Search - information

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2022

Japan boosting use of digital tools for natural disasters

With damage caused by rains and typhoons becoming more severe, cities are refocusing their efforts to ensure the safety of residents by obtaining and conveying information promptly.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 18, 2022

How to define 'doxxing' when the data is public

Last week Twitter owner Elon Musk suspended an account that posted the location of private jets, suggesting that it was tweeting out 'assassination coordinates.”
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with a payload of 21 Starlink satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 27.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 18, 2023

Starlink lifts off in Asia as satellite internet race heats up

Elon Musk's company has carved out a niche and an opportunity through the region's natural disasters and the vast sweep of its archipelagoes and islands.
The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% in March, the lowest level ever recorded in the monthly data, but then rose to 6% in June, showing how erratic it can be.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2023

The mysterious fall and rise of Black unemployment

After a roller-coaster move this spring, it’s now essentially back to where it was in February. How much is statistical noise?
A Kirin 9000S chip fabricated in China by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. taken from a Huawei Technologies Mate 60 Pro smartphone
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2023

Huawei sends a message with its new smartphone

Fear of turbocharging China’s indigenous technology development efforts has been one of the most powerful arguments against tightening export controls.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with a payload of 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Feb. 27.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Sep 21, 2023

Satellite constellations taking on greater role in Japan's security

As Japan fine-tunes its national security strategy, the importance and future of satellite constellations is being examined.
A woman with HTLV-1 from Okinawa Prefecture talks about her experience of being turned away at a clinic outside the prefecture.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Sep 25, 2023

Website aims to shed light on little-known blood cancer virus

Awareness of HTLV-1, a virus that causes adult T-cell leukemia and other diseases, is low in Japan. A website called Hot Lives aims to change that.
The new invoice system, which goes into effect Oct. 1, is forcing many freelancers in Japan to choose between raising their prices or suffer a 10% loss in revenue.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Sep 25, 2023

Freelancers aren’t happy with Japan’s new invoice system

For many freelancers and small businesses, the result will amount to a 10% increase in taxes.
A memorial for Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot and killed in June outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 24, 2023

U.S. provided Canada with intelligence on killing of Sikh leader

U.S. gave assistance, but communications intercepted by Canada were more definitive in linking India to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 2, 2023

Second ex-Tokyo cram school teacher arrested for upskirt video

Narumi Nakamura allegedly asked his colleague to take a video of a 7-year-old student's underwear.
Jesse Ehrenfeld, the board chairman of the American Medical Association, in Chicago in 2019. The F.D.A. has approved many new programs that use artificial intelligence, but doctors are skeptical that the tools really improve care or are backed by solid research.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 1, 2023

Doctors wrestle with AI in patient care, citing lax oversight

Are AI programs likely to identify something a doctor would miss?
Motorists drive past a giant billboard depicting Muslim people walking with their national flags toward the Dome of the Rock shrine in Jerusalem, in central Tehran's Valiasr Square on Oct. 25.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 4, 2023

In a worldwide war of words, Russia, China and Iran back Hamas

Officials and researchers say the deluge of online propaganda and disinformation is larger than anything seen before.
Children and their parents wait at a hospital in Beijing on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Nov 23, 2023

WHO asks China for more data on respiratory illness outbreak

Northern China has reported an increase in "influenza-like illness" since mid-October when compared to the same period in the previous three years.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 6, 2023

Biden ‘heartbroken’ as U.S. confirms eight dead in Osprey crash

The crash — the first fatal accident involving an Osprey in Japan and deadliest ever since it became operational — has rekindled concern over its safety.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after testifying in his civil fraud trial at the State Supreme Court building in Manhattan,  New York, on Nov. 6.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2023

Material from Russia probe went missing as Trump left office

A binder given to the Trump White House contained details that intelligence agencies believe could reveal secret sources and methods.
Saeed Al-Shorbaji, the supervisor of Nasser hospital's morgue, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in November. He was killed in an Israeli airstrike in early December.
WORLD / Society
Dec 22, 2023

As Gaza death toll hits 20,000, many fear the true count is higher

Only bodies identified or claimed by relatives are included in the official figures, and thousands more are believed to be buried beneath the rubble.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2024

Strong quake prompts tsunami warning for Japan's western coast

Residents were said to be trapped in collapsed buildings following the quake, which measured a 7 on Japan's intensity scale — the highest level.
U.S. Steel’s agreement to sell itself to the Japanese steel-maker has turned into a political football, with key politicians and opponents of the deal seizing on the union’s claims that U.S. Steel didn’t comply with the labor agreement.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2024

U.S. Steel denies breach of labor agreements in Nippon deal

The Pittsburgh-based manufacturer said it repeatedly reached out to the United Steelworkers during the company’s strategic review before the sale.
Pupils at Moromi Elementary School in the city of Okinawa use PCs during class to compile information they gather from textbooks and the internet.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jan 15, 2024

Tapping tech's potential, elementary school pushes proactive learning

Pupils, instead of teachers, take the lead in learning according to the goals that they themselves set at the Okinawa school.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 18, 2024

Anticipation soars as Japan’s SLIM readies for moon landing

The mission puts the agency's pinpoint landing technology to the test and could accelerate international space exploration.
The concerns over artificial intelligence have parallels with historical apocalyptic movements, which have often been exploited for political purposes.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2024

AI apocalypse now? Only in our fevered dreams

The real question is why are cataclysmic prophets sometimes attract big followings. Understanding this can help us avoid the paths they may lead us down.
By the end of the decade, nearly 700 cities are likely to have rolled out some version of urban metaverse technologies, including virtual and augmented reality applications, according to ABI Research.
WORLD / Society
Jan 22, 2024

Realities collide as 'augmented cities' emerge around the U.S.

AR can enhance life in cities, particularly for marginalized communities.
An arm of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence is tapping companies and colleges to help harness rapidly developing AI technology that could provide an edge against global competitors like China. The challenge is ensuring it doesn’t open a backdoor into the nation’s top secrets or generate fake data.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 27, 2024

U.S. spies want AI as tool against China if tech can be trusted

The challenge is ensuring the rapidly developing tech doesn’t open a backdoor into the nation’s top secrets or generate fake data.
Women walk past an army-related billboard at the All-Russia Exhibition Center in Moscow on Jan. 24.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2024

New anti-Ukraine disinformation campaign targets Western media

Examples of disinformation include thefts from the Paris catacombs by a Ukrainian and military aid misappropriated by Ukraine.
As China struggles with a slumping stock market and a collapsing real estate sector, commentary and even financial analysis Beijing deems negative are blocked.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2024

China’s censorship dragnet targets critics of the economy

The government's new information campaign about the economy is wider than usual censorship, with efforts now extending to mainstream commentary.
An image taken from video of a U.S. Navy F/A-18 jet crew’s encounter with an unexplained anomalous phenomena
WORLD / Politics
Mar 9, 2024

Pentagon review finds no evidence of alien cover-up

But the new report suggests that the public’s belief that the government is hiding what it knows will probably continue.
Yusuke Ishikawa, a 49-year-old coroner with  the Miyagi Prefectural Police, is working to identify six remains of victims of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2024

Police continue work to identify 3/11 disaster victims

Officials are alarmed by a decrease in opportunities for the police to obtain information that could lead to victims being identified.
A Boeing 737 Max aircraft at an airshow in Farnborough, England, in 2022. In early January, the door plug on an Alaska Air 737 Max 9 blew off shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, prompting an explosive decompression.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 14, 2024

Boeing 737 Max probe still in dark over who caused door fail

The planemaker has said it’s unable to find the relevant records, and factory security footage that may have helped have been overwritten.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government holds an event in Tokyo in November to increase people's awareness for fraud and 'dark' part-time jobs. Recruitment ads for such jobs formed some 90% of deletion requests made to internet service providers last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 15, 2024

Nearly 3,000 postings for 'dark' part-time jobs removed from internet in 2023

Recruitment ads for such jobs formed the bulk of deletion requests made to Japanese internet service providers last year.
The massive Gemini fiasco unveils critical questions about artificial intelligence's role and accountability in decision-making.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2024

Google’s bad Gemini rollout did the world a favor

Part of the difficulty in grappling with AI’s full implications is the huge effort that has gone into devising models that express themselves like humans.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake