Search - news

 
 
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2022

Japan weighs plan for ban on hotel guests without masks

The government will submit a bill at an extraordinary session of parliament next month that would revise the law governing hotels and inns, a report said.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2022

Kishida to hold talks with leaders of 50 nations who are attending Abe's funeral

One of Kishida's apparent goals is to convince the public that the state funeral is a significant opportunity for so-called funeral diplomacy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 21, 2022

The Aichi Triennale as seen through four textures

The arts festival's conceptual works stand in stark contrast to its tactile pieces, from marimba-like instruments to ceramic interpretations of bombs, presented at the Aichi Arts Center.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 21, 2022

Fed set to hike rates as central banks adopt hawkish stance not seen in decades

The danger, according to former one International Monetary Fund chief economist, is that they collectively go too far, driving the world economy into an unnecessarily harsh contraction.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 20, 2022

Misinformation shrouds Philippine martial law-era horrors

Amnesty International estimates thousands of people were killed after Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law in 1972, but misinformation about that era is now rife on social media.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 19, 2022

Russian pop music icon comes out against the war in Ukraine

Alla Pugacheva is the most significant celebrity to come out against the war, as President Vladimir Putin faces growing challenges on and off the battlefield.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 19, 2022

EU moves to cut money for Hungary over damaging democracy

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has subdued courts, media, NGOs and academia, and has restricted the rights of migrants, gays and women during more than a decade in power.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2022

There’s one way to wean India off Russian weapons

Switching to Western platforms is expensive. Instead India needs to do the hard work of developing a viable domestic defense industry.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 18, 2022

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan trade blame over new border attacks

Border disputes have dogged the ex-Soviet republics throughout their three-decade independence.
The SKS Doyles crude oil tanker sails through the Suez Canal on Thursday.
WORLD
Dec 24, 2023

Iran dismisses U.S. intelligence tying it to Red Sea attacks

The White House said that Iran was "deeply involved” in the planning of the Houthi attacks and has supplied weapons, financial support and training.
Desi Permatasari, 32, comforts her daughter, Sheena Almaera Maryam, 5, who was prescribed contaminated cough syrup last year in their home in Bogor, Indonesia.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2023

When children take toxic cough syrup — and live

In Indonesia, one of the places most impacted by the contamination, families struggle to care for survivors while taking action against those responsible.
Demonstrators rally against COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Buffalo, New York, in February 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2023

It’s past time scientists admitted their COVID-19 mistakes

In 2019, 13% of Americans were distrustful enough to say they weren’t confident in scientists to act in the public’s best interest. Now it is 27%.
A group of 19 host club owners in Kabukicho who own most of the host clubs in the area have pledged to ban the pay-later system by April and prohibit entry to those under 20 years old from January.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 26, 2023

How Japan's host clubs trap young women under mountains of debt

False promises of love — and even marriage — lead to huge bills for some as young as 18, who are often then coaxed into sex work to make repayments.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2023

Japan to OK base relocation project design change by proxy

The approval of the change application will mark the central government's first-ever proxy execution of a local government administrative task.
An ambulance (left) carrying the body of South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun leaves a park in central Seoul on Wednesday. Lee, best known for his role in the Oscar-winning film "Parasite," was found dead in an apparent suicide, Yonhap news agency reported.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 27, 2023

'Parasite' actor Lee Sun-kyun found dead amid drug allegations

Lee had been under investigation amid an ongoing government crackdown on illegal drug use.
The Colorado Supreme Court in Denver, Colorado, on Dec. 20. The court ruled on Dec. 19 that Trump is ineligible for the White House under a provision of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment prohibiting officials who engage in "insurrection or rebellion" against the U.S. government from holding elected office.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 27, 2023

Police probe threats against Colorado justices after Trump ruling

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last week that Trump is ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment .
BYD exhibits its cars ahead of the Munich Motor Show in September.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 27, 2023

China's BYD set to overtake Tesla as world’s most popular EV maker

Its ascent will be both a symbolic turning point for the market and further confirmation of the growing Chinese clout in the global automotive sector.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 27, 2023

Takashimaya apologizes over damaged Christmas cakes

The pricey ¥5,400 cakes were meant to be delivered frozen, but many arrived melted, lopsided or crumbled.
Toyota's global production jumped 11% in November to a record level, bouncing back from last year's supply chain disruptions and benefiting from robust demand both in Japan and overseas.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 27, 2023

Toyota saw record November sales on demand from U.S. and Europe

Global sales — including that of subsidiaries Hino and Daihatsu — rose 12% from a year earlier to 986,262 units.
Economists often struggle to predict business downturns and different economic theories may apply in different situations.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2023

What economists got wrong about the Great Recession

Macroeconomics faces challenges and limitations in predicting and understanding economic events.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 27, 2023

Tokyo court rules executives of spray dryer firm were wrongly indicted

The case involving Ohkawara Kakohki, a Yokohama-based manufacturer, has once again highlighted problems in the nation’s criminal justice system.
Supporters hoist a giant Taiwan national flag during a campaign rally for Kuomintang ahead of Taiwan's presidential election, in Taipei on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 27, 2023

Whisky and a coal 'shack': Taiwan election is not only about China

The candidates are exchanging blows over everything from property disputes to whether drinking whiskey is out of touch.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the December 2023 plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, in Pyongyang.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 28, 2023

North Korea's Kim orders acceleration of war preparations

Kim also said Pyongyang would expand strategic cooperation with "anti-imperialist independent" countries, news agency KCNA reported.
Veteran politician Alan Leong in the now-empty headquarters of the Civic Party, once the city's second largest opposition party, in Hong Kong. Six lapel pins bearing the Civic Party's founding date are all Hong Kong veteran politician Alan Leong kept when the once-prominent opposition group cleared its headquarters and shuttered its doors days before the new year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 28, 2023

Hong Kong's former second-largest opposition party shuts down

Since China imposed its security law, the Civic Party has seen members jailed, elected politicians unseated and a former lawmaker listed as a fugitive.
Reporters gather in front of the Upper House parliamentary building on Thursday in Tokyo. Prosecutors raided LDP lawmaker Yasutada Ono's office, which is located in the building, the same day.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 28, 2023

Second LDP member’s office raided over political funds scandal

Upper House member Yasutada Ono became the second lawmaker to have his offices searched by prosecutors in connection with the scandal.
As Japan’s borders opened back up and tourists eager to document their long-awaited trips to the country streamed back in, 2023 saw a handful of prominent content creators stir up trouble with local residents to grab attention online.
LIFE / Digital / 2023 in Review
Dec 29, 2023

Social media binged on bad behavior in 2023

Mischief makers like Johnny Somali and "sushi terrorism" instigators gained attention online amid a deluge of Japan-related content this year.
Police officers examine a scene where South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun was found dead at a park in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 29, 2023

In South Korea, an unrelenting stance on drugs batters suspected users

Treatment experts say that authorities focus too much on punishment rather than rehabilitation.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic