search

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 17, 2023

Could the Akutagawa Prize get its first American winner?

Gregory Khezrnejat, whose short story “Kaikonchi” is up for the literary award, sees writing in Japanese as a minor rebellion against English's assumed dominance in global culture.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 17, 2023

Brazil's crowdfunded insurrection leaves paper trail for police

Pix, a wildly successful government-run payments system, has become a key financial pillar underpinning Bolsonaro's election-denial movement.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 17, 2023

China’s population falls, heralding a demographic crisis

Deaths outnumbered births last year for the first time in six decades. Experts see major implications for China, its economy and the world.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2023

China issuing visas for some Japan travelers despite halt

Under what criteria Chinese authorities approve visa applications is unknown, but there have been some cases in which applications were accepted.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 17, 2023

With this Japanese ace, the ghost stories are true

Fans, teammates and even opponents are excited to see new Mets ace Kodai Senga's trademark 'ghost fork' — if they can manage to track it.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Jan 17, 2023

Jurgen Klopp searches for solutions to Liverpool 'low point'

The cost of Liverpool's bid for an unprecedented quadruple last season, which brought the club victories in the FA and League Cup finals, is still being felt as injuries and losses mount.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 17, 2023

China's economy slows sharply, with 2022 growth one of worst on record

GDP grew 2.9% in October-December from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday, slower than the third-quarter's 3.9% pace.
PRESS / Corporate Trends
Jan 17, 2023

Announcement: “Originator Profile Collaborative Innovation Partnership” established

The Japan Times, Ltd. (President and CEO: Minako Suematsu) today announced its participation in a nonprofit initiative “Originator Profile (technology) Collaborative Innovation Partnership (OPCIP)”, alongside firms in the media and advertising industries from Japan and abroad.
PRESS / Corporate Trends
Jan 17, 2023

オリジネーター・プロファイル(OP)技術研究組合の設立について

株式会社ジャパンタイムズ(本社:東京都千代田区、取締役社長:末松弥奈子)は、国内外のメディア、広告関連企業などとともに「オリジネーター・プロファイル(Originator Profile=OP)技術研究組合」を設立しました。
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 17, 2023

Japan pushes global counterparts to regulate cryptocurrencies like banks

FTX's bankruptcy and fraud charges against Sam Bankman-Fried have battered the crypto sector, highlighting gaps and differences in global digital-asset regulation.
Opening up to foreign workers may ultimately be Japan’s best hope for stemming a rapid population decline.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 7, 2024

Record 2 million foreign workers are changing the face of Japan

Opening up to job seekers from abroad may ultimately be the country's best hope of stemming a rapid population decline.
Scientists handle a multiple-core sampling device for extracting sediments and sludge, in Beppu Bay, off Oita Prefecture, in June 2021. Beneath the seawater lie layers of seemingly unremarkable sediment and sludge that tell the story of how humans have fundamentally altered the world around them.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2023

Japanese sea sludge tells story of human impact on Earth

Beppu Bay is among areas being considered for designation as a "golden spike," a location that offers evidence of a new geological epoch defined by our species: the Anthropocene.
Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, which allowed customers to grab grocery items from a shelf and walk out of the store, is reportedly being phased out of its grocery stores.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2024

Amazon's AI stores seemed too magical. And they were.

There are plenty more examples of companies that have failed to mention humans pulling the levers behind supposedly cutting-edge AI technology.
Tony Bennett at the Apollo Theater in the Harlem neighborhood of New York in 1997
CULTURE / Music
Jul 21, 2023

Tony Bennett, masterful stylist of American musical standards, dies at 96

Bennett vaulted to fame in the early 1950s with a string of emotional hits, including "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams," "Because of You" and "Blue Velvet."
“Extremely Inappropriate!” centers on Ichiro Ogawa (played by Sadao Abe), a crude high school teacher who is chain-smoking his way through 1986. He accidentally ends up on a bus that turns out to be a time machine, which drives him to 2024.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Apr 5, 2024

‘Extremely Inappropriate!’ took a big swing. TV is better for it.

The drama — which features a fish-out-of-water protagonist and satirizes social issues — is the most divisive Japanese TV show of the year so far.
Director Hirobumi Watanabe (second from left) stars alongside his brother Yuji (far right), who has served as composer on all of his films, in his new feature “Techno Brothers,” which follows a sibling trio on the road to Tokyo to find success in the music business.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 21, 2023

Foolish Piggies Films keeps humor at its heart

Indie director Hirobumi Watanabe looks back on 10 years of making distinctive, micro-budget films with his brother and seeking out new challenges on and off screen.
The summit of Mount Fuji in October. An eruption of the volcano could bring immediate, immeasurable damage to parts of Japan.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2024

Avoiding a catastrophe if Mount Fuji erupts after major quake

Drills have shown that such a double disaster could prove catastrophic for parts of Japan.
Saou Ichikawa (right) won Japan's Akutagawa Prize for her debut novel "Hunchback" on Wednesday. The Naoki Prize was awarded to Sayako Nagai (left) and Ryosuke Kakine (center).
CULTURE / Books
Jul 20, 2023

Disabled author wins Akutagawa literary award for the first time

Saou Ichikawa, who has congenital myopathy, was awarded the prestigious prize for her humorous novel "Hunchback," which offers commentary on the privileges of non-disabled people.
Jockey Kota Fujioka died on Wednesday, four days after falling from his horse and sustaining head and chest injuries
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
Apr 12, 2024

Tributes pour in after jockey Kota Fujioka dies following fall

The JRA said Fujioka was the first jockey to die in Japan as a result of a racing accident since 2004.
Resistance soldiers ride in the back of a pickup truck in southern Karenni State, Myanmar, on Jan. 28. Three years after a military coup, the Southeast Asian nation is teetering on the brink of failed statehood.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 3, 2024

What’s happening in Myanmar’s civil war?

The military is still the country’s most influential institution, and a militarized culture pervades many areas that ethnic minorities control.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 21, 2023

Kishida takes ‘global green’ initiative to the Middle East

Middle East countries are keen to diversify their economies, reducing their reliance on oil and gas for revenue. Japan hopes to assist in that transition.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a NATO leaders summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12. The leader's efforts to conduct diplomacy in the face of conflict have drawn comparisons with British wartime leader Winston Churchill.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 20, 2023

Why Zelenskyy's diplomacy is a key factor in Ukraine's efforts to win war

The leader's counteroffensive came at a critical time, sandwiched between two summits — the Group of Seven summit in May and a NATO summit earlier this month.
The Singapore skyline. The Wall Street Journal will be shifting its Asia base to the city from Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 3, 2024

Wall Street Journal moves Asia base from Hong Kong to Singapore

The U.S. newspaper said its decision comes after other foreign firms have reconsidered their operations in the Chinese financial hub.
Private detective Ryo Saeba (Ryohei Suzuki) goes beyond the call of duty to protect a client at a cosplay convention in “City Hunter.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2024

A star turn isn’t quite enough to make ‘City Hunter’ soar

Ryohei Suzuki is in peak form as a lecherous private detective in an otherwise middling Netflix live-action manga adaptation.
Beyond Meat plant-based burger patties for sale at a plant-based grocery store in Hong Kong in June 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2023

The coming disruption of animal production

It will be easier to persuade people to avoid meat from animals if they can eat meat and other animal products that taste like those they know, but do not require raising animals.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is greeted by Abdulla bin Touq Al Mari, the UAE's minister of economy, during a reception in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Monday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 20, 2023

Kishida's Middle East visit creates an opportunity for Japan

Kishida visit shows Japan's policy vis-a-vis the Middle East is shifting from the traditional energy-securing economic diplomacy to a more strategic foreign policy.
LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (center) speaks to reporters as election strategy committee chair Yuko Obuchi (left) and Deputy Secretary-General Hiroshi Kajiyama look on at party's headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday night.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 28, 2024

Main opposition CDP sweeps three Lower House by-elections in blow to LDP

The results were seen as a setback for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and could accelerate talks within the LDP about his political future.
Pollen from cedar tree forests in Nagano Prefecture. The government faces an uphill battle in reducing cedar trees amid a labor shortage in the forestry industry.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 2, 2024

Japan's pollen countermeasures face challenges amid slow cedar logging

A persistent labor shortage and tepid demand for timber stand in the way of the government's aim of reducing the trees responsible for hay fever.
Demonstrators protest against Japan's plan to discharge treated radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the ocean, in Seoul on July 7.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 20, 2023

Fukushima water opposition is steeped in anti-science

Skepticism over Japan’s plan to discharge treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant must not give way to scaremongering.
Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a speech in Najaf, Iraq, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2023

Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr hints at comeback with torching of Swedish Embassy

By having his supporters torch the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, the unpredictable Shiite cleric has dragged an administration run by his rivals into a diplomatic crisis.

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces