Last autumn, I attended a meeting in Europe to consider the planning of some university courses that would be taught in English to students from a wide variety of countries. At one point, a professor ...

The novel coronavirus pandemic has revealed various weaknesses in how Japan handles emergency situations and how society reacts to them. Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Tsuyoshi Oyabu interviewed Shinich...

A state of emergency was declared. But “requests” to businesses to temporarily close, or to people to stay home, are not orders that can be legally enforced, they are mere requests. Against those ...

The new coronavirus continues its relentless spread around the world. On Dec. 31, 2019, the municipal government of Wuhan, China, informed the public of an outbreak of an infectious disease of unknown...

LONDON — One of the high-profile figures who gained global attention after testing positive for the new coronavirus was British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Having been close to death at one poi...

Musings by The Yomiuri Shimbun Time is not something that can be measured with a clock. A person experiences its passage. Long ago, critic Hideki Maeda wrote a piece about this in this newspaper. ...

Musings by The Yomiuri Shimbun A few days after the Ansei Earthquake in 1855, false rumors spread across the city of Edo (present-day Tokyo), such as: “A big earthquake will strike again tomorrow. ...

“Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow” is said to be a phrase beloved by Fujiko Fujio A, a manga creator known for such works as “Pro Golfer Saru.” “Put in a different way, it...

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Federal Reserve, long criticized for being too white and male, crossed a substantial milestone last year: for the first time in its 107-year history, white m...

The continued melting of sea ice in the Arctic Circle is influencing the lives of inhabitants in the region and beyond, as well as the marine ecosystem. Steady observation results obtained by Japan ov...

The department store that I loved was a “jewelry box of dreams” — The novel “Jyoryu Kaikyu” (The upper class, published by Kobunsha Co.) by Madoka Takadono begins with such a recollection by...

The manga “Paman” (Perman) by Fujiko F. Fujio (1933-1996) was turned into an anime series and has since been rebroadcast many times. Many people would remember the story, in which a timid boy, we...

SEOUL (Reuters) — South Korea’s push to resume tourism with the North is aimed at resetting border ties, but must overcome Pyongyang’s skepticism and chart a careful course around U.S. efforts t...

It is said that raindrops fall as fast as seven meters per second in heavy rain. In comparison, snowflakes fall fairly slowly at about one meter per second. Depending on the altitude of the clouds,...

At parks, at private homes and at schools, we used to see fallen leaves being burned everywhere at this time in winter. I had a strange, somewhat scary experience in my junior high school days. I ha...

Department stores in Japan are struggling to survive. Last year saw many more of them closing down. Since peaking at 311 in 1999, the number of department stores in the Japan Department Stores Associa...

Playwright Hisashi Inoue was very outspoken when making comments on various aspects of politics and society. I recall that he had lavishly praised Peshawar-kai, a nongovernmental organization led by D...

Switzerland is surrounded by mountains. It would be odd if the post of “navy minister” existed for that country. The term is said to be used jokingly by those related to governments in Europe. ...

This is said to be a joke in Europe. “Question: What will a stingy man do on a cold day? Answer: He will sit in front of a lamp. Question 2: What will a stingy man do on a much, much colder day? Ans...

People often ask me, “Which apparel maker in Japan is making big profits now?” This question has a sarcastic connotation: Is there such a company? If I may refer to a sportswear company, Goldwin...

I wonder whether he was describing his own experience. I remember that Rokusuke Ei, who died three years ago, mentioned old age in an essay. You open the door of a refrigerator, but you can’t rem...

German-born writer Hermann Hesse wrote a short story masterpiece called “Jugendgedenken” (Boyhood memories). It is about the main character “I,” who is intensely passionate about making specim...