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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2023

Why the future of technology is so hard to predict

It's 2023, yet we're not all riding Segways, having sex with robots or cloning humans. What gives?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2023

In defense of the art-targeting climate activists

The eco-activists targeting masterpieces can claim that civil disobedience is justified by the failure of our democracies to show sufficient concern about future generations.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 5, 2023

CCTV cameras will watch over Egyptians in new high-tech capital

Installing more than 6,000 surveillance cameras across the New Administrative Capital may help with safety, but it also gives authorities an unparalleled ability to police public spaces.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Jan 2, 2023

Recruitment issues undermining Japan’s military buildup

The SDF faces an uphill battle as it struggles with a falling birthrate and increased competition with the private sector over a shrinking pool of applicants.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Women at Work
Dec 27, 2022

Battling the odds to rise to the top: One woman's career in the IT sector

Yuki Shingu found taking a career break to help nurse her ailing father gave her a broader perspective on her rise through company ranks.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2022

Java without java? The crisis brewing in coffee

The Indonesian island is a byword for caffeine. The woes piling up for the coffee industry are on full display.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 23, 2022

What Taiwan can learn from Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy knew his audience when he addressed a joint session of Congress in Washington, Taipei should do the same if it wants to secure U.S. support.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 21, 2022

10 years after Sandy Hook, a mother's grief and healing

The massacre shocked America and the world, sparked heightened security measures at schools and renewed a contentious fight for gun control laws that continues a decade later.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Dec 15, 2022

Children of India's burning coalfields dream of a fire-free future

Youth face an uphill struggle in an area where there is no other thriving industry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2022

Sho Miyake's ‘Small, Slow but Steady’ brings audiences into a silent ring

Rather than try to beat the 'Rocky' movies at their own game, the director subverts tropes and focuses on the beauty of boxing in his film about a deaf pro fighter.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 6, 2022

From flickering fireflies to lowly dung beetles, insects are vanishing

Amid deforestation, pollution and climate change, bugs are struggling — along with the crops, flowers and animals that rely on them to survive.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 24, 2022

Will the world abort women's rights after death of Roe v. Wade?

Women and girls around the world will suffer a knock-on effect from the U.S. decision to roll back abortion rights, experts say, predicting a global clampdown on hard-won female freedoms.
Candidates for the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election take part in a debate in Tokyo on Saturday. On Monday evening, they took part in an online debate, during which they each made a case for what the top priority should be for Japan's next prime minister.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 17, 2024

LDP presidential hopefuls lay out priorities for PM in online debate

Regional revitalization, work-life balance and the clarification of the Self-Defense Forces' position in the Constitution count among candidates' top policy concerns.
Marina Tsukada got the idea for her anthology “Mitsuki, Sekai” from her acquaintance with the two young lead actors, whom she first met at a video workshop she conducted in Nagano Prefecture.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 20, 2024

Marina Tsukada lets local lives shape her work

The director’s latest, “Mitsuki, Sekai,” is part of an ongoing project that traces the lives of Nagano Prefecture-based children for a decade until they reach adulthood.
The tech platforms contributing to social instability should financially support independent journalism as a way to combat misinformation and promote a healthier society.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2024

How independent journalism can save society from the effects of Big Tech

Independent journalism is critical in verifying facts, exposing corruption, addressing societal issues and contrasting it all with the negative impacts of Big Tech.
Bourgeois is perhaps best known among the general public for her giant steel spider sculptures, particularly in Tokyo, where a nearly 10-meter tall bronze cast of the original spider has loomed over the walkway in Roppongi Hills since 2003.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 4, 2024

Japan’s biggest Louise Bourgeois exhibit yet leans into ambivalence

At Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, a large-scale retrospective of the visionary artist emphasizes her complex feelings toward femininity, memory, parenthood and the human body.
Without Japanese outdoorsman George Masa, America might not have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — so why do so many people in Japan not know he existed?
COMMUNITY / Issues
Oct 7, 2024

