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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 11, 2022

Amazon’s drone delivery program is hit by crashes and safety concerns

An investigation based on internal documents, government reports and interviews with employees reveals a program beset by technical challenges, high turnover and safety concerns.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Mar 31, 2022

Bruce Willis has aphasia and is ‘stepping away’ from his career

Willis, who turned 67 this month, is most famous for his role as rough-around-the-edges yet clever New York City cop John McClane in the highly successful 'Die Hard” movie series.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2022

Xi battling distrust among global investors burned in China before and eyeing political risk

The government in Beijing showed little regard for those same investors last year when it unleashed a series of crackdowns on the country's most profitable companies.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 27, 2022

The making of Vladimir Putin

As China rose, as the U.S. fought and lost its forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as technology networked the world, a Russian enigma took form in the Kremlin.
Financial markets have tumbled since French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly a week ago, with about $210 billion wiped off the value of French stocks.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 17, 2024

France’s safeguards against the far right are starting to unravel

A radicalization of part of the French left and an alliance among groups ranging from the far-left to the moderates undermine the so-called republican front.
Richard Katz argues in his new book that the key to Japan emerging from decades of economic sluggishness depends on stimulating companies with high energy and dynamism, over the lumbering, older firms.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 20, 2024

Hope for Japan, if the elephants get out of the way

Protecting older companies, the jobs they have produced and the political and financial relationships they have nurtured, starves newer, more innovative businesses.
Without stronger international cooperation and policies that advance shared prosperity, growth will remain too slow to support progress on development and poverty reduction.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2024

Getting the global economy out of the slow lane

The world economy has avoided recession despite the steepest rise in global interest rates since the 1980s.
Balaji Srinivasan addresses the Singapore Fintech Festival in November 2022. A techno-libertarian, Srinivasan, who made his name as an anti-government crusader, tried to attach himself to the U.S. government when he was under consideration for a position in the Donald Trump administration.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 19, 2024

How techno-libertarians fell in love with big government

When faced with the prospect of the government becoming a major client for Silicon Valley techno-libertarians, once-principled opposition to state power dissipates.
Japan Post Bank will expand investment into long-term government bonds to take advantage of rising yields.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 20, 2024

Japan Post Bank to buy more bonds in light of BOJ taper plan

Japan Post Bank has ramped up investment in JGBs with the balance of holdings totaling ¥5.15 trillion as of March, expanding 1.5-fold from levels in December last year.
The holding lot of the Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation-Volkswagen joint venture in Shanghai in April 2023. As the European Union moves to impose tariffs on Chinese cars, Germany, with an auto industry deeply enmeshed with China, is stuck in the middle.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2024

Germany hopes to head off a trade war with China

China’s EV exports threaten European automakers, but companies like Volkswagen have extensive operations in China and fear retaliatory actions by Beijing.
Seaweed in the ocean off Hayama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Local residents aim to restore seagrass and seaweed beds suffering from marine desertification, and their project has also been certified to receive "blue carbon" credits.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET
Jun 23, 2024

Japan looks to 'blue carbon' to cut emissions — and restore its coasts

The nation's net zero goal has driven interest in these ecosystems, but verifying the amount of carbon stored by seaweed presents a challenge.
The skeleton remains of a town building of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, are set to be preserved as a relic of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2024

Mayor decides to preserve tsunami-wrecked town building

The building will be preserved as a disaster relic when its management returns to the town from the Miyagi prefectural government on July 1.
A screen tracks Nvidia's stock price movements as a trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 23, 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 24, 2024

Nvidia sales grow so fast that Wall Street can’t keep up

No one can figure out what the chipmaker’s revenues are actually going to be amid an artificial intelligence boom.
People await the arrival of the Dalai Lama in New York on Sunday. The Tibetan spiritual leader is in the U.S. to undergo knee surgery.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2024

China must not choose the next Dalai Lama

The 14th Dalai Lama, who is in the U.S. to undergo knee surgery, should leave instructions to choose his successor, therefore delegitimizing any Beijing-anointed figure.
An ingot of a rare earth metal used to make components for technology products at a factory in China. The country is the world’s top exporter of rare earth elements, but that may change if deep-sea mining gains traction in nations like Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 25, 2024

We’ve got to get deep-sea mining right

Seabed mining could muddy the waters of critical minerals' supply chains by tapping into new sources. But will environmental and legal concerns sink the project?
A billboard with a picture of the presidential candidates is displayed on a street in Tehran on June 17.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 25, 2024

Iran’s presidential election dominated by Khamenei loyalists

The next president will likely be closely involved in the eventual process of choosing a successor to Iran's supreme leader.
Monitors show the rate of the yen against the U.S. dollar at a foreign exchange brokerage in Tokyo on Monday. Traders are falling out of step with the Bank of Japan, expecting hawkish steps that are instead met with a cautious approach.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 24, 2024

Traders are out of step with the BOJ’s Ueda

Time and time again, traders predict that the Bank of Japan will take bold next steps, but these rarely come. That's because Gov. Ueda is, most of all, cautious.
An image of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange released on social media on Tuesday. Assange pleaded guilty to a single charge of disseminating classified documents in a plea bargain that leaves him a free man.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2024

Julian Assange’s saga will forever exist in a legal gray area

WikiLeaks founder Assange’s case lies on the boundary between espionage and protected speech. Its outcome has done nothing to shed light on this gray zone.
Uncompleted residential buildings in Shenyang, China. The Chinese government is trying to support the real estate sector as a property crisis and other economic ailments drag on.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jun 27, 2024

What will it take for China to regain market confidence?

Xi came to power promising high-quality development instead of growth at all costs. But first, his government must tackle structural problems embedded in China's economy.
Fancl employees offer makeup lessons to those with blindness or low vision.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jul 8, 2024

Cosmetics makers hold makeup lessons for those with visual impairments

Each company has established its own methods for applying makeup without the need to look in a mirror.
Carlos Alcaraz takes part in a practice session at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in London on Thursday ahead of the start of Wimbledon.
TENNIS
Jun 29, 2024

Young guns Alcaraz and Sinner ready to fire as Wimbledon prepares for new era

If Djokovic struggles in his return from injury, all eyes would then be on Alcaraz and Sinner as they usher in a new era at Wimbledon.
India's Virat Kohli celebrates after his side won the T20 World Cup in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Jun 30, 2024

Virat Kohli leads India to T20 World Cup triumph over South Africa

Kohli, who later announced his retirement from T20 internationals, steadied the India innings with his fine 76 taking the team to a strong 176-7.
Wind turbines near New Brighton, England. According to the International Energy Agency, Japan could produce over 900% of its energy demand with offshore wind alone.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jun 30, 2024

Japan looks farther out to sea for overdue wind power boost

A bill enabling development in the country's exclusive economic zone is seen as key to Japan achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
Tourists in front of the restaurant and shopping area of Mount Fuji's 5th Station, which leads to the popular Yoshida trail for hikers climbing the mountain, in Narusawa, Yamanashi Prefecture, on June 19.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 30, 2024

Mount Fuji begins charging entrance fees as overtourism prevention measure

The measure, which also includes capping the number of daily climbers at 4,000, marks the first time that climbing one of Japan's most enduring symbols will cost money.
Then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at an EU-Japan trade summit in Brussels in 2019. Abe was an early believer in the need for Japan to strengthen relations with Europe based on shared values and interests.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 1, 2024

Strong Europe-Japan relations are a legacy of Shinzo Abe

Late former Prime Minister Abe was an early believer in the need for Japan to strengthen its relationship with Europe based on shared values and mutual interests.
U.S. President Joe Biden in the Oval Office in Washington. The idea that the U.S.-China hotline can bridge communication gaps during crises rings hollow.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2024

If a phone rings in a forest and no one answers, is it a hotline?

Hotlines allow states to talk in crisis situations. But China often doesn't pick up when the U.S. calls, raising doubts about the utility of the communications link.
A boy injured in a stampede at a religious gathering reacts as he is brought to a hospital in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 3, 2024

At least 116 people killed in stampede at Hindu religious event in India

The stampede happened in a village in Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh, about 200 kilometers southeast of the national capital New Delhi.
Renesas Electronics CEO Hidetoshi Shibata
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2024

Ex-banker behind chipmaker Renesas targets $100 billion value

Renesas’ push coincides with an aggressive campaign by Japan to turn the world’s fourth-largest economy into a chip powerhouse.
The revised action plan for Japan's response to outbreaks of new infectious diseases requires the government to take action to raise awareness about vaccinations, reflecting concerns expressed by many of those who submitted public comments over the revision.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2024

Japan adopts revised action plan for infectious diseases

The government will implement the plan flexibly while taking into consideration the impact of the measures on people's lives.
If Joe Biden doesn’t let another, better suited candidate run against Donald Trump, he will undo decades of public service.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2024

Will Joe Biden go and spoil it all?

Like former presidential candidate Ralph Nader before him, Biden shouldn't stand in the way of the Democrats winning the election and should let another candidate run.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell