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CULTURE / Books
Oct 23, 2011

Documenting disaster

THE TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE and Tsunami, the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor, and How the World's Media Reported Them, by Eric Johnston. The Japan Times, 2011, 96 pp., ¥1,260 (paperback) Seven months after Japan's devastating March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters, the jury remains out on media reporting...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 3, 2011

It's innovate or die in today's mad mag world

In few countries are the most vital political, economic and cultural activities as geographically concentrated as in Japan. All the main institutions can be found in Tokyo — one can only shudder to think what will happen not only to this city, but to the whole country if and when a massive earthquake...
MULTIMEDIA
Sep 26, 2010

Recruit founder revisits a scandal that shook the nation

Remember the infamous Recruit scandal of the late 1980s that brought down a government, tarnished the reputations of Japan's movers and shakers and left the public convinced that the government was rotten to the core?
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2006

Al-Jazeera English: the plot is thickening

LONDON -- The launch of Al-Jazeera English, the English arm of Al-Jazeera Satellite Television, on Nov. 15 was a notable addition to the growing global efforts aimed at counterbalancing American-European domination over world media.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Crackdown has publishers running scared

Yasunori Okadome last month suspended publication of his profitable monthly gossip magazine Uwasa-no-shinso (The Truth Behind Rumors), due to fears that a lawsuit could put him out of business for good.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2000

Breaking down the doors of Japan's discriminatory press clubs

In May 1993, David Butts, then Tokyo bureau chief of Bloomberg Business News, was fed up. After years of unsuccessful efforts to penetrate Japan's press clubs through polite negotiation, the tall Texan chose a more direct approach. On the day annual company reports were released, Butts, with other foreign...
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 24, 2022

Is Japan the model for Elon Musk's Twitter?

Elizabeth Beattie explains how the social media platform's Japan team has been affected since Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Jan 20, 2018

Journalism tied to those in power must be checked

"If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking."
According to the Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative, there were about 30 cases of bonsai theft last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2025

Bonsai thefts sweep Japan as miniature trees grow more popular

About 30 cases of such theft occurred last year, according to the Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative.
Liu Zhenya and her daughter are escorted by police and immigration officers at Songshan Airport in Taipei on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

Chinese influencer forced to leave Taiwan for supporting invasion

Taiwan authorities ordered Liu Zhenya to leave because she posted videos supporting the idea of a Chinese military takeover.
Billionaire Elon Musk said the value of his X social media network is $45 billion when including $12 billion of debt, describing his xAI artificial intelligence startup's purchase of X as an all-stock transaction.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 29, 2025

Musk’s xAI startup swallows up X social network in surprise deal

Elon Musk said his xAI artificial intelligence startup has acquired the X platform, which he also controls, at a valuation of $33 billion.
The bus stop sign for the Ghibli Museum at Mitaka Station. The viral trend of AI-generated Ghibli-style images reflects both a longing for comfort in uncertain times and the ongoing debate over AI’s impact on art.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 2, 2025

For a brief moment, everything was Ghibli

ChatGPT will make almost anything Ghibli-ish, but it won’t draw Totoro.
Labor Party MP for Bennelong Jerome Laxale and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong pose for pictures with residents in Sydney in February.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 4, 2025

In a tight Australian election, a Chinese app could make a difference

Politicians are turning to Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle app also called RedNote, to appeal to Chinese communities who will be a crucial voting bloc.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday extended by 75 days a deadline for ByteDance to sell U.S. assets of the popular TikTok short video app to a non-Chinese buyer, or face a ban that was supposed to have taken effect in January under a 2024 law.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 5, 2025

TikTok deal put on hold after China indicated it would reject it over tariffs

Trump extended by 75 days a deadline for ByteDance to sell U.S. assets of the popular short video app to a non-Chinese buyer.
The TikTok logo is seen outside the Chinese video app company's Los Angeles offices on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 7, 2025

Trump says China tariff objections stalled TikTok deal

ByteDance is required to divest TikTok’s U.S. unit but the company has balked at selling a business valued in the billions.
Two Japanese men are suspected of helping an IT worker from North Korea create an account for a job-matching service by sending driver's license photos and other information to the IT worker in September and October 2020.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 8, 2025

Pair suspected of helping North Korean IT worker pose as a Japanese citizen

Police in Tokyo believe the IT worker was involved in North Korea's efforts to obtain foreign currency.
A man walks past a board displaying average stock prices at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 8, 2025

