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JAPAN / Explainer
Dec 29, 2020

Who is affected by Japan’s tightened travel controls?

Technicalities in the revised policy have sparked confusion among new visa applicants and residents over whether they need to scrap plans to leave or return to the nation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2020

Undoing Trump regulations may divide Biden’s coalition

Some of the Trump administration's midnight rules will deserve wholesale repudiation. But others should be approached with a scalpel, not an ax.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 29, 2020

Ten surprises that await Japan in 2021

Next year is poised to be a great year for Japan. My main predictions are unashamedly bullish: Exports will get a boost from a re-acceleration in global growth; there will be a surprise pickup in domestic demand with business investments kicking in and, most importantly, consumers will begin to open...
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2020

After massive COVID-19 spending, how large is Japan’s debt?

Experts say increased spending is unavoidable but that Japan will need to start seriously discussing how it will deal with its debt once the pandemic eases.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / Beyond COVID-19
Dec 29, 2020

America’s post-Trump reckoning

As the Biden administration re-engages with U.S. partners and allies, it will have to provide assurances that arrangements made in the next four years will survive into the future.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Dec 29, 2020

The lessons from East Asia's coronavirus successes

Japan and its neighbors have largely fared better than the West during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now have a duty to pass on their knowledge.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / Beyond COVID-19
Dec 29, 2020

Overcoming Trumpism

The underestimation of Trump voters, and complacent belief in a Biden landslide, revealed the widening gulf between urban, educated America and rural, working-class America.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2020

Only one number mattered to global markets in 2020

The money that landed in the laps of investors this year found its way into the stock market, pushing the global value of stocks to more than $100 trillion for the first time.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 29, 2020

Wuhan’s COVID-19 cases may have been 10 times higher, study shows

The scale of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan early this year may have been nearly 10 times the recorded tally, a study conducted by China’s public health authorities indicates, leaving the city where the coronavirus first took hold still well short of the immunity required to protect against a potential...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 29, 2020

Biden decries ‘obstruction’ in national security transition

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden accused Trump loyalists at national security agencies of throwing up roadblocks to a smooth presidential transition and warned that adversaries could take advantage of the situation without better cooperation from the outgoing administration.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Dec 29, 2020

'I won’t take it': China struggles to get the world to trust its vaccines

That uncertainty presents another roadblock in China's efforts to extend its political influence across Asia, Africa and South America.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Dec 29, 2020

Athletes head into 2021 uncertain over Olympic qualification outlook

Many Olympic sports are still working to schedule events that will give athletes a fair opportunity to earn a place in the postponed Tokyo Games.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 29, 2020

Raise your glasses to 2020: Good riddance!

Drinking culture changed in a lot of ways in 2020. On one hand, we drink alone more. On the other hand, we don't have to worry about the last train as much.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Dec 29, 2020

Learning how to use 'ira-ira' without getting frustrated

The onomatopoeic terms 'ira-ira' and 'unzari' can help express feelings of frustration and being fed up in general. Therefore, they're helpful during a pandemic-related lockdown.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 29, 2020

Saudi women’s rights activist convicted, but she may be freed

A partially suspended sentence is likely to be viewed as a nod — but not a complete capitulation — to foreign pressure ahead of the transition to a Biden administration.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2020

For Japan's automakers, Brexit deal may be too little, too late

Automakers including Nissan Motor might struggle to qualify some U.K.-assembled models for tariff-free export to the EU as they evaluate their local sourcing.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 29, 2020

EU's marathon COVID-19 vaccination drive off to uneven start

The EU's campaign to vaccinate Europeans against COVID-19 has got off to an uneven start in what will be a marathon effort to administer shots to enough of the bloc's 450 million people to defeat the viral pandemic.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 28, 2020

Diversity on display on court during All-Japan High School Tournament

Rui Hachimura — born to a Japanese mother and Beninese father — is the most prominent example, but the number of players with at least one non-Japanese parent is growing.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 28, 2020

Philippines troops and ministers get COVID-19 vaccine before approval

Some Philippine soldiers and Cabinet ministers have already received COVID-19 vaccine injections, officials said on Monday, despite an absence of regulatory approval that the country's health ministry said was vital to ensure safety.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2020

Shut that window! Open that window! Coronavirus in winter presents new challenge

The dry and often freezing climate is proving to be challenging as restaurants, shops and other facilities scramble to keep their facilities safe.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2020

A dismal year everywhere was even worse for Iran

After a year in which the regime has failed on every other front, it will almost inevitably double down on its only other source of legitimacy: its visceral anti-Americanism.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 28, 2020

Battered Turkish economy puts a powerful Erdogan to the test

Turks had been grappling with a falling currency and double-digit inflation for two years when the pandemic hit in March, sharply worsening the country's deep recession.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2020

China should join the Paris Club

The problem is that China, the largest sovereign lender in the world, is not a member, because other leading creditors complain that its loans and lending conditions are not transparent.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / Beyond COVID-19
Dec 28, 2020

China’s fateful year, from Wuhan to Hong Kong

In 2020, relations with the West swung back toward mutual distrust and hostility, with the COVID-19 pandemic and Hong Kong national-security law playing decisive roles.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 28, 2020

With money and waste, China fights for chip independence

In every corner of the country, investors, entrepreneurs and local officials are in a frenzy to build up semiconductor abilities, responding to a call from Xi Jinping.

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