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Japan-made defense products on display at the Singapore Airshow on Feb. 23. Japan’s revision of its defense export guidelines is critical for the development of a next-generation fighter jet with the U.K. and Italy.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 29, 2024

Talks on easing Japan defense export rules pushed back to March

The Liberal Democratic Party and junior coalition partner Komeito failed to reach an agreement on revisions to existing restrictions on Wednesday.
An MQ-9 Reaper drone stands on the runway at Naval Base Ventura County Sea Range, Point Mugu, near Oxnard, California. The Defense Ministry is considering purchasing the Reaper for intercepting foreign aircraft approaching Japanese airspace.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 1, 2024

New drone tech in spotlight as Japan eyes boosted capabilities

As Tokyo seeks to beef up its unmanned systems, inspiration could come from the latest tech displayed at this year's Singapore Airshow.
A utility crew works to restore power in a neighborhood burned by wildfires in Fritch, Texas, on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 1, 2024

Homes destroyed and land scorched as Texas battles its largest wildfire ever

While Texas is in midst of its natural fire season — running from January through May — the sheer size of the Smokehouse Creek blaze makes it an outlier.
Agriculture minister Tetsushi Sakamoto shows a mock-up of a label for vegetables grown in a sustainable way at his ministry on Friday.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 1, 2024

Japan's farm ministry launches eco-labeling initiative for sustainable farming

The labels will serve as a visual cue for environmental efforts and are aimed at enhancing consumer awareness toward fostering a sustainable food system.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a presidential permit for energy development that he signed during a tour of an oil rig in Midland, Texas, in July 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2024

How the planet could survive another Trump term

In his first term, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, rolled back environmental regulations, unleashed gas drilling and more.
The Cabinet has agreed to new national security legislation on sensitive government- and private-sector information that lawmakers should pass.
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2024

Protecting information is the key to national security

In recent years, however, that landscape has shifted and new fields are now considered essential to a country’s security and prosperity.
An electronic board shows the rate of the yen versus the U.S. dollar in Tokyo on Feb. 26.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 2, 2024

Yen’s carry-trade reign in flux as BOJ hints at policy shift

As speculation builds that the BOJ will change its path, so does the potential for the yen to strengthen.
Solar panels on display at PV Expo in Tokyo on Wednesday. Japan's "transition bonds" will cover cutting-edge solar cells, as well as more controversial projects.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Mar 3, 2024

Japan wants cash for its green transition. But what are investors actually backing?

"Transition bonds" are intended to fund a wide variety of net-zero projects, but it's not clear all of them will actually help with decarbonization.
What role should money from oil and gas — the very industry that’s the main contributor to global warming — have in funding the work of climate scientists?
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 4, 2024

Two young climate scientists. Two visions of the solution.

The pair's biggest question: What role should money from oil and gas have in funding work like theirs?
A 2015 protest against the construction of military infrastructure in Okinawa Prefecture. Many residents are also worried about the impact of a Taiwan contingency on their islands.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 4, 2024

Okinawa’s peace movement carves its own path

Many Okinawans worry about a Taiwan contingency and are angered by U.S. base relocation: Grievances that have given impetus to the islands' own diplomacy.
Hikers on Mount Fuji's Yoshida trail in Yamanashi Prefecture on Sept. 1, 2023
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2024

Yamanashi to collect ¥2,000 from Mount Fuji climbers

A gate will be installed at the entrance to the Yoshida Trail on the Yamanashi side of Mount Fuji, where fees will be collected from the July 1.
John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy on climate issues, gestures as he attends a news conference in Beijing in July 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 4, 2024

John Kerry bolstered U.S. climate reputation, but trust still elusive

Kerry is credited with restoring U.S. climate ties with China and courting private capital for climate action.
A military delegation arrives for a meeting Monday, ahead the annual session of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 5, 2024

China defense spending to climb 7.2% amid rivalry with U.S.

Beijing's 1.67 trillion yuan ($231.4 billion) budget makes 2024 the ninth straight year to see a single-digit hike in the country’s defense outlays.
Floating solar panels at the Canoe Brook water treatment plant in Short Hills, New Jersey
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 6, 2024

Pressed for space, solar farms are getting creative

There are solar arrays on top of big-box stores, solar arrays on yachts and solar farms that float.
The Netherland's Prime Minister Mark Rutte waves as he walks past NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg during a summit at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels in June 2021.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 6, 2024

‘A safe pair of hands’: Dutch PM emerges as NATO chief front-runner

Although the top contender, Mark Rutte may still have to win over about a third of the alliance’s 31-member states.
A childhood snapshot of Shohei Ohtani and his mother, Kayoko, posted on MLB’s account on social media website X.
BASEBALL
Mar 7, 2024

'Sporting geniuses are made, not born': How to be an all-star sports parent

If you want your child to be a top 1% athlete like Shohei Ohtani, a good place to start is to take a look at what his parents did.
Any mix of the above foods that fit your dietary needs and preferences will make for filling and nutritious meals during an emergency.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 9, 2024

Don’t let the next quake catch you (or your stomach) off guard

There’s a hidden threat in the days of limited power and bare grocery store shelves that follow a natural disaster: nutritional deficiencies.
Masaya Shibasaki, 26, an employee of EXEO Group, reacts as he tries the Osaka Heart Cool-developed VR electrical device Perionoid, which simulates menstrual pain, on Thursday.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2024

Japanese male office workers experience simulated menstrual pain

Companies are required to offer menstrual leave, but the time off doesn't have to be paid and around half of female workers never take it.
A march calling for gender equality in London in 2019. Women are still paid less than men for the same work, but real equality means more than just eliminating wage disparities.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2024

A zero gender pay gap is the goal. But what happens next?

Eliminating the gender pay gap is vital, but it isn't the be-all and end-all. So much more needs to be done to achieve true equality at work and beyond.
Actress Yumi Ishikawa speaks during an interview on Monday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 8, 2024

'KuToo' campaign leader wants to bring attention to sexual abuse

Ishikawa believes that behind the issue of sexual abuse is the unspoken assumption within Japanese society that there is no such thing as discrimination.
A solar farm owned by the Huaneng Group in Shilin, China on March 2. Beijing is set to further increase its manufacturing and installation of solar panels, as it seeks to master global markets and wean itself from imports.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 9, 2024

China racing ahead on plans to dominate solar energy industry

Beijing is set to further increase its manufacturing and installation of solar panels as it seeks to master global markets and wean itself from imports.
U.S. President Joe Biden makes a campaign stop at Strath Haven Middle School in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 9, 2024

Providing both bombs and food, Biden puts himself in the middle of Gaza’s war

Biden's decision to send aid by air and sea represents a shift prompted by the growing humanitarian crisis. But it also raised uncomfortable questions.
Americans, who by nearly every measure are hungering for a new direction, are confronted with the choice between a continuation with U.S. President Joe Biden or a restoration with former leader Donald Trump.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2024

The Biden-Trump rerun: A nation craving change gets more of the same

Americans love a candidate who promises something new. But when a sitting president runs against a former one, can either claim the mantle of change?
Philippine Coast Guard personnel film a China Coast Guard vessel during a supply mission in the disputed South China Sea on March 5.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2024

U.S. key to Philippines’ plan to tap oil and gas in South China Sea

Manila is seeking to parlay its deepening security ties with Washington into broader economic benefits, the Philippine ambassador to the U.S. said.
A sign warns of underground natural gas pipelines outside Rifle, Colorado, in June 2012.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 11, 2024

U.S. gas pipeline accidents pose big, unreported climate threat

Accidental pipeline leaks — caused by incidents like punctures, corrosion, severe weather and faulty equipment — happen routinely.
A backdrop of a broadly soaring stock market and signs of long-awaited wage and price growth is drawing bets that the BOJ might back away from its ultraeasy policy settings as soon as its next meeting in a week's time.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 11, 2024

Bank of Japan skips ETF buying, stoking policy speculation

It was not clear why it did not buy the listed funds even as the Topix index slid 2% — a mark that generally draws a response.
A Zara clothing store in Brussels on November 2022. Inditex is an outlier among big clothing retailers in not publishing details of the factories from which it sources.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 12, 2024

Zara owner Inditex faces pressure from investors on supply chain disclosure

Regulators and investors want transparency from clothing retailers, to prove supply chains are free of forced labor and workers are paid decent wages.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to supporters from a car after offering prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath Hindu temple in Varanasi on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 13, 2024

Modi ramps up campaign to position India as alternative to China

Efforts to integrate the country into global supply chains come ahead of elections in which the Indian premier is seeking to extend his decade in power.
Japan aims to have 10 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power projects by 2030 and up to 45 GW by 2040, to replace fossil fuels including coal and liquefied natural gas in its energy mix — for which floating offshore wind is essential.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 13, 2024

Japan to expand offshore wind development to exclusive economic zones

Global energy companies have been urging Japan to make investments more attractive, amid soaring costs and growing competition between suppliers.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is also LDP president, told an Upper House budget committee meeting that the government would put in place rigorous hurdles that must be cleared before the fighter jet’s export is approved.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 13, 2024

Kishida agrees on need for strict rules to export of fighter jet

Concessions by the LDP president could pave the way for a deal with junior coalition partner Komeito on a revision to Japan's defense export guidelines.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?