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Pedestrians walk past the Financial Services Agency headquarters in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2024

Over 2.5 million sets of info leaked from four Japan nonlife insurers

Of the total, employees on loan were found to have been involved in about 240,000 cases, including for contracts for corporate customers.
Keiichi Kimura stands on the podium after winning the men's men's 50-meter freestyle S11 final at the Paris Paralympics on Saturday.
PARALYMPICS / Swimming
Sep 1, 2024

Keiichi Kimura swims to gold for Japan in 50-meter freestyle at Paralympics

Kimura captured Japan's second gold medal in Paris.
The front page of The Japan Times on Sept. 15, 1974, reports news of a terrorism incident in Europe.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Sep 1, 2024

Japan Times 1974: 'Red Army' trio seizes embassy

Fifty years ago, a terrorism incident plays out in Europe. Meanwhile, editions of The Japan Times look back on significant anniversaries.
Tokyo needs to leverage its political, economic, diplomatic and security strengths to shape Washington's engagement and regional stability in the Asia-Pacific no matter who wins the U.S. presidential election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 1, 2024

Japan's strategy for navigating an uncertain U.S. election

Japan needs to continue its role as a diplomatic bridge in shaping U.S.-China strategic competition to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
NPB Commissioner Sadayuki Sakakibara (left) Samurai Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata (second from left) and WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari pose for photos during a news conference on Friday.
BASEBALL
Sep 1, 2024

Hirokazu Ibata looking to keep Japan on top of baseball world by winning Premier12

Japan will enter the Premier12 as the defending champion.
An abandoned house in Urayama, Saitama Prefecture. Buying an <i>akiya</i>, which means empty house in Japanese, can be a rewarding experience that yields a unique space and a livable home, competitively priced. Or it could turn out to be a money pit.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024

First lesson of Japan’s akiya gold rush: No such thing as a free house.

Renovations are usually the most expensive part of the journey and the laundry list of what needs to be done is long and tends to get longer after the process starts.
The U.S. has been pressuring Japan to impose additional restrictions on the ability of firms to sell advanced chipmaking tools to China, as part of a long-running campaign to curtail China’s semiconductor progress.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024

China warns Japan of retaliation over potential new chip curbs

One major concern is that Beijing could cut off Japan’s access to critical minerals that are essential for automotive production.
People at the Sensoji temple in Tokyo in July. The three months between June and August were 1.76 degrees Celsius hotter than average in Japan.
JAPAN / Boiling Point
Sep 2, 2024

Japan sees joint hottest summer on record

The three months between June and August were 1.76 degrees Celsius hotter than average, matching the record set only last year.
Katsuya Hashimoto scored 19 tries for Japan as the team recorded a 48-41 win over the United States to secure the wheelchair rugby gold medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympics on Monday.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 3, 2024

Japan eases past U.S. for first Paralympic wheelchair rugby gold

Katsuya Hashimoto scored 19 tries for Japan, which had secured bronze in the past two Games.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning has said that Chinese ships passing through the Tokara Strait are exercising the right of transit passage, "which is completely legitimate and legal."
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2024

China says its military ships going through Tokara Strait have right of transit

The sailing was part of a series of recent moves by the Chinese military near Japan that Tokyo has said are “cause for concern.”
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attends a new conference for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 25.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 3, 2024

Africa's rising importance for Japan’s Indo-Pacific goals

Africa is becoming an increasingly important element of Japanese FOIP strategy. It is a work in progress, but it is proceeding.
Kyoto International High Shool's baseball team receives a champion flag after winning the Japanese High School Baseball Championship final at Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture on Aug. 23.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2024

A high school baseball championship and Japan-South Korea relations

The reactions to Kyoto International High School winning the National High School Baseball Championship, both in Japan and South Korea, were intriguing.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (right) shakes hands with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a meeting at the Presidential Office in Seoul on May 26.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 3, 2024

Kishida to visit South Korea for summit with Yoon

The leaders will review progress on their efforts to step up cooperation between the countries and discuss ways to deepen their partnership.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's US-2 amphibious plane
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2024

Japan to continue production of MSDF US-2 amphibious plane

The Defense Ministry has sought ¥21.9 billion ($150 million) for the acquisition of one US-2 aircraft in its fiscal 2025 budget request.
Digital transformation minister Taro Kono has described Japan's current fiscal state as an "emergency situation," saying the nation has to regain fiscal discipline.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2024

Japan's budget demands hit record as leadership race steps up

The race could complicate Tokyo's efforts to restore fiscal discipline.
Michie Hino, 77, works at an elderly care home in Chiba Prefecture. She is one of a growing number of senior Japanese citizens working into their 70s.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Sep 5, 2024

Working till your 70s — Japan's prospective gift to the world

A struggling pension system and the highest inflation in decades have led more Japanese people to delay retirement until their 70s or later to make ends meet.
One problem with Japan’s investments in African infrastructure compared to other countries is that its projects often lack long-term sustainability and alignment with local development plans, limiting their impact. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 5, 2024

Is Japan’s involvement in Africa’s development outdated?

