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Adam Minter
For Adam Minter's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Indian cricket is struggling against climate change-induced heat and rain and the last thing it needs is oil-rich Saudi Arabia buying into the league.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2023
The last thing cricket needs is Saudi money
Indian cricket is struggling against climate change-induced heat and rain. A partnership with oil-rich Saudi Arabia would lead to a certain defeat.
Gamers play during the first day of Europe's leading digital games fair, Gamescom, in Cologne, Germany, in August 2019
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2023
Video game competitions should be in the Olympics
Esports is already among the world’s most popular competitive activities. Last year, the global audience totaled more than 500 million people.
NASA and the Department of Defense are collaborating with Lockheed Martin to build and test a nuclear rocket engine by 2027.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2023
NASA’s $500 million rocket gamble is worth it
Nuclear rockets are worth pursuing, but only with careful safeguards and international cooperation.
Surging populations of plant-eating insects are disrupting farms and the food supply chain, causing problems far more serious than sticky windshields from bug excrement.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2023
The insect apocalypse is coming to your neighborhood
Polar bears and sea turtles get most of the attention as victims of climate change, but when the bugs invade we're all going to feel it personally.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jul 20, 2023
Women's sports experiencing steady growth in popularity and value
Women"s sports are growing in popularity and value. Better yet, that growth is no longer dependent upon quadrennial events like the Olympics or World Cups.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2023
Will AI in baseball become the next 'Moneyball'?
Artificial intelligence could complicate the business of baseball, making the game homogenized and less dynamic.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2023
Saving the Hubble telescope is worth spending the money
NASA’s plan to recruit unpaid volunteers to rescue the Hubble telescope fails to appreciate the ongoing value of this scientific treasure.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2023
The world’s space junk problem just got an affordable solution
We’re getting better at spotting and dodging debris in orbit — a much more cost-effective option than spending billions on cosmic robot cleaners.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2023
Satellite-saving robots can turn killer, too
Orbiting machines used to repair other spacecraft can just as easily be used to destroy them and will require new international rules to keep the peace.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2022
NASA’s Artemis rocket is a gigantic waste of money
NASA's lunar mission is already years late and billions over budget. Meanwhile, private companies have been pushing boundaries in space travel for more than a decade.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2022
The space race the world needs is finally starting
Elon Musk wants SpaceX to become the first private company to complete a mission to Mars, but he has competition and thatu2019s good for everybody.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2022
A mission to Uranus would be expensive, and worth it
The U.S. Congress should embrace a proposed $4 billion-plus Uranus mission for the discoveries it will make possible and to inspire a new generation of world-leading space scientists.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2022
America’s hunger pandemic is getting worse
When COVID-19 and its economic disruptions hit, already vulnerable demographics found themselves in particular need.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2021
Is NASA’s new telescope worth the risks?
For decades, America has been at the forefront of astronomy and astrophysics. Itu2019d be a mistake to cede that leadership thanks to needless cost overruns and delays.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 20, 2021
Musk soars while Bezos sues in the new space race
As Jeff Bezosu2019s companies fall behind Elon Musku2019s SpaceX in the race to return to the moon and launch satellites, theyu2019re increasingly resorting to politics and legal filings to get ahead.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2021
Space junk, long feared, is now an imminent threat
Although the vast majority of space junk is the size of a grain of sand or smaller, at least 26,000 pieces are big enough to destroy a satellite.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2021
Musk-Bezos spat reflects bad space policy
Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate passed a measure that would allot $10 billion over five years for NASA to develop two new lunar landers. Buried in a nearly $250 billion bill intended to boost innovation, the measure was equal to about 43% of the space agency’s total budget.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2021
As satellites proliferate, telescopes go dark
Satellites reflect sunlight, causing bright trails across the night sky, which in turn can impede crucial observations or corrupt astronomical data.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2021
Vaccine fears are crippling China’s COVID-19 fight
The country has so far managed to administer just 2.89 doses per 100 people (or 40.5 million shots), far behind the 19.33 doses for every 100 people in the United States.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2021
China’s latest celebrity scandal hits a raw nerve
The ex-boyfriend of popular Chinese actress Zheng Shuang said on social media that she had abandoned him with two surrogate children in the U.S.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world