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Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 1, 2021

AstraZeneca boosts COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to EU amid chaotic rollout

AstraZeneca PLC will deliver 9 million additional vaccine doses to the European Union in the first quarter of this year as the bloc tries to get its chaotic inoculation drive on track.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2021

Biden’s vaccine challenge

In many ways, the United States is at war against COVID-19. But the existing systems for delivering what is needed to win are weak, fragmented and, especially, uncoordinated.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 31, 2021

Japan’s super-spreader weekends

Recent COVID-19 cases in Japan have shot up sharply, leading to another round of partial lockdowns, but reported cases appear subdued compared to the United States or Europe.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 31, 2021

COVID-19 mutations undercut optimism even as more vaccines near

Mutations that likely confer partial resistance to vaccines and antibody treatments are now prevalent in both South Africa and Brazil, and they are threatening to spread worldwide.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2021

Israel’s vaccine data has lessons for all

Tiny Israel is set to immunize its population months before far bigger and richer countries, partly by ordering early but also by sharing patient information after vaccination.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 29, 2021

WHO team in Wuhan visits hospital that treated early COVID-19 cases

The mission to look at COVID-19's origins has been plagued by delays, concern over access and bickering between China and the United States.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 29, 2021

Myanmar army flexes muscles as Aung San Suu Kyi's government begins second term

The military's allegations of voter list irregularities have been accompanied by cryptic comments about abolishing the constitution.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jan 29, 2021

‘Declaration of War’: Protesters in Poland vow to fight abortion ban

Women's rights advocates and allies in Poland vowed Thursday to continue to fight a near-total ban on abortion, calling it a breach of human rights and a sign that the country is regressing.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 29, 2021

COVID-19 vaccine 89.3% effective in U.K. trial but less so in South Africa, Novavax says

The U.S. company believes the vaccine was 85.6% effective against the highly transmissible U.K. variant, which was also circulating during the study.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 29, 2021

Casting the demons out with some fiendish Japanese idioms

Setsubun comes before the arrival of spring and it's marked by efforts to cast demons out of your home. However, we can't get the demons out of the Japanese language.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jan 28, 2021

Former Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka returning to Japan with Eagles

Tanaka's move is the biggest of the NPB offseason and comes just days before the start of spring camp on Feb. 1.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 6, 2025

From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight

The lawmaker, sometimes said to be long on image and short on substance, has won praise for bringing down the price of rice.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick held a 110-minute meeting on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025

In tariff talks with the U.S., Japan may have blinked

Tokyo is backing off from its insistence that all new tariffs be removed, according to a Friday report by the Asahi Shimbun.
Chinese premier Li Qiang during an ASEAN-China summit in Kuala Lumpur on May 27.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 6, 2025

China seeks improved ties with Canada amid rising trade tensions

China is willing to work with Canada to put ties on a healthy and stable path, Premier Li Qiang told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in a phone call.
A Homeland Security vehicle is parked in front of the Fred D. Thompson Federal Building, housing the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, where Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported from Maryland to El Salvador by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, faces criminal charges, in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 7, 2025

Wrongly deported Salvadoran migrant arrested on return to U.S.

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States from El Salvador and charged with trafficking undocumented migrants, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 28.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2025

Trump says China's Xi agreed to let rare earth minerals flow to U.S.

Trump's comment came one day after a rare call with Xi aimed at resolving trade tensions that have been brewing over the topic for weeks.
Police detain a protester blocking the garage entrance of the Los Angeles Federal Building following multiple detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 7, 2025

Rifles, stun grenades and armored trucks in ICE raids spur tensions

The Trump administration is intensifying efforts to round up migrants. It’s also doing so with increasingly aggressive tactics.
Police officers stand guard in front of the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok on Friday during a protest by Thai royalist activists, following a clash at the Thailand-Cambodia border on May 28.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 8, 2025

Thailand tightens border security amid tensions with Cambodia

The nations seek to defuse tensions following gunfire on May 28 in the disputed Chong Bok border region, resulting in the death of a Cambodian soldier.
Former Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Edano speaks at a meeting of the party in the city of Miyazaki on Saturday.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2025

DPP eager to discuss no-confidence motion with CDP

"I would like to hear the CDP's thoughts and strategy regarding whether it will or will not submit a no-confidence motion," Tamaki said at a news conference.
New Zealand Defense Minister Judith Collins speaks during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 31.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 9, 2025

New Zealand looking at new ways to grow security ties with Japan, defense chief says

The move is part of a reset in New Zealand’s foreign and defense policy as Wellington grows concerned over international security tensions.
Pope Leo XIV addresses the crowd at St. Peter's square in the Vatican on Sunday.
WORLD / Society
Jun 9, 2025

Pope Leo condemns 'exclusionary mindset' in Pentecost address

The pope's choice of language was significant, encouraging people to "open borders" within their hearts and minds.
A high-rise building in Tokyo's Minato Ward built by Sumitomo Realty & Development
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2025

Elliott calls for Sumitomo Realty improvements in rare letter

The letter is a rare public move by Elliott, which has kept quiet on most of its Japan investments.
Visitors at the Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka on Friday
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2025

Osaka Expo sees strong ticket sales

If the current pace continues, total cumulative sales may reach 18.4 million, the level that makes the operation of the six-month Osaka Expo profitable.
Swedish climate advocate Greta Thunberg speaks together with part of the crew of the ship Madleen, before departure for the Gaza Strip, in Catania, Italy, on June 1.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 9, 2025

Israel blocks Greta Thunberg’s ship from reaching Gaza, group says

The vessel was intercepted about 200 kilometers from Gaza, according to coordinates provided by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
Former yokozuna Hakuho gives a news conference to announce his retirement from the Japan Sumo Association and reveal his future plans in Tokyo on Monday.
SUMO
Jun 9, 2025

Hakuho vows to grow sumo globally after exiting domestic sports body

The impetus for the decision, Hakuho said, was the failure of the Japan Sumo Association to provide a clear timeline about the restoration of Miyagino stable.
Junto Nakatani celebrates after defeating Ryosuke Nishida to unify the WBC and IBF bantamweight titles at Ariake Coliseum on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Jun 9, 2025

Junto Nakatani remains on collision course with Naoya Inoue after latest win

Nakatani will have to move to a higher weight class to challenge Inoue.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at an Upper House session in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 9, 2025

No-confidence motion against Ishiba Cabinet could lead to double election

A double election could result in more political stability if either bloc manages to capture both chambers, or continued instability if neither holds a majority.

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