The forgotten Japanese naturalist who created a U.S. national park

George Masa was an enigmatic figure, but his contributions to preserving America's natural beauty are unassailable.
Ayato (Hayato Isomura) and his younger brother do their best to navigate difficult life circumstances in “The Young Strangers.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 10, 2024

‘The Young Strangers’: A tough watch but thrillingly alive

Takuya Uchiyama’s drama about two brothers trying to make it from one day to the next is audacious and emotionally wrenching.
Two childhood friends (Hayato Kurihara, left, and Yukito Hidaka) living in a near-future Japan see a rise in student protests against oppressive surveillance in “Happyend.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 10, 2024

‘Happyend’ tests teen friendship with authoritarian dystopia

Neo Sora’s ambitious coming-of-age film follows a group of friends attempting to disrupt a surveillance society with something less than life-or-death urgency.
British cyclist Chris Hoy takes part in a parade during a celebration to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth, in London in June 2022.
MORE SPORTS / Cycling
Oct 20, 2024

Six-time Olympic track cycling champion Chris Hoy reveals he has terminal cancer

The announcement comes after the 48-year-old Scot said in February he was feeling "optimistic and positive" as he was undergoing treatment.
Kazuya Shiraishi's "11 Rebels," a period actioner based on a long-forgotten script by Kazuo Kasahara, will open this year's Tokyo International Film Festival.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2024

Tokyo International Film Festival boasts strong line-up of Japanese fare

An excellent chance to see films from Japan, Asia and around the world, the annual event will kick off with Kazuya Shiraishi's gritty action feature "11 Rebels."
Today's religious thinkers face the challenge of demonstrating that faith offers deeper meaning and understanding in an increasingly secular world.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 30, 2024

Is the world ready for a religious comeback?

Individuals are seeking meaning through alternative avenues, suggesting a readiness for religious discourse.
Suzumi Suzuki’s “Gifted,” translated by Allison Markin Powell, centers on a hostess working in Kabukicho. Rather than focusing on the protagonist’s occupation, the story plunges the reader into her strained relationship with her dying mother.  
CULTURE / Books
Nov 3, 2024

A nuanced glimpse into the cloistered world of Kabukicho

Drawing on her own experience working in adult entertainment, Suzumi Suzuki crafts a fresh, visceral work for her debut novel, "Gifted"
A cruel twist of fate upends the life of Jin Ai-hsia (Sylvia Chang) in "Daughter's Daughter," director Huang Xi's meditation on maternal grief.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2024

Chinese ghosts and grief compete at Tokyo International Film Festival

A slate of evocative features at Tokyo's major film event showcased established and upcoming directors from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Shurei Sasai in Nagpur, India, on Oct. 13
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2024

Monk from Japan works to lead people in India to Buddhism

Shurei Sasai has been devoting his life to freeing people from discrimination based on the Indian caste system for more than half a century.
Izumi Suzuki’s autobiographical novel “Set My Heart on Fire” is the first novel by the author and actor to appear in English.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 12, 2024

‘Set My Heart on Fire’: Izumi Suzuki captures the heady cravings of youth

The cult writer’s autobiographical novel follows its unapologetic groupie narrator as she romps through Yokohama’s underground music scene in the 1970s.
Liberty Oilfield Services CEO Chris Wright rings a ceremonial bell to celebrate the company's IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in January 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 17, 2024

Trump nominates fracking magnate and climate skeptic as energy secretary

A vocal proponent of oil and gas, Chris Wright says the threat of global warming is exaggerated and fossil fuels are crucial for spreading prosperity.
U.S. gymnastics team coach Bela Karolyi watches over a training session in Sydney in September 2000.
OLYMPICS
Nov 17, 2024

Famed gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi dies at 82

Known as a strict disciplinarian, Karolyi was a controversial figure at times.
After almost a decade of traveling around the world, a working holiday during the 2019 ski season in Nozawa Onsen was to be Rowie Geraerts’ last hurrah before she settled down in Australia.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 25, 2024

How a solo yoga teacher built a wellness community in the Japanese Alps

A budding entrepreneur from Australia, Rowie Geraerts has created Shizen Collective in Nozawa Onsen — a new home for herself, locals and visitors.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?