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Staff members wearing costumes from the Japanese superhero series "Choudenshi Bioman" perform during a fan meeting at a concert hall in Seoul to mark the 35th anniversary of its release in South Korea, on Feb. 15.
CULTURE
Mar 2, 2025

South Korean fans soak up nostalgia with vintage Japanese superheroes

It has been decades since "Choudenshi Bioman" was last on TV, but its stories of good versus evil still resonate deeply with some.
The weak yen is often cited as one reason why many Japanese don't go abroad.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 25, 2025

Only 17% of Japanese people own passports, Foreign Ministry says

Around 3.7 million passports were issued domestically in 2024, a 8.8% increase from the year before but down 15.2% from prepandemic numbers in 2019.
Busan port, southeast of Seoul. Business leaders in South Korea are taking action to offset the threat posed by U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policies.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Feb 25, 2025

South Korea political turmoil pushes companies to take tariff matters into their own hands

Trump's sweeping and sometimes indiscriminate trade measures have sparked existential debate in many international capitals.
Toshihiro Suzuki (left), president of Suzuki Motor, and Hisashi Takeuchi, managing director of Maruti Suzuki India, during an event in New Delhi on Jan. 17
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 25, 2025

Suzuki Motor unit opens first new India plant in eight years

India’s largest carmaker by sales had last opened a new factory in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in 2017.
The Chinese embrace of DeepSeek comes as governments from South Korea to Italy remove the artificial intelligence from national app stores, citing privacy concerns.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 25, 2025

DeepSeek rushes to launch new AI model as China goes all in

Deepseek had planned to release R2 in early May but now wants it out as early as possible.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a statement on defense spending on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

Trump’s threats push U.K.'s Starmer into a more global, military agenda

U.S. President Donald Trump's apparent refusal for the U.S. to be the final guarantor of security in Europe has prompted the prime minister to act.
A partially illuminated Santiago, Chile, during a blackout on Tuesday. The unusual and massive blackout due to an alleged failure of the power system forced the evacuation of the Santiago subway and plunged the population into confusion.
WORLD / Society
Feb 26, 2025

Chile power outage plunges capital into darkness, hits major copper mines

The widespread blackout was caused by a transmission line failure in the country's north, Interior Minister Carolina Toha said.
Elon Musk holds up a chainsaw onstage during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on Feb. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

Musk's new ultimatum spurs fresh confusion among U.S. government workers

President Donald Trump said workers who did not respond would be "sort of semi-fired," adding to the uncertainty.
A Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy helicopter is seen from aboard a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) aircraft in the skies above Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Feb. 18.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

Standoff in the skies: Witnessing an unsafe intercept over the South China Sea

A Chinese military helicopter edged dangerously close to a Philippine plane on patrol over the flash point Scarborough Shoal, an incident witnessed by The Japan Times.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 26, 2025

Japanese authorities raise alarm over rise in fake police phone scams

Tokyo police rearrested a man suspected of being involved in multiple scams and released a voice recording in hopes of raising awareness.
An Apple store in Walnut Creek, California, on Monday. Apple Inc. Apple investors rejected a proposal to end the iPhone maker’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, but CEO Tim Cook some some adjustments may occur.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 26, 2025

Apple to keep DEI efforts, though some adjustments possible

The proposal to abolish DEI efforts came after competitors like Meta and Google have started winding down such programs.
The People's Liberation Army Navy's Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, part of a flotilla sailing inside Australia's exclusive economic zone on Wednesday, is seen at an undisclosed location in this image taken on Feb. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 26, 2025

'Provocative' Chinese warship near Australia puts Japan on notice

Canberra surmised that China's military moves were intended to “shape the responses of those in the region and observe and learn from our reactions.”
The co-leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, Alice Weidel (left) and Tino Chrupalla (right), deliver a statement after the first parliamentary group meeting of their party on Tuesday, two days after Germany's general elections.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2025

Far right lurks in the shadow of Germany's coalition dilemma

As victor Friedrich Merz tries to build a coalition, Germany could find itself in a vicious cycle where the compromises required to govern deepen the divisions that plague it.
Both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have called for placing levies on the U.S. that are similar to those the U.S. places on Canada.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2025

Something is rotten in Canada

So while Trump is right to say Canada’s trade surplus with the U.S. has grown, he’s wrong about why it has expanded.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' announcement is believed to be part of a push by Japan as it vies with Germany for a lucrative contract to build new Mogami-class frigates for Australia.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2025

MHI to ramp up Australian business activities with eye on frigate contract

The expansion is seen as a push by Japan to improve its chances of securing a winning bid over Germany to supply the Australian Navy with seven to 11 warships.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan head Yoshihiko Noda speaks at the party's convention in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 26, 2025

Is time running out for CDP in budget talks with the ruling coalition?

Concerns have emerged that the main opposition party might have lost its bargaining chip after Nippon Ishin no Kai clinched a deal with the minority government.
Lawyers advising in a racial profiling case speak during a news conference on Wednesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 26, 2025

About 70% of foreign nationals questioned by police on the streets: survey

The survey was believed to be the first conducted comparing police questioning between foreign nationals and Japanese on the issue.
Nissin Foods expects continued demand for cheap precooked noodles even as the industry works to shed its image of being an unhealthy staple, the firm's president said on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2025

Noodle-maker Nissin plans big investments, eyeing pickup in demand

Nissin Foods expects continued demand for cheap precooked noodles even as the industry works to shed its image of being an unhealthy staple.
Japanese nominal wages rose at the fastest pace in nearly three decades according to data out this month, and GDP figures showed Japan’s economy outperformed forecasts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 27, 2025

Yen traders raise focus on Japanese data as economy shifts gears

The news marks a mindset change since the Bank of Japan ended its negative-rates policy last March.
Elon Musk shows off his t-shirt reading "Tech Support" while speaking at the first cabinet meeting hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump, at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025

Trump orders more layoffs as Musk touts cuts at cabinet meeting

The U.S. president let downsizing czar Elon Musk take a star role at his first cabinet meeting and discuss his ambitious budget-cutting targets.
Kwek Leng Beng, chairman of City Developments Ltd., attends a news conference in Singapore in 2019.
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2025

Father-son feud plunges Singapore’s richest clan into crisis

At stake in the feud is control of a major slice of an $18 billion family empire spanning property development to hospitality and finance.
Japan has already seen 24 takeover bids so far in 2025. If that pace is sustained, they may exceed 100 this year for the first time ever.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 27, 2025

Stock investors in Japan hunt for takeover targets with new fund

Japan has already seen 24 takeover bids so far in 2025.
Tech mogul Elon Musk speaks during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting in the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025

Musk’s Cabinet cameo: The elephant in the room wore black

The billionaire tech mogul spoke far more than anyone else, other than the U.S. president, attempting to manage both up and down at the same time.
The then-Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump greets a Michigan Muslim community leader at a rally in Novi, Michigan, on Oct. 26.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2025

Why are pro-Palestinian activists suddenly so quiet?

Pro-Palestinian and Arab-American groups that urged voters to withhold support from Biden over Gaza now face regret as Trump embraces Israel’s hard-line stance.
The number of newborns in 2024 fell 5% from the previous year to 720,988, extending a nine-year streak of declines, according to preliminary population data released Thursday by the health ministry.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2025

Japan records fewest births on record, deepening demographic crisis

The number of newborns in 2024 fell 5% from the previous year to 720,988, extending a nine-year streak of declines.
Since arriving at ARK as a nervous kitten, Donut has really grown into herself and opened up to people.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Feb 27, 2025

Red tabby Donut is full of sweet energy

Always having a good time, Donut is eager for attention — and food.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s populism and polarization will challenge American democracy, but constitutional limits, congressional dynamics and enduring pluralism will sustain it.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 27, 2025

American democracy will weather the Trumpist storm

Despite Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, his populist nature makes constitutional collapse unlikely so long as pluralism in society endures.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Kashiwazaki City, Niigata Prefecture, on Nov. 1, 2022
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2025

Tepco's antiterrorism facility completion delayed at Niigata nuclear plant

The completion date will be pushed back significantly to August 2029.
Itochu dropping its Seven & I Holdings buyout plan would place Alimentation Couche-Tard’s offer back in the limelight.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2025

Itochu drops Seven & I buyout, putting Couche-Tard back in limelight

An individual with an understanding of the deal said Itochu and Seven & I lacked synergy to justify the deal.
People walk along a bridge with the Kremlin and Saint Basil's Cathedral seen in the background, in Moscow on Feb. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025

The 'new silent ones': Opponents lie low in Russia

Since the start of the offensive three years ago, Moscow has cracked down on any public dissent of what it calls the "special military operation."

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