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Japan Times
COMMENTARY
Oct 5, 2022

Tesla’s big batteries aren’t the fire problem. Lithium is.

Investors need to look behind the headline data and realize the danger in the widespread use of this technology.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2022

Peak oil has finally arrived. No, really.

With the U.S. Fed's willingness to send the U.S. economy into a recession to bring inflation back on target, oil production may soon enter terminal decline as a result.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2022

Thank you my queen: You left the world a better place

Whether or not a constitutional monarchy makes sense in theory, with the British Commonwealth, it worked in practice.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 4, 2022

Xi's 'Chinese Dream' flickers in one Beijing neighborhood

As Xi prepares for the Communist Party to anoint him for an unprecedented third term in office, some say the dream is losing definition.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2022

New Alzheimer's drug from Biogen and Eisai is just the beginning

A successful late-stage trial of lecanemab gives researchers promising new avenues for tackling this hard-to-beat disease.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2022

Saudi prince’s new role gives him legal immunity in Jamal Khashoggi case, lawyer says

An order naming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman prime minister 'leaves no doubt that the Crown Prince is entitled to status-based immunity,” lawyer Michael Kellogg said.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 4, 2022

In Putin’s nuclear brinksmanship, weapons leave room for warning

The threats are part of a broad attempt by the Kremlin to intimidate the U.S. and Europe into cutting support for Ukraine and forcing Kyiv into negotiations on Moscow's terms.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2022

BOJ discussed inflation risks in subtle shift in board debate

One board member went as far as saying the Bank of Japan must eventually communicate an exit strategy from ultraeasy policy.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2022

Brazil presidential race heads for runoff as Bolsonaro outperforms polls

Leftist challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took 48% to Bolsonaro's 44%, Brazil's electoral court said, with 98% of votes counted.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2022

Facebook, beware: The metaverse is flat

Most people are visiting virtual worlds through plain old screens, not VR headsets. Mark Zuckerberg needs to plan accordingly.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 2, 2022

In Washington, Putin’s nuclear threats stir growing alarm

For the first time since the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, top government leaders in Moscow are making explicit nuclear threats and officials in Washington are gaming out scenarios.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 30, 2022

Thai court rules prime minister can stay in office

The case was filed by the opposition Pheu Thai party, which had sought clarity on whether Prayut's time as a junta leader should count toward the maximum term limit.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 30, 2022

How can you fight climate change in Japan? Learn how to talk about it.

A good approach to speaking about hot-button topics in Japanese is to use so-called softeners so that your don't come off as too direct with your opinions.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 29, 2022

A dignified farewell should transcend politics

Though the nation was divided over holding a state funeral, it was a fitting and dignified farewell for the nation's longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
A Palestinian resident inspects the destruction caused by air strikes on their home in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 4, 2023

Israel’s war aims move south with Hamas leadership in crosshairs

Israel is bearing down on the city of Khan Younis where it says the Hamas leadership is entrenched deep inside tunnels.
Shein, a Chinese-founded online fast fashion platform, has filed to go public in the U.S. in what could be one of the world’s biggest IPOs.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2023

Chinese are making a killing everywhere but in China

China's companies are racing to reap the benefits of entering the U.S., while also running away from a crowded and competitive local market.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson signing the Brexit trade deal with the EU in London on Dec. 30, 2020.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2023

Three years on, U.K. factories still face Brexit challenges

A survey by trade body Make U.K found that 90% of businesses felt post-Brexit trading arrangements were still disrupting trade with the EU.
Godzilla is presented with a certificate after being selected for Hollywood's Walk of Fame during a news conference in Tokyo in October 2004.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 6, 2023

New 'Godzilla' flick deftly tackles postwar Japan in cinematic triumph

Godzilla strikes again: New 'Minus One' movie is a visual spectacle that challenges Hollywood's big budget norms.
A protest against the visit by then-U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August 2022
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2023

The truth about ‘America skepticism’ in Taiwan

Distrust of the U.S. among Taiwanese people stems more from Washington’s policies than propaganda or misinformation.
What’s worrying from the stock market’s perspective is that the Reserve Bank of India is taking more direct steps to rein in debt-fueled consumption.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2023

The world’s most-loved emerging market is feeling jittery

India's economic prosperity is primarily being attributed to a small elite class referred to as the "Octopus class."
PODCAST / deep dive
Dec 7, 2023

Feeling anxious? Wastewater, heat and Japan’s year in climate

In a year that saw Japan release 24,000 tons of wastewater (so far) from Fukushima No. 1 as the planet smashed heat records, it’s no wonder climate anxiety is on the rise. Mara Budgen joins us to break down the year in environment news, where we could see hope, and what we should be worried about....
Taiwan officials have warned that Beijing is trying to nudge voters toward candidates who seek closer ties with China in the island's Jan. 13 presidential and legislative elections.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 8, 2023

Taiwan intelligence says China leadership met on election interference

Taiwan officials have warned that Beijing is trying to nudge voters toward candidates who seek closer ties with China.
Local government and law enforcement officials view the scene of an explosion that occurred during a Catholic mass in a gymnasium at Mindanao State University in Marawi, Philippines, on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2023

The Philippines is battling a resurgent Islamic State threat

The Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals may be driving a new security threat in the Philippines.
A United Nations Security Council meeting to debate a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza at U.N. headquarters in New York on Friday
WORLD
Dec 9, 2023

U.S. vetoes Security Council move calling for Gaza cease-fire

Washington dashed a growing clamor for an immediate cease-fire that had been led by U.N. chief Antonio Guterres and Arab nations.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 10, 2023

CDP dithers over no-confidence motion against Kishida Cabinet

The CDP leadership is expected to make a decision on a no-confidence motion after monitoring sentiment in other parties as well as public opinion.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

U.N. General Assembly to meet Tuesday on ongoing Gaza conflict

On Friday the United States vetoed a cease-fire resolution proposed at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
The COP28 climate conference is being held at Expo City Dubai for a total of 100,000 attendees, 2,000 of which are from fossil fuel companies.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 11, 2023

COP28 like a trade show? That’s not a bad thing.

Some lament the presence of many fossil fuel representatives among the 100,000 attendees of COP28 in Dubai, failing to recognize their key role.
Then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at Graceland, a mansion once owned by Elvis Presley, in Memphis, Tennessee, in June 2006. Koizumi was dubbed the "jujitsu prime minister” for his style of politics.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 11, 2023

Japan needs a 'jujitsu PM' to grapple with this scandal

Kishida fights for survival as the political funding scandal deepens. His predecessor, "jujitsu PM” Junichiro Koizumi, could teach him a thing or two.
COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber gives a press conference at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai on Dec. 4.
COMMENTARY
Dec 8, 2023

Climate solutions are debatable, but science is inescapable

How we set environmental policies depends on how we interpret the facts.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes