Search - 2022

 
 
People walk on the bank of the frozen Spree river in Berlin in 2021.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 27, 2023

EU forecasts a more comfortable winter ahead without Russian gas

Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline had accounted for 15% of Europe's gas imports in 2021.
ASML is the world’s only maker of very high-end semiconductor lithography equipment and is one of Europe’s most valuable technology companies.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 27, 2023

ASML to open Hokkaido facility as Japan's chipmaking push gathers steam

The maker of high-end chip equipment, which currently has eight sites in Japan, plans to grow its headcount by around 40%.
A gender-equality supporter protests against discrimination at an event held in Tokyo for International Women's Day in March 2021
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 13, 2023

Japan’s gender gap has never been wider. Can Kishida close it?

The government emphasizes the need to improve gender equality, but correcting Japan's dismal record requires a nuanced approach.
A Chinese warship fires toward the shore during a military drill near the Taiwan-controlled Matsu Islands, which lie off the Chinese coast.
WORLD
Oct 21, 2023

China weighs options to blunt U.S. sanctions in a Taiwan conflict

The sanctions against Russia have prompted Chinese economists and geopolitical analysts to examine how China should mitigate extreme scenarios.
Great Wall Motor's Ora Good Cat electric vehicles are charged at the company's charging station at Siam Square in Bangkok
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 27, 2023

Thailand bets on EVs to draw trillion baht in investment

The country has set up a "special operation” center to catch what its investment board head calls the "big fish” of the EV industry.
The Self-Defense Forces face numerous obstacles in meeting their recruitment targets: Demographics, private-sector competition and image and morale issues.
EDITORIALS
Nov 3, 2023

The SDF has a big problem: Filling its ranks

The Japanese government needs to take steps to address SDF recruitment challenges that put the nation's security at risk.
Blair Masters and Talisker Scott Hunter pose for a photo with their kei truck, nicknamed “KT,” outside Ebisu Circuit in Fukushima Prefecture.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Nov 6, 2023

The little truck that could: A fresh way to tour Japan's north

Travelers have documented almost every corner of Japan. Perhaps a new kind of adventure would be doing those same journeys by different means.
Director Hideo Jojo made the switch from soft-core adult films to more mainstream entertainment with “On the Edge of Their Seats,” a drama about four teenagers watching their high school baseball team lose an important tournament game.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 10, 2023

'Pink film' director Hideo Jojo gets the red carpet treatment

Tokyo's annual film festival named Jojo — who has made over 100 titles, from soft-core adult films to theatrical features — this year's Director in Focus.
Armando Aroca, environmentalist, former guerrilla and current nursery manager of the Common Community Multi Active Cooperative (COMUCCOM) farm, points to a mural with the image of murdered environmentalist Jorge Santofimio in Puerto Guzman, Colombia, on June 27.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 16, 2023

How the murders of activists hurt Colombian ecological preservation

Conservationists are targeted as their work poses a threat to illegal activities
A man wearing a t-shirt in support of QAnon, participates in a 'Back the Blue' rally in New York on Aug. 9, 2020.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 16, 2023

U.S. political violence driven by new breed of 'grab-bag' extremists

Such radicals eschew firm creeds. Instead, they embrace notions, no matter how divergent, that blends with their particular grievances.
A worker supervises construction work on a wave breaker in the port of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, Mexico, on Oct. 9, as part of expansion works on the Interoceanic Railway that connects the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2023

Mexico building rail rival as water shortages drain Panama Canal

By 2028, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor should see 300,000 cargo containers transit every year, with 1.4 million by 2033.
An employee works on the assembly line in a hangar of an aircraft manufacturer near the town of Odolena Voda, Czech Republic, in July 2017.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 20, 2023

Central Europe's defense companies spy African opportunity

Former Warsaw Pact members are well-placed to maintain or upgrade many weapon systems used on the continent.
A survey found that the number of children newly hospitalized for anorexia nervosa in Japan came to 183 in fiscal 2022, up around 60% from fiscal 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 24, 2023

Anorexia in children remained an issue three years into pandemic

Cases in fiscal 2022 were 40% higher than the level in fiscal 2019, before the pandemic.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 4, 2023

Kishida denies media report of ties to Unification Church

The prime minister reportedly had an exchange with Masayoshi Kajikuri, the head of the Universal Peace Federation Japan, in 2019.
Outfielder Juan Soto is on the move to the New York Yankees in a blockbuster, seven-player deal.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 7, 2023

Yankees to acquire slugger Juan Soto in blockbuster trade

The Yankees will send four pitchers, including Michael King and Jhonny Brito, as part of the package to land the star outfielder.
An oil pump outside Saint-Fiacre, near Paris, in 2019
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2023

