James Gibney - The Japan Times

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James Gibney

For James Gibney's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 30, 2020

The coronavirus is not Trump’s Vietnam

Sentient humans like to benchmark their successes and failures. So it’s understandable that in trying to put the coronavirus’s toll in perspective, some Americans have fastened their eyes on one particular grim milestone: The 58,300-plus deaths in the United States from COVID-19 over the last three months have now surpassed U.S. casualties from the Vietnam War (58,220 deaths recorded from 1956 to 2006, according to the National Archives).

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 23, 2020

COVID-19 won’t kill globalization

Among the byproducts of the coronavirus pandemic has been a spate of obituaries for globalization: “A Global Outbreak Is Fueling the Backlash to Globalization.” “Spread of Virus Could Hasten the Great Coming Apart of Globalization.” “Will the Coronavirus End Globalization as We Know It?”

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 30, 2019

Impeachment could come with a foreign policy silver lining

It could rejuvenate America's image, tattered alliances and global leadership.

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

May 29, 2019

Japan's path to war and Trump's Huawei ban

History shows that trade sanctions and military tensions are a combustible combination.

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 2, 2017

U.S. will pay for Trump's global unpopularity

Being seen as unreliable and 'arrogant, intolerant and dangerous' by a majority of respondents from 37 countries around the world could have concrete policy consequences for U.S. President Donald Trump.

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 24, 2016

Don't build a wall — amend U.S. Constitution

A constitutional amendment can solve the U.S.' illegal immigration woes better than a wall on the border with Mexico.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 22, 2016

As Cuba rises, Puerto Rico falls

As the resumption of diplomatic ties with the U.S. opens new possibilities for Cuba, Puerto Rico's current status as a U.S. commonwealth has turned into an ugly dead end.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 2, 2016

Africa suffering under a yoke of corruption

The book 'The Looting Machine' by Tom Burgis explains why a continent blessed with one-third of the world's hydrocarbon and mineral wealth remains mired in poverty and dysfunction.

COMMENTARY / Japan

May 3, 2015

Blame Abe's bad history on diplomat George Kennan

U.S. diplomat George Kennan was instrumental in reversing U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur's efforts to liberalize Japan's economy and society.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Jan 5, 2015

Why Japan should embrace Angelina Jolie's 'Unbroken'

The attacks on Angelina Jolie's just-released film 'Unbroken' — which is much less about Japanese brutality against an American POW than the resilience of the human spirit — appear part of a revisionist recrudescence under the Abe administration.

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 24, 2014

Pyongyang uses live bait to lure Washington

For new talks to succeed with North Korea, the U.S. must expend more energy getting South Korea and Japan, barely on speaking terms, to get along, and end its policy of doing nothing while the North becomes more dangerous.

COMMENTARY / World

May 20, 2014

Forgetful of history amid today's territorial tiffs

For all China's stern injunctions to Japan to remember wartime history, its recent bumbling aggression in Southeast Asia suggests it also could use a refresher course.

COMMENTARY

Mar 22, 2014

Norway shines for Japanese, Korean women

According to OECD data, women in Norway have more leisure time than women in any other OECD country: 367 minutes a day. Norwegian men's helpfulness are the reason.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Mar 14, 2014

Japan should make disaster the mother of invention

In the decades since World War II ended, Japan has repeatedly demonstrated its technological genius. So why does it treat the 3-year-old Fukushima nuclear tragedy as a farce by pushing to reopen many of its 48 commercial reactors instead of driving to achieve sustainable energy self-sufficiency?

COMMENTARY / Japan

Nov 30, 2013

Obama sends two old B-52s and a message to China

The U.S. decision to show support for Japan by flying two B-52s through China's claimed 'air defense identification zone,' which includes the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, is a blunt reminder that Northeast Asia remains the world's most combustible geopolitical hot spot.

Reader Mail

Dec 23, 2007

Sinister nationalism holds sway

In the Dec. 18 letter, "Skaters should highlight Japan," Nozomi Mizuno bemoans an apparent lack of patriotism exhibited by Japanese figure skaters. That Japanese either lack or do not vociferously enough express patriotism in comparison to foreigners is a widely held opinion in Japan. It is also diametrically opposed to reality. The problems in Japan include lack of respect for foreign countries, cultures and people.

Reader Mail

Oct 28, 2007

Does decency go beyond the pale?

Debito Arudou's bruising critique of the government's "Public Survey on the Defense of Human Rights" (Oct. 23 Zeit Gist article, "Human rights survey stinks") leaves one question unanswered: If 59.3 percent of respondents agreed that foreigners should have the same human rights protection as Japanese, what on Earth did the other 40.7 percent think? That foreigners should have less than human rights?

Reader Mail

Aug 26, 2007

An offer Americans can refuse

Is Hiroaki Sato asking that I give up the gun that saved me from an attack by a knife-wielding robber several years ago? Is he asking my neighbor's wife to give up the gun that stopped an attempted rape in 1997? Is he asking tens of thousands of people who annually avoid death or serious injury because they had a gun conveniently available when they were attacked by criminals to give up their guns? If all the honest citizens give up their guns, then who will be the only people who still have guns?

Reader Mail

Aug 26, 2007

The quest for U.N. membership

On July 23, the U.N. Secretariat rejected Taiwan's application for U.N. membership. Four days later, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said "the position of the United Nations is that the People's Republic of China (PRC) represents the whole of China as the sole and legitimate representative government of China . . ." and that "Taiwan is part of China."

Reader Mail

Jul 15, 2007

Lots of people share the blame

Of course, the A-bomb disasters could have been prevented! The U.S. government could have refused to order and pay for the development of the bomb. Those who made it could have refused to make it. Those who tested it could have refused. Those who loaded it on two planes could have refused to load it. Those who flew the planes and pushed the buttons over Hiroshima and Nagasaki could have refused. The American people, if they had known enough, could have refused to use it as a weapon of mass destruction -- the worst of its kind so far.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.

The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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