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Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 11, 2021

U.S. imposes sweeping human rights sanctions on China, Myanmar and North Korea

Washington imposed the first new sanctions on North Korea under President Joe Biden and targeted Myanmar military entities, among others, in action marking Human Rights Day.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2021

Biden’s warning to Putin on Ukraine has Indo-Pacific ramifications as well

No one in Japan seems to have pondered the strategic and geopolitical implications that the second Biden-Putin summit meeting may have for the Indo-Pacific region.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Dec 10, 2021

Skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing included in initial program for Los Angeles Olympics

The inclusion of the three sports was a major success among young viewers during the Tokyo Olympics.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2021

Worst could be over for Tokyo real estate as vacancy rate drops

Vacancies fell by 0.12 percentage points to 6.35% in the capital's five main business districts, ending months of increases amid the pandemic.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2021

China Evergrande defaults on its debt. Now what?

A ratings agency's declaration confirmed what investors had already suspected, but they now must wait on a restructuring plan overseen by the firm hand of Beijing.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Dec 9, 2021

Japan must take a multifaceted approach to its economic security

Focusing on collaboration with Washington in a range of areas will help Tokyo to make its presence felt across the Indo-Pacific region.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 9, 2021

U.S. House passes bill to punish China over oppression of Uyghurs

The 428-1 vote on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act demonstrated the broad, bipartisan sentiment in Congress for the U.S. taking a harder line against China.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 9, 2021

Biden says U.S. will not put troops in Ukraine as tensions with Russia ease

Biden said the United States had a moral and legal obligation to defend NATO allies if they are attacked, but that obligation did not extend to Ukraine.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Dec 9, 2021

IOC welcomes support for Olympic teams despite growing diplomatic boycott

'We welcome that they (athletes) will be there, we welcome that they are supported by their national governments. The rest is politics,' IOC President Thomas Bach said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 8, 2021

Two Tokyo bars make the World’s Best 50 List

It's award season for the world's food and drink establishments, and venues in Tokyo continue to be rewarded.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Dec 8, 2021

What explains Japan's low COVID-19 case count? And can we expect another wave?

Gearoid Reidy, senior editor at Bloomberg Japan, joins to discuss Japan's low COVID-19 case count, and if the country can expect another wave.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2021

Trump just made $1 billion. Where did it come from?

The former president's social media enterprise just raised a lot of money, but from where? And what are the security implications if he assumes the presidency again?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2021

Japan faces delicate balance over Beijing Olympics boycott

Tokyo is reportedly looking to send lower-level officials to the Winter Olympics, a far cry from when then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe traveled to the Pyeongchang Games in 2018.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 8, 2021

Shadow payment system on the rise among European people-smugglers

The 'hawala' system relies on a trusted network of transfer agents to make payments outside the banking system and operates largely without leaving a paper trail.
Shigeru Ishiba, the new head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, speaks during a news conference at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 30, 2024

Incoming PM Ishiba sets Oct. 27 as date for snap election

The newly elected Liberal Democratic Party president's announcement is highly unusual and not without controversy.
A man mourns at the memorial altar for victims of a crowd crush that killed over 150 people in the party district of Itaewon in Seoul.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 30, 2024

Ex-police chief jailed three years over deadly South Korea crowd crush

Former Yongsan district police chief Lee Im-jae was convicted of failing to prevent the Halloween 2022 crush in the Itaewon district that killed over 150.
U.S. lawmakers and others speak at a news conference in Washington in March to voice their opposition to legislation cracking down on TikTok.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2024

China’s silence on U.S. Tiktok ban speaks volumes

Beijing's past actions suggest that protecting its national interests, including ByteDance's valuable algorithm, outweighs concerns about foreign investment.
LDP policy chief Itsunori Onodera, Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama, Vice President Yoshihide Suga, Shunichi Suzuki, chairman of the general affairs council, and Shinjiro Koizumi, chairman of the election committee, at the party's headquarters on Monday
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 30, 2024

Ishiba announces new leadership lineup ahead of general election

The appointments seem to reflect Ishiba’s desire to maintain internal party harmony ahead of a general election and reward those who have supported him.
New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (front center) and other Cabinet ministers pose for a commemorative photo after an appointment and certification ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 1, 2024

New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba unveils Cabinet as LDP divide emerges

His Cabinet, made up of lawmakers largely untainted by an LDP political funds scandal, has appeared to open up a rift in the ruling party.
Takashi Kobayashi, a professor at Kyoto University Hospital's urology department, speaks at a news conference in Kyoto on Monday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 1, 2024

Kidney transplant between same-sex couple conducted in Kyoto

This is the first time that a living organ transplant between same-sex partners has been disclosed in Japan.
An electronic stock board displays the 225-issue Nikkei average and the rate of the yen against the U.S. dollar outside a securities firm in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 1, 2024

Ishiba cool on Abenomics, pragmatic and a bit of a mystery

Analysts argue that the new prime minister will be more like former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida than former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
According to a man seeking compensation through the courts for his forced hospitalization at a psychiatric ward, it was clear from his medical records that there was no need for him to stay in hospital from 1988.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 1, 2024

Plaintiff denied compensation for decadeslong stay at hospital

Plaintiff Tokio Ito, who is diagnosed with schizophrenia, claimed that he suffered emotional damage from the extremely long and involuntary stay.
Incoming child care policy minister Junko Mihara (center) arrives at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday. Mihara is one of only two female ministers in Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 1, 2024

A very LDP Cabinet — more of the same, despite hints of a power shift

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba retained veterans in key posts and rewarded those who supported him in the LDP presidential race.
Israel's Iron Dome antimissile system intercepts rockets after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Oct 2, 2024

Israel beefs up forces on Lebanon border as Hezbollah reports clashes

The Israeli military said regular infantry and armored units were joining its ground operations in Lebanon.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 2, 2024

Ishiba holds first phone call with Biden as prime minister

In their talks, Ishiba noted that the U.S.-Japan alliance “has been strengthened considerably” under his predecessor, and pledged “to continue along that path.”
Institute of Science Tokyo's Chief Executive Officer Naoto Otake (right) and Chief Academic Officer Yujiro Tanaka at the university's campus in Tokyo's Meguro Ward on Tuesday
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2024

Institute of Science Tokyo launched after merger of two universities

The new university has 6,242 undergraduates and 7,116 postgraduates. Of them, 2,145 are foreign students.

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