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November 21, 2024
 

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Tim Culpan
Although air travel in Asia has picked up since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is still below 2019 levels, with many passengers preferring to travel shorter distances.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2024
Asian airlines face a cold summer
Despite seemingly positive results, air travel in Asia hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels, with many of the continent's travelers preferring to stay closer to home.
China isn’t worried that Hyundai and other South Korean firms will outcompete locals. However, their presence ensures a continued supply of production factors: equipment, chemicals and labor.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2024
Why China wants South Korea to stay open
Countries push for free trade when they have an edge. Beijing knows it.
With U.S. protectionism hindering Chinese electric vehicle makers' overseas expansions, Japanese giants like Honda are poised to capitalize.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 24, 2024
Japan is poised to fill an EV gap left by China
A new Honda facility in Canada shows that Asia’s auto industry is ready to meet North American needs.
Wind turbines off the coast of Zhunan Township, Taiwan. Misguided policies threaten to sink outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen’s hopes of achieving his renewable energy targets.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2024
Taiwan’s wind power ambitions are in peril
Misguided policies threaten to sink outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen’s renewable energy targets, putting a lot on the incoming administration's plate.
Vietnam is sitting on around 17% of the world’s known rare-earth reserves, second only to China. 
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2024
Vietnam should seize a 'rare' opportunity to take on China
Vietnamese officials have approved plans to supercharge rare-earths production, aiming to process as much as 62,500 tons of the minerals by 2030.
Hyundai Motor's Casper mini sport utility vehicles on a production line at a factory in Gwangju, South Korea, in October 2021
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2024
A hidden hero will drive Korean trade closer to the U.S.
The U.S. is fast catching up to China as a destination for South Korean goods, lagging by just 1.4 percentage points last year.
The single biggest factor that will make satellites more accessible is the advent of private launch providers led by SpaceX.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 5, 2024
You too may one day have your own satellite
Demand for personal satellites will rise as their uses range from monitoring crops to watching over the family dog.
The burned wreckage of a Japan Airlines passenger plane lies on the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Wednesday. AFP-JIJI
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 4, 2024
One of aviation’s biggest challenges played out on a Tokyo runway
Authorities across the globe are aware of the need to prevent runway incursions — lessons from the Haneda crash may bring us a step closer to eliminating them.
Eom Dong-hwan, South Korea's minister for its defense acquisition program and administration, speaks at a ceremony marking Poland's receiving of its first delivery of South Korean K2 Black Panther tanks and K9 self-propelled howitzers in Gdynia, Poland, in December 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2023
South Korea’s defense ambitions can be met by tech
Decades of facing down North Korea has forced Seoul to slowly build its own arms-producing capabilities instead of relying heavily on the U.S.
A cryptocurrency mining center in Russia
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2023
Bitcoin’s power-hungry history offers lessons for AI’s future
As AI grows, so does its energy footprint, but its developers needn't look much further than bitcoin's recent past to find climate-friendly solutions.
Japan's HII-A rocket carrying a lunar lander is prepared for launch at Tanegashima Space Centre on Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture on Aug. 27.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 6, 2023
Yes, we do need another moonshot — or five
This renewed interest in moon landings is stoking fears of increased rivalry and another arms race.
An efficient, just-in-time strategy for manufacturing made Toyota’s production system famous.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 30, 2023
Toyota shuts factories, investors shrug. That’s resilience.
An efficient, just-in-time strategy for manufacturing made Toyota’s production system famous.
Superconductors are materials that exhibit no electrical resistance and eliminate magnetic fields. South Korean researchers think they may have created a compound that achieves that at room-temperature.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2023
LK-99 and the desperation for scientific discovery
The new room-temperature superconductor LK-99 could change the world. Or not.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2023
AI is helping create the chips that design AI chips
The human role in artificial intelligence development is slowly being handed over to machines and algorithms.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 28, 2023
Japan’s latest chip deal shows a savvy strategy shift
There’s reason to believe the $6 billion bid for JSR won’t repeat previous failures
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2023
This key health metric still evades gadget makers
Measuring blood pressure has been around for more than a century, but is proving tricky to digitize.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2023
Where will startups turn to now that SVB is gone?
Silicon Valley Bank played an important role in financial innovation tied to the world’s tech hub. Its demise could be profound.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2023
Splitting up social media may be its only hope
Keeping different groups away from each other could be the best way to prevent a total meltdown of digital society.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 9, 2023
SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son may have one big bet left
The Vision Funds are almost exhausted, so the company will be looking for something else to buy in order to boost returns.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2023
Bet you didn't know you needed a sleep coach
Getting quality sleep is starting to look like a competitive sport in today's health-obsessed society.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
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