Big Oil's bid to woo ESG investors fails to impress

A pledge by 50 of the biggest oil and gas companies at the U.N. climate talks in Dubai commits to reaching near-zero methane emissions by 2030.
South Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee during the Olympic semifinal against Japan in Tokyo in 2021.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 13, 2023

San Francisco signs South Korean Jung Hoo Lee for $113 million

Lee, 25, was the Korean Baseball Organization MVP in 2022 after he hit .349 with 23 home runs.
Shingo Takashima, a 26-year-old doctor, killed himself three months into his specialty doctor training at a general hospital in Kobe.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Dec 13, 2023

Young doctor’s suicide highlights overwork culture at Japan hospitals

The issue is coming into sharper focus ahead of the April implementation of a legal cap on doctors’ overtime.
Shiv Kumar (left) and Nirmal Singh say they are learning a lot about living and thriving in Japan while taking part in the Technical Intern Trainee Program. Their case, however, seems to be an exception to the norm.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Dec 18, 2023

Beating the odds on Japan's controversial foreign trainee program

Nirmal Singh and Shiv Kumar beat the odds on the Technical Intern Training Program, but luck shouldn't play such a key role in a government initiative.
Workers plow a field at the site of an economic land concession outside Praeus K'ak village in Cambodia's Preah Vihear province on Dec. 6.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 24, 2023

'Doom for forests': Fears over new Cambodia land grants

Thousands are affected by economic land concessions (ELCs) — land grants to businesses that experts say have driven deforestation and dispossession.
A Ukrainian serviceman holds a anti-aircraft weapon as they scan for possible air targets, onboard a boat as it patrols the northwestern part of the Black Sea.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 27, 2023

Stalled on land, Ukraine scores 'victory' against Russia in Black Sea

Despite Russia's threats of strikes and its supposed naval superiority, Ukraine's efforts have managed to keep a maritime corridor for food exports open.
Though ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, it was really in 2023 that we started to get a sense of what large language models could do, including diagnosing complex medical issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2023

The 10 most intriguing science breakthroughs over the past year

As 2023 has drawn to a close, let’s look back on some of the astounding breakthroughs we’ve seen in the last 12 months.
Yuki Kondo-Shah beside the U.S. Embassy where she works in London on Dec. 22. As U.S.-China tensions rise, national security employees with ties to Asia say U.S. counterintelligence officers wrongly regard them as potential spies and unfairly ban them from jobs.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 2, 2024

Asian American officials cite unfair treatment in China tensions

Federal employees say they are being blocked from jobs for security reasons because of their ties to Asia, even distant ones.
A Ukrainian artillery unit operating a Swedish-made Archer self-propelled howitzer fires on Russian positions in the country's Donetsk region on Dec. 16.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2024

Russian revanchism must be defeated in Ukraine

The fact that Putin has violated numerous treaties would cast substantial doubt on the credibility of any deal.
Voters cast ballots for the U.S. presidential election at a polling station in Portland, Maine, on Nov. 3, 2020.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2024

Trump ballot removals reflect efforts of liberal-funded groups

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Free Speech for People have been catalysts for the yearslong campaign.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears during a campaign event in Durham, New Hampshire on Dec. 16.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2024

How Trump has used fear and favor to win Republican endorsements

The former president keeps careful watch over his endorsements from elected Republicans, aided by a disciplined and methodical behind-the-scenes operation.
A Taiwan Air Force Mirage 2000-5 aircraft prepares to land in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Jan. 2. In the event of a conflict with China, Taiwan would face a military that rivals that of the U.S.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2024

Xi, Biden and the $10 trillion cost of war over Taiwan

The price tag — equivalent to about 10% of global GDP — dwarfs the blow from the war in Ukraine, COVID-19 pandemic and 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis.
Elon Musk attends an interview in New York on Nov. 29.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 10, 2024

SEC’s ‘compromised’ account amplifies X mistrust, security concerns

The high-profile breach comes at a time when X and billionaire owner Elon Musk are seeking to win back trust from both users and advertisers.
Real Sociedad's Takefusa Kubo during a Champions League match in San Sebastian, Spain, in September.
SOCCER
Jan 13, 2024

Ex-Barcelona junior Kubo set for lift-off with Japan at Asian Cup

The 22-year-old has found his feet at Real Sociedad this season, scoring six goals and helping the club top its Champions League group.
The continued demand for and access to banned Nvidia chips underlines the lack of good alternatives for Chinese firms despite the nascent development of rival products from Huawei and others.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 15, 2024

China's military and government acquire Nvidia chips despite ban

The sales by largely unknown Chinese suppliers highlight the difficulties Washington faces.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat