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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 21, 2021

Top ByteDance investor to weigh $500 million stake sale

The future of the world's most valuable startup is unclear as Beijing's scrutiny over the Chinese tech giants intensifies.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2021

China signals firms will face tougher regulation in coming years

Investors have been seeking to make sense of a regulatory onslaught in recent weeks that has roiled markets.
Japan Times
EDITORIALS
Jul 16, 2021

South China Sea ruling was not just empty words

Beijing believes that there should be no checks on the pursuit of its national interests and that in Asia, at least, its preferences should take precedence over all other considerations.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2021

Wuhan lab dispute obscures a more pressing problem

Senior Chinese officials acknowledge their country's “clear shortcomings” in its high-level biosafety labs in comparison with the U.S. and warned of insufficient operating funds.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 25, 2021

Tokyo's art scene looks back at recent history

Asian artists and curators examine the present through the lens of the past.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 7, 2021

Suicides in Japan dropped for a decade. Then the pandemic hit.

Economic insecurity, social isolation and the lingering dread that those you love can suddenly fall victim to the pathogen have stirred a toxic mix of stress and anxiety.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Jan 29, 2021

Racing the virus: Why tweaking vaccines to fight variants won't be simple

After developing and rolling out COVID-19 vaccines at record speed, drugmakers are already facing variants of the rapidly-evolving coronavirus that may render them ineffective.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2020

While we're waiting for electric cars to fully charge, how about hybrids?

Investors have run up the stock prices of electric car companies and their valuations far higher than the businesses really warrant.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 6, 2020

Biden officials to look to repair alliances and help mend Tokyo-Seoul ties

Trump's 'America First' moves have left something of a leadership vacuum that Beijing has been more than willing to attempt to fill — one of Japan's biggest fears.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 20, 2020

Peak China: an illusion or wishful thinking?

China is not as powerful or as vulnerable as people think.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 31, 2020

U.S. spies unclear on COVID-19 spread in China, North Korea and Russia

As U.S. spy agencies seek to assemble a precise picture of the world's coronavirus outbreaks, they are finding serious gaps in their ability to assess the situation in China, Russia and North Korea, according to five U.S. government sources familiar with the intelligence reporting.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 5, 2020

Tech firms can track your COVID-19 searches

Facebook, Google, Amazon and others have their fingers on the pulse of public sentiment about the coronavirus.
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2019

Collective action needed to meet existential threats

The threats posed by climate change and mass surveillance will worsen if we continue the laissez-faire approach that fails to intervene and bend both phenomena toward more sustainable trajectories.
Japan Times
LIFE / EVENTS AND INFORMATION
Jul 25, 2019

Prizewinners to give lectures

A Belgian environment professor and an American historian have won this year's Blue Planet Prize, a Japanese environmental award sponsored by the nonprofit Asahi Glass Foundation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jun 22, 2019

David Wang: Designing a space between Asia and the world

Now that technology has made it so easy to get the word out, it's a great time for Japanese brands to join the Asian online marketplace says David Wang of Pinkoi.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2019

What if zero interest rates are the new normal?

Excessive monetary finance is hugely harmful, and it is dangerous to view it as a costless way to solve long-term challenges.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2019

See Iran's revolution as Iranians do

It was not about 'Muslim rage.' It was a rebellion against a Westernized, undemocratic technocracy.
Japan Times
Singapore report 2018
Nov 15, 2018

50 years of contribution, commitment and growth in Singapore

This year marks the golden jubilee anniversary of Daikin Airconditioning Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Daikin Singapore). Through the slogan, “Together, we are 1,” the company remains as committed to Singapore today as it has been for the last five decades.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2018

Japanese buzzwords of 2018 nominees reflect myriad influences and issues

Thirty candidates for buzzword of the year, announced Wednesday, highlight the numerous scandals that rocked Japan's amateur sports, the brutal summer of natural disasters as well as the country's response to the worldwide #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.
People walk along Wall Street in New York.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 11, 2024

Wall Street math wizards are decoding private-market returns

Decoding such illiquid investments is fraught with pitfalls, however, as many modeling mortgage bonds and derivatives before the financial crisis would testify.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. He, 69, is a Politburo member and Beijing’s point person for U.S.-China economic and trade affairs.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 14, 2024

Xi’s key players to lead China in another Trump trade fight

Donald Trump’s return to power makes Beijing’s potential negotiators some of the most important people in Xi Jinping’s government.
Film festivals around the world are giving space to AI-generated cinematic experiences, with Venice and Cannes among the heavy hitters with sections dedicated to "immersive" works, including those made using virtual and augmented reality.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 23, 2024

Asia’s film industry should balance AI with human creativity

AI is revolutionizing cinema. Japan and Asia as a whole are well-positioned to harness technology to empower storytelling while retaining film's essentially human nature.
Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, South Korea's main opposition party, leaves after delivering a public statement on the impeachment motion against acting President Han Duck-soo at the National Assembly in Seoul on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2024

In South Korea’s impeachment saga, who’s really in trouble?

Lee Jae-myung, facing six criminal cases, needs an election before any convictions are finalized, as a conviction could disqualify him from running for president.
“The Place of Shells” takes place mostly in Gottingen, Germany, where both the author and the book's narrator live, while also jumping both geographically and temporally to Sendai, Japan, through memories of the 3/11 disaster and its aftermath.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 10, 2025

Grief ebbs and flows between two tragedies in 'The Place of Shells'

Mai Ishizawa’s debut novel, which won one of the three Akutagawa Prizes awarded in 2021, is also her first to be released in English, translated by Polly Barton.
Japan, despite facing multiple territorial disputes, lacks a dedicated university program on the issue, unlike Western countries, and would benefit from an interdisciplinary academic initiative to foster expertise.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 17, 2025

Japan needs academic programs focused on territorial issues

While many countries have territorial disputes with their neighbors — in fact, there are at least 150 active disputes worldwide — Japan faces issues with nearly all its neighbors.
Japan forward Mina Tanaka dribbles during a SheBelieves Cup match against Australia in Houston on Feb. 20.
SOCCER
Mar 20, 2025

How Mina Tanaka evolved into a prolific striker for Nadeshiko Japan

Mina Tanaka is having a moment. The Nadeshiko Japan and Utah Royals striker dominated the SheBelieves Cup, winning both MVP and top scorer as Japan defeated the U.S.
Rengo President Tomoko Yoshino speaks at a Democratic Party for the People convention in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, on Feb. 11.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Apr 6, 2025

Breaking with tradition: From the shop floor to fighting for millions

Tomoko Yoshino has rubbed shoulders with political heavyweights and business leaders as the first female leader of Rengo.
Yuki Tejima, who runs the Instagram account booknerdtokyo, hesitated to try her hand at literary translation until she won an award at the International Translation Contest.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 29, 2025

Yuki Tejima's metamorphosis from bookworm to literary translator

An Instagram “bookfluencer” and professional translator for over 10 years, Tejima’s love of books was, strangely enough, a hurdle to working in literary translation.
A television station broadcasts U.S. President Donald Trump speaking during a Rose Garden event, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Apr 8, 2025

Frustrated world leaders wonder if Trump even wants a deal

U.S. President Donald Trump has set a high bar, telling reporters that any agreements would need to eliminate bilateral trade deficits.
A rescue worker stands in front of a damaged building following a strong earthquake, in Mandalay, Myanmar, on April 3.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 11, 2025

Making money out of a disaster: Fake news and the Myanmar quake

Online schemes prey on the heightened fears and appetite for news that follow any disaster or outbreak of war.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.