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Japan Times
Special Supplements / Davos special 2023
Jan 14, 2023

Racing toward a new tech-driven vision of capitalism

This year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, known as Davos 2023, takes place from Jan. 16 to 20 in Davos, Switzerland, under the theme “Cooperation in a Fragmented World.” Over 2,500 leaders across government, business and society will gather to discuss how to drive solutions that leverage...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 13, 2023

Unpacking the limits to Japan’s military awakening

Japan must find ways to frustrate China's furtive efforts to alter the regional status quo while avoiding the risk of open combat.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 13, 2025

Ishiba mulls visit to Iwo Jima, site of fierce WWII battle

He plans to attend a joint Japan-U.S. memorial service on March 29, which would make him the first Japanese prime minister since April 2013 to set foot on the remote island.
Bong Joon-ho’s latest film “Mickey 17” is centered on a man so desperate for work he’s agreed to be endlessly “reprinted” and endlessly killed doing super-risky jobs.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 14, 2025

The sci-fi satire 'Mickey 17' might be a classic — someday

Bong Joon-ho's latest dystopian film offers a brutal metaphor for societal inequality.
Kyoko Watanabe made a home for herself in Ishinomaki after moving there to participate in disaster relief efforts following 3/11, and now operates a business focused on the creative reuse of <i>akiya</i> (abandoned houses).
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 17, 2025

From abandoned houses to ‘creative communities’: An Ishinomaki entrepreneur's vision for rural Japan

Kyoko Watanabe moved to Miyagi Prefecture to help with disaster relief efforts following 3/11. She ended up building a company and a vision for revitalizing rural Japan.
The Nikkei stock average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Many firms on the TSE have price-to-book ratios of less than 1, lowering the perceived quality of the exchange, which should consider taking steps to increase valuations and trading volume.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2025

Tokyo Stock Exchange must weed out underperforming firms

Tokyo wants to become Asia's top financial hub, but faces big obstacles. Among them, the presence of too many companies with low profitability and growth prospects.
Mark Carney, Canada's incoming prime minister (center), during a swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Friday. Carney has been sworn in as Canada's 24th prime minister, bringing the former central banker to power in the middle of an explosive trade war with the U.S.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 15, 2025

Canada has a new prime minister with a very hard first assignment

Mark Carney steps into his role as U.S. President Donald Trump sets his sights on Canada’s sovereignty and keeps threatening more tariffs.
Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki at the dish during an exhibition game against the Tigers on Saturday in Tokyo.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 15, 2025

Seiya Suzuki hit with dose of nostalgia as he dons Cubs uniform at Tokyo Dome

Facing the Hanshin Tigers and hearing the team’s cheering section was a blast from the recent past for the former Hiroshima Carp star.
Outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach delivers a speech at an IOC session on Wednesday.
OLYMPICS
Mar 20, 2025

IOC names outgoing boss Bach as honorary president for life

Bach, a German lawyer and former Olympic fencing champion, took over in 2013 and immediately introduced wide-ranging reforms.
Israeli soldiers work by military vehicles, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, near the border with Gaza, in Israel, on Feb. 15.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 21, 2025

In Israel, reservist burnout and little public appetite for more war in Gaza

A full-scale ground war against Hamas could prove more complicated amid waning public support, exhausted military reservists and political challenges.
Police officers use pepper spray on a demonstrator wearing dervish clothes, during a protest on the day Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was jailed as part of a corruption investigation, in Istanbul on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 24, 2025

Turkey jails Erdogan’s top rival, risking more unrest

The arrest suggests Turkish authorities won’t be deterred by mass protests that have broken out in cities including Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
A protestor waves a Turkish flag in front of riot police during a rally in Istanbul in support of its arrested mayor on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

Turkey protesters fill streets, defying crackdown

The demonstrations erupted after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
An advertisement featuring Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 26, 2025

Tokyo Series proves to be big business for MLB — and Japanese companies

The weeklong festival of all things baseball highlights how Shohei Ohtani has created myriad business opportunities on both sides of the Pacific.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during an Upper House Budget Committee meeting on Friday.
JAPAN / History
Mar 28, 2025

Ishiba to visit Iwo Jima to honor soldiers who died in fierce WWII battle

He will be the first sitting prime minister to visit the island since April 2013, when then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a stopover.
Demonstrators gather in front of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, on Thursday, during a rally in support of Istanbul's arrested mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2025

Inside Turkey’s executive coup

After 23 years in power, and with Turkey’s economy collapsing, Erdogan knows that no election — even a rigged one — is safe.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani pose for a photo on Ioto, the far-flung Japanese island known widely as Iwo Jima, on Saturday for an event honoring those who died in bloody fighting there 80 years ago during World War II.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 29, 2025

Pentagon chief joins war memorial ceremony on first visit to Japan

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the alliance with Japan key to peace in the region, a view he said “will continue.”
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2025

Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says

A tsunami of over 20 meters would likely be observed in a total of 23 municipalities in Tokyo and seven other prefectures.
A whirling dervish stands in front of Turkish anti-riot police officers during a rally in support of Istanbul's arrested mayor in the city on March 23.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 31, 2025

In Turkey, new technologies reinforce repression

People have been arrested in predawn raids at their homes after being identified from footage or photos taken by the police during demonstrations.
Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, speaks to reporters after surpassing the record for the longest Senate speech at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD
Apr 2, 2025

Cory Booker condemns Trump’s policies in longest senate speech on record

Cheers broke out in the chamber when the senator passed Strom Thurmond's record for longest speech.
The words "This site has been hacked by RENEG4DE.COM" are displayed on the archived site of a rival video game cheating website on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2025

DOGE official at DOJ bragged about hacking and distributing pirated software

National security professionals were largely split on how seriously to take 33-year-old Christopher Stanley's past.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's contradictory statements on U.S. military strategy and alliances with Europe and Asia raise questions about his true stance, reflecting the chameleon-like nature of U.S. foreign policy under the Trump administration.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2025

Will the real Pete Hegseth please stand up?

The same fears remain in terms of security. Even if the Trump administration seeks to deter China, it is unlikely to shift its policy of so-called pacifism.
A chemical plant in Mie Prefecture. The number of business failures linked to soaring labor costs and labor shortages increased 1.6 times to 309, the highest since fiscal 2013.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2025

Japan bankruptcies in fiscal 2024 hit 11-year high

The result reflected a surge in the number of bankruptcies due to labor shortages, particularly among small and midsize companies, and rising prices.
Scrambles against Chinese military aircraft account for 464, or 65.9%, down by 15, according to the Defense Ministry.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2025

Japan defense force scrambled fighter jets 704 times in fiscal 2024

Scrambles against Chinese military aircraft accounted for 65.9% of the total, and the number of Chinese drones detected by the ministry more than tripled to 30.
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drives around the Hornets' Nick Smith Jr. during their game in Oklahoma City on March 21.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Apr 11, 2025

AI continues to revolutionize NBA as teams embrace technology

The league itself is pursuing several analytics and AI projects, including for real-time refereeing.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin meets with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, in St. Petersburg on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2025

The U.S. and Russia are negotiating in bad faith

For now, Trump says he is “pissed off” at Putin for not being more amenable to his administration’s ceasefire proposals and he is threatening to impose yet more sanctions.
The building of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. The court, which ended proceedings in 2022, tried former Khmer Rouge officials for crimes committed during the regime, reinforcing global norms against impunity.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

Japan should challenge Washington in defense of justice

Japan played a key role in trying the Khmer Rouge for their crimes in Cambodia. Half a century on from the genocidal regime, Tokyo must renew its commitment to international law.
It's not just the far right, even some liberal voices worry that Marine Le Pen's conviction and disqualification undermine France's democracy, but their arguments don’t hold up.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2025

No, Le Pen was not railroaded

Le Pen is appealing the verdict and her supporters are not the only ones finding fault with it.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2025

Ishiba not to visit Yasukuni Shrine during spring festival

No sitting prime minister has paid a visit to the shrine since December 2013, when Shinzo Abe did so.
Pope Francis addresses the crowd from the main balcony of St. Peter's basilica during the Urbi et Orbi message as part of Easter celebrations on Sunday.
WORLD
Apr 20, 2025

Pope wishes 'Happy Easter' to faithful in appearance at St Peter's Square

The Pope's address, read out, condemned "worrisome" anti-Semitism, and the "deplorable" situation in Gaza.
A "masakaki" tree offering bearing the name of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is put up at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2025

Ishiba gives a ritual tree offering to Yasukuni Shrine

Ishiba has no plans to visit the shrine during its three-day spring festival.

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.