Search - news

 
 
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2021

Shocked investors scour Xi’s old speeches to find next crackdown target

China's abrupt education overhaul has prompted even seasoned investors to reassess how they interpret statements from Xi Jinping and top officials.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 5, 2021

Katie Kitamura and the cognitive dissonance of being alive right now

Her new novel, “Intimacies,” introduces readers to the perceptive, digressive mind of an interpreter at The Hague who is dealing with loss, an uncertain relationship and an insecure world.
OLYMPICS
Aug 4, 2021

Japan wins two more medals in skateboarding as Sakura Yosozumi takes gold

The park event made its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics following last week's street competition and turned out to be another sport dominated by Japanese teenagers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 4, 2021

SoftBank built a $5 billion stake in pharma giant Roche

Roche's diagnostics unit reacted swiftly to the pandemic, and now sales are boosted by its COVID-19 testing business.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Aug 3, 2021

Hong Kong’s fate spurs Japan to speak up about defending Taiwan

A more supportive policy toward Taipei is emblematic of a broader shift by Tokyo in response to China's crackdown on Hong Kong and increased military activities in the Taiwan Strait.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2021

The circular economy grows up

If we do not abandon the “take-make-waste” consumption pattern by 2050, we will need the equivalent of almost three Earths to provide enough natural resources to sustain current lifestyles.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2021

Tencent tumbles after China media calls online gaming 'spiritual opium'

A state-run outlet said many teenagers were addicted to online video games and called for more curbs on the industry.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 3, 2021

Virus flares in Wuhan as delta challenges China’s defenses

The resurgence marks the biggest challenge to China's strategy since the virus was first detected in Wuhan.
An official participates in the investigation at the site where a Jeju Air aircraft crashed and burst into flames, at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, on Jan 2.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jan 10, 2025

South Korea jet crash puts fast-growing Jeju Air's safety under scrutiny

Jeju Air flies its planes more than any other major airline in South Korea, and also outpaces most global peers such as Ireland's Ryanair and Malaysia's AirAsia.
Apollo Global Management is discussing a commitment of as much as ¥1.5 trillion for an equity stake in a bid by Seven & I’s founding Ito family to take the convenience store operator private.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 10, 2025

Apollo weighs $9.5 billion stake in Seven & I management buyout

Under the current proposal, Apollo would join the Ito family and Itochu, the operator of FamilyMart in Japan, as key investors.
The additional sanctions against Russia "are to contribute to international efforts for peace," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Friday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 10, 2025

Japan expands its sanctions against Russia

Japan will also ban the export of 335 more goods, including small motorcycles, to Russia starting on Jan. 23.
Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada with the countdown clock for the launch of the startup's lunar lander, in Tokyo's Chuo Ward on Thursday
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 10, 2025

Japanese space startup readies for second lunar lander launch

Ispace's Resilience lander will lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano in Seoul in October
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 10, 2025

Japan announces new national security adviser

Masataka Okano is a 60-year-old career diplomat with experience in both Washington and Beijing and a former chief of the Foreign Ministry’s Russia division.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya visits the Saint Michael's Cathedral, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv in November.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

Top Japanese diplomat to visit Seoul to shore up ties amid political chaos

Iwaya, who will be the first Japanese foreign minister to visit Seoul in seven years, will meet with his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul and Acting President Choi Sang-mok.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case in which he was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, at New York Criminal Court in Manhattan on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

A sentence with no penalty assures Trump will take office as a felon

Justice Juan Merchan gave Donald Trump a symbolic punishment. The judge said that leniency was due the office of the president, not the man who will soon hold the title.
Burned-out homes reduced to rubble by the Eaton Fire are seen in Altadena, California, on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 11, 2025

Los Angeles faces more wildfire evacuations even as fierce winds ease

Fierce winds that have supercharged wildfires sweeping parts of Los Angeles eased Friday, but the largest blaze shifted direction, triggering new evacuation orders.
Head of Presidential Security Service, Park Chong-jun, is surrounded by media in the National Office of Investigation in Seoul on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

President Yoon’s security chief quits as new arrest bid looms

It’s not immediately clear if the vice chief who will take over will cooperate with a probe team’s warrant execution for Yoon.
U.S. Army soldiers with the NATO multinational battle group on the territory of Bulgaria stand in formation with a U.S. flag and an armored vehicle during a visit by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the Novo Selo military ground near Mokren, Bulgaria, on Dec. 19.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 11, 2025

NATO won't back Trump's new defense spending target but will raise its sights

A new target is likely to be agreed at a NATO summit in June, but the key questions are what that new target will be and whether it will be enough to satisfy Trump.
Mark Zuckerberg, then chief executive of Facebook, appears at a joint U.S. Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington in April 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s sprint to remake Meta for the Trump era

The highly unusual overhaul of the firm's speech policies came after the Meta CEO visited U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in November.
Pete Hegseth, U.S. secretary of defense nominee for President-elect Donald Trump, arrives for a meeting with Sen. Chuck Grassley, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

With hearings imminent, partisan fight escalates over Trump Cabinet

Democrats are demanding that Republicans slow consideration of picks for the new administration until they can review background checks.
Palm trees burned by the Palisades Fire along the shore in Malibu, California, at sunrise on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 11, 2025

‘We’re in a new era’: How climate change is supercharging disasters

Extreme weather events — deadly heat waves, floods, fires and hurricanes — are the consequences of a warming planet, scientists say.
Yuzuru Hanyu smiles during an interview in his hometown of Sendai in between performances of his latest tour, Ice Story.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Jan 11, 2025

30 minutes with Yuzuru Hanyu

The two-time Olympic champion exited the competitive arena in 2022. His overall career goal — to make spectators say "wow" — has not changed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives for a meeting in Rome on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 12, 2025

Ukraine questioning two captured North Korean soldiers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would provide media access to the prisoners of war because "the world needs to know what is happening."
Nissan's Oliver Rowland competes at the Portland E-Prix in June 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Jan 12, 2025

Oliver Rowland earns Formula E triumph for Nissan in Mexico City

Starting from fourth, Rowland put in an outstanding performance to secure the Japanese manufacturer's 20th win.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (right) and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during a ceremonial welcome at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, Indonesia, on Saturday
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 12, 2025

Ishiba turns to Southeast Asia amid growing international uncertainty

Experts say that Ishiba's decision to prioritize Malaysia and Indonesia was a sign of the importance of the two major regional economies.
Palestinians pass through an Israeli checkpoint as they make their way to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in the West Bank, in March 2024. Israeli forces have frequently used disguises to infiltrate Gaza and target Hamas operatives.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 12, 2025

In the art of war, mimicry runs the gambit from disguises to deepfakes

Impersonation is one of the oldest tactics in war, because it exploits our social nature and persists because humans are dependent on identities for cooperation.
Anti-Yoon Suk Yeol protesters rally in Seoul on Saturday. South Korea's Constitutional Court has scheduled five trial dates spanning from Tuesday to Feb. 4, which will proceed in his absence if the suspended president does not attend his impeachment trial.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 12, 2025

South Korea's Yoon will not attend first impeachment hearing

Yoon has been holed up in the presidential residence since being suspended and impeached last month, following a short-lived declaration of martial law.

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