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Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 28, 2021

Let the verbs do the work when it comes to pronouns and polite speech in Japanese

The verb forms in polite speech more distinctly refer to people in a way that makes it nearly impossible to confuse the actors in a sentence .
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jun 6, 2019

Japanese, Italian, Korean? I'm all of these

One question I have always found difficult is, "Where are you from?" While most people I meet are able to answer it with a single word — Japan, England, India — for me the answer is a lot more complicated.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 20, 2016

Japan's Brexit challenge

Japan is being surprisingly forceful in demanding answers from the U.K. on Brexit.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 21, 2013

Raising the Senkaku stakes?

One question that typically has received little attention in the Japan-China dispute over the Senkaku Islands is, what's in it for the parties involved?
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 18, 2012

Stop thinking — the test is about to start

COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2012

Separatist dreams that are mostly just hot air

In other parts of the world, separatist movements are usually violent (such as Kashmir, Sri Lanka, the various Kurdish revolts) and they sometimes succeed (South Sudan, Eritrea, East Timor).
Randy's Donuts in Inglewood, California. Replicas of the giant doughnut sculpture will be installed, where possible, at shops in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 24, 2024

An iconic 32-foot doughnut might give Randy’s an edge in Japan

The doughnut had a cameo in “2012,” where it is seen rolling down the street as an enduring symbol of end-time. Now the brand looks to tackle the tough Japanese market.
An SM-3 interceptor is launched by the Aegis Guam System during a test at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 12, 2024

Can a U.S. missile defense system shield Guam from Chinese threat?

Building the island's missile defenses as envisioned will cost about $10 billion over the next decade.
A thermal power plant at an undisclosed location in Ukraine that was damaged during a missile attack amid Russia's invasion
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Dec 27, 2024

When Russia fights the wrong enemy

The longer the war in Ukraine continues, the weaker Russia will become, leading many to wonder when it will decide to staunch its losses.
U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson Steel Works in Braddock, Pennsylvania, in December 2019. The Biden administration blocked the $14 billion takeover of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel on Friday, citing grounds that the sale posed a threat to national security.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jan 5, 2025

Biden’s decision on Nippon Steel deal followed divide in his orbit

The split was emblematic of so many shifts in U.S. policy — including of Biden’s pledge to build trust with allies and the race against China.
Most of the grant funding for U.S. President Joe Biden's ambitious Chips and Science Act has been awarded, and the initiative has spurred more than $400 billion in planned company investments. But much of the job remains unfinished — and broader upheaval in the chip industry will only add to the challenges.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jan 18, 2025

Biden’s chips team hands off $52 billion program to a skeptical Trump

Before the election, Donald Trump described the Chips Act as "so bad” and suggested tariffs would be a better solution.
China's DeepSeek carries far-reaching implications for the global tech industry and supply chain.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 27, 2025

Why is the AI world freaking out over China's DeepSeek?

DeepSeek has far-reaching implications for the global tech industry, upending the widespread belief that the future of AI will require ever-increasing amounts of power.
Members of the media crowd the venue before the start of a news conference at Fuji TV's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Society / First person
Jan 28, 2025

Yelling and random tangents: What it was like covering Fuji TV's 10-hour presser

The once-in-a-lifetime news conference showed what would happen when the Japanese press was given total freedom with no time limits.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 10, 2025

Ishiba builds inroads with Trump, but challenges still loom

Ishiba won praise for his deft handling of Trump, squelching critics’ predictions that the president would walk all over the bookish Japanese leader.
All Nippon Airways aircraft at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in August 2024. ANA has staked a lot on greener kinds of jet fuel, with 70% of the emissions reductions under its net-zero emissions plan coming from them.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Feb 16, 2025

Sky not the only limit for JAL and ANA’s climate goals

The airlines' similar but different carbon neutrality plans highlight the difficulty of decarbonization, especially as the sector is now growing again.
The panic over Nvidia’s stock drop following China's DeepSeek AI breakthrough has subsided. Nvidia’s stock has rebounded, fueled by Elon Musk’s xAI and its latest chatbot, Grok-3, which benefits from an enormous Nvidia GPU stockpile.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

Nvidia revival marks the end of the great DeepSeek AI panic

Despite competition from other chipmakers and concerns over U.S. export restrictions, Nvidia remains central to AI development due to its CUDA software platform.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Vice President JD Vance looks on in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday in Washington.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 1, 2025

