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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2025

Trump declares U.S.-China trade war as Bessent floats long truce

The dueling remarks underscored the whiplash investors have felt as tensions have flared in the relationship between Washington and Beijing.
Kaori Sakamoto performs her free skate program during the world championships in Boston on March 28.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 16, 2025

Kaori Sakamoto set to kick off Olympic season at Grand Prix de France

The first of the six-stop ISU Grand Prix series heads to western France from Oct. 17 to 19.
Ami Nakai performs during the women's short program at the Grand Prix de France in Angers on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Oct 18, 2025

Teen Nakai leads favorite Sakamoto at Grand Prix de France

Nakai, 17, competing in her first season on the senior circuit, nailed a triple axel and triple lutz-triple toe combination to earn a personal best 78.00 points.
Japanese skaters swept the women's podium at the Grand Prix de France. Gold medalist Ami Nakai (center), silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto (left) and bronze medalist Rion Sumiyoshi pose wrapped in their national flags during the prize ceremony in Angers, western France, on Saturday.
SPORTS
Oct 19, 2025

Japanese teenager Nakai shocks Sakamoto to win Grand Prix de France

Despite a hand on the ice on her triple Axel jump, Nakai scored a combined 227.08 points, putting her ahead of three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announces the winners of the 2025 Nobel economics prize at a news conference in Stockholm on Oct. 13. The prize was awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt for their work on innovation-driven economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025

This year’s economics Nobel holds a warning for the U.S

Between 1875 and 1926, 44% of the world’s breakthrough inventions took place in the U.S., with Britain, France and Germany hovering between 14% and 22%.
A woman takes a picture of the poster for the new Hayao Miyazaki film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 2, 2023

Hayao Miyazaki’s confusing new masterpiece

Our critics Thu-Huong Ha and Matt Schley discuss what they thought of the new Hayao Miyazaki film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
China's Olympic gold-medal winning 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay team celebrates on the podium at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on July 29, 2021.  Zhang Yufei (third from left) is among 23 top Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance in the lead up to the Games.
OLYMPICS
Apr 20, 2024

Top Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned drug, then won Olympic gold

The episode sharply divided the anti-doping world, where China’s record has long been a flashpoint.
Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.
PODCAST / deep dive
May 23, 2024

What does climate change sound like in Okinawa?

This week, Japan Times climate editor Chris Russell joins us to discuss what researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology are listening to.
Rim Nakamura, who is attempting to win Japan's first Olympic gold medal in cycling, will be one of the top Japanese athletes to watch at the Paris Games.
OLYMPICS
Jul 26, 2024

The Japanese Olympians looking to shine in Paris

Team Japan is looking to build on the momentum from three years ago in Tokyo, where the nation earned a record medal haul.
Those who lived in Japan’s Nara Period, which lasted from the year 710 to 794, by and large knew themselves to be blessed. It wasn’t just those in power who felt it, either. From nobles to commoners, the poets seemed to have democratized joy itself.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jan 17, 2025

From Genji to 'hikikomori,' how we make peace with disappearing

Japan’s reverence for impermanence reveals a profound connection between beauty and loss, from poetic musings to spiritual retreats, echoing in modern expressions of solitude.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.