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Japan Times
TENNIS
Jan 18, 2023

Defending champion Nadal crashes out of Australian Open in major upset

The Spanish 36-year-old, who was struggling with what appeared to be a hip injury, fell 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 to American Mackenzie McDonald at Rod Laver Arena.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2023

Foreign visitors to Japan rise over fifteenfold in 2022

In December alone, the number of foreign visitors rose by some 1.5 times from the previous month to 1.37 million, or over 50% of the level in December 2019.
Japan Times
SUMO
Jan 18, 2023

Unstoppable Asanoyama well-positioned for return to top division

After serving a long suspension for violating the Japan Sumo Association's COVID-19 guidelines, the former ozeki is battling his way back to makuuchi with flair.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2023

U.S. military plans to use airport on remote Okinawan island

The U.S. Marine Corps submitted the plan to use the airport for helicopter flight training on the afternoon of Jan. 31, the officials said Tuesday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 18, 2023

China's pessimistic Gen Z poses challenge for Xi post-COVID

Improving young people's livelihoods without abandoning the country's export-led growth model poses inherent conflicts for a government that prioritizes social stability.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 18, 2023

Boris Pistorius to be new German defense minister amid momentous change

The appointment follows the resignation of Christine Lambrecht at a crucial time for the ministry, with Germany under intense pressure to send battle tanks to Ukraine.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jan 18, 2023

Warriors praise Joe Biden on Brittney Griner in White House return

In addition to meeting Biden, head coach Steve Kerr and players Klay Thompson and Moses Moody attended a roundtable discussion with senior White House staffers on gun violence.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Jul 18, 2023

ChatGPT, Bing, Bard and DeepL: Which one offers the best Japanese-to-English translation?

AI is revolutionizing the world of translation, but which tool reigns supreme? We staged a head-to-head battle between ChatGPT-4, Bing, Bard and DeepL … and the results are in.
A woman stands under surveillance cameras on a riverside, during the National People's Congress in Shanghai on March 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 3, 2023

China to its people: Spies are everywhere, help us catch them

China’s ruling Communist Party is enlisting ordinary people to guard against perceived threats to the country.
Billionaire Elon Musk, owner of the X social media platform, pauses during an event with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London on Nov. 2.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 25, 2023

X may lose up to $75 million in revenue as advertisers pull out

Scores of brands have pulled their ads after owner Elon Musk’s endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
An old growth forest near Fort St. James, British Columbia, Canada, in an area where pellet producer Drax is permitted to cut.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jan 14, 2024

Japan's thirst for biomass is having a harmful impact on Canada's forests

Experts and activists say biomass is not the climate solution it might appear to be on the surface and is far from being sustainable.
As their popularity grow, Shein and Temu together send almost 600,000 packages to the U.S. every day.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 22, 2024

Rise of fast-fashion Shein and Temu roils global air cargo industry

Their pursuit of limited air-cargo space to woo consumers with rapid transit times make off-peak seasons almost disappear and cause capacity shortages.
Zhang Yufei during the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in September of last year
OLYMPICS / Swimming
Jun 19, 2024

Eleven swimmers in doping scandal named to Chinese Olympic team

WADA's decision not to punish the swimmers has provoked intense criticism, particularly from the United States.
Outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg addresses a meeting in Brussels last month.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 7, 2024

NATO turns 75 with Ukraine and future on line

Leaders will meet in Washington in the shadow of setbacks in Ukraine and electoral headwinds on both sides of the Atlantic.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2024

How Trump’s intimidation tactics have reshaped the Republican Party

Those seen as disloyal to Trump and his Make America Great Again agenda have been the target of threats by his most ardent supporters.
A woman in Vatican City on July 19 during a heat wave. Projecting temperatures is inherently imprecise because modern humans have never experienced such extremes.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 29, 2023

