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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 19, 2023

A shrinking, aging China may have backed itself into a corner

Mounting population pressures may reveal a government that has not done enough to avoid tough choices in coming decades.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2023

Europe is winning the winter war by sheer luck

Gas supplies are ample even if cold weather returns in force. The bad news is that it means climate change is still happening.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 19, 2023

TSMC supplier Resonac prepares for billion-dollar chip deals

The firm aims to capitalize on a much-needed consolidation of the $580 billion semiconductor industry.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 19, 2023

Majority of Japan firms heed Kishida's call to raise wages this year

The prime minister has repeatedly urged companies to make strong efforts to lift employee pay, which has failed to keep up with the fastest inflation in 40 years.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 19, 2023

Carbon dioxide removal efforts lagging far behind what is needed, researchers say

To avoid the worst of a warming planet, engineered approaches that include sucking the emissions directly from the atmosphere must increase.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2023

What the Kardashians can teach climate activists

Climate change is the most pressing issue of our time, a crisis that will affect every every nation and every human life — and yet people seem more curious about the Kardashians.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2023

South Korea, like Japan, advances a new strategic posture

Seoul and Tokyo's historical enmity may be consigned to the past as the two face a rapidly changing geopolitical environment.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jan 18, 2023

Warriors praise Joe Biden on Brittney Griner in White House return

In addition to meeting Biden, head coach Steve Kerr and players Klay Thompson and Moses Moody attended a roundtable discussion with senior White House staffers on gun violence.
Clothes displayed at Shein’s headquarters in Singapore
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2023

Fast fashion report cards show what’s really in your clothes

Consumers’ drive for quantity over quality is transforming the world’s textile industry, sparking an almost doubling in global fiber production over the past two decades.
An extreme heat warning in Death Valley, California, on July 15
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2023

Our civilization was built for a climate that’s vanishing

Weather disasters linked to climate change like those unfolding across the northern hemisphere will affect more and more of us.
Beyond Meat plant-based burger patties for sale at a plant-based grocery store in Hong Kong in June 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2023

The coming disruption of animal production

It will be easier to persuade people to avoid meat from animals if they can eat meat and other animal products that taste like those they know, but do not require raising animals.
Demonstrators protest against Japan's plan to discharge treated radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the ocean, in Seoul on July 7.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 20, 2023

Fukushima water opposition is steeped in anti-science

Skepticism over Japan’s plan to discharge treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant must not give way to scaremongering.
Medics help a woman who had passed out from the heat in Athens, Greece, on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 21, 2023

Extreme heat and weather conditions attributed to stagnant jet stream

It’s no coincidence that extreme heat is engulfing huge swaths of Asia, Europe and North America all at the same time.
Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi waits ahead of a high-level meeting with Chinese Communist Party officials at Beijing's Great Hall of the People in December 2017.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2023

Japan ruling bloc lawmakers facing hurdles to China visit plans

Trips to China by Komeito leader and senior LDP official both put on ice over Chinese anger at planned release of treated Fukushima water.
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2023

Japan calls on China to approach Fukushima water release in 'scientific manner'

The issue of the water release took up a substantive amount of the hourlong talks between the nations' top diplomats, but the two did not come to a clear agreement on the matter.
An overwhelming majority of Japanese firms are negative about achieving a goal of having women in 30% of executive positions by 2030, a survey shows.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 20, 2023

Firms pessimistic about hitting 30% goal for female execs by 2030, poll shows

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida set the target in June for leading companies, aiming to boost womens' management participation from 2.2% as of July 2022.
Investors have scooped up yen debt from issuers outside Japan, fueling the busiest July since 2018.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 24, 2023

Global yen bond market emerges as oasis amid Japan volatility

Investors have scooped up yen debt from issuers outside Japan, fueling the busiest July since 2018.
A group of individuals that allege sexual abuse by Johnny Kitagawa was first established on June 26.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2023

U.N. experts to probe Johnny Kitagawa's alleged abuse in Japan

The group will gather its findings and present a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in June next year.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 24, 2023

Japan prepares for an evacuation scenario involving residents on remote islands

Commercial airplanes and ships are supposed to be used for an evacuation, but weather and other conditions could make it difficult.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) speaks with former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger during a meeting in Beijing last week.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 24, 2023

China enlists old friends to translate as U.S. talks hit brick wall

Beijing is struggling to find a common diplomatic language to talk productively with Washington.
The engine of a Toyota Motor's Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 25, 2023

Taxi firm’s hydrogen cell experience highlights fuel’s pitfalls

It’s not that there’s anything wrong specifically with the cars, good looking midsized sedans with Lexus-level luxury. Rather, it’s the high cost of hydrogen.
A wind turbine stands next to solar panels at a Banpu Power solar plant in Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jul 25, 2023

Wind, solar and EVs offer Japan cheapest net zero climate path

In contrast to its G7 peers, Japan is still considering climate policies that extend the life of coal and gas-fired plants.
Visitors crowd around a water fountain during a heat wave in Rome, Italy, on July 17.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 25, 2023

Climate change role in July heat waves 'overwhelming,' scientists say

Extreme weather has caused havoc across the planet this month, with record-breaking temperatures causing forest fires, water shortages and more hospital admissions.
The nuclear-powered USS Annapolis submarine makes a port call at South Korea's Jeju Island on Monday. It was the second such visit by a U.S. submarine to the country in the span of about a week.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2023

Nuclear Consultative Group strengthens Northeast Asian deterrence

The logic for trilateral coordination between the U.S., Japan and South Korea is compelling. The NCG is an important first step toward that goal.
Nissan Motor has finalized plans to invest in Renault’s electric-vehicle venture Ampere, capping months of negotiations to rebalance the troubled automotive alliance.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 26, 2023

Nissan to invest $663 million in Renault EV unit as alliance rejigged

The deal caps months of negotiations aimed at rebalancing the troubled automotive alliance.
Jingu Gaien is a famous landmark, park and sports center in Minato Ward, Tokyo. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 26, 2023

Tokyo's tree-razing drama shouldn't stymie transformation

Residents are raging over a redevelopment plan. But while other cities become stuck in time, Tokyo's best projects can combine the spirit of the past with the hope for the future.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 27, 2023

Repair fraud scandal spotlights cozy ties between Bigmotor and insurers

Japanese used car dealer Bigmotor's scandal over fraudulent auto insurance claims has spotlighted its cozy relations with major insurers.
Pedestrians hold umbrellas for protection from the sun during a heat wave in New York on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 28, 2023

July set to be world's hottest month on record

We may have to go back thousands if not tens of thousands of years to find similarly warm conditions on our planet.
People gather in the center of the capital city of Thimphu, Bhutan, in December 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 28, 2023

Bhutan's employment woes drive exodus to Australia

Student migration to Australia from Bhutan has soared, with over 12,000 long-term arrivals moving there in the 11 months to May alone.
Wind-catchers in Iran's central city of Yazd. The tall, chimney-like towers are just one of the engineering marvels inhabitants have developed to adapt to the harsh desert climate in central Iran.
WORLD
Jul 28, 2023

Iran's ancient 'wind catchers' beat the heat naturally

Unlike energy-guzzling air-conditioners, the tall, chimney-like towers are cost and carbon-free.

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