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May 02, 2024
 

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William Pfaff
For William Pfaff's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2014
America's money politics
The success of big money was even greater than widely expected in America's mid-term election.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2014
U.S. government up for sale
The dominating significance of the midterm American legislative elections just finished has been the occasion's dramatic confirmation of the corruption of the American electoral system.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2014
Western nations' mastery
A British scholar and former wartime army intelligence officer will tell you that there's nothing new about Islamic State, that it is in no way integral to the Islamic religion, and that it is a phenomenon that will pass.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2014
The U.S. has done enough damage in the Middle East
The notion that Iraq will 'destroy' the Islamic State at American behest is an illusion, and so is the notion that the U.S.-formed coalition can do it. Only Muslims themselves can resolve the Islamic crisis overtaking the Middle East.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2014
The war against Islamic State
History says an asymmetric war has never been won by air power alone. So who does U.S. President Barack Obama think is going to fight Islamic State?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2014
Problem with President Xi
Chinese President Xi JInping has insisted he won't tolerate any concessions to the calls for electoral and governmental reform now being made in mass demonstrations in Hong Kong. The analogy with the Tiananmen tragedy is now widely made.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2014
Alliance invites a hollow laugh
A U.S. senator has gone on record touting Syria and Iran as having, together, the means, ability and motivation to wipe out the Islamic State. But President Barack Obama and State Secretary John Kerry — as well as both parties in the U.S. Congress — are not interested.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2014
U.S. foreign policy train wreck
If the cease-fire and negotiation terms Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko has signed with the country's pro-Russian insurgents in the southeast of his country and their friends in Moscow hold, U.S. President Barack Obama should thank him for an invaluable gift of peace to Americans and NATO.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2014
Is Berlin driving Paris to the brink?
President Franu00e7ois Hollande has instructed his prime minister to form a new government — without those troublemakers who want to stop the economic austerity in Europe, or at least apply some flexibility, before it is too late.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2014
U.S.-Israeli affair almost over
Today the endorsement of Israel and financial support from the American Jewish community remain important but diminishing factors in American politics. Sympathies, especially among younger Jews, have moved leftward.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2014
Obama needs to choose his words more carefully
Although U.S. President Barack Obama has made it clear that he does not intend to take the U.S. more deeply into the Mideast again, the U.S. is allied with and presumably counseling Ukrainian government forces that seem set on vanquishing what remains of the pro-Russian separatists near the Russian border.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2014
A war is not inconceivable
Washington's demonization of Vladimir Putin has been so successful in the press, and it has been so secret about the American role in Kiev, that it has left the U.S. and EU public convinced that the Ukraine crisis has been the result of Russia's desire to expand.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2014
Israel, Gaza and the U.S. perception
The Israeli military is neither incompetent nor accident-prone where hospitals or U.N. schools are concerned. So, does a theory live in its ranks that terrorization works in Gaza?
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2014
World needs to right Israel's wrongs
The Israeli bombardment of the Palestinians has proven a policy failure, demonstrated by the Israeli government's resumption of bombing. The Israelis tried to give up, but failed.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2014
Cost of 'making' democracy
For most of the American electorate, the U.S. perseveres as the messenger of democracy to a world that usually hasn't earned it and probably doesn't deserve it. But consider what this proud effort in the Mideast, Afghanistan, Ukraine and elsewhere has done to U.S. civil liberties and to U.S. democracy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2014
History moves, but not always ahead
Victors of World War II find themselves unable to win the wars they wage against peasant societies. They combine self-righteousness with the perception of failure and decline.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2014
U.S. Mideast policy crumbles
The Middle East has been torn apart by American invasions and attacks, and careless ideas about how to remake other peoples' lives. Iraq and Syria, as they exist today, may never recover from it.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2014
Imagine a U.S.-Iran alliance
A U.S. interest now coincides with Iran's. Both wish to save the Shiite government of Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from the ISIS advance. But the prospect of an Iran-U.S. alliance will cause a political clash.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2014
Kagan and the ruin of ideas
Neocon commentator Robert Kagan's belief — detailed in his new book 'The World America Made' — that the world will benefit from a benevolent American suzerainty, despite the side effects of the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghan wars, beggars the imagination.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2014
U.S. could spare Israel a bad outcome
Until Washington stops its nonmilitary aid to Israel, ends its complicity in Israel's continuing illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and instead supports full Palestinian membership in the U.N., the Jewish state will remain locked into self-destruction.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

Podcast

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

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
By Alex K.T. Martin

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