news conference in Tokyo, Beijing's foreign minister seemed determined to send a clear message over territorial disputes: China won't back down.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 14, 2020

Al-Qaida’s No. 2, accused in U.S. Embassy attacks, is secretly killed in Iran

Israeli agents shot Abu Muhammad al-Masri on the streets of Tehran at the behest of the U.S., intelligence officials have confirmed.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump points to supporters as he holds hands with his wife, Melania, before claiming victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election during a rally at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

Trump defeats Harris, returning U.S. to era of uncertainty

Kamala Harris congratulated her rival on a win expected to have a dramatic impact on the United States' relationships with allies like Japan and rivals like China.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2024

False report on Yasukuni Shrine visit 'extremely regrettable,' top spokesperson says

Kyodo news had reported on unconfirmed information that a parliamentary vice foreign minister had visited the shrine in 2022.
Kim Seongmin, president of Free North Korea Radio, edits content for the station at his home on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul, on Nov. 21. Kim has cancer and was recently told that he has months to live.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 3, 2024

A North Korean voice that Kim Jong Un would like to silence

North Korean defectors have been infiltrating the North with outside media for two decades, through balloons floated across the border or radio broadcasts.
Members of the Wajima City Morning Market Association pose for a group photograph on the site where the market once stood.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Dec 30, 2024

In the wake of disaster, the revival of Wajima's market brings hope

Wajima's morning market on the Noto Peninsula was devastated a year ago. Now, led by women vendors and bold ideas, it is rising as a symbol of resilience.
Fuji TV executives take questions during a news conference on Monday in Tokyo in which some participants became unruly.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 31, 2025

Fuji TV’s go-big PR strategy wins grudging praise globally

Fuji TV held a marathon 10-hour news conference on Monday to address allegations of sexual misconduct by Masahiro Nakai, a celebrity and former presenter for the broadcaster.
How Fuji TV responds to the results of a third-party probe will be crucial to restoring public trust — and could determine whether sponsors, whose TV ads are the company's main source of revenue, choose to return.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2025

Fuji TV returns to spotlight as deadline for scandal probe looms

How Fuji TV responds to the report will be crucial to restoring public trust — and could determine whether sponsors choose to return.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington, in April.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 28, 2025

Trump’s polls decline near 100-day mark, raising tax-plan stakes

Polls show that voters perceive Trump to be falling short on his core campaign promise to strengthen the economy.
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to the press aboard Air Force One on the way to Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 7, 2025

Trump can bar AP from some White House events for now, U.S. appeals court says

The Associated Press in a statement said it was disappointed by the decision and weighing its options.
Batam, a duty-free Indonesian enclave a short ferry ride from Singapore, has become a key waypoint in a convoluted global shuffle involving Chinese solar panels and U.S. tariffs.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2025

China’s stealthy solar exports stay one step ahead of U.S. tariffs

Of Indonesia’s 10 biggest exporters of solar cells and panels to the U.S. during the first half of 2025, six in Batam were found to be owned by executives at Chinese companies.
An electronic board shows the broad Topix index hitting a record high on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 27, 2025

Japan investors brace for BOJ and earnings results after Trump-fueled rally

As the dust settles following the U.S.-Japan trade deal that sent markets on a wild ride, investors are questioning whether the rally was a sign of things to come.
Reporters and photographers, including long-time baseball beat writer Keizo Konishi, swarm around Ichiro Suzuki during the World Baseball Classic in San Diego in 2009.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 27, 2025

Three decades and a pile of notebooks: The beat writer who chronicled Ichiro’s career

For nearly three decades, this journalist's job revolved around one man — Ichiro Suzuki. But covering the baseball legend was never boring.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past