Search - 2013

 
 
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Oct 29, 2020

Designing a vision for Japan's green recovery

The time has come for the nation to show a clear stance on nuclear energy while assessing its possible value.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 24, 2020

Minamata disease victims struggle to find closure

More than 60 years after first raising awareness about a neurological disease caused by industrial mercury poisoning, photojournalist Aileen M. Smith still wants answers.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 21, 2020

Trump records shed new light on Chinese business pursuits

Trump and his allies have tried to paint the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, as soft on China, in part by pointing to his son's business dealings there.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 18, 2020

Now is a good time for Japan to re-focus on quality infrastructure lending in the Indo-Pacific

Tokyo must promote both the quality of output from the increasing number of new infrastructure initiatives it is signing and re-approach some of the older projects.
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 9, 2020

Vegalta threatened by poor finances and fan anger

The Tohoku side announced earlier this week that an expected $6 million in losses this year will plunge the club into insolvency.
Nissan workers walk outside its Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Nissan plans to shut the plant by the end of fiscal 2027.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Aug 18, 2025

A factory town in crisis shows Japan’s fading manufacturing era

Nissan directly employs almost 10% of Oppama’s 29,700 residents, but its factory is set to shut down by 2028.
Students visit the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park in late April. Attitudes in Japan are shifting away from the traditional pacifist views that have held sway since the end of World War II.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Aug 20, 2025

Trump shock spurs Japan to think about the unthinkable: nuclear arms

There is a growing willingness to loosen the country’s decades-old pledge not to produce, possess or host nuclear weapons in its territory.
Seri Yanai and Daniel Wishes founded the shadow puppetry company Mochinosha in 2012 when they were students at the London School of Puppetry.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 22, 2025

Seri Yanai: ‘We mix modern and analog to create something new’

The co-founder of Mochinosha, a shadow puppetry company based in Saitama Prefecture, talks about her journey to the stage and her artistic inspirations.
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2025

Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases

Experts believe a recent surge in infections is due to relaxed hygiene measures, drug-resistant bacteria and lowered immunity levels amid extreme heat.
The Kyoto District Court on Thursday delivered a guilty verdict on the founder of video-sharing service FC2 over obscene videos that appeared on the platform.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 21, 2025

Founder of video platform FC2 found guilty of hosting obscene videos

A Kyoto court sentenced Riyo Takahashi, 51, to three years in prison — suspended for five years — and fined him ¥2.5 million.
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.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Aug 22, 2025

From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past

One man’s experience traces the capital's arc from wartime devastation to modern megacity in a story of resilience and reinvention.
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a  Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 22, 2025

As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba

By naming the popular lawmaker to his Cabinet, the beleaguered prime minister turned a potential rival into a member of his team — at least, for now.
Traffic along a highway in New Delhi. India, the world's third largest emitter of carbon dioxide, will be able to access Japanese decarbonization technologies at low cost under a joint crediting mechanism.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 25, 2025

Japan and India to use joint crediting mechanism in emission-cutting plan

The yet-to-be-announced plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in India using Japanese technologies will allow Japan to count part of the reductions as its own.
(Left) Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde (second from left), Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda (third from left) and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell pose for a picture during the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in Moran, Wyoming, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 25, 2025

Central bankers fear being caught in Federal Reserve's storm

Politically motivated attacks on the Fed could spill over to the rest of the world.
Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas (front) celebrates after winning the Turkish Grand Prix with third-placed Red Bull's Sergio Perez in Istanbul on Oct. 10, 2021.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Aug 26, 2025

Cadillac set to name Perez and Bottas as F1 drivers

Perez was dropped by Red Bull Racing at the end of the 2024 season, but the 35-year-old is not far removed from finishing second in the 2023 F1 championship and third in 2022.
The Bank of Japan, which owns more than half of the nation’s sovereign notes, is moving forward with its plan to trim its balance sheet and scale back bond purchases.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 27, 2025

