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May 21, 2024
 

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FOCUS

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launchpad SLC-40 at the Kennedy Space Center on NASA's PACE mission in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 8.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Feb 13, 2024
Apollo to Artemis: Why America is betting big on private space
While it has seen some successes, the move could put the U.S. at risk of falling behind its principal space rival, China, in achieving major milestones.
People walk past a billboard promoting Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia's defense minister and a presidential candidate, and his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is the eldest son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and current Surakarta's mayor, in Jakarta on Jan. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 8, 2024
Generative AI faces major test as Indonesia holds election
Front-runner Prabowo Subianto is using AI tools to create campaign art, track social media sentiment, build interactive chatbots and target voters.
Many young people who feel neglected at home flock to the Toyoko area to find a community where they can fit in.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Feb 5, 2024
Toyoko Kids: The lonely street children of Tokyo
Bound together by shared neglect and marginalization, the group have formed a distinct, social media-linked youth subculture on the streets of Shinjuku.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (from left), Vice President Taro Aso and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend a party meeting on Jan. 26.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 4, 2024
Turmoil ahead for two LDP factions continuing activities
Factions led by Taro Aso and Toshimitsu Motegi continue to face calls to disband from their own members.
Ground Self-Defense Force members land using an amphibious vehicle on the shore of Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture as part of large-scale joint drills with the U.S. Marine Corps in March 2023.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 2, 2024
Japan starts 2024 with flurry of security deals
In January alone, Tokyo signed cooperation deals with at least four countries, strengthening and expanding its network of like-minded partners.
Tourists board a ferry to Iriomote Island, Okinawa Prefecture, from Ishigaki, another island in the prefecture. The local government of the town of Taketomi, which includes Iriomote Island, is planning to introduce a visitor's tax to fund environmental protection measures in the face of rising tourist numbers.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 30, 2024
Local governments in Japan battle overtourism challenges
Officials are seeking ways to solve problems that emerge from higher tourist numbers, such as a shortage of taxis and the accumulation of garbage.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s new factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, in May 2023
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jan 29, 2024
Can Japan again master semiconductors to relive its glory days?
Competition in the sector is fierce, with many countries pushing to develop their own capabilities and insulate supply chains from geopolitical tensions.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures to his supporters, as he departs for his second civil trial after E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her decades ago, outside Trump Tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Friday.
WORLD / FOCUS
Jan 27, 2024
Big money fails to stop Trump, again, prompting a donor reckoning
Donors have learned a hard lesson: Big money cannot win the GOP presidential nomination, at least not against Trump.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Jan. 4.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 20, 2024
Kishida takes risky gamble by dissolving LDP faction
Members of the factions led by LDP Vice President Taro Aso and Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi have resisted following suit, potentially endangering the PM.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an economic event at Abbotts Creek Community Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 20, 2024
Biden the 'anti-Trump': winning strategy or no strategy at all?
Some Democrats are concerned that Biden's campaign has no strong message about what he'd do with four more years.
Tokyu Bus Corp. President Takashi Furukawa wants to set a precedent for fellow bus operators that are in desperate need of drivers, drawing on his experience working in Vietnam, where he once helped introduce Japanese know-how in running transportation services.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 20, 2024
Tokyo bus operator banks on foreign drivers as shortage looms
Tokyu Bus Corp. President Takashi Furukawa wants to set a precedent for fellow bus operators that are in desperate need of drivers.
Keiji Furuya (left), head of a Japanese group of lawmakers promoting Japan-Taiwan relations, meets with Taiwanese President-elect Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party in Taipei on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 15, 2024
Japan finds ally in new Taiwan president-elect amid fears of war
Lai Ching-te signaled he will deepen cooperation with Japan by meeting with Tokyo’s de facto ambassador and a Japanese lawmaker just a day after the election.
A picture of Lai Ching-te, Taiwan's vice president and the the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's then-presidential candidate, is seen on a large screen as he attends a rally ahead of the elections, in New Taipei City on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 14, 2024
The coal miner's son wins power in Taiwan
Pugnacious, stubborn and a "pragmatic worker for Taiwan's independence," the island's new president-elect, Lai Ching-te, will have his work cut out for him.
Whereas obtaining a test was often difficult in early 2020, now the abundance of cheaper rapid kits in grocery stores and home medicine cabinets has led to a new concern — they don’t seem to work.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jan 13, 2024
Our bodies are responding differently to COVID. Testing for it needs to catch up.
The abundance of cheaper rapid kits in grocery stores and home medicine cabinets has led to a new concern — they don’t seem to work.
A Post Office sign at a branch in a local convenience store near Ascot, England, on Friday. The Post Office scandal, where some 980 U.K. Post Office workers were wrongfully convicted of theft and false accounting, was triggered by faults in a Fujitsu computer system called Horizon that was used by U.K. Post Offices and inaccurately reported shortfalls in their accounts, resulting in private prosecutions of innocent branch managers for theft.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jan 13, 2024
It took a TV show to bring justice in U.K.’s Post Office scandal
After a two-decade struggle, it was a TV drama that finally prompted the government to promise a swift end to the saga in favor of the victims.
Lai Ching-te, the presidential candidate of ruling Democratic Progressive Party, waves to supporters while riding in the back of a vehicle during a campaign event ahead of the elections in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 12, 2024
Candidates make final pitches before voters head to polls in Taiwan
Many view the upcoming vote as one with potentially significant geopolitical consequences for both Taiwan and the region.
People take part in a first aid and emergency training course by the Taiwanese civil defense group the Forward Alliance.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
Jan 12, 2024
Taiwan civil defense groups push for more resilience as China threat grows
The organizations offer training courses in first aid, media literacy, disaster response as well as in understanding the different layers of modern warfare.
A China Railway employee works at the construction site for the Xiongan station of a new railway connecting Beijing to the area in Hebei province, China, in March 2019. In his annual new year speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping trumpeted the city’s progress saying it was "growing fast” and helping to revitalize northeastern China.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jan 10, 2024
Xi Jinping’s empty dream city shows limits of his power, even in China
The meticulously planned metropolis' slow start underscores the flaws in the Chinese president's plan to tempt people from the capital.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faces reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 8, 2024
LDP lawmaker arrest further blurs Japan PM's fate
Yoshitaka Ikeda became the first lawmaker arrested in the latest political fundraising scandal involving the LDP's largest faction.
Taiwan flags adorn the streets of Taipei on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 8, 2024
China's balloons inflate Taiwan poll fears
Since December, Taipei has said that mysterious balloons were crossing the Taiwan Strait, with their purpose being "gray-zone" harassment that stops short of open warfare.
Rare sequel to 'My Neighbor Totoro' to play at Cannes
A screening of "Mei and the Baby Cat Bus," which is being billed as a "mini-sequel" to the Studio Ghibli classic "My Neighbor Totoro," is set to take place at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.
America wasn’t made for walking, and it’s killing them
A 2010 study found that U.S. adults averaged 5,117 steps daily and that this was lower than the averages found in similar studies in Switzerland, western Australia and Japan.
Fuchu Prison adapting to foreign prisoners
From the outside, the light-brown complex that is Fuchu Prison in western Tokyo could easily be mistaken for a city hall.
Why half of Japan's cities are at risk of disappearing in 100 years
A couple looks out onto the Fukuoka nightscape. Due to its distance from Tokyo and its close proximity to South Korea and China, professor Tomoya Mori believes that Fukuoka is one of the few metropolitan regions of Japan that will see some form of growth in the decades to come.
Japan concerned over U.S. officials' remarks on atomic bombings
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks to reporters during a news conference in Washington on Thursday.
Fuchu Prison adapting to foreign prisoners
From the outside, the light-brown complex that is Fuchu Prison in western Tokyo could easily be mistaken for a city hall.
The politicians moving Japan forward on climate
While not the most outspoken politician on the issue, digital minister Taro Kono has a track record of being serious in his commitment to addressing the climate crisis.
Seoul's eclectic Art OnO shines light on Japan's artists and galleries
Art OnO, which took place from April 19 to 21 in Seoul, featured a modest number of 36 participating galleries from 15 countries.
Want to be a voice actor? Stay 'true to the character'
SungWon Cho is a veteran with more than 10 years of experience portraying characters in anime, cartoons and video games.
Local theater in Japan is more than a hobby — it’s a community
Japan Times contributor Laura Pollacco (front right) was offered the role of one of her all-time favorite heroines, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bennet, in the Tokyo International Players’ production of “Pride and Prejudice.”

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.
How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan
By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there
Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

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