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Lt. Col. Suguru Ejiri, the head of Air Self-Defense Force's Blue Impulse aerobatics team, at the ASDF base in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, in March. Ejiri has revealed little about the upcoming Osaka Expo performance apart from it being based on the event's theme.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2025

ASDF's Blue Impulse set for Osaka Expo performance

The aerobatics team flew for the 1970 World Expo in Osaka Prefecture as well, during which the team drew "EXPO 70" in the sky.
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.
Takashi Murata, head of Japan at Warburg Pincus in Tokyo, says the private-equity firm is confident about market growth in Tokyo despite the overall depopulation of Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2025

Warburg purchases Tokyo rental houses and plans Japan office

The New York-based private equity firm said it acquired a portfolio of 1,195 shared rental houses in the greater Tokyo area.
Rozan Al-Khazendar (second from left), an entrepreneur from the Gaza Strip, speaks to Kiyomi Kitamura (left), her Japanese partner in a T-shirt venture to raise funds for the Palestinian enclave, during a meeting at her office in the outskirts of Cairo, last December.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 2, 2025

Gaza woman launches clothing brand with Japanese partner

Entrepreneur Rozan Al-Khazendar is collaborating with a mail-order business operator out of Shiga Prefecture to launch a website selling T-shirts to fund aid to the region.
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2025

A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers

Syndicates are increasingly targeting middle- to upper-class individuals from across the world through something as harmless as online video games.
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%

The higher "reciprocal” rates are based on a government tally of levies and nontariff barriers that countries impose on U.S. goods.
Mitsuko Kusabue plays the feisty proprietor of a ramshackle drinking establishment in “Let’s Meet at Angie’s Bar.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 31, 2025

‘Let’s Meet at Angie’s Bar’: A granny like none other

Acting veteran Mitsuko Kusabue brings wisdom and wit to Yurugu Matsumoto’s lighter-than-air comedy.
A trio of former schoolmates (from left: Hana Sugisaki, Kaya Kiyohara and Suzu Hirose) share a mysterious bond in “Unreachable.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 3, 2025

‘Unreachable’: An attractive but half-baked fantasy

The combined talents of Suzu Hirose, Hana Sugisaki and Kaya Kiyohara can’t save this flimsy fantasy drama.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2025

At summit, NATO eyes growing industrial collaboration with Asian partners

The summit comes as the military alliance seeks to step up ties with its Indo-Pacific partners.
Containers are loaded onto a ship at the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, on Wednesday ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of new tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

Trump tariffs pile stress on ailing world economy

They will sap yet more vigor from a world economy barely recovered from the post-pandemic inflation surge.
Seiji Adachi, a former member of the Bank of Japan's Policy Board, says there is a chance of a May rate hike.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

Ex-board member who just left BOJ sees chance of May rate hike

Seiji Adachi, whose five-year term ended last week, said he would probably vote for a rate hike in the central bank's May meeting if one was proposed.
Among those arrested, 1,011 were ringleaders or individuals who gave instructions. About 90% were perpetrators, including people who received defrauded money, and around 40% became involved in the crimes through recruitment via social media.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2025

New ‘tokuryū’ crime groups outpace yakuza in arrests

The term was coined by the National Police Agency to describe a new form of criminal group that has emerged as an alternative to traditional yakuza organizations.
Suntory President Nobuhiro Torii says the company has the option of simply changing the target market if prices of Hibiki and Yamazaki become up too high for U.S. consumers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 3, 2025

Suntory may shift focus to Japan, Asian markets to counter U.S. tariffs

Its president, Nobuhiro Torii, says it has the option of simply changing the target market if prices for its whiskys become too high for American consumers.
Lawyer Shoichi Ibuski (right) speaks during a news conference in Tokyo along with Wayomi, younger sister of Wishma Sandamali who died in 2021 while in detention.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 4, 2025

Family of Sri Lankan woman who died in custody to sue Japan for footage

Attorney Shoichi Ibuski, representing the family, told reporters that the government's refusal suggests there may be “inconvenient information for immigration authorities.”
A new study questioning human-induced global warming — which claims to be entirely written by Elon Musk's Grok 3 AI — has gained traction online.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 4, 2025

Experts warn 'AI-written' paper is latest spin on climate change denial

The surge of AI in research, despite potential benefits, risks triggering an illusion of objectivity and insight in scientific research, they warn.
Labor Party MP for Bennelong Jerome Laxale and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong pose for pictures with residents in Sydney in February.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 4, 2025

In a tight Australian election, a Chinese app could make a difference

Politicians are turning to Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle app also called RedNote, to appeal to Chinese communities who will be a crucial voting bloc.
While tariffs and value-added taxes seem similar, a VAT would be a more effective, long-term solution for boosting the U.S. economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2025

Europe’s VAT hurts the U.S.? Retaliate with a VAT.

Maybe misconceptions about tariffs and trade can be turned to America’s advantage.
Pix (left), the mascot of the U.K. Pavilion at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, is seen alongside the event's official mascot, Myaku-Myaku, on Jan. 16 in the city of Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture
JAPAN / Society
Apr 4, 2025

Countries' mascots beat drum for Osaka Expo

Participating nations are taking on Japan's love of mascots by coming up with characters of their own, some of which incorporate the culture of the host country.
Unexploded U.S. military ordnance found in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture, on March 24
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2025

Unexploded ordnance still haunts Okinawa 80 years after WWII battle

Despite decades of clearance efforts, roughly 1,900 metric tons of deadly remnants are estimated to remain buried beneath the land.
Japanese desserts have been turning heads in recent months for a series world-firsts.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 6, 2025

‘Japanese pastry has matured into its own distinct identity’

“There’s been a shift over the years where Japanese pastry chefs are moving away from simply replicating French techniques,” says chef Koichi Katsumata.
On April 23, 1925, The Japan Times ran a story about the principal clauses of the new Peace Preservation Law that was enacted to suppress ideologies deemed dangerous by the state.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Apr 5, 2025

Japan Times 1925: Peace law has several teeth

The Peace Preservation Law was a means of ideological suppression that grew tighter over time until it was repealed by Allied authorities following World War II.
Japanese stocks have been falling for two days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new round of tariffs. This picture was taken on Thursday, the first trading day in Tokyo after the U.S. president's announcement of the tariffs.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 4, 2025

Tokyo stocks fall for another day as reality of Trump tariffs sets in

Some analysts say financial markets will likely be volatile in the short term, but their longer-term outlook remains optimistic.
Bickering siblings Sota (Masaaki Nakano, left) and Akira (Hirota Otsuka) attempt to dispose of their father’s body in “The Brothers Kitaura.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2025

‘The Brothers Kitaura’: A sordid tale of filial impropriety

Masaki Tsujino’s dark comedy of errors unpacks family dysfunction and middle-class mediocrity.
An activist holds a picture of Myanmar's junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, during a protest against his visit to Thailand and attending the 6th BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 5, 2025

Myanmar junta chief meets foreign leaders; U.N. says military choking aid

The U.N. said his military was limiting humanitarian aid following the earthquake that killed over 3,100 people amid civil war.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday extended by 75 days a deadline for ByteDance to sell U.S. assets of the popular TikTok short video app to a non-Chinese buyer, or face a ban that was supposed to have taken effect in January under a 2024 law.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 5, 2025

TikTok deal put on hold after China indicated it would reject it over tariffs

Trump extended by 75 days a deadline for ByteDance to sell U.S. assets of the popular short video app to a non-Chinese buyer.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled "Make America Wealthy Again" at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Apr 5, 2025

Nowhere to hide: Trump tariffs leave trading partners cornered

Hit by 10% to 50% tariffs on their exports, most countries lack the firepower to hit back or the political will to slug it out.
Anti-Yoon protesters hold up placards reading "Let's build a democratic government!" during a rally in Seoul on Friday after South Korea's Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 5, 2025

Yoon's ouster prompts Japanese concerns about ties with South Korea

Japan is worried that Yoon's removal from power will undo the improvements in bilateral relations made under his administration.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 5, 2025

Ishiba says he plans to speak to Trump about tariffs in coming days

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that these talks could see Japan offer a fresh investment package, though he ruled out a small, piecemeal deal.
A screenshot taken from a video published by the Palestinian Red Crescent and obtained from cellphone of a dead paramedic shows the last moments during the incident in which aid workers were killed in Israeli fire, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, in the southern Gaza Strip on March 23.
WORLD
Apr 6, 2025

Video shows last minutes before Gaza aid workers' deaths, Red Crescent says

The aid worker was among 15 humanitarian personnel killed on March 23 in an attack by Israeli forces, according to the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 28.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Apr 6, 2025

U.S. progress against resilient Houthi militants remains murky

Trump's administration has offered limited evidence of weapons deployed and targets hit to back up his assertion.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.