Japan's traditional aid approach is seen as too transactional and insufficiently addressing Africa's broader development challenges.
Japan players celebrate after the team won the gold-medal match of the Paralympic goalball competition on Thursday in Paris.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 6, 2024

Japan takes Paralympic gold in men's goalball for the first time

Yuto Sano scored the golden goal to give Japan victory against Ukraine by a 4-3 scoreline after extra time in the South Paris Arena.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko, are welcomed upon their arrival at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, South Korea, on Friday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 6, 2024

Never take Japan-South Korea relations for granted

The two leader’s final meeting is both an opportunity to review recent achievements and to underscore the centrality of the Japan-South Korean partnership.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol during a meeting at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 6, 2024

Kishida and Yoon reaffirm importance of sustained cooperation

Kishida highlighted the need to continue efforts to advance bilateral ties, once again expressing sympathy for Koreans who suffered during Japanese colonial rule.
Yui Kamiji celebrates after winning gold in the women's wheelchair tennis singles competition at the Paris Paralympics on Friday.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 7, 2024

Japan's Kamiji takes Paralympic gold in wheelchair tennis singles

Kamiji came back to beat longtime rival Diede de Groot of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Sengu Capital, based in Hong Kong, will start a new hedge fund focused on Japanese firms improving management quality.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 9, 2024

New hedge fund gains backing for bets on Japan market revival

Investors have been trying to put more money to work in Japan, as the country emerges from more than a decade of deflation.
Breakdancer Shigeyuki Nakarai (left) and fencer Misaki Emura attend an opening event for an exhibition on Japanese Olympic athletes at the Paris Games at the Japan Olympic Museum in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2024

Exhibition on Japanese Olympians at Paris Starts in Tokyo

The event showcases items of clothing and equipment used by the athletes during the Games.
Elderly pachinko players at Day Service Las Vegas, a casino-themed day care service in Yokohama, in August
JAPAN / Society
Sep 11, 2024

Pachinko-style gambling is helping seniors’ brains in Japan

Bolstered by evidence that playing the pinball machines can help prevent dementia, some businesses are now tailoring services in a bid to revive growth.
A suicide crisis helpline worker in Tokyo
JAPAN / Society
Sep 11, 2024

Women comprise 60% of attempted suicide and self-harm cases in Japan

People in their 20s accounted for the biggest share of cases of attempted suicide and self-harm in Japan from December 2022 to December 2023.
Environment Minister Shintaro Ito (right) receives the International Atomic Energy Agency's final expert report on Japan's plan to reuse soil and radioactive waste from decontaminated areas affected by the Fukushima nuclear accident, in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2024

IAEA supports Japan's recycling and disposal plan for Fukushima soil

After three expert safety review missions on the issue of contaminated soil since 2023, the IAEA says Japan's approach is consistent with international standards.
The Kangei Maru, a 9,300-ton whaling mothership, was launched in May.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2024

Japan shows first commercial fin whale catch in 48 years

The country this year added the fin whale to a catch list that already includes minke, Bryde's and sei whales.
Hiroyuki Mano, director of the National Cancer Center Japan's (NCC) research institute, explains  on Wednesday the use of mice bearing patients' cancer tissues to screen drug candidates for their efficacy.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 13, 2024

New mouse models can boost Japan's drug development: National Cancer Center

The tumor-bearing mice retain many of the characteristics of the patients' cancer tissues, so favorable drug test results are likelier to be replicated in human trials.
A guest uses chopsticks to grab and taste raw meat from a fin whale at the exhibition and business meeting of domestically produced fin whales hosted by Japan's whaling company Kyodo Senpaku at Tokyo's Toyosu market on Friday.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 14, 2024

Hearts, tails and blubber at Japan fin whale tasting

"Once young people eat it and they realize it's good, they will eat it more and more," said Hideki Tokoro, the head of Japan's main whaling firm.
Candidates for Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party presidential election stand together onstage at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 15, 2024

LDP presidential hopefuls outline approach to U.S. and China concerns

The nine candidates jostled over the best way to resolve Nippon Steel's contentious bid for U.S. Steel, while also grappling with the Chinese military challenge.

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A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami