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"Uketsu" is a completely anonymous writer and YouTuber whose odd books — which blend mystery and horror — have become a smash-hit publishing phenomenon in Japan.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 7, 2025

'Uketsu': The internet phantom haunting Japan's bestseller lists

Anonymous author and YouTuber "Uketsu" deals in a quiet horror that has delighted millions of readers.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 9, 2025

Ishiba says Trump didn't push defense spending hike or discuss tariffs

Ishiba also echoed Trump's pledge to help mediate a move by Japan’s Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel rather than purchasing the American company.
While Nariaki Obukuro’s previous releases often included lyrics with specific references pulled from his own experiences, on “Zatto,” he’s stepping back to explore the joy and pain of the wider world.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2025

Nariaki Obukuro found his groove — just not on the dance floor

A J-pop insider’s shift to soul, reggae and flamenco reflects his personal growth, time spent in London and current events.
While AI has added increased uncertainty over what is and isn't true, misinformation has been around for a while.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 14, 2025

How to tell if what you're hearing is true (or just sounds like it is)

Some Japanese grammatical terms signal uncertainty, and that is when you need phrases to help you get to the truth of the matter.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embrace as they attend a joint press conference at the White House on Thursday. While the leaders emphasized close ties, mounting trade tensions overshadowed the meeting.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2025

Despite the hugs, Trump-Modi meeting was mostly transactional

The Modi-Trump bromance was on full display at the White House summit, but substantive issues where India and the U.S. diverge, including trade, lurked nearby.
Tokoro Ruins Museum Director Yuuki Nakamura says that 'most Japanese people don’t know' the history of the Okhotsk culture, but he and others are betting that travelers might be intrigued enough to visit and find out more.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 22, 2025

Bear skulls and pit dwellings: Hokkaido aims to sell ancient history

The Okhostk culture thrived in northern Hokkaido from the fifth to ninth centuries and may have provided the Ainu with some of their best-known rituals.
In Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture, an entire street is dedicated to Japanese spirits, monsters and ghouls — a sign that the overall region is rich in spine-tingling tourist draws.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 22, 2025

Shimane and Tottori to bewitch tourists with supernatural charms

The two prefectures are leaning on spooky folklore to draw more travelers.
U.S. President Donald Trump, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 27, 2025

Trump declines to say if U.S. would protect Taiwan from Chinese invasion

Trump's refusal to comment stood in stark contrast to his predecessor, Joe Biden, who repeatedly hinted that Washington would come to Taipei’s aid.
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.
Japan Times
PRESS
Mar 7, 2025

4月20日開催 The Japan Times Boarding & International School Day 2025 開催

株式会社ジャパンタイムズは第2回目となるBoarding & International School Day 2025を2025年4月20日(日)に開催します。
People rest inside the sports hall of an elementary school that was transformed into temporary accommodations for people fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Przemysl, Poland, in March 2022. Geography and geopolitical interests mean that Japan could find itself assuming a supporting role similar to Poland's should China ever attack Taiwan.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 10, 2025

Poland’s role in Ukraine war offers lessons for Japan, top envoy says

Geography and geopolitical interests mean that Tokyo could find itself assuming a supporting role similar to Warsaw’s should China ever attack Taiwan.
Officials from Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), the Ministry of National Defense’s research arm, say the lessons from the Ukraine conflict are clear for the democratic island: drones and other autonomous systems are crucial for its defense.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Mar 14, 2025

Drones, budgets and infighting: Taiwan's daunting defense challenges

In bridging its military gap with China, Taiwan needs to both overcome key technical challenges of asymmetric warfare.
The Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art is just one of many hidden art and architectural gems across the Kagawa coast.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 15, 2025

‘Resorts for the spirit’: Touring Kagawa’s art and architecture

The seaside cities of Takamatsu and Marugame are home to a heritage of beauty, from the monolithic to the modern.
AMKK’s latest exhibition, “X-Ray Flowers,” is the culmination of seven years of work aided by CT technologists, who help with the highly specialized imaging techniques.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 21, 2025

Avant-garde botanists AMKK illuminate the inner worlds of flowers

The punk florists' latest exhibition immerses visitors in darkness, bathed only in the glow of X-rays and CT scans of plants and flowers.
Yuki Tejima, who runs the Instagram account booknerdtokyo, hesitated to try her hand at literary translation until she won an award at the International Translation Contest.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 29, 2025

Yuki Tejima's metamorphosis from bookworm to literary translator

An Instagram “bookfluencer” and professional translator for over 10 years, Tejima’s love of books was, strangely enough, a hurdle to working in literary translation.
Signs advertising the upcoming World Expo in Osaka have proliferated in the city's different neighborhood for the past few years.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 11, 2025

I’ve only just come back from Osaka, but I’m ready to hit the Expo

The term “bakari” can be used in several different ways to emphasize and define the limit of a range.
Last year was the hottest on record in Japan and globally. An enduring stretch of peak warm weather worldwide has prompted scientists to look for the causes as they try to understand whether we have entered a dangerous phase of accelerated heating.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2025

Creating the best possible climate models is existential

Scientists' work in building and interpreting climate models must be fine-tuned so that this data can inform the policies capable of living up to the challenge of global heating.
As Japan gears up for the trade talks, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is also seeking to cushion the blow that the U.S. tariffs may have on the domestic economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 26, 2025

Japan to resist Trump efforts to form trade bloc against China

Any demands from Washington on Tokyo to downgrade its economic relationship with China would potentially deal Japan a major economic blow.
An unidentified weapons system is fired from the deck of North Korea's latest destroyer, the Choe Hyon, during two days of tests on Monday and Tuesday in this undated photo released Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 30, 2025

North Korea's Kim sets sights on nuclear-armed navy

Leader Kim Jong Un directed officials to push forward equipping his naval forces with nuclear weapons following the unveiling of his country’s biggest destroyer.
Yosuke Kubozuka plays a university professor with some unorthodox theories about the ancestry of Japanese people in “The Killer Goldfish.”
CULTURE / Film
May 1, 2025

‘The Killer Goldfish’: The future of cinema, or just indie cosplay?

If veteran director Yukihiko Tsutsumi and his collaborators want to upend the Japanese film industry, they’re going to have to come up with something better than this.
Director Hirobumi Watanabe (second from left) stars alongside his brother Yuji (far right), who has served as composer on all of his films, in his new feature “Techno Brothers,” which follows a sibling trio on the road to Tokyo to find success in the music business.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 21, 2023

Foolish Piggies Films keeps humor at its heart

Indie director Hirobumi Watanabe looks back on 10 years of making distinctive, micro-budget films with his brother and seeking out new challenges on and off screen.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 26, 2023

My Number woes put digital minister Taro Kono under pressure

Another misstep could deal a further blow to the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and jeopardize the political standing of Kono.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 26, 2023

Can Japan prevent crimes from happening on trains?

Trains are often targeted for attacks because they offer the most familiar, everyday setting. Railway companies are now exploring ways to bolster security.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 27, 2023

Japan unveils new measures to stop sexual assault against minors

As a part of the measures, the government plans to set up a hotline for male victims of sexual assault so that they can seek psychological support if needed.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 28, 2023

Transport ministry conducts on-site probe of Bigmotor amid scandal

The surprise inspection, which covered dealerships in 24 prefectures, came after the ministry interviewed Bigmotor executives including newly appointed President Shinji Izumi on Wednesday.
While the pace of deploying clean-energy solutions is faster than it has ever been, with climate change, the world overall is racing in the wrong direction.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2023

What the climate fight is really about

Now that a future of higher average global temperatures is inevitable, managing the problem well requires that we cut off the tail end of the extreme-weather distribution.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 31, 2023

Tokyo ‘Joker’ train attacker sentenced to 23-year prison term

The Tokyo District Court ruled that Kyota Hattori stabbed a 72-year-old man and intended to murder 12 passengers by lighting a fire.
Yuzuru Hanyu attends a photo session in Tokyo in September 2022.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Aug 5, 2023

Figure skating icon Yuzuru Hanyu announces marriage

Hanyu, who did not reveal the identity of his partner, said he will continue to skate to show the best version of himself.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping attends the joint news conference of the China-Central Asia Summit in Xian, China, in May.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 5, 2023

Xi spent two days outside China in 2023 as problems mount

Mounting domestic problems from a faltering economy to rare political scandals have demanded the Chinese leader's attention at home.
As synonymous with summer as fireworks and sweltering temperatures, mosquitoes are ubiquitous in Japan. However, will rising temperatures lead more dangerous species of the bug to call Japan home?
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / Longform
Aug 7, 2023

The mosquito: Summer’s unwelcome little bloodsucker

An outbreak of dengue in Yoyogi Park nine years ago could be a sign of things to come if the wrong mosquito makes it into Japan.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan