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Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 2, 2022

Hey Japan, are you happy?

Deep Dive explores whether the Japanese are content or not with the help of Alex K.T. Marin, who has written several features on the polls and surveys of happiness.
PODCAST / deep dive
Oct 19, 2022

Japan reopens its borders. Are tourists ready to return?

Masks? Vaccinations? Yen? You're ready to come to Japan! News chief Kanako Takahara and reporter Will Fee join the podcast this week to discuss whether the country's grand reopening will help its beleaguered tourism sector.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
May 12, 2022

When will Japan open to tourists?

Kanako Takahara joins to discuss when Japan might reopen to international tourism, and what form that reopening might take.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 18, 2022

Is COVID more dangerous than driving? How scientists are parsing COVID-19 risks.

Even two years into the pandemic, the coronavirus remains new enough, and its long-term effects unpredictable enough, that measuring the threat posed by an infection is a thorny problem.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Mar 31, 2022

As Japan looks to possible fourth COVID shots, hesitancy and disinformation linger

Almost 80% of people in Japan have received at least two COVID-19 doses, but that doesn't mean all are planning to get additional shots.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 23, 2022

One month into war, a Ukrainian family reunites in Japan

Kanako Takahara explains Japan's efforts to help these refugees, and why the government here isn't calling them by that name.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 16, 2022

Where is Japan's Great Resignation?

This week, senior staff writer Alex Martin joins to discuss the changing face of work in Japan, and why so few people seem inclined to switch roles.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 9, 2022

Sanctions and sanctuary: Japan responds to Russia's war in Ukraine

As Vladimir Putin's grim war in Ukraine escalates, The Economist's Tokyo bureau chief, Noah Sneider, joins to discuss the reasons for the conflict, the lengths to which Japan is supporting Ukraine, and how the war will redefine relationships between Japan and its northern neighbor, Russia.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 24, 2022

Japan relaxes its border restrictions

Japan's strict border policies are finally relaxing — at least a little bit — and from March, new entrants will be allowed to come to the country once again.
“Ainu Puri” is a nuanced portrait of Shigeki Amanai (left), a modern Ainu man who strives to uphold his culture and heritage in daily life.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2024

‘Ainu Puri’: A vital portrait of indigenous culture in contemporary Japan

Takeshi Fukunaga’s documentary is an engaging examination of the life and community of a Hokkaido man devoted to his Ainu heritage.
Gold samples confiscated by Federal Police in Amazonas state, Brazil, on June 19
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 16, 2024

New technology aids Brazil's crackdown on illicit Amazon gold trade

A police program is creating a database of samples from across Brazil that are examined to determine the unique composition of elements.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (left) meets with Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki at the Okinawa Prefectural Government Office on Sunday.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2024

Okinawa governor seeks timetable for transfer of U.S. marines

Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki on Sunday called on the government to provide a concrete timetable for the transfer of U.S. Marines in Okinawa to Guam, following the recent start of the relocation.
Jins' new device, called the "Jins Assist," allows users to click and move the cursor of a computer via head movements.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2025

Eyeglass company Jins' new device lets people use a PC via head movements

Weighing only 4 grams, Jins' device can help people with hand or arm disabilities navigate a computer through small head movements.
High school student Mayu Kobayashi (right) speaks as she and other "student peace ambassadors" call for the abolition of nuclear weapons in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 6, 2025

Japanese high school students call for nuke abolition in New York

They stress that peace must be continuously protected and is not something to be taken for granted.
A research team found that brown fat, which encourages the body to burn fat, tended to be more active among those conceived during the colder months, meaning they are less likely to gain weight.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 9, 2025

Japanese team finds people conceived in winter less likely to be overweight

The team analyzed the brown fat of 356 men between the ages of 18 and 29.
People march to the parliament in protest of the Treaty Principles Bill, in Wellington, New Zealand, in November 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 10, 2025

New Zealand parliament rejects controversial move to revise indigenous law

New Zealand’s Parliament overwhelmingly rejected a bill to redefine the Treaty of Waitangi — the 1840 founding pact between Maori and the British Crown — after months of protest.
A resident enters a polling location on the last day of advance voting for the federal election in Montreal on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 22, 2025

Trump's threats shift Quebec's views on independence ahead of Canada vote

Quebec — a French-speaking province that loves to set itself apart from Canada's majority — has been among the most fervent adopters of a new patriotic sentiment.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right) and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton shake hands ahead of the second leaders' debate of the 2025 federal election campaign Sydney on April 16.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 22, 2025

Early voting kicks off in close election for Australia’s prime minister

Almost 50% of Australians cast their ballots early in the last election in 2022.
St. James' Park, home of Newcastle United, stands in the center of Newcastle, England — neither hidden away on a retail park nor tucked into a neighborhood, fenced in by neat rows of red brick terraced houses.
SOCCER
Apr 22, 2025

A soccer field can be sacred

For many, the pitch is anticipation and thrill and hope, but it is also familiarity, and comfort, and belonging.
A student in hazmat suit moves around a taxidermied giraffe at the "crime scene" set up in the warehouse of the Wildlife Forensic Academy in the Buffelsfontein Game and Nature Reserve near Cape Town, South Africa, on April 16.
WORLD / Society
Apr 22, 2025

Inside South Africa's wildlife CSI school helping to catch poachers

South Africa faces an acute poaching crisis, with more than 10,000 rhinos killed since 2007 according to the International Rhino Foundation.
Televisions in Washington under a portrait of President Donald Trump display a Fox News program on April 16.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 22, 2025

Always 'the enemy' — Trump steps up media assault in first 100 days

The United States fell from 45th to 55th place in 2024 in the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.
A visitor looks on from the Grand Ring venue of the 2025 Osaka Expo on April 14.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2025

Osaka Expo struggles with drawing visitors and managing crowds

Long lines formed in front of entrance gates as a communications failure left many unable to access their electronic admission tickets on their smartphones.
Gymnast Simone Biles poses with her Sportswoman of the Year Award during the 26th Laureus World Sports Awards gala in Madrid on Monday.
OLYMPICS
Apr 22, 2025

Biles 'not so sure' about competing at Los Angeles Olympics

"I'm really enjoying my time off before I decide if I want to go back to the gym and compete," the gymnast said.
Argentine artist Javier Sativa draws the face of the late Pope Francis on a street in front of the entrance of the Buenos Aires Cathedral on Monday. Francis died Monday at 88, a day after making a much hoped-for appearance at St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday, the Vatican said in a statement.
WORLD
Apr 22, 2025

Pope Francis' death from a stroke sets off global tributes and mourning

World leaders from U.S. President Donald Trump to Russian leader Vladimir Putin paid tribute to the pope's moral and spiritual leadership.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks to reporters during the 2025 White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 22, 2025

'Disruptor' Hegseth's unsettled Pentagon starts turning against him

U.S. defense chief Pete Hegseth accused former advisers of turning against him following news he texted sensitive U.S. military plans to his wife, brother, attorney and others.
A portrait of the late Pope Francis is placed in front of the altar during a mass at the Buenos Aires Cathedral on Monday, following his death in the Vatican.
WORLD / Society
Apr 22, 2025

'One isn't born a saint': School nuns remember Pope Francis as a boy

A boisterous child, then-Jorge Bergoglio played football with his friends in the courtyard, and sprinted up and down the marble stairs.
The first meeting of a subcommittee under the Legislative Council to discuss a review of the retrial system on Monday at the Justice Ministry
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025

Panel agrees on need to revise retrial system

Public calls for a review of the retrial system, which has not been revised since the country's criminal procedure law was established in 1948, have been growing.
People walk past the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025

Does Trump's Venezuela deportation notice comply with Supreme Court ruling?

A judge has expressed skepticism that the notice informs Venezuelan migrants of their right to legally challenge their removals.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping. A high-level Japanese delegation will deliver a letter from Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to Xi this week.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 22, 2025

Ishiba pens letter to Xi as Japan aims to avoid trade crossfire

The gesture highlights Japan’s desire to balance managing its relationships with China, its largest trading partner, and with the U.S., its sole formal security ally.
Pope Francis waves to the crowd during his trip to Nagasaki Prefecture in November 2019.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 22, 2025

Japan joins world in mourning death of Pope Francis

Leaders commended the pontiff’s lifelong efforts in delivering the message of peace, which included a trip to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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.