author

 
Menu
Search
 
August 15, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

James Pomfret
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 18, 2019
As cramped Hong Kong eyes $64 billion island-building plan, critics say developers are hoarding unused land
Hong Kong's government says it needs to build billions of dollars' worth of artificial islands to give the city's glittering skyline room to grow, but critics say developers are hoarding unused land that could solve the problem.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 19, 2018
Before a packed court, three Hong Kong Occupy leaders plead not guilty to public nuisance charges
Three leaders of Hong Kong's 2014 pro-democracy Occupy movement, which paralyzed parts of the Chinese-ruled city for nearly three months, denied public nuisance charges on Monday as international criticism of the erosion of civil liberties grows.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 17, 2018
Hong Kong's freedoms under scrutiny as Occupy democracy leaders face trial
Nine leaders of Hong Kong's 2014 civil disobedience Occupy Central movement go on trial Monday at a time when the Chinese-ruled financial hub's civil liberties are coming under increasing strain.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Sep 21, 2018
China tightens embrace of Hong Kong with bullet train and other giant projects
Hong Kong's first bullet train will glide out of a sleek harbor-front railway station bound for mainland China on Saturday, launching a new era of integration — and raising fears among some for the territory's cherished freedoms.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 21, 2017
Upcoming China-Hong Kong bridge: unifying link, or tentacle of Beijing control?
As a 30-km (19-mile) bridge between Hong Kong and China across the Pearl River estuary nears completion, Chinese officials are hoping it will bring more than economic integration at a time of growing tension between the two sides.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 4, 2017
Hong Kong's restive youth prepare for long struggle with Beijing
With China's preferred candidate selected as Hong Kong's next chief executive, another blow to the morale of the city's democracy activists, their young leaders are taking a page from Beijing's playbook and preparing for a long battle.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 4, 2016
Democracy hopes crushed in Chinese village
Hopes for democracy in the Chinese village of Wukan, where an uprising against corruption five years ago gained global notice and led to direct village elections, have all but evaporated, with protest leaders either in detention, in exile, facing arrest or quitting their posts.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 14, 2015
How smuggled workers power 'Made in China'
On a quiet river bend on the China-Vietnam border, a group of people clambered up a muddy bank. They had just glided across the river from the Vietnamese side in a longboat, guided by men on both banks signaling with flashlights.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 21, 2015
China extends reach into Hong Kong to thwart democrats
Hong Kong's democrats have won their battle to veto a Beijing-backed electoral reform package, but they now face an increasingly organized campaign by pro-Chinese government movements in the longer war over the democratic future of the former British colony.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 15, 2014
How China spies on Hong Kong's democrats
James To was growing uneasy. When the veteran Hong Kong Democratic Party lawmaker looked in his rearview mirror, two silver Mercedes Benz saloons kept appearing behind his gray Volvo sedan.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 13, 2014
China likely to covertly muzzle Hong Kong to prevent new protests
As the dust settles on Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, China is likely to embark on a sweeping but covert campaign across the territory's judiciary, media and universities to ensure there is no recurrence, activists and politicians say.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 11, 2014
'We'll be back,' Hong Kong protesters chant as main camp site dismantled
Hong Kong police arrested prodemocracy activists and cleared most of the main protest site on Thursday, marking an end to more than two months of street demonstrations in the Chinese-controlled city, but many chanted: "We will be back."
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 2, 2014
Hong Kong warns protesters not to return after clashes close government HQ
Thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists forced the temporary closure of government headquarters on Monday after clashing with police, defying orders to retreat after more than two months of sustained protests in the Chinese-controlled city.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 11, 2014
China asserts paternal rights over Hong Kong in clash over democracy
Just days before China was set to deliver its edict on electoral reform in Hong Kong, Beijing's most senior official in the city held a rare meeting with several local lawmakers whose determined push for full democracy had incensed Beijing's communist leaders.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 1, 2014
Hong Kong braces for protests as China rules out full democracy
Prodemocracy activists vowed on Sunday to bring Hong Kong's financial hub to a standstill after China's parliament rejected their demands for the right to freely choose the former British colony's next leader in 2017.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Jul 1, 2014
Beijing quietly tightening grip on Hong Kong
Since Britain handed back colonial Hong Kong in 1997, retired primary school teacher and Falun Gong devotee Lau Wai-hing has fully exercised the freedoms China promised this city of 7.2 million.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 19, 2014
Hong Kong democracy 'referendum' set to rile Chinese rulers
Hong Kong holds a controversial "referendum" on democracy on Friday, a prelude to an escalating campaign of dissent that could shut down the former British colony's financial district and further anger China's Communist Party leaders.
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

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

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER