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April 06, 2025
 

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James Pomfret
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Jul 22, 2023
Inspired by Ukraine war, Taiwan launches drone blitz to counter China
Taipei's aim, according to a government planning document, is to build more than 3,200 military drones by mid-2024.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
May 9, 2023
China's return to global stage checked by national security focus
Beijing's emphasis on security threatens to turn its re-engagement with the world after years of COVID curbs into a new era of isolation from the West, analysts say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 2, 2023
China's exit bans multiply as political control tightens under Xi
Scores of Chinese and foreign nationals have been ensnared by exit bans, according to a new report by the rights group Safeguard Defenders
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 6, 2023
Landmark Hong Kong national security trial starts two years after arrests
The defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion for participating in an unofficial primary election in 2020.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 31, 2022
Lawyers exit Hong Kong as they face campaign of intimidation
Since a national security law was imposed in June 2020, Hong Kong lawyers have endured severe harassment, pushing many to leave the city.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 4, 2022
Hong Kong leadership contender emerges amid uncertain future
Former police officer John Lee, has signaled his intention to contest an election for the city's top job.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 25, 2022
China steps in to steer Hong Kong's COVID-19 crisis as risks loom
Hong Kong has stepped up anti-coronavirus measures, including plans for mass testing buttressed by equipment, testing vehicles and personnel from the mainland.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Jan 11, 2022
'Colonial wine from new, authoritarian bottles': Hong Kong retools sedition law
The Hong Kong government is expanding its use of a long-dormant sedition law in what some lawyers and democracy advocates say is intensifying a squeeze on press freedom.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 20, 2021
Pro-Beijing candidates sweep 'patriots'-only Hong Kong vote amid low turnout
The turnout of 30.2%, was almost half that of the previous legislative poll in 2016, with the latest results showing almost all of the seats being taken by pro-Beijing candidates.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Dec 16, 2021
Hong Kong's jailed and exiled democrats lament Sunday election
While there is little that can be done now, the jailed democrats have called on the people of Hong Kong to avoid letting the 'external environment corrode you.'
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 11, 2021
Hong Kong opens new modern art museum under national security cloud
The imposition of a sweeping national security law by China last year on its once freest city is casting a pall over the opening of Hong Kong's M+ contemporary art museum.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 26, 2021
Hong Kong's former chief judge says upholding rule of law is not political
The city's judges symbolize a core condition of its return to Chinese rule: the right to a fair trial and equality under the law, administered by an independent judiciary.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 25, 2021
Free speech or secession? 'Liberate Hong Kong' at heart of landmark case
Activists say a ruling to outlaw the slogan will tighten limits on free speech.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 18, 2021
Inside Hong Kong's Apple Daily, China's besieged liberal media icon
Thursday's early-morning raid by 500 police officers was a shock, not only to Apple Daily staffers but to journalists throughout China's freest city.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 11, 2021
China's attacks on 'foreign forces' threaten Hong Kong's global standing, top U.S. envoy says
The comments come as other envoys, business people and activists have spoken about the chilling effect on their relationships and connections across China's most international city.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 27, 2021
Hong Kong security chief threatens Jimmy Lai's bankers with jail if they deal in his accounts
Observers said the action extended the tightening national security apparatus into elite tiers of the banking system for the first time.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 2, 2021
China's electoral reform 'earthquake' set to upend Hong Kong politics
The proposed reform will put further pressure on pro-democracy activists, who are already the subject of a crackdown, and has ruffled the feathers of some Beijing loyalists.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Dec 1, 2020
Democracy darkens: Hong Kong activists reel from Chinese moves
A year after young activists, veteran democrats and others formed the boldest revolt against Beijing in decades, Hong Kong is rapidly being 'mainlandized,' democracy advocates say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 26, 2019
China sets up Hong Kong crisis center in mainland and considers replacing chief liaison
Tightening its control over efforts to manage the upheaval in Hong Kong, the Chinese leadership has set up a crisis command center on the mainland side of the border and is considering replacing its official liaison to the restive semi-autonomous city, people familiar with the matter have said.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 25, 2019
Fresh headache for China after Hong Kong pro-democracy residents rout pro-Beijing candidates
After months of sometimes violent unrest in Hong Kong, an election with record turnout handed a big victory to pro-democracy local district council candidates, posing a new conundrum for Beijing and adding pressure on the city's leader.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Nissan says it will not take new U.S. orders for Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs
A Nissan manufacturing complex in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Nissan says it will not take new orders from the United States for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs following new auto tariffs levied by the U.S.
Japan digs deep to address 'national crisis' caused by Trump tariffs
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on April 1. He has said that Japan is facing a "national crisis" following the introduction of new tariffs by the United States.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Tottori takes a bold leap forward in the arts
The city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture celebrated the opening of its public art museum with festivities such as a parade that drew 1,000 revelers.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.

Podcast

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

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

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