Search - 2019

 
 
Toma Ikuta plays a former hit man who wakes from a coma to exact vengeance on a gang of masked criminals in “Demon City.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 28, 2025

‘Demon City’: Live-action manga adaptation is ultra-violent — and ultra-dull

Seiji Tanaka’s Netflix film about a former hit man determined to avenge his family is relentlessly unsatisfying.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, at a news conference on Friday, said the Cabinet has approved a bill to revise relevant laws to digitalize criminal procedures in the country.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 28, 2025

Japan's Cabinet approves bill to digitalize criminal procedures

Once passed, existing laws will be amended to allow greater use of technologies by law enforcers and the judiciary.
Hidetaka Ishii, an official at the Chiba Municipal Government, says close coordination with private-sector operators is key for regional decarbonization efforts.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Mar 2, 2025

Japan’s climate heroes show potential and limits of local initiatives

Chiba and others show the potential for local areas to accelerate the energy transition, as well as the challenges of building locally driven, carbon-free energy models.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office in Washington on Tuesday. The U.S. president just signed another executive order on Saturday designating English as the official language of the United States.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 2, 2025

Trump designates English as official language of U.S.

The White House published an executive order by Trump which says it is "long past time" that English is declared as the nation's official language.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy either "needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country to do that."
WORLD / Politics
Mar 3, 2025

Trump allies pressure Zelenskyy to change course or resign

Democrats, meanwhile, have expressed disgust over the tenor of U.S. President Donald Trump's meeting with the Ukrainian leader.
Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Mar 3, 2025

As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows

Women and young people are leading a migratory wave that the government is struggling to halt.
Keiko Honda (center) poses with her teammates before an NFL game in London in October 2023.
SPORTS
Mar 4, 2025

In battling cancer, Keiko Honda channeled her cheerleading strength

The former NFL cheerleader is now making a return to professional cheerleading after overcoming breast cancer.
Lithuania will become the first country in the EU to leave a multilateral arms regulation agreement when it withdraws on March 6.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025

Lithuania to walk out on global disarmament treaty

Lithuania's controversial move comes at a time of heightened tensions in international relations over its neighbor Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Trash cans have been installed at Nara Park for the first time in about 40 years following a rise in littering alongside an increasing number of foreign tourists in recent years.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 5, 2025

Rise in tourists prompts Nara Park to install trash cans to protect deer

Increased littering in the park has created a health hazard for the protected animal.
Japan and South Korea are in their most fragile political states in decades just as their ally, the United States, enters the second administration of President Donald Trump.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 5, 2025

Japan and South Korea in the age of ‘America first’

Japan and South Korea are at their most fragile political states in decades just as their ally, the United States, has begun the second administration of Donald Trump.
Former Executive Vice President Ichiro Takekuro enters the Tokyo High Court for the appellate court ruling in January 2023 in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2025

Acquittal of two former Tepco executives to be finalized

The Supreme Court supported the lower courts' decisions that the accident was unpredictable and decided to dismiss an appeal by lawyers acting as prosecutors.
Elementary and junior high school students study online at Free School Mirai in the city of Nagano.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Mar 17, 2025

Schools face challenges in evaluating students not attending classes

There is concern that assessing students through grades may run counter to supporting those who cannot attend school.
Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Mar 7, 2025

Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly

Despite longstanding taboos, evolving attitudes toward women's health highlight shifting cultural norms.
Lewis Hamilton is in his first season with Ferrari after a move from Mercedes.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Mar 7, 2025

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc put on show for Ferrari fans in Milan

Some 35,000 "tifosi" attended the event as seven-time world champion Hamilton performed smoking tire burnouts after filling the city streets with noise.
Chinese teacher Shuaib Ma (right) gives a Mandarin language lesson at a school in Riyadh.
WORLD
Mar 7, 2025

Mandarin lessons in Saudi schools show growing ties with China

Mandarin's entry into public schools is the latest sign of growing ties between Saudi Arabia and China.
“May You Have Delicious Meals” focuses on a trio of young office workers at the same workplace who have mixed feelings for food and each other.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 8, 2025

‘May You Have Delicious Meals’: The ugly taste of office and gender politics

The English-language debut of Junko Takase’s Akutagawa Prize-winning novel serves complex prose in translation by Morgan Giles.
Globally, women are severely underrepresented among leading roles in cinema, with female directors accounting for just over 10% of the industry in Japan. Achieving gender equality on-set would have far-reaching consequences for the whole of society.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2025

Without women behind the camera, equality stays out of the frame

Cinema isn't only about what stories are told, but who tells them. Overcoming severe underrepresentation, women are reshaping the film industry and cultural narratives.
Hoshoryu will make his debut at yokozuna during the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament, which begins in Osaka on Sunday.
SUMO
Mar 7, 2025

New yokozuna Hoshoryu and rising star Onosato enter Spring Basho as favorites

Hoshoryu already has a pair of titles to his name, and is coming off perhaps the most impressive eight-bout stretch of his career to date.
A worker collects palm oil fruit in Sepang, outside Kuala Lumpur, in 2014.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 10, 2025

The end of cheap palm oil? Output stalls as biodiesel demand surges

Aging plantations and slow replanting have led to lower yields even as demand for palm oil rises from various sectors.
Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf (left) catches a pass for a touchdown over Vikings cornerback Stephon Gilmore during the first half at Lumen Field on Dec. 22, 2024.
SPORTS / Football
Mar 10, 2025

Steelers obtain wide receiver DK Metcalf from Seahawks

Metcalf reportedly will sign a five-year, $150 million deal with the Steelers.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a gathering with the Philippine community in Hong Kong on March 9.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 11, 2025

Former Philippine President Duterte arrested over crimes against humanity

Police in Manila acted on an International Criminal Court warrant tied to Duterte's deadly war on drugs.
Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (right) drives with the ball as Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason defends during the first quarter at Toyota Center in Houston on March 8.
BASKETBALL
Mar 11, 2025

New Orleans Pelicans to play in Australia's first NBA games

The Pelicans will play the NBL's Melbourne United on Oct. 3 and South East Melbourne Phoenix two days later at Melbourne Park
A tank holds untreated waste from plutonium production at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, a site that was integral to the nation’s nuclear arsenal after World War II, north of Richland, Washington, in March 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 11, 2025

Most contaminated U.S. nuclear site is set to be the largest solar farm

Plans to transform Hanford had just begun inching forward when U.S. President Donald Trump started his second term.
Students learn heavy machinery maintenance using virtual reality at a United Tractors vocational institution in Jakarta on March 6.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2025

Indonesia’s industrial growth goals at risk as education system falls short

Poor teaching and a dearth of basic equipment has led to a pressing shortage of qualified workers and high unemployment among young people.
Fertility rates remain low across much of Asia, with past policies to curb population growth proving difficult to reverse, while governments explore adaptation strategies like immigration and AI.
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2025

It’s time we adapt to low fertility rates

South Korea’s fertility rate saw a slight increase, but experts doubt it signals a long-term reversal. Similar trends are seen in Singapore and Japan.
Makoto Uchida, CEO of Nissan, will step down from the post at the end of this month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 11, 2025

Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida to step down

Current Chief Planning Officer Ivan Espinosa will be assuming the role starting in April in a bid to turn around the struggling Yokohama-based automaker.
Nisssan Chief Planning Officer Ivan Espinosa speaks during an online news conference on Tuesday. Espinosa will take over as CEO in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 12, 2025

Ivan Espinosa to take over as new Nissan CEO in April

Espinosa, the automaker's chief planning officer, joined Nissan in 2003 and has been working on product strategy and planning.
Protesters demonstrating in front of the Supreme Court in Tokyo on Tuesday against court rulings acquitting two former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings over the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 12, 2025

Acquittal of two former Tepco executives finalized

Lawyers acting as prosecutors did not file an appeal against the Supreme Court's decision last week that upheld the not-guilty verdicts against the executives.
PRESS
Mar 14, 2025

ニュースで学べる週刊英語学習サービス 「The Japan Times Alpha」 全面リニューアル

株式会社ジャパンタイムズ出版は2025年4月4日、週刊英語学習紙『The Japan Times Alpha』の紙面およびデジタルコンテンツを大幅にリニューアルいたします。
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's arrest on an ICC warrant for crimes against humanity related to his brutal drug war is a victory for affected families, but it may plunge the country into political chaos.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2025

The law finally caught up with Rodrigo Duterte

A reckoning for Duterte — the man they called "The Punisher” — is long overdue. The former Philippine president’s anti-drug crusade killed thousands of people.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji