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July 12, 2026
 

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CLIMATE CHANGE

A monument to Russian Czar Alexander III on the embankment of the Siberian Ob River in Novosibirsk, Russia. Climate change is undermining Central Asia’s water supply by shrinking glaciers and rivers, prompting interest in the river as a potential source to meet the region’s needs.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2026
A Soviet-era water scheme returns as a Eurasian lifeline
The convergence of climate, economic and geopolitical crises has transformed this once-impractical proposal into an urgent policy priority.
Sanae Takaichi and Donald Trump meet in Tokyo for a summit in October. Japan’s fossil fuel investments tied to deals with the United States show Takaichi’s government favoring legacy energy over renewables.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 8, 2026
Takaichi and Trump are natural fossil fuel buddies — or are they?
More than a third of Southeast Asia’s coal power finance between 2016 and 2024 came from Japanese banks, and more than a fifth of gas.
Scientists say the last 11 years have been the warmest ever recorded, with 2024 topping the podium and 2023 in second place.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 7, 2026
‘Significant’ acceleration of global warming since 2015: study
Scientists say the last 11 years have been the warmest ever recorded, with 2024 topping the podium and 2023 in second place.
Across the Global South, a growing crisis of overheating cities is impacting the health and livelihoods of more than 1 billion people living in informal settlements, a figure expected to increase sevenfold by 2050, a new report said.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 6, 2026
Extreme heat hurts work, health and sleep in Africa slums, report says
A growing crisis of overheating cities is impacting the health and livelihoods of more than 1 billion people living in informal settlements.
Cherry blossoms are expected to bloom earlier than usual this year, with flowering forecast to begin in Nagoya on March 17 and in Tokyo on March 19, according to Japan Meteorological Corp.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2026
Cherry blossom season set to begin up to a week earlier than usual
Somei Yoshino cherry trees are expected to begin flowering on March 17 in Nagoya, before those in the Kanto-Koshin, Shikoku and Kyushu regions start blooming.
The front page of The Japan Times on March 3, 1976, carries the news of a terrorist attack in Sapporo.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Mar 6, 2026
Japan Times 1976: Bomb explosion in Sapporo claims 2 lives, injures 85
A note left after the terrorist attack at a government building cited “imperialists” as the target.
A shed submerged by floodwaters. Insured losses from natural catastrophes globally reached $107 billion last year, according to reinsurer Swiss Re.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2026
Insurers urge Australia to launch $21 billion flood defense fund
The funding would be used on tasks including adding more flood-protection infrastructure like dams or levees, and also for a property buyback program.
Despite claims that solar growth has peaked, strong demand and technology adoption suggest the boom will continue, though silver use in panels may eventually decline.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2026
Silver’s surge suggests a brighter future for solar
Much of the recent run-up can be explained by a shift toward TOPCon, a new solar technology that requires more silver.
Alejandro M. Lopez brings his Altadena wildfire experience to Tokyo, where his exhibition explores trauma, renewal and climate change.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2026
A California wildfire survivor turns devastation into art with a message on the climate crisis
Alejandro M. Lopez channels the Altadena blaze into paintings that trace trauma, melancholy and renewal in Tokyo.
A Yatsurugi Shrine worshipper (center) stands on the frozen surface of Lake Suwa, before measuring the ice, in Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, on Jan. 29.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 18, 2026
Japan’s ‘godless’ lake warns of creeping climate change
Climate change is disrupting a phenomenon that can occur at Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture when the surface freezes, which is traditionally believed to show the presence of a god.
Deadly climate disasters are rising in South and Southeast Asia as adaptation funding and institutional capacity lag, highlighting the need for stronger regional and global coordination and support.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2026
Asia needs to play smarter to win climate dollars
Climate finance is supposed to fill the gap left by the industrialized world’s withdrawal from its responsibility to subsidize those suffering because of atmospheric carbon.
Volunteers wade through a flooded street after Storm Leonardo passed by Alcacer do Sal, Portugal, on Feb. 5.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 17, 2026
EU ill-prepared for worsening climate change, advisers say
The EU should urgently step up its investments to protect people and infrastructure from floods, ​wildfires and severe heatwaves, independent advisers said.
Rosie Fordham of Australia competes in the women's 4 x 7.5 kilometer cross-country skiing relay during the Milano Cortina Olympics on Saturday in Lago, Italy.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Feb 15, 2026
Is global warming dooming snow sports and the Winter Olympics?
Since the 1970s, mean snow depth across the Alps has declined by over 8% per decade and the snow season is up to 34 days shorter below 2,000 meters.
Employees work on an electric vehicle production line at a factory in China
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Feb 14, 2026
As Trump shreds climate rules, China’s emissions start to fall
This week’s major climate news played out on a split screen with the world’s two superpowers signaling different paths for the future.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive moves to roll back emissions regulations and pour funding into the coal-power industry seem unlikely to boost the sector’s long-term prospects.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2026
Coal will need more than the army to pull off a U.S. revival
U.S. President Donald Trump is making another major bid to bolster the shrinking U.S. coal-power industry.
The coal industry celebrated the announced U.S. reversal on climate action, saying it would help stave off retirements of aging coal-fired power plants.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 13, 2026
Trump revokes basis of U.S. climate regulation and ends vehicle emission standards
It is the most sweeping climate policy rollback to date, after a string of regulatory cuts and other moves intended to unfetter fossil fuel development.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the signing ceremony for a coal mining executive order in the East Room of the White House on April 8, 2025.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2026
Trump to direct Pentagon to buy coal in bid to revive industry
The move is expected to tap special Cold War-era authorities under the 1950 Defense Production Act that gives the White House sweeping power to direct private industry.
Overturning the legal basis for federal greenhouse gas rules, which will lead to the repeal of vehicle emissions rules, marks the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump's ⁠most sweeping climate change policy rollback to date.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 11, 2026
White House says Trump plans to rescind climate change finding key to auto rules
Overturning the legal basis for federal greenhouse gas rules will mark the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ⁠most sweeping climate change policy rollback to date.
People wade through floodwaters brought by Tropical Storm Penha in Iligan, Lanao del Norte province, Philippines, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 10, 2026
Climate risk threatens credit ratings for dozens of countries
Several countries, including the Bahamas, Jamaica and the Philippines, face among the highest physical risk pressure on credit by 2050, an analysis shows.
A person walks on the shore as a small iceberg floats in the sea near Nuuk, Greenland, on Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 5, 2026
Greenland shatters temperature record, redrawing economy from fishing to minerals
The island experienced its warmest January on record this year, with a rate of warming four times faster than the global average.
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
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