Editorials
Editorials
Trump gets down to work
Donald Trump's selection of key staff and Cabinet members gives important insight on what to expect from the his presidency.
Editorials
Reopening Diet Constitution panels
Changes to the Constitution should be made only if it's necessary, not just because Shinzo Abe has the needed votes in the Diet to call a referendum.
Commentary
Ted Rall
Trump's fascism picks up where Obama's left off
Fascism under Trump will merely continue Obama's fascism with a smiley face — a fascism that we let him get away with for far too long.
Doug Bandow
Appointments will determine Trump's legacy
If President-Elect Donald Trump wants to transform policy, especially involving international affairs, he must not appoint those determined to uphold today's interventionist status quo.
Editorials
Editorials
Lowering legal age of adulthood
Legal protections for young people will need to be very robust if the age of adulthood is lowered to 18.
Editorials
New SDF mandate in South Sudan
The government had better be aware of the possible ramifications of the expanded role it has handed the SDF in South Sudan.
Editorials
The sinkhole in Fukuoka
Authorities need to find out exactly why a huge sinkhole formed in Fukuoka, and how to keep the same problem from happening again.
Editorials
What the GDP data portends
The Abe administration should urgently tackle long-awaited structural reforms to generate new avenues of economic growth.
Editorials
A questionable nuclear deal
The Diet must scrutinize whether Abe's nuclear deal with India contradicts Japan's efforts to promote nonproliferation and the abolition of nuclear arms.
Editorials
Hong Kong's autonomy eroded
Beijing's promise to uphold the "one country, two systems" formula that was designed to protect Hong Kong's distinct features — in particular its political system — looks increasingly empty.
Editorials
Cutting down on passive smoking
The government needs to get more serious about steps to protect people from passive smoking as it prepares for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Editorials
Japan-U.S. ties in the Trump era
The incoming Trump presidency could provide Japan with an opportunity to reassess its priorities in its relations with the U.S.
Editorials
'Here there be dragons'
The Trump victory means that U.S. politics and policies have entered vast and uncharted waters.
Editorials
Overtime woes at Dentsu
The Dentsu overwork scandal shows the problem of overwork can't be solved through the voluntary efforts of businesses.
Commentary
Takamitsu Sawa
Boosting Japanese innovation
To revive Japan's international competitiveness, the educational system must teach students how to think, make judgements and express themselves.
Alfred Stepan
America's political checks and balances in peril
The outcome of the 2016 election is likely to gut the already weakened U.S. political system's checks and balances on government power.
Clive Crook
Why Trump might be good president
Expectations of Trump are so low in the minds of many Americans that small acts of civility and moderation will seem like remarkable achievements.
Robert Samuelson
U.S. post-election hype doesn't reflect reality
The grim diagnoses for the Democratic Party are overdone — and other truths gleaned from election statistics.
Justin Fendos
The roots of South Korea's corruption culture
The emphasis on loyalty in South Korean culture is behind the recent corruption scandals.
George Will
Did U.S. academia help elect Donald Trump?
U.S. institutions of supposedly higher education are awash with hysteria, authoritarianism, obscurantism, philistinism and charlatanry.
Christopher Hobson
Easy punditry, hard problems
The experience of the Bush years suggests that the institutions of U.S. democracy are not necessarily strong enough to prevent dangerous and reckless decisions being made. This does not bode well for a Trump presidency.