Taiwan says China using AI to 'divide' the island with disinformation

In a report to parliament, the security bureau said it had detected more than half a million pieces of "controversial messages" so far this year.
Associated Press photographer Alex Brandon is denied access to the White House "press pool" as journalists move to U.S. President Donald Trump's motorcade at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 9, 2025

Judge lifts Trump White House restrictions on AP while lawsuit proceeds

The White House imposed restrictions on the Associated Press over the news agency’s decision to continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its coverage.
Journalists Sergei Karelin, Antonina Favorskaya and Artem Kriger, accused of taking part in the activities of an "extremist" organization founded by late opposition politician Alexei Navalny, attend a court hearing in Moscow on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2025

Russian journalists jailed for 5½ years for alleged extremist ties to Navalny

Moscow has intensified pressure on domestic and foreign reporters since the start of its war in Ukraine.
The headquarters of Fuji Media Holdings, Fuji TV's parent, in Tokyo's Minato Ward
JAPAN / Media
May 13, 2025

Nakai's lawyer refutes third-party report finding 'sexual violence'

The lawyer demanded that the committee disclose the evidence behind its report, which was released in March, by May 26.
A survey showed that 47.7% of respondents exposed to examples of false and misleading information were likely to consider such information to be true or probably true.
JAPAN / Society
May 14, 2025

Misinformation still fools many, Japan survey reveals

Of respondents who were exposed to false information, 25.5% also said they have spread the information to their families or on social media.
A third-party committee set up by Fuji Television Network said in a statement Thursday that its recognition of sexual violence was based on the World Health Organization's definition because Fuji TV and its parent, Fuji Media Holdings, needed to fulfill their accountability to global shareholders.
JAPAN / Media
May 23, 2025

Fuji TV panel defends conclusion of 'sexual violence' by Nakai

The committee rejected the request from Nakai's lawyer to disclose interview records and other evidence, claiming that it would undermine its independence and neutrality.
Members of a group working for the reconstruction of the Machinomachi district of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, attend training for the opening of a temporary disaster broadcasting station, in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, on May 16.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 4, 2025

Quake-hit residents eyeing reconstruction through power of radio

A group of people, mainly residents of Wajima's Machinomachi district, are preparing to open a full scale emergency broadcasting FM radio station in mid-June.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said that an undercover investigation helped identify a suspect in an attempted scam case in the greater Tokyo area.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 10, 2025

New police method reveals shady part-time job suspect

It was the first time for police to detect a suspect under the investigation method introduced in January.
The Trump administration's decision to ban The Associated Press from the White House press pool over a style guide dispute is part of a long and troubling history of presidents retaliating against journalists who displease them.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2025

Presidents have been treating journalists badly since Lincoln

Indeed, long before there existed a White House press corps, presidential peevishness led to the punishment of newspapers.
Eight banks have entered into an agreement with the National Police Agency to share information on suspicious accounts as part of efforts to combat special fraud schemes.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 18, 2025

Major banks team up with police to combat special fraud

Under a new agreement, the banks will send information on suspicious accounts directly to the police instead of channeling it through the Financial Services Agency.
Aichi police have arrested two elementary school teachers for allegedly taking "upskirt" photos of children and sharing them through a private social media group.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 25, 2025

Two elementary school teachers arrested for sharing ‘upskirt’ photos of children

Investigators said the two were part of a group chat that included multiple teachers from elementary and junior high schools.
Regarding news genres that respondents want to avoid, with multiple answers allowed, war and other conflicts were mentioned by 18.9%. "News that is meant to be touching or news that foments anger" was cited by 18%.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 26, 2025

Almost a fifth of people in Japan may avoid news, industry survey suggests

When asked why they avoid news, with multiple answers allowed, 60.8% of those surveyed said it makes them feel depressed and sick.
Tomonobu Kojima, admitted his involvement in the "Luffy" cases at the first hearing of his trial at Tokyo District Court on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 2, 2025

Senior member of 'Luffy' crime ring pleads guilty at hearing

Tomonobu Kojima, 47, said, "There is no mistake" regarding his charges of aiding robberies and committing fraud.
Xu Pengcheng (right), model Mao Yi and Nono walk along a corridor inside an abandoned hotel in Shanghai on May 24.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 6, 2025

China's abandoned buildings draw urban explorers despite risks

Urban exploration is growing in popularity in China, where a yearslong property sector crisis has left many cities dotted with empty buildings.

Longform

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