Home page

 
Menu
Search
 
Menu
Search
Tokyo Weather 12℃
TOKYO
December 04, 2024
The Independent Voice in Asia
December 04, 2024
South Korea unrest
Trump tariffs
Buzzwords of the year
Latest News
Deep Dive
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
A line of police officers stand guard as protesters gather at the edge of Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on Wednesday after President Yoon Suk Yeol formally lifted martial law earlier, six hours after having declared it.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Yoon fights for political life as martial law repercussions reverberate
By Jesse Johnson and Himari Semans
A coalition of lawmakers from six opposition parties on Wednesday submitted a motion to impeach the South Korean president, with a vote set for Friday or Saturday.

More coverage

Yoon’s gambit a tempest in a teapot for financial markets
In pictures: A night that shook South Korea to its core
What we know about South Korea's martial law
A line of police officers stand guard as protesters gather at the edge of Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on Wednesday after President Yoon Suk Yeol formally lifted martial law earlier, six hours after having declared it.
Democratic Party for the People chief Yuichiro Tamaki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Tamaki suspended for three months as DPP leader following affair
By Gabriele Ninivaggi
An internal committee judged Tamaki’s conduct as having contravened the party’s ethics regulations and damaged its honor and trust.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike says she will continue to review work styles flexibly to ensure that women do not have to sacrifice their careers due to life events.
JAPAN / Society
Tokyo government to introduce four-day workweek to empower women
By Kathleen Benoza
The capital is joining a growing number of local governments introducing similar measures to improve working conditions amid a labor shortage.
People gather in Hyogo Prefecture on Nov. 17, an election day.
JAPAN / Society
Japan’s civic space status upgraded to highest tier
By Kathleen Benoza
Japan is now ranked in the same category as nations such as Taiwan and Denmark, reflecting increased freedoms for civil society and peaceful protest.
Japanese creatives, athletes and activists saw their efforts recognized on the world stage in various ways this year. At the Oscars (left) Takashi Yamazaki and his team took a prize for “Godzilla Minus One,” while later in the year Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada (center) took Emmys for their work in “Shogun.” Shohei Ohtani (right) was arguably the biggest Japanese star of the year.
CULTURE / 2024 in Review
Japan's soft power soared to new heights in 2024
By Alyssa I. Smith
From Oscars and Emmys to a Nobel Peace Prize, it was a year of awards and triumphs in key cultural fields.
Japanese creatives, athletes and activists saw their efforts recognized on the world stage in various ways this year. At the Oscars (left) Takashi Yamazaki and his team took a prize for “Godzilla Minus One,” while later in the year Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada (center) took Emmys for their work in “Shogun.” Shohei Ohtani (right) was arguably the biggest Japanese star of the year.

JAPAN

Donna Nelson (fourth from left) with her family members. Nelson was found guilty of smuggling drugs to Japan.
Australian woman given six-year sentence over Japan drug smuggling
By Karin Kaneko
Donna Nelson has said that she was a victim of an online romance scam and that she was not aware she was carrying luggage containing illegal drugs.
Naomi Watanabe, a comedian known for challenging gender and beauty norms in Japan's male-dominated comedy scene
BBC honors two Japanese in annual list of inspiring women
By Jessica Speed
The theme this year was resilience, celebrating women who "are pushing for change and improving lives at community or global level."
Ex-prosecutor Hotta, who probed Lockheed scandal, dies at 90
Saitama police arrest suspected yami baito financial coordinator
Japan to use AI to tackle online manga and anime piracy
WCPFC decides to expand Japan's pacific bluefin tuna catch quotas

BUSINESS

Netflix's subscribers in Japan topped 10 million in the first half of this year, with Japanese content being its third-most-viewed non-English content, after those in Korean and Spanish.
Netflix Japan subscribers top 10 million
By Sam Nussey
The streaming firm's Japanese-language programming is grabbing attention in the growing market.
The departure of Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger opens the possibility of fresh deal talks.
Intel’s CEO departure opens door to new deal discussions
By Ryan Gould and Ian King
The CEO's departure is also an opportunity for suitors to take another look at acquiring some or all of Intel.
Japanese drug market prices 5.2% lower than official prices
BOJ sells 10-year cash bonds to ease shortage tied to futures
By Masaki Kondo and Hidenori Yamanaka
Why the Euro is closing in on parity with the U.S. dollar again
By Alice Atkins
Mitsubishi loses $90 million in suspected China metal fraud
By Alfred Cang and Koh Yoshida

WORLD

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova in Moscow on May 31.
Putin's Kremlin planes took away Ukrainian children for adoption, report alleges
By Anthony Deutsch
The research identified 314 Ukrainian children taken to Russia as part of what it says was a systematic, Kremlin-funded program to "Russify" them.
People watch South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law and the following announcement that he will lift the martial law, after parliamentary vote, at a railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol, embattled conservative
The novice politician took office with some of the lowest approval ratings of any democratically elected South Korean president.
When undersea cables break, a wireless world’s vulnerability is exposed
By James Glanz, Elian Peltier and Pablo Robles
Trump considers replacing Hegseth with DeSantis to run Pentagon, report says
In Lebanon, people with disabilities isolated and abandoned by war
By Nazih Osseiran
U.S. chips 'no longer safe,' Chinese industry bodies say in latest salvo
By Eduardo Baptista and Brenda Goh

Sports

Shun Ikeda holds the trophy after winning his second consecutive amateur yokozuna title on Sunday at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan.
Lightning strikes twice for Shun Ikeda at All Japan Championships
By John Gunning
Ikeda, now a corporate worker, has completed the rare feat of winning back-to-back amateur "yokozuna" titles.
Rui Hachimura's criticisms of Japan Basketball Association cause a stir
Pohang clip Vissel's wings in Asian Champions League
Anti-doping agency froze out investigators who warned about China
By Tariq Panja and Michael S. Schmidt
A 12th F1 team after Cadillac? Why not, says FIA president
By Alan Baldwin

Opinion

The primary motivation for potentially adding Japan to the Five Eyes alliance is the considerable intelligence contributions the country could make concerning China, North Korea, Eastern Russia and East and Southeast Asia.
If ever invited, should Japan make it 'Six Eyes'?
Edo Naito
The primary motivation for potentially adding Japan to the alliance is the considerable intelligence contributions the country could make.
Hunter Biden’s pardon is understandable — but wrong
By Noah Feldman
Should nuclear weapons for Ukraine be on the table?
By Slavoj Zizek
The Lebanon ceasefire can be leveraged for a broader deal
By Marc Champion
Venice’s beauty curse
By Edoardo Campanella

ENVIRONMENT

Trees in a forest in Nyanga, Gabon
Scientists behind ‘net zero’ concept say nations are getting it wrong
By Eric Roston
Countries may be claiming carbon credits for work already being done by land and oceans — and the accounting mismatch has consequences.
Barbados completes world's first debt swap for climate resilience
By Virginia Furness
Glittering dreams: India's big push for solar power
By Philippe Alfroy
Battle over curbing plastic output jeopardizes U.N. treaty hopes
Researchers analyze DNA from dung to save Laos elephants
By Stuart Graham

CULTURE

Drag queen Becca D’Bus plays Dido, the forlorn queen of Carthage, in a drag version of “Dido and Aeneas."
Divas and diversity: Opera meets drag in ‘Dido and Aeneas’
By Zoria Petkoska
Becca D’Bus, one of Singapore’s most popular drag queens, and Tokyo’s voguers and queens team up for a grand show at the Yokohama International Performing Arts Meeting.
Anime-loving cartoonist from Sweden shares joys of Tokyo life
By Ran Kawai
Hiroshi Kurosaki looks beyond Japan for heart-wrenching drama
By Mark Schilling
‘Faceless’: Fugitive thriller turns a blind eye to hard truths
By James Hadfield
The mind-bending melancholy of ‘Lust in the Rain’
By Mark Schilling

