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Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa waits for U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to arrive for a meeting in New York in September.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 2, 2023

Japan top envoy faces diplomatic test on trip to Israel and Jordan

One of the key focuses of Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa's trip will be the role Japan can play in easing the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has finished the last two races second on track, although he was disqualified from the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin when the car failed post-race checks, and has looked increasingly comfortable in the car.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 2, 2023

Hamilton wants to win in Brazil but has sights on future glory

The 38-year-old great has not triumphed since 2021 but he remained optimistic about the future.
Plaintiffs filing damages lawsuits over forced sterilization under the now-defunct eugenic protection law head to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 2, 2023

Grand Bench of top court to rule on forced sterilization damages

Five district courts have found the old law to be unconstitutional, but all rejected damages claims citing the statute of limitations.
The Chairman's steamed flower crab with aged Shaoxing wine and chicken oil
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 5, 2023

Seeking 'the perfect combination of Chinese and French cuisine'

Chefs Daniel Calvert and Danny Yip are old friends, but for the first time this month, they're collaborators.
BUSINESS
Nov 2, 2023

Kishida unveils ¥17 trillion stimulus package amid pushback

A supplementary budget proposal — worth a total of ¥13.1 trillion — to back the package will be submitted to parliament in the upcoming weeks.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 3, 2023

With Naoto Kan's exit from the CDP, some see a generational shift

The exit of the former prime minister, a high-profile figure and political veteran from the CDP’s liberal wing, comes at a time of change for the party.
Participants pose for photos at a news conference ahead of the Gay Games in Hong Kong on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 3, 2023

First Gay Games in Asia set to begin, despite pushback

The event, which features both LGBTQ and heterosexual athletes, will see 2,381 people compete in sports including football and badminton.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 3, 2023

SDF plane evacuates 46 from Israel as Japan's top diplomat visits

The evacuation came as Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa visited Israel for talks with her Israeli and Palestinian counterparts.
With a year left until the 2024 presidential election, Arab and Muslim American support for U.S. President Joe Biden threatens to plummet over his Middle East policy — a factor that could even swing certain states.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 3, 2023

Muslim anguish over Gaza holds electoral risks for Biden

While Muslims account for a small fraction of the U.S. population, the election could swing on votes in a few close races.
People wearing sun protection gear amid a heat wave walk on a street in Beijing in July.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 3, 2023

Climate's 'Catch-22': Cutting pollution heats up the planet

The removal of air pollution may have had a greater effect on temperatures in some Chinese cities than the warming from greenhouse gases.
Palestinian Hamas militants take part in a rally marking the 31st anniversary of Hamas' founding, in Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip, in December 2018.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 4, 2023

How Hamas aims to trap Israel in Gaza quagmire

The militant group has prepared for a drawn-out war and believes it can hold up Israel's advance to force its archenemy to agree to a cease-fire.
The Gaza Strip is hit with an Israeli bombardment amid ongoing battles between the Israeli military and Palestinian Hamas militants on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 4, 2023

U.S. renews talk of Palestinian state, but prospects bleak

With Israel's campaign against Hamas raging, the United States has renewed calls to work toward a Palestinian state, but few expect success now after decades of failure.
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah appears on a screen as he addresses his supporters during a ceremony to honor fighters killed in the recent fighting with Israel, in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 4, 2023

In high-stakes speech, Hezbollah leader stops short of call to expand Hamas war

Hassan Nasrallah said his powerful Lebanese militia had bogged down Israeli forces to help Hamas.
Motosaburo Saito at the headquarters of Oji Holdings, a building that won the Wood Design Award
ESG CONSORTIUM
Nov 6, 2023

Old-growth paper company Oji renews forests, products, vision

Oji Holdings, Japan’s leading paper manufacturer, is also its largest corporate forest owner. It studies and develops paper products and related materials and is committed to the maintenance of healthy forests. In a recent interview with The Japan Times, the general manager of Oji’s department on...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points to a red line he drew on the graphic of a bomb used to represent Iran's nuclear program as he addresses the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York in September 2012.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 6, 2023

Israeli minister's Gaza nuclear comments spotlight opaque arsenal

The country has long had a policy of ambiguity as to whether it has nuclear weapons, though it is widely believed to possess a sizable number.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 6, 2023

China and Australia agree to turn the page as tensions ease

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is seeking to mend relations between the trading partners after disputes in recent years.
Zero carbon energy accounts for 28% of Japan's grid, falling short of countries like Germany, whose share of clean energy generation reached 58% last year.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 6, 2023

How Japan became the land the energy transition forgot

Its symbol may be the rising sun, but a wholesale adoption of renewables by Japan is light years away, mired in bureaucratic and technical hurdles.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's approval ratings have dropped significantly with his economic stimulus package being met with disapproval.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 7, 2023

Kishida is so unpopular, he can't even give money away

Kishida has seen his popularity plummet as his tax rebate leaves residents with the impression that it’s just a cynical ploy to win votes.
People wait for the arrival of a train going west, in Kherson, Ukraine, on Oct. 31.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2023

Ukraine’s secret plan to save a city trapped in purgatory

Since Russian troops were pushed out of the city of Kherson, they have bombed it relentlessly. Closely held river operations could change that.
SoftBank Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son. Son's trust in his own intuition may have made him unwilling to heed red flags and opposition from his advisers regarding investments in WeWork.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 8, 2023

WeWork saga cost Masayoshi Son $11.5 billion and his credibility

WeWork's bankruptcy filing caps a yearslong saga that revealed breathtaking flaws in the Japanese billionaire's investment style.
Wei Hsin-hsi and his wife pose for a picture outside their family’s temple that is located inside the proposed expansion area of an industrial park in the Longtan district of Taoyuan, in Taoyuan, Taiwan September 22, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 8, 2023

Taiwan's land squeeze pits advanced chips against ancestral temples

If TSMC shifts more production outside Taiwan, it could weaken the backbone of Taiwan's economy.
Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaks at a press conference during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit, at Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 8, 2023

Malaysian PM shores up support at home with fiery anti-Israel views

Anwar Ibrahim has become Asia’s most outspoken leader against the war in Gaza and its backers in the U.S. and Europe.
The construction site of a new Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 9, 2023

Japan set to earmark ¥2 trillion for chips in extra budget

Japan is in the midst of a spending spree to revive its chip industry with an aim to triple the sales of domestically produced semiconductors by 2030.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a press conference on the 2023 Enlargement package and the new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans at the EU headquarters in Brussels Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 9, 2023

Brussels recommends opening EU membership talks with Ukraine

The countries bidding to join the EU join an already crowded field of hopefuls.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 9, 2023

Troubled 2025 Osaka Expo could see further cost increases

Amid numerous challenges, Osaka officials hope no further discussions on increasing the budget of the troubled event will be needed.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attends a news conference during the Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday. The Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas on Israel fundamentally changed the nature of this year's meeting.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 9, 2023

Dispelling myths about Japan’s ‘balanced’ Middle East diplomacy

Unfortunately, many in the Japanese media do not seem to understand what is really happening in the Middle East.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 9, 2023

U.S. and South Korea condemn North Korean arms transfers to Russia

Antony Blinken's Asian stops follow a whirlwind tour of the Middle East for discussions on the Israel-Hamas war.
A union team captain reacts after SAG-AFTRA approved a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to bring an end to the 118-day actors strike, at a brewery in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 9, 2023

Hollywood actors reach tentative deal with studios to end strike

The deal also provides protections against unauthorized use of images generated by artificial intelligence.
By the finale, I had completely bought into Samurai Restaurant Time's spectacle — a neon-lit festival with chants and cheers.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 12, 2023

Samurai Restaurant Time gives kitschy thrills fit for Kabukicho

To replace the defunct Robot Restaurant, the neon-soaked streets of Kabukicho are serving up a kitschy second course.
With water drawn from sources in upstate New York, new sake brewing facilities in the Empire State back by Niigata Prefecture's Hakkaisan will be producing bottles by 2024.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 12, 2023

Hakkaisan and New York brewer to produce U.S.-based sake by 2024

The water for sake will come from upstate New York, while rice will come from California and Arkansas.

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