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Japan Times
JAPAN / Explainer
Feb 5, 2021

Japan is moving closer to vaccinations: Here's how the rollout will work

The government has begun to set out its inoculation schedule, but there are concerns over delivery hiccups.
JAPAN / Explainer
Feb 2, 2021

Leading world in hospital bed availability, Japan still taxed by COVID-19

Despite a relatively low number of cases, prefectures currently under a state of emergency are seeing about 70% of their hospital beds for virus patients occupied.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Dec 27, 2020

How a British COVID-19 vaccine went from pole position to troubled start

A review of records and interviews with scientists and industry figures gives a detailed account of what went wrong with the Oxford-AstraZeneca study.
Japan Times
EDITORIALS
Dec 17, 2020

Government in a muddle over suspended travel campaign

Researchers found that people who participated in the government's Go To Travel campaign were as much as twice as likely to have COVID-19 symptoms than those who did not.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Dec 2, 2020

Could COVID-19 knock out the flu in Europe this winter?

As Europeans brace for a grim winter with the threat of rising COVID-19 infections, minimal numbers of flu cases recorded so far point to a possible silver lining.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 21, 2020

The coronavirus is airborne indoors, but we’re still scrubbing surfaces

Scientists who initially warned about contaminated surfaces now say here is little to no evidence that deep cleaning mitigates the threat indoors.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Sep 26, 2020

Japan's remote workforce packs on a few pounds amid pandemic

Some reports suggest that women put on an average of 2.6 kilograms in April and May. Men, by comparison, added an average of 3.3 kilograms.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 27, 2020

Coronavirus in vacant China apartment implicates toilet in spread

The discovery of the coronavirus in the bathroom of an unoccupied apartment in Guangzhou, China, suggests the airborne pathogen may have wafted upwards through drain pipes, an echo of a large SARS outbreak in Hong Kong 17 years ago.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2020

Chinese cities find coronavirus in frozen food imports

Two cities say they have found traces in frozen food imported from Brazil and Ecuador, but the World Health Organization is downplaying the risk of the virus entering the food chain.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2020

Vaccine confronts humanity with next moral test

Who gets coronavirus protection first (and last)? Who profits (and loses)? What is “informed consent” (if it exists)? Divided societies face agonizing choices.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2020

Where's the sympathy for lonely young people?

With job losses and support networks having closed down, some are feeling the effects of the pandemic more acutely.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jul 2, 2020

How China's CanSino Biologics jumped to the front of the coronavirus vaccine race

The firm has boosted its scientific prowess by tying up with the Canadian government's largest research organization, maintaining links despite geopolitical rows.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 2, 2020

Scientists hunt pandemic hot spots in race to test vaccines

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic may be waning. For vaccine developers, that could be a problem.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 28, 2020

Masks helped keep Japan's COVID-19 death toll low, says expert panel

The nation still needs to prevent a second wave, and that will involve testing and urging people to avoid risky situations.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 3, 2020

Conservative groups advising White House push fast reopening, not testing

Conservative groups advising the White House have issued an array of coronavirus economic reopening plans with a common theme — Americans should go back to work immediately to halt the economic and societal damage from prolonged lockdowns.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 22, 2020

North Korean media silent on Kim's whereabouts as speculation on health rages

North Korean state media made no mention on Wednesday of new appearances by leader Kim Jong Un, a day after intense international speculation over his health was sparked by his absence from a major celebration last week.
Scientists are increasingly exploring mechanisms that can help the body adapt to rising temperatures affecting our sleep and leading to health complications.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 13, 2025

Scientists exploring how to beat heat for better sleep

The human brain is very sensitive to heat, with higher temperatures raising the body's central thermostat and activating stress systems.
Japan ranked 14th out of 36 developed countries in the latest child well-being survey, improving from 20th place in the previous survey released in 2020, a report by a UNICEF research institute showed Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 14, 2025

Japan ranks 14th in UNICEF child well-being survey

Top positions in the latest overall rankings were held by the Netherlands, Denmark and other European countries.
People shop inside a tax-free drug store at the Ameyoko shopping district in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 16, 2025

Emergency contraceptive pill may be approved for over-the-counter sales

In most cases, women in Japan must undergo a medical examination and obtain a prescription to access such pills.
The primary causes for long-term sick leave among women in their 20s included mental illness, such as depression and anxiety disorders, a survey has found.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2025

Women in their 20s have higher rate of long-term sick leave, survey finds

The primary causes included mental illness, such as depression and anxiety disorders, as well as pregnancy-related problems.
Japan faces a growing crisis of social isolation, with over 1.4 million people — many middle-aged — living reclusive lifestyles, and experts say only long-term, trust-based community support can reverse the trend.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 16, 2025

Japan needs to rethink how it helps hikikomori

While hikikomori, the Japanese term for acute social withdrawal, often brings to mind young recluses in dark bedrooms, the reality is broader.
Researchers prepare medicine at a laboratory in Nanjing University in Nanjing, in China's Jiangsu province. China's share of global drug development is now nearly 30%.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jun 17, 2025

U.S. pharma bets big on China to snap up potential blockbuster drugs

Firms bet they can turn upfront payments of as little as $80 million into multibillion-dollar treatments.
Security personnel keep watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology during the visit by the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of COVID-19, in Wuhan, China, in February 2021.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 28, 2025

WHO says all COVID-19 origin theories still open, after inconclusive study

The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the WHO, while shredding economies and crippling health systems.
In an effort to move past its troubled legacy, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical has replaced its president twice and appointed an external chairman.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 8, 2025

Despite leadership changes, Kobayashi Pharma still struggling with reform

The Osaka-based company has replaced its president twice and appointed an external chairman, seeking to reduce the influence of the founding family seen as a cause of the scandal.
The health ministry is expected to cut the official price of lecanemab, an Alzheimer's drug codeveloped by Japanese drugmaker Eisai and Biogen of the United States, by up to 15% from the current level of about ¥3 million per patient a year.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 10, 2025

Japan to cut price of Alzheimer's drug lecanemab

The health ministry is expected to cut the official price of the drug by up to 15% from the current level of about ¥3 million per patient a year.
People cool off under water jets in Madrid on Monday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 5, 2025

'Silent killer': the science of tracing climate deaths in heat waves

Heat can claim tens of thousands of lives during European summers but it usually takes months to count the cost. Scientists are aiming to change that with faster studies.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear