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Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2023

‘Crisis and confusion’: Four days of Republican barbs, chaos and cigars

Establishment Republicans were horrified, while Democrats snickered and comedian Jon Stewart called it the best season of C-SPAN ever.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2023

After bitter intraparty dispute, Kevin McCarthy named U.S. House speaker

The California Republican's victory after a week of repeated votes has highlighted divisions within the party and raised questions about their ability to govern.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2023

Russian Muppets or American puppets?

The experience in the 1990s of trying to introduce “Sesame Street” to Russia offers valuable insights into the Russian mind.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2023

Xi's speech echoes a second coming of Mao

Chinese leader Xi Jinping's year-end speech is very much attune to Communist Party mythology and shows where his mind lies.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 6, 2023

Kishida again puts LDP-DPP tie-up in spotlight with labor union appearance

The DPP is strongly backed by members of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, and the labor group's leader has moved the organization closer to the LDP.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 6, 2023

Bills' training staff praised for helping to save Damar Hamlin's life

Doctors said the immediate recognition that there was something significantly wrong and the rapid response by Bills trainer Denny Kellington and others was crucial to his survival.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 6, 2023

New Arab allies face quandary as Israel shifts hard to the right

As some in Israel's government seek to annex the occupied West Bank, Arab states have to balance their new partnership with historic support for Palestinian aspirations.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2023

Japan set to outline new measures to promote child rearing in March

Kishida aims to double the government's budget earmarked for addressing child rearing issues in the country as declining birthrates continue to beleaguer Japanese society.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jan 6, 2023

No improvement in sight: China-U.S. rivalry to further intensify in 2023

Washington will continue to hunt for ways to isolate Beijing and further slow its technological rise, while China is expected to keep pressuring Taiwan and increase its self-sufficiency.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 6, 2023

Vietnam ousts deputy prime ministers as corruption crackdown spreads

The dismissals come as authorities aggressively tackle graft as part of a years-long campaign that has ensnared hundreds of officials and businessmen.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 5, 2023

NFL and medical experts caution against speculation about cause of Damar Hamlin's condition

'Reckless speculation on social media is a source of disinformation and could lead to other unintended negative consequences,' physicians wrote in an open letter.
A downgrade by Fitch Ratings is being viewed as a condemnation of partisan U.S. politics, including the recent debt ceiling standoff and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2023

Fitch’s U.S. downgrade stokes the very fight it warned against

Washington’s hostile political factions have quickly taken up the agency's downgrade of U.S. government debt as a new weapon of political combat.
Beijing's Ministry of State Security said China should create a system that makes it 'normal' for regular people to participate in counter-espionage.
WORLD
Aug 3, 2023

U.S. raises concerns over China's counter-espionage push

Washington worries that foreign companies in China could be punished for regular business activities.
Shinjiro Atae, a J-pop idol who came out publicly as gay during a recent fan event, with his stylist and makeup artist in the afternoon prior to his announcement, in Tokyo on July 25.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 3, 2023

In Japan, LGBTQ celebrities fuel impetus for change

Celebrities coming out as LGBTQ can have a big impact in Japan and fuel change. But such announcements are rarely made easily.
You may hear words like "kanshin" used when talking about baseball player Shohei Ohtani, but are people talking about "interest" or "admiration"?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 3, 2023

Step on a rhyme to better understand Japanese homophones

Spending time to learn the Japanese language's many homophones can result in a better understanding of definitions — and it's fun.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, arrives at Reagan National Airport in Washington en route to his arraignment in federal court on Thursday.
WORLD
Aug 4, 2023

Trump pleads not guilty to charges of obstructing election

After the hearing, the former U.S. president briefly addressed reporters at the Washington airport, calling it a "very sad day for America.”
A policeman stands next to a scene where several people have been stabbed and others hurt in Seongnam, South Korea, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 4, 2023

14 hurt in South Korea stabbing incident near Seoul

The unexplained attack in Seongnam came days after another rare stabbing attack in South Korea which killed one person and wounded three others.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in June raised its stake in Japan's five major trading firms. All of them beat net-income estimates for the first quarter of the fiscal year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 4, 2023

Buffett’s favored Japan trading firms post solid earnings

The five major trading firms all beat net-income estimates for the first quarter of the fiscal year in reports issued this week.
Australian players celebrate after a goal by Haley Raso (second from left) against Canada, during their Group B match at the Women's World Cup in Melbourne on July 31.
SOCCER
Aug 5, 2023

Women's World Cup on pace to smash attendance records

So far, more than 1.2 million fans have passed through the turnstiles, and organizers now expect that figure to rise to 1.9 million.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 4, 2023

Foreign minors born, raised in Japan to be eligible for residency

The move comes in response to a controversial revision to the asylum law that was passed earlier this year.
Yuzuru Hanyu attends a photo session in Tokyo in September 2022.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Aug 5, 2023

Figure skating icon Yuzuru Hanyu announces marriage

Hanyu, who did not reveal the identity of his partner, said he will continue to skate to show the best version of himself.
Children play on a beach near a Taiwan Navy supply ship on Nangan Island, which is part of the Matsu Archipelago that is controlled by Taipei and located close to the coast of mainland China.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2023

A year after Nancy Pelosi’s historic visit, is Taiwan more secure?

Though both U.S. and broader international support for Taipei has accelerated, the Chinese military is regularly operating closer to the island than ever.
Chinese Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui leaves the headquarters of the Russian Foreign Ministry following talks in Moscow in late May.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 5, 2023

China envoy to attend talks on Ukraine in Saudi Arabia

The talks on a peaceful settlement to the Ukraine war — a forum that excludes Moscow — is a diplomatic coup for Kyiv, the West and the Saudi hosts.
A maritime drone shows the silhouette of a Russian naval ship near the port of Novorossiysk in this screenshot obtained from social media video released on Friday.
WORLD
Aug 5, 2023

Ukraine drone attack damages Russian tanker in Kerch Strait

The latest attack came a day after Ukraine said it had carried out a seaborne-drone strike on a Russian navy ship at a naval base in southern Russia.
People ride a boat through a flooded road after Typhoon Doksuri in Zhuozhou, Hebei province, China, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 6, 2023

China floodwater diversions unleash wave of online anger

To protect Beijing from flooding, water is sometimes channeled to so-called 'flood storage areas' — including populated areas.
Superconductors are materials that exhibit no electrical resistance and eliminate magnetic fields. South Korean researchers think they may have created a compound that achieves that at room-temperature.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2023

LK-99 and the desperation for scientific discovery

The new room-temperature superconductor LK-99 could change the world. Or not.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb