Search - special-issue

 
 
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 27, 2022

Moscow's ultimatum: Ukraine fulfills its proposals or army will decide

Kyiv and its Western allies have dismissed Putin's offer to talk, with his forces battering Ukrainian towns with missiles and rockets
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Dec 12, 2022

Kishida's plan to fund higher defense spending faces backlash

The prime minister's suggestion of tax increases hasn't gone down well, even among Cabinet members and lawmakers from his own party.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 30, 2022

Lessons learned from the tragedy of the Balkans

The people of the Balkan Peninsula have the unfortunate luck of living at the crossroads of an invasion route.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Longform
Nov 28, 2022

Wood spirits: How Japan made the world’s first liquor from trees

History is being made by a technology that may help aging rural populations, reinvigorate the nation's struggling forestry sector and shake up the global alcohol industry in unforeseen ways.
A screen displays Chinese leader Xi Jinping, at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing last October.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 28, 2023

China eyes accelerated plan for ‘world-class military,’ Japan says

An annual defense white paper said the world was facing its greatest test since World War II amid China's military buildup and the Ukraine war.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Aug 3, 2023

Japan's vision of nuke-free world in focus ahead of anniversaries

The tension between Tokyo's lofty goals and realpolitik necessities has made any move toward nuclear disarmament largely elusive.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 4, 2023

U.N. experts criticize Johnny’s sex abuse investigation

The experts called on the government to do more to investigate decades of suspected abuse against male idols by Johnny Kitagawa.
Taiwan's Vice President Lai Ching-te makes a speech at the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) annual congress in Taipei on July 16.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 10, 2023

U.S.-Paraguay trip to test Taiwan VP’s foreign policy skills

The key trip will test his skill to both reassure Washington of his status-quo policies and signal to Beijing that he has the confidence of the U.S.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Windham, New Hampshire, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 11, 2023

U.S. prosecutors propose January start for Trump election trial

The suggested date falls just two weeks before the first votes are cast in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
U.S. President Joe Biden during an event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday. The president has crisscrossed the nation visiting groundbreakings and factories to sell his agenda, dubbed Bidenomics, with the Inflation Reduction Act as the centerpiece.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2023

Fires and heat block Biden from taking victory lap for climate law

It’s not the first time circumstances beyond Biden’s control have undone his efforts to revel in a victory.
U.S. and Japanese authorities are concerned that purchases of farmland near military bases and other critical facilities will allow China and other governments to spy on or interfere with their operations.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2023

For the best espionage, it’s location, location, location

Efforts by Chinese companies to purchase land — often, but not exclusively, agricultural — has authorities in Japan and the United States up in arms.
A child stands in front of the Hibiya Music Hall, which collapsed during the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 31, 2023

The earthquake that turned Tokyo to ash

This week we commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake.
Investors in Japan have filed a lawsuit against Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s joint venture brokerage with Morgan Stanley, seeking to recover losses from Credit Suisse's riskiest debt.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 1, 2023

MUFG joint-venture brokerage sued over Credit Suisse AT1 sales

Investors are demanding ¥5.2 billion ($36 million) in compensation from Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is seen on a screen during a video address for the Global Trade in Services Summit, at the media center for the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2023

The U.S., allies see opportunity and risk in slowing China economy

The U.S. and other G7 nations increasingly see evidence of deep-seated structural problems that ultimately will strengthen the West’s hand.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 10, 2023

Internal email sheds light on wind-power bribery scandal

Tokyo prosecutors have obtained an email as possible evidence of Akimoto having made statements before lawmakers at the request of Tsukawaki.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 22, 2023

Zelenskyy under pressure as Ukraine's allies shift priorities

Allies are pushing the Ukrainian leader to turn his attention to what kind of country will emerge from the war, even as Kyiv struggles for a breakthrough.
China's COSCO Shipping Ports is the world’s largest shipping company and port terminal operator.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2023

China’s port investments and risks to national security

The gray area between domestic and foreign jurisdictions and private and state-owned enterprises should be cause for concern.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has overseen foreign policy successes during his two years in power, including on the nation's approach to development aid and climate change.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 28, 2023

Kishida's mixed bag of successes and shortcomings

Kishida has also been adept in terms of diplomacy in at least four areas: the war in Ukraine, the Taiwan issue, development aid and South Korea relations.
A Ukrainian drone pilot, call sign Darwin, operating a first-person-view, or FPV, drone on a test flight near Kupiansk, Ukraine, on Aug. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2023

Ukraine’s war of drones runs into an obstacle: China

Ukraine's latest fight is one over global electronics supply chains that run through China.
A Palm Sunday procession makes its way toward a government-sanctioned Catholic church in Youtong village in China's Hebei province
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2023

The Holy See shows how to deal with China

In China, the relationship between politics and religion is unique, and the Holy See has adopted a sophisticated approach to diplomacy with Beijing.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump in a courtroom during proceedings for his civil fraud trial in New York on Wednesday.
WORLD
Oct 7, 2023

The key nuclear secrets Trump allegedly leaked

Trump gave key details on the U.S. Navy’s elite submarine fleet to an Australian billionaire, according to reports.
Dendrobium orchids — highly sought after due to their use in traditional Chinese medicine — growing in the wild in Nepal.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Oct 8, 2023

The orchid obsession: How science and smuggling meet in a global trade

Love of the flowers has a dark side, with the desire for rare varieties underpinning a robust illegal trade believed to have wiped out entire species.
Russian President Vladimir Putin watches a test launch of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile at Plesetsk cosmodrome via video link in Moscow on April 20.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 9, 2023

Russian nuclear test would prompt others to follow suit

Only North Korea has conducted a test involving a nuclear explosion during this century.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2023

Johnny’s founder accused of sexually abusing teen in NHK bathroom

The man, who was a high school student at the time, said that he was assaulted in the fall of 2002 when he attended a dance lesson.
A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip strikes an area near Sderot, southern Israel, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 10, 2023

Middle East crisis exposes limits of China's diplomatic ambitions

After the killings of more than 900 Israelis in coordinated assaults by the Islamic group Hamas, China's response was muted.
Japan faces tough choices amid the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas. The issue now is how Tokyo will navigate the conflict.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 12, 2023

Hamas tests the limits of Japan's Israel-Palestine policy

Japan is the lone outlier in the Group of Seven, condemning the Hamas attacks but also expressing concern over potential casualties in the Gaza Strip.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told his Saudi Arabian counterpart that Israel's actions in Gaza have gone "beyond the scope of self-defense."
WORLD / Politics
Oct 15, 2023

China says Israel acting 'beyond scope of self-defense'

Foreign Minister Wang Yi's remarks came as Israel appeared poised for a ground offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza.
An attendee tries out the XR Catch game at the Sony Group booth at CEATEC in Chiba on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 17, 2023

Major Japan tech show opens with focus on sustainability

The major trade show kicked off on Tuesday, with firms keen to showcase how their latest technologies could contribute to creating a sustainable society.
Palestinian refugees flee to Rafah, in southern Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes on Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2023

Japan must uphold humanitarianism in the Middle East

War cries from Israel and Hamas must be met with appeals for the defense of human life, a position Japan has historically held.
Obtaining dual nationality and having it uniformly recognized by authorities in Japan is no simple matter.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 19, 2023

When Japan's dual nationality ban meets a legal gray zone

Lawyer Yuri Kondo decided to naturalize as an American citizen. What followed was a mix of ambiguity and the feeling of a loss of identity.

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