How Trump and Zelenskyy’s Oval Office skirmish broke a deal

An account of a remarkable and heated Oval Office exchange that seems certain to color the course of world history for decades to come.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters at the prime minister's official residence on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 14, 2025

Opposition blasts Ishiba over gift certificates given to LDP lawmakers

Ishiba gave gift certificates worth ¥100,000 each to over 10 new lawmakers, sources have said. The prime minister apologized but said the move was not illegal.
The Tourville, a new French navy nuclear attack submarine, stops in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Friday.
WORLD
Mar 16, 2025

As Trump stirs doubt, Europeans debate their own nuclear deterrent

Talk of replacing the American nuclear umbrella over Europe with the small British and French nuclear armories is in the air, however vague and fanciful.
Releasing on March 20, Assassin's Creed Shadows excels in atmosphere and open-world gameplay but falls short of narrative expectations.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 19, 2025

Assassin’s Creed Shadows puts samurai style over substance

Ubisoft’s latest game is a gorgeous jaunt through feudal Japan entirely unworthy of the controversy surrounding it.
The Dodgers' Mookie Betts (left) and Shohei Ohtani pose with their Silver Slugger awards before a game against the Cardinals on March, 29, 2024.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 11, 2025

Is Mookie Betts or Shohei Ohtani the better athlete? Dodgers teammates weigh in

The beauty of the question is that even as baseball players, Ohtani and Betts are so different.
The yen strengthened dramatically this month — hitting ¥139.9 to the dollar on Tuesday — and could become a topic of conversation in trade talks between the United States and Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 22, 2025

Yen on the march as Plaza Accord 2.0 debate grows

The U.S. has claimed that Japan's currency is undervalued, with some in the administration of President Donald Trump calling for a Plaza Accord 2.0.
A few tweaks to the conversations you learn in your Japanese class will help you sound like a native when you step out the door.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 16, 2025

Closing the gap between what you learn and what you say in Japanese

When trying to sound natural in Japanese, sometimes you just need to know a single key word or phrase.
The Taiwanese military conducts its first High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) live-fire test launch at the Jiupeng base in Pingtung, Taiwan, on May 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2025

Trump aims to exceed first term's weapons sales to Taiwan, officials say

If U.S. arms sales to Taiwan do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump's commitment to the island.
A banner encouraging voters to vote "yes" to five referendum questions on employment and easing Italian citizenship is seen in Milan on June 4.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 11, 2025

Italy's citizenship referendum flop bolsters Meloni

Only around 30% of eligible voters cast their ballots, which underlined the failure of the leftist opposition to mobilize mass opposition to the right-wing government.
Members of the California National Guard stand outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles on June 8. California Democrats have unified against the Trump administration’s use of federal troops to quell unrest and its deportation campaign, but the stance may backfire for the party nationally.
COMMENTARY
Jun 16, 2025

ICE protests in LA are forcing a tough choice on Democrats

As the rightward shift among voters in the last election made abundantly clear, the state’s politics don’t always translate to other parts of America.
Hideo Kojima, the leading auteur in Japanese video games, has skirted controversy in the wake of the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Jul 12, 2025

Is Japanese skin really ‘too smooth’ for Hideo Kojima’s games?

When it comes to Hideo Kojima’s visuals, art imitates life — and it’s more often Hollywood’s version of life than Japan’s that influences his games.
Then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds a news conference in Tokyo in December 2023 where he addressed the political fundraising scandal and announced plans to replace several implicated ministers.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2025

Cost of living trumps corruption as Japan heads to the polls

A recent NHK poll asked that question to prospective voters, and the majority answered “measures to deal with rising prices” and “social security and the declining birthrate.”
U.S. President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Aug. 1.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 9, 2025

Trump rattles Latin America by eyeing military force against drug cartels

The approach discards the previous administration's preference for carrots over sticks to coax countries into alignment with U.S. interests.
Nuclear weapons may have prevented global war through deterrence, but today’s shifting threats require adaptable strategies and strong leadership to avoid catastrophe.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 26, 2025

How humanity can avoid starting World War III

As a new nuclear age dawns, the U.S. must once again adjust its policies with foresight and flexibility, resisting both technological determinism and political destabilization.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight