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Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Dec 16, 2022

Is it too late to save the Japanese giant salamander?

Environmental journalist Mara Budgen comes on the show to talk about the Japanese giant salamander, which is well-protected within Japan through various laws but is still at risk of becoming an endangered species.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 13, 2022

Hong Kong ends curbs on arrivals and scraps contact tracing app

COVID-19 curbs have hobbled the city's economy and hurt its outlook as a financial hub.
PODCAST / deep dive
Oct 19, 2022

Japan reopens its borders. Are tourists ready to return?

Masks? Vaccinations? Yen? You're ready to come to Japan! News chief Kanako Takahara and reporter Will Fee join the podcast this week to discuss whether the country's grand reopening will help its beleaguered tourism sector.
A playful photo of Japanese female politicians on a work trip to Paris drew much criticism back home. The backlash may be one of the reasons women choose to avoid public service.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2023

Japan has a misery-loves-company problem

The backlash to government officials' lighthearted moment is a prime example of how to undermine workers.
Investors stand in front of an electronic board showing stock information on the first trading day after the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday at a brokerage house in Shanghai.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Aug 26, 2023

China’s market rescue is failing as Xi holds back on stimulus

China’s regulators face a losing battle convincing global funds to invest in the nation’s stocks without stronger stimulus packages.
An efficient, just-in-time strategy for manufacturing made Toyota’s production system famous.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 30, 2023

Toyota shuts factories, investors shrug. That’s resilience.

An efficient, just-in-time strategy for manufacturing made Toyota’s production system famous.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2023

Tohoku University named as first recipient in state subsidy program

The education ministry says that a number of universities will be chosen for the program.
Afghans clear debris from a damaged house after an earthquake in Sarbuland, Herat province, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 8, 2023

Afghanistan earthquakes kill 2,053, Taliban says, as death toll spikes

Amid the confusion, the death toll from Saturday's quakes spiked from the 500 reported on Sunday morning.
Visitors walk down the main shopping street of Nanjing East Road, one of Shanghai's main commercial and tourist areas, on Sept. 30.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 17, 2023

China data likely to show fragile economy in need of support

Data due Wednesday will likely show gross domestic product expanded 4.5% in the July-to-September period from a year earlier.
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference on Tuesday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 31, 2023

Bank of Japan to allow 10-year yields to top 1%

The development is significant as the central bank has long maintained its strategy of buying up government bonds to control interest rates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 14, 2023

FSA to revoke Bigmotor's registration as insurance agent

The planned penalty follows an investigation into widespread acts at Bigmotor of deliberately damaging customers' vehicles to pad insurance claims.
U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House on Sept. 25, 2015. Speeches by the Chinese leader show how he was bracing for an intensifying rivalry with the United States from early in his rule.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 14, 2023

Behind public assurances, Xi Jinping spreads grim views on U.S.

Speeches by the Chinese leader show how he was bracing for an intensifying rivalry with the United States from early in his rule.
A young news editor (voiced by Kensho Ono) is assigned to cover a distillery helmed by a rising star of the Japanese whisky scene (Saori Hayami) in “Komada: A Whisky Family.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 16, 2023

‘Komada: A Whisky Family’ has the complexity of a bottom-shelf bottle

Anime studio P.A. Works’ film centered on whisky production takes the fun out of delving into what unfolds behind the scenes in a workplace.
A Tiffany store in Shanghai. Luxury companies are targeting VIC's, or very important clients, as China's post-pandemic economic slowdown dries up the spending power of the middle class.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 20, 2023

Exclusivity the name of the game as firms target China's wealthiest

Brands are focusing on selling fewer, more valuable items, relying on luxury consumers.
Hang Dara, an electrician-turned-fisherman, passes the two active coal-fired power plants in Sihanoukville’s Steung Hav district.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Nov 26, 2023

Cambodia's big bet on the dirtiest fossil fuel faces major delays

Large projects are facing long delays amid uncertainty over foreign funding.
A Chinese national flag flutters at the headquarters of a commercial bank on a financial street near the People's Bank of China in Beijing.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 6, 2023

Officials hit back after Moody’s downgrades China's credit outlook

The ratings agency downgraded its outlook from stable to negative, saying a need for bailouts could weigh on the country’s economic strength.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 6, 2023

Tokyo aims to make high school tuition free of charge for all

For families in the capital with an annual income of less than ¥9.1 million, current financial aid essentially makes high school tuition free.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Half of the 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg said the central bank will scrap its negative rate in April, up from 29% in the October survey.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2023

Most BOJ watchers predict end of negative rate regime by April

"The most beautiful scenario is the end of the negative rate in April”
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 8, 2023

Johnny’s changes name to Starto Entertainment

The announcement signals a new chapter in the talent agency’s history as it scrubs references to its disgraced founder from its current structure.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

Kishida likely to shake up Cabinet in wake of political funds scandal

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is reportedly considering removing all members of the faction once led by his late predecessor Shinzo Abe.
The Bank of Japan is likely to keep its monetary stimulus settings unchanged at a two-day policy meeting ending Dec. 19, despite recent market speculation that the negative rate may be scrapped as soon as the December meeting.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 11, 2023

BOJ sees little need to end negative rate in December: sources

Bank officials are yet to see enough evidence of wage growth that would support sustainable inflation.
Yemeni coast guard members on patrol in the Red Sea on Tuesday amid heightened tension over drone and missile assaults by Houthi militia.
WORLD
Dec 17, 2023

Tensions spilling over from Gaza to Red Sea escalate

The shipping industry is bracing for potential economic fallout as the vital sea lane is increasingly drawn into regional unrest.
Workers walk past an underconstruction area with completed office towers in the background in Shenzhen's Qianhai new district on Aug. 25, 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 1, 2024

China's strained economy casts shadow over 2024

Last year, the economy was roiled by a real estate crisis, falling consumer confidence, deflation and the disappearance of foreign investment.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 11, 2024

OECD urges Bank of Japan to gradually raise interest rates

The central bank should thus continue efforts to make the yield curve control more flexible, the organization said.
NBA players take part in a training session in Johannesburg in 2015. The Basketball Africa League, now entering its fourth season, is the NBA’s sole professional league outside the U.S., and its most ambitious international expansion since it attempted to break through in China two decades ago on the coattails of Hall of Fame center Yao Ming.
BASKETBALL
Jan 14, 2024

NBA’s Africa league struggles to find fans as it faces mounting losses

The Basketball Africa League is the NBA’s sole professional league outside the U.S., and its most ambitious international expansion in years.
The Aozora Bank headquarters in Tokyo. The bank surprised investors with losses tied to U.S. commercial property, sending shares down by the limit and heightening concern over global banks' exposure to souring real estate bets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 2, 2024

Gamble on U.S. commercial property blows up for Japan’s Aozora

Shares went down by the limit and heightened concern over global banks' exposure to souring real estate bets.
The decisions by JPMorgan and State Street to quit a global investor coalition will collectively remove trillions of dollars from efforts to coordinate Wall Street action on climate change.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 16, 2024

JPMorgan and State Street quit climate group as BlackRock steps back

Financial firms have faced growing pressure from Republican politicians over their membership in such groups.
Nissan's Ariya electric crossover sport utility vehicle assembled by robots at the company's plant in Kaminokawa, Tochigi Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2024

Japan carmakers forge ahead with EV investments despite slowdown

Outside of Japan, signs of a scaling back are everywhere, with the exception of China.
A public screen displaying stock figures in Shanghai on Jan. 29. China will halt the lending of certain shares for short selling from Monday, the securities regulator announced Sunday, in a move to support the country’s slumping stock markets.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 20, 2024

In rare move, China stock watchdog vows to heed market critique

Earlier policies, including state buying, have proved inadequate to avert a $5 trillion rout.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets with Ukraine's prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, during the Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction in Tokyo on Monday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 23, 2024

Where others dither, Japan delivers on aid to Ukraine

Japan is doing all it can to prove to the Kremlin that it will ultimately be Ukraine, not Russia, that will prosper when the war is over.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person