Bank of Japan’s operations signal market is eager to sell bonds

Investor selloff of government bonds comes as the BOJ moves forward with its plan to trim its balance sheet and scale back bond purchases.
Containers at a dock at the Port of Cape Town in Cape Town in 2024. China’s exports to Africa so far in 2025 are more than in the whole of 2020 and on track to exceed $200 billion for the first time.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 27, 2025

China is pouring exports into Africa faster than anywhere else

China’s exports to Africa so far in 2025 are more than in the whole of 2020 and on track to exceed $200 billion for the first time.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (right) and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attend a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone, in Wonsan, in North Korea, on June 24.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 28, 2025

How North Korea promotes Kim’s ‘Dear Daughter’ as a worthy heir

Kim Jong Un introduced his daughter to the world in November 2022 with a show of affection and menace, holding her hand in front of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrive for a signing ceremony during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Qingdao, China, in June 2018.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 30, 2025

China's Xi prepares meeting of SCO security bloc to rival U.S.-led world order

The Chinese leader is likely to focus on what’s ahead for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at a time when Donald Trump upends U.S. alliances with the likes of India.
"It's not just about sales. It's about system change," said Marty Pomphrey, general manager of Patagonia Japan, on Aug. 6.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 1, 2025

‘Cool’ Patagonia wants to take used items into the mainstream

The American outdoor brand is looking to make the offering of secondhand goods alongside new products the next step of its evolution.
Network School’s co-working space in Johor Bahru, Malaysia
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 1, 2025

Techno-utopia rises in Malaysia's $100 billion Forest City flop

Entrepreneurs experiment with "startup societies” defined less by historical territory than shared beliefs in technology, cryptocurrency and light regulation.
People use their phones in a garden in Moscow on June 22. Many Russians have turned to the private messaging service Telegram as the government bans Western social media platforms.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 1, 2025

Russian influencers are thriving on Telegram

Since 2021, Telegram’s monthly active users in Russia have risen to 120 million, more than 90% of the country’s internet users.
Many Bangladeshis hoped that the overthrow of long-time leader Sheikh Hasina last year would revitalize the country’s democracy after an authoritarian lurch under the “iron lady.” Instead it has led to proliferating human-rights abuses, intensifying repression and widespread Islamist violence.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2025

Bangladesh is a South Asian time bomb

Many had hoped that Hasina’s ouster would open the way for Bangladesh to transition to democracy following an authoritarian lurch under the “iron lady.”
Faith Kipyegon celebrates after winning the women's 1,500 meters in world record time of 3 minutes, 48.68 seconds in Eugene, Oregon, on July 5.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 5, 2025

Faith Kipyegon has sights set on unique double at world championships in Tokyo

The Kenyan superstar is set to defend her titles in both the 1,500 and 5,000 meters.
As of August 2024, the number of confirmed chagusaba farmers had fallen to 302, just over half the 582 reported in 2015, according to the Shizuoka Chagusaba Farming Method Promotion Council.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Sep 7, 2025

Shizuoka farmers fight to preserve sustainable tea method that’s steeped in tradition

The chagusaba method is sustainable, makes tea taste better and helps with biodiversity. But it’s also labor-intensive and the number of practitioners is dwindling.
Nationals manager Davey Johnson during a game against the Tigers in Detroit in July 2013.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 7, 2025

Three-time World Series champion Davey Johnson dies at 82

Johnson was a four-time MLB All-Star second baseman and also played for the Yomiuri Giants in the 1970s.
A Brahmos missile system is displayed during a rehearsal for a military parade in New Delhi in January. The Philippines will soon receive its second batch of the supersonic cruise missiles from India.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Sep 9, 2025

As Manila modernizes its military, new opportunities emerge for Tokyo

Japan has been assisting the Philippines in several ways, including by providing security equipment and training — and could soon offer up used warships.
Kobe Mayor Kizo Hisamoto addresses in May in Kobe a meeting of a study group discussing the idea of taxing owners of vacant units in high-rise condominiums.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Sep 10, 2025

Kobe eyes tax on vacant or underused units in high-rise condos

Since taking office, Kobe Mayor Kizo Hisamoto has highlighted problems associated with high-rise condominiums, pushing to strengthen regulations and address aging buildings.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell