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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 30, 2022

How bad is China’s COVID outbreak? It’s a scientific guessing game.

In the absence of credible information from the Chinese government, researchers around the world are looking for any clues to determine the size and severity of the COVID-19 surge.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Nov 12, 2022

Dying lands: Farmers fight to save the 'skin of the Earth'

In America's dusty Corn Belt this spring, the land was drowning. In China's Yangtze River basin, it's bone dry. Farmers in both are fighting a losing battle to save the soil.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Oct 10, 2022

Empire of steel: Where Japan’s railways stand after 150 years of evolution

Much has changed since the country's first railway line between Tokyo and Yokohama laid the foundation for a world-renowned network of trains to be created.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2022

More robots, less cash and new Shibuya await tourists back to Japan

Japan is opening up again after closing its borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic for almost three years — and boy have things changed. Here's a quick rundown of what to expect.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 1, 2022

Deadly floods are wreaking global havoc

In a paradoxical turn, the torrents have come at a time when the planet is also besieged by crippling drought and dwindling rivers.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 22, 2022

The world’s roads aren’t ready for a hotter planet

With temperatures rising and heat waves more frequent and intense, roads are increasingly vulnerable to global warming.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Jul 4, 2022

Climb every mountain: Japan’s female mountaineers scale new heights

As hikers prepare to ascend on Mount Fuji for the 2022 season, it's worth celebrating the achievements of the nation's female climbers both above and below the clouds
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 27, 2022

Hokkaido sake brewer looks to post-COVID gastro-tourism market

While Kyoto and Hiroshima are likely be the go-to choices for many first-time visitors to Japan, Hokkaido could be a tempting travel experience for those visiting again.
At each shrine and temple, priests create festive, decorative go-shuin stamps, and you can collect the marks of all seven of the lucky gods on one piece of paper (called a shikishi) to serve as a good-luck talisman.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 27, 2024

Start the new year not with one temple visit, but seven

The seven lucky gods pilgrimage is a less hurried alternative to the often-crowded first temple or shrine visit of the year.
The central Hokkaido city of Asahikawa made headlines this year when one of its suburbs was named as the best place to live in Japan — a ranking earned in part due to the community's many outstanding restaurants and cafes.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 28, 2024

How Hokkaido quietly became a culinary treasure trove in 2024

Food trucks, morsels with cutesy cues from nature and more helped Japan’s northernmost island have a stellar year.
Photos taken from the same place but at different times in the Noto Peninsula towns of Wajima (left) and Suzu illustrate the progress made following the devastating earthquake that hit these areas of Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1, 2024.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 1, 2025

A year after a deadly earthquake, Noto Peninsula still faces long road to recovery

Reconstruction remains a prolonged and complex ordeal for cities in the worst-hit areas, with recovery further hampered by torrential rains in September.
Hogwarts Castle at Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California. There are influential American works of fantasy like “The Wizard of Oz” and “American Gods,” but they lack the cohesive, enduring impact of European counterparts such as the “Harry Potter” and “The Chronicles of Narnia” series.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2025

America needs a 'Great American Fantasy'

There is a lack of a distinctly "Great American Fantasy" in literature and popular culture.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on a pair of Orion augmented reality glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2025

Meta shelves fact-checking in policy reversal ahead of Trump inauguration

It plans to implement on Facebook, Instagram and Threads a system of "community notes" similar to that used on rival X.
Smoke from the Pacific Palisades fire blankets the area in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Researchers see a growing health danger from the vast plumes of pollution spawned by wildfires like the ones devastating Los Angeles.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 12, 2025

Far from the Los Angeles fires, the deadly risks of smoke are intensifying

By some estimates, wildfire smoke causes as many as 675,000 premature deaths a year worldwide, as well as a range of serious health problems.
The Nvidia headquarters in Santa Clara, California
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 14, 2025

White House unveils new curbs on exporting Nvidia AI chips

The rules, which are set to take effect in one year, establish caps on the amount of computing power that can be sold to most countries.
Those who lived in Japan’s Nara Period, which lasted from the year 710 to 794, by and large knew themselves to be blessed. It wasn’t just those in power who felt it, either. From nobles to commoners, the poets seemed to have democratized joy itself.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jan 17, 2025

From Genji to 'hikikomori,' how we make peace with disappearing

Japan’s reverence for impermanence reveals a profound connection between beauty and loss, from poetic musings to spiritual retreats, echoing in modern expressions of solitude.
John Adolph holds his son, Remy, as he stays with his friends after his home in Altadena was damaged during the Eaton Fire, in Eagle Rock, California, on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 20, 2025

Displaced by wildfires, Los Angeles' residents search for a place to live

In the wake of the wildfires, rents in Los Angeles have surged, and uncertainty over insurance settlements has left some of the displaced in limbo.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum speaks during a news conference in Mexico City on Jan. 13.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2025

How Mexico is readying for Trump’s promised mass deportations

The country has launched a panic app for those detained and lined up more than 2,600 lawyers and nearly 2,200 consulate workers.
The Osaka Expo site on Yumeshima island in December. A survey of 3,000 people from across Japan conducted in October by the Mitsubishi Research Institute showed that just 24% of respondents expressed an interest in attending the Osaka Expo.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 4, 2025

Excitement for the Osaka Expo is low. Can organizers build hype?

A little over two months before it opens, the Osaka Expo is just about ready to welcome guests from Japan and the rest of the world — that is, if they are ready to come.
People line up outside an Apple store in Beijing.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2025

Apple’s China focus thrusts it into center of geopolitical fight

It counts China as its biggest manufacturing hub and the U.S. as its largest market, putting it at the center of an escalating geopolitical fight.
A Self-Defense Forces member leads residents in Fukamimachi, a village in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, to a rescue helicopter, on a destroyed road in January last year.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2025

Japan to subsidize efforts to prevent emergency roads from collapsing

Many roads built on piled-up soil collapsed after a powerful earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in January 2024.
The Thai Royal Police held a meeting on Monday in Bangkok with representatives from 18 countries, including Japan, as well as international organizations like the United Nations regarding the transnational scam operation.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 18, 2025

Japanese nationals thought to be held captive at Myanmar-Thailand border

Foreign nationals from several countries have been held at the border and forced to participate in a variety of scams.
Nauru is selling citizenship to fund its retreat from rising seas as other climate finance runs dry.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 28, 2025

Nauru sells citizenship to fund climate change mitigation

The island nation of around 13,000 residents is planning a mass inland relocation as creeping seas start to eat away at its fertile coastal fringe.
A man looks at an electric car inside an SAIC-GM Wuling dealership in Jakarta. Electric vehicle sales in Indonesia totaled just 43,188 last year.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 4, 2025

China’s EV makers are facing a reality check in Southeast Asia

Despite local aspirations to own EVs, they are still beyond the reach of many, and access to a reliable source of electricity is also not always a given.
Federal law enforcement agents led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement prepare to conduct an arrest south of Atlanta, Georgia, on Feb. 5.
WORLD / Society
Mar 12, 2025

Amid Trump deportation threats, U.S. communities prepare

The harsh rhetoric and detentions are intensifying into a pounding drum beat that is prompting new action from civic groups.
Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali at a season launch event on Feb. 18 in London.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Mar 16, 2025

Formula One boss to visit Thailand for talks on Bangkok race

The Italian ex-Ferrari boss, who has just extended his contract to remain F1 president until 2029, is keen to examine new markets as the sport soars in popularity.
Takashi Tachibana, leader of the Party to Protect the People from NHK, delivers his first campaign speech for the Chiba gubernatorial election on Feb. 27 in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 17, 2025

Controversial candidate draws criticism in Chiba election

Takashi Tachibana mainly campaigned in Hyogo Prefecture, hundreds of kilometers away.
Shogo Yamaguchi shares his love of traditional Japanese culture with an audience of nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 29, 2025

Shogo Yamaguchi: ‘Traditional culture thrives in a peaceful society’

The Kyoto-based content creator shares travel tips and reminisces on the path that led him to where he is today.
A worker cuts Inada granite, which is used in various buildings in Tokyo.
ESG CONSORTIUM
Apr 1, 2025

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

In 2024, the Tsukuba massif granite of the Mt. Tsukuba Area Geopark was certified by the International Union of Geological Sciences as one of the first 55 IUGS Heritage Stones, which have been “used in significant architecture and monuments” and “recognized as integral aspects of human culture.”...
A drone view shows a coffee plantation in Guaxupe, Brazil, on Feb. 17.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 1, 2025

Brazil's coffee farmers turn to costly irrigation to quench global demand for the brew

Most farms in the western part of Bahia — a new frontier for coffee growing in Brazil — are now irrigated.

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