An overheating planet requires extreme climate solutions

Projections say warming will only get worse, but humans exert control over planet-warming pollution and can change these models’ trajectories.
China with its government subsidies has become a dominant player in the EV market, causing concern in Europe and the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2023

EV leadership means more than just sales figures

EV dominance matters because electric vehicles are the future.
A boat piloted by a Philippine fisherman is intercepted by Chinese coast guard boats as they tried to enter the Scarborough Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 25, 2023

With bullhorns and water cannons, Chinese ships wall off the sea

The world’s most brazen maritime militarization is gaining muscle in the South China Sea, waters through which one-third of global ocean trade passes.
U.S. President Joe Biden joins members of the United Auto Workers union as they strike in Belleville, Michigan, on Sept. 26 to demand higher wages.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2023

Down on the Biden economy: Why Americans aren't happy

The U.S. economy is doing well. Why, then, are people not satisfied? The answer lies in their pockets.
Thon Soukhon, who has been a ranger in Virachey since the forest became one of Cambodia’s first national parks in 1993, holds a rope as he crosses a rain-swollen river within the protected area.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Oct 29, 2023

In the name of sustainability, Cambodia risks its ‘final frontier’ of biodiversity

Virachey National Park is a rare untouched wilderness in Southeast Asia, but potential hydropower plans threaten its future.
Petroleum pipelines and fuel storage tanks at a refinery near Manama, Bahrain, in 2017
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 18, 2023

To meet climate goals, Gulf countries will have to overhaul everything

The growing oil-rich region faces myriad challenges as the world pushes to decarbonize.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a munitions factory at an undisclosed location in this picture released on Jan. 10.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 26, 2024

Is North Korea's Kim preparing for an actual war?

Some believe he may be disillusioned with diplomacy and is girding for conflict; others think the provocations are timed to coincide with U.S. and South Korean elections.
Military vehicles carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles during a military parade in Beijing in 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

Fear and ambition propel Xi’s nuclear acceleration

As China’s arsenal grows, its military looks to warheads as both defensive shield and potential sword — to intimidate and subjugate adversaries.
Beyond factors such as the "motherhood penalty," Japanese women struggle to advance in their careers due to the structure of the workforce, including the two-tiered clerical versus managerial track.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2024

Why is it taking so long to break the glass ceiling?

Japan isn't unique in having a thick glass ceiling, but some factors don't apply to other countries, like the U.S., where many more managers are women.
Both China and Russia may believe there will never be a more opportune moment to overthrow American dominance than now. And should the two combine their forces, they could represent the most serious challenge to the global economic and strategic order since 1945.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2024

The threat to American hegemony is real

Russia and China might be tempted to threaten America's hegemony with a simultaneous and coordinated challenge.
Sudanese refugees fleeing the conflict in the country's Darfur region cross the border into Chad in August.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2024

Humanitarian catastrophes and the world's forgotten conflicts

Tragically, there are global catastrophes that, by virtue of their longevity and their distance from us, have fallen out of sight.
Japan is shifting its defense strategy to prioritize logistics and supply chain resilience, recognizing them as critical components of its overall defense capability.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 18, 2024

Real defense demands more than just being able to fight

U.S. Gen. Omar Bradley famously warned that “amateurs talk strategy and professionals talk logistics.”
People stand near the scene of a strike on industrial buildings in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 17.
WORLD
Jun 29, 2024

Russia sends waves of troops to the front in a brutal style of fighting

Despite huge losses, Russia is recruiting 25,000 to 30,000 new soldiers a month — roughly as many as are exiting the battlefield, U.S. officials have said.
U.S. President Joe Biden has seen Republican Donald Trump take a lead of six points, according to two prominent national polls, intensifying pressure on the beleaguered Democratic incumbent to drop out of the presidential race.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2024

Biden struggles to contain mounting pressure to drop out of race

Numerous Democratic lawmakers are contemplating signing a letter urging Biden to withdraw from the race, according to a senior party official.

Longform

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