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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2023

BOJ watchers see earlier policy shift after December’s surprise

While a survey of 43 economists showed all but one predicting the central bank to leave policy unchanged next week, some 38% of respondents now forecast moves either in April or June.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 13, 2023

Unpacking the limits to Japan’s military awakening

Japan must find ways to frustrate China's furtive efforts to alter the regional status quo while avoiding the risk of open combat.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2023

Japan's Daiichi Sankyo applies for approval of mRNA COVID vaccine

An approval would give Japan a homegrown mRNA vaccine — a vaccine type that has played a dominant role in the country's COVID-19 inoculation drive to this point.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 13, 2023

South Korea calls for 24 to be charged over deadly crowd crush

Most of the officers were there mainly for crime prevention and authorities have been faulted for not doing more to control the crowd.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2023

Japan expects local FTX clients to get funds back from February

The plan, if successful, would be a rare example of investors getting money back following FTX's epic unraveling about two months ago.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jan 13, 2023

Alex Ramirez and Randy Bass voted into Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame

Two of the most celebrated foreign-born players in NPB history took their place among the greats on Friday afternoon as Alex Ramirez and Randy Bass were voted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2023

Pope Benedict and the art of strategic retirement

Joseph Ratzinger wasn't supposed to be pope. As pope emeritus, he was supposed to go quietly into history. He may be more influential after death.
Japan Times
EDITORIALS
Jan 13, 2023

Health concerns, not pride, should guide COVID-19 travel policy

Apparently China can shut its borders to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infections, but Beijing doesn't think other countries should do the same.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2023

Why America doesn’t know how to stop school shootings

After a ban of more than two decades, the U.S. government is finally funding studies on how to prevent death and injury from firearms.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2023

Even with the electric car boom, the U.S. need for oil is climbing

U.S. consumption of fossil fuels is heading toward records — even amid the electric-car boom — and plastics are to blame.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2023

Tokyo police begin anti-groping campaign ahead of school entrance exams

Tweets that have circulated in the past few years have stated that the annual two-day unified university entrance exam represents “opportune days for groping.”
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2023

Japanese officials question South Korean war labor compensation plan

Korean plaintiffs in wartime labor lawsuits want the Japanese companies themselves to pay compensation, not have a foundation paying on behalf of them.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 26, 2023

My Number woes put digital minister Taro Kono under pressure

Another misstep could deal a further blow to the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and jeopardize the political standing of Kono.
The population of Japanese nationals fell 801,000 in 2022 from a year earlier to 122,423,038, marking the largest drop since the survey began in 1968, government data showed Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 26, 2023

Number of Japanese drops in all 47 prefectures for first time as foreign population surges

As of Jan. 1, Japan's population, including foreign residents, stood at 125,416,877, down around 511,000 from a year earlier.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 26, 2023

Can Japan prevent crimes from happening on trains?

Trains are often targeted for attacks because they offer the most familiar, everyday setting. Railway companies are now exploring ways to bolster security.
Manchester City's Jack Grealish (right) contends for the ball with Bayern's Joshua Kimmich (center) during an international friendly at Tokyo's National Stadium on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Jul 26, 2023

Manchester City delights crowd with narrow win over Bayern

Goals by James Mcatee and Aymeric Laporte were enough to see treble-winning City to victory as it swept both games of its Japan tour.
Two F-15 fighter aircraft from the ASDF fly alongside two Rafale jets and an A400M transport aircraft from the French Air and Space Force as the two forces kicked off Wednesday their first-ever joint fighter exercise in Japan
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2023

France and Japan expand defense ties with first joint fighter jet drills

The drills are scheduled to run from Wednesday to Saturday in the airspace around the Kanto region and the ASDF’s Nyutabaru Air Base in Miyazaki Prefecture.
Then-Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang holds a copy of China's constitution during a news conference at the National People's Congress in Beijing in March.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 26, 2023

China ousts foreign minister as world grasps for clues as to why

There are still several questions over Qin Gang's fate and whether he will continue to serve in the government as a state councilor.
Investigators involved in the case shed light on one of Japan’s biggest crime stories of the 2000s in “Tokyo Police Files: The Lucie Blackman Case.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 27, 2023

‘Tokyo Police Files: The Lucie Blackman Case’: Notorious crime story gets slick Netflix treatment

The detectives are the stars in the Japan-only version of Netflix’s true-crime documentary about a missing-person investigation that captured the nation’s attention.
Cincinnati Opera’s new production of “Madame Butterfly,” directed by Matthew Ozawa, frames the action as a virtual-reality fantasy of Japan.
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 27, 2023

Reimagining ‘Madame Butterfly,’ with Asian creators at the helm

As opera houses rework Puccini’s classic, criticized for stereotypes about women and Japanese culture, artists of Asian descent are playing a central role.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jul 27, 2023

Hoshoryu's Nagoya triumph shows enduring power of Mongolian rikishi

Kirishima and Hoshoryu’s promotions to ozeki have shown that the Mongolian era of sumo dominance isn’t close to concluding just yet.
People attend a mass rally denouncing the U.S. in Pyongyang on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 27, 2023

North Korea, China and Russia mark Korean War anniversary

The celebrations come at a crucial time for Kim Jong Un as he seeks to ease up on pandemic border controls that slammed the brakes on his economy.
A man catches a fish along the bank overlooking the Singapore skyline shrouded by haze in 2015.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 27, 2023

As El Nino fuels fire risk, Southeast Asia faces haze crisis

Officials met in Singapore last month, where they vowed to work together to monitor fires and curb pollution.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a news conference during a NATO leaders summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12.
COMMENTARY / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 27, 2023

Volodymyr Zelenskyy: From a weak anti-war leader to a symbol of the fight for liberation

Shifting away from direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine's leader has called for weapons and galvanized national unity in the face of war.
Shohei Ohtani will start the first game of a doubleheader against the Tigers in Detroit  on Thursday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 27, 2023

Angels move up Shohei Ohtani's next start to Thursday

Thursday's start is expected to be Ohtani's last before the trade deadline.
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Dec. 29. Meloni is expected to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden this week.
WORLD
Jul 27, 2023

Meloni to tell Biden privately Italy plans break with China

The Italian prime minister is not planning to go public on her decision to break with China during her short trip to Washington.
A pharmacist displays boxes of Ozempic, a semaglutide injection drug used for treating type 2 diabetes and obesity made by Novo Nordisk.
WORLD
Jul 27, 2023

U.K. probes weight-loss drug over suicidal, self-harming thoughts

Novo Nordisk said it had been notified by the government's review of potential suicidal and self-harming thoughts related to a specific class of drugs.
The expansionist era is over for Taiwan's life insurance industry.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2023

U.S. interest rate hikes haunt Taiwan’s $1 trillion life insurance industry

Over the past year, local regulators have repeatedly loosened operating rules after a cocktail of unrealized investment losses.

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