LIFE

Designed by Kei Atsumi and Motoya Iizawa, "The Warp" was a 3D-printed tea pavilion with organic, twisting curves placed in downtown Dubai.
Far East meets Middle East at Dubai Design Week 2024
By Erik Augustin Palm
This year's Dubai Design Week functioned much like a portal between continents, philosophies and futures.
For holidays in warm weather, a light, rolled meringue fits best
By Simon Daly
Putting mountainous Nagano on a plate
By Kyoko Nakayama
Ms. Rachel’s improbable journey from toddler whisperer to holiday toy sensation
By Sapna Maheshwari
The Geisha bean is the leading lady of Tokyo's coffee scene
By Melinda Joe

COMMUNITY

Timeleft uses an algorithm to match its users with five or six strangers in an effort to prompt “human connection” over dinner at a restaurant. It determines the attendees with the help of a simple personality quiz available when you sign up for the service.
Seven strangers and an algorithm: Can this new dinner app help you make friends?
By Phoebe Amoroso
An app called Timeleft hopes to combat big-city alienation through a simple meal with a diverse group of people.
President of L’Oreal Japan leverages innovation
By Louise George Kittaka
Kumiko Shichijo: ‘Living abroad helped me appreciate Japanese etiquette’
By Ansel Swindells
How a solo yoga teacher built a wellness community in the Japanese Alps
By Samantha Mythen
Omar Nok: 'There are good people everywhere'
By Ansel Swindells

Editors' Picks

JAPAN
U.S. Space Force launches first unit in Japan
By Gabriel Dominguez
Activated on Wednesday, U.S. Space Forces Japan — a component similar to the one established at South Korea’s Osan Air Base in 2022 — will operate out of Yokota Air Base in the city of Fussa, western Tokyo, with a staff of about 10.
JAPAN
Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?
By Tomoko Otake
The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
WORLD
Europe eyes 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine as possible peace deal option
By Gabriel Dominguez
A serviceman with the Ukrainian Army's 24th mechanized brigade fires a machine gun during an exercise, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the country's Donetsk region on Friday.
COMMUNITY
Seven strangers and an algorithm: Can this new dinner app help you make friends?
By Phoebe Amoroso
Timeleft uses an algorithm to match its users with five or six strangers in an effort to prompt “human connection” over dinner at a restaurant. It determines the attendees with the help of a simple personality quiz available when you sign up for the service.
JAPAN
Don’t worry, you can still use your Japan health insurance card — for now
By Tomoko Otake
A My Number card reader at a pediatric clinic in Tokyo. While the government will stop issuing new health insurance cards on Monday, most people will remain unaffected by the move in the short term as existing health insurance cards can still be used for another year.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?
By Tomoko Otake

JT Directory Service

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

Ex.Portal By Synergy Media Specialists

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

WHAT’S TRENDING

JAPAN
Japan’s 2024 buzzword of the year urges a reevaluation of past norms
By Yukana Inoue
Sadao Abe, who played the role of a time-traveling Showa Era teacher transported to present day in a popular TV drama, receives the 2024 buzzword of the year award for the word "futehodo," the nickname of the series.
JAPAN
Australian says romance scam tricked her into smuggling drugs into Japan
By Karin Kaneko
Donna Nelson says her life was turned upside down when she learned that the man she was falling for had tricked her into smuggling 2 kilograms of methamphetamine into Japan.
BUSINESS
Trump says will 'block' Nippon Steel from taking over U.S. Steel
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says he will "block" a planned takeover of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel.
JAPAN
Japan witnesses warmest fall on record
Hibiya Park in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Saturday. Warm weather has delayed the country's autumn foliage season — when tourists flock to see leaves turn vibrant reds and yellows.
ASIA PACIFIC
South Korea's Yoon backs down after parliament rejects martial law
Soldiers try to enter the National Assembly building in Seoul, after South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law late Tuesday evening.