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May 17, 2024
 

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TED RALL

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TED RALL
For TED RALL's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2014
Why not teach students what's going on now?
Who do textbook publishers think it's smart to start a fourth-grade history textbook with prehistoric humans who lived 10,000 years ago? Why not begin by teaching students what's going on now?
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2014
The New Yorker is bad for cartooning
Writer-cartoonist says The New Yorker magazine prints a lot of awful cartoons, yet uses its reputation in order to elevate terrible work as the profession's platinum standard.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2014
Suicide kills more Americans than gun violence
Being poor doesn't bum people out. Being poorer than other people — people whose relative wealth you personally witness — does.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2014
Is it any wonder students turn to porn to pay college costs?
Writers for American high-end publications are busy slamming and shaming the Duke University freshman who became an adult film actress to pay for the horrendous costs of going to college.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2014
What U.S. media won't say about Russia's actions
If America's foreign correspondents only knew that millions of ethnic Russians in former Soviet Republics have suffered widespread discrimination and harassment since the 1991 Soviet collapse — beginning with laws eliminating Russian as an official language — maybe they wouldn't be falling down on the job in Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2014
Ukrainian coup is not a revolution
In a real revolution, the core mission and organizational structure of a country's military are radically altered. The leadership changes in Ukraine and Egypt don't signify revolutions.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2014
Good reasons to loathe Big Tech
Not only have Americans been reamed by Big Tech — they know they've been reamed. Which has set the stage for big-time resentment.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2014
Biased judging in award of journalism Pulitzers
The winners of this year's Pulitzer Prizes in journalism will be announced in a couple of months. Cartoonist and op-ed writer Ted Rall will not be one of them.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2014
Time to relegate 'moral laws' to history's dustbin
Nothing lasts forever — especially in the U.S. with its 50 percent divorce rate — and it's clear that same-sex marriage will eventually be the law of the land.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2013
Hollywood: a peddler of U.S. political propaganda
It's unforgivable for Hollywood to promote America's we're-the-good-guys party line at the expense of the victims of the system.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2013
Media redirection waters down impact of dissent
The way U.S. media outlets chose to cover the anti-NSA march last month provides a fascinating window into a form of censorship they often use but we rarely notice: redirection.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2013
ACA website to New Yorker: drop dead for now
The not-typically-quotable U.S. House Speaker John Boehner does have a point when he asks how we can we tax people for not buying Obamacare from a website that doesn't work.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2013
Crashes, sticker shock mark Obamacare shopping
Last week I spent six hours shopping for Obamacare on New York State's health care marketplace website. Officials had estimated that it would take the average person seven minutes. Either because I am not an average person or because the Obamacare people are idiots, I spent six hours setting up an account....
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2013
Is the GOP's Rand Paul America's leading liberal?
America's 'liberal' president and his Democratic allies aren't fighting the good fight. The most liberal politician in America these days is the right-winger Rand Paul.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2013
Mandatory organ donation
It is estimated that 18 people die in the U.S. every day due to a national shortage of organ donations. This crisis could be solved if organ donation were mandatory.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2013
Obama didn't sell war hard enough
War is what America does best, war is what America does most. So why couldn't U.S. President Barack Obama get public support for a strike on Syria
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 6, 2013
Breaking bad: Why a U.S. strike would be illegal
U.S. President Barack Obama and the other warmongers are counting on ignorance and confusion to make their case for an attack on Syria.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2013
The failure of Tahrir Square 2011
Two years ago, when I was in the Occupy movement, my comrades and I argued about revolution. Was revolution necessary? What is it? The split that destroyed our movement — as it did the Left during the 1960s — pitted revolutionaries against reformists. The most frustrating part of the debate,...
COMMENTARY
Aug 20, 2013
Learning the lessons of Egypt
I'm not much for sports analogies, but any athlete knows about the home field advantage. It's easier to win if you play your game, not your opponent's.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2013
The Chechen connection
Beginning in the mid-1990s under the regime of President Boris Yeltsin and continuing into the early part of the 2000s under Vladimir Putin, Russia fought a so-called "dirty war" against Chechen separatists in a region of the world that military strategists have long considered among the most indomitable....
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
Kishida defends planned rule to revoke foreigners' residency
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a meeting of the Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
Human bone-like objects found at Nippon Steel plant’s molten iron pot, with one worker missing
Police believe it’s highly possible that human bones found in a molten iron pot at Nippon Steel's Oita factory belong to a missing male employee.
Was Onosato's defeat of Terunofuji an era-defining bout?
Onosato (right) defeats Terunofuji at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on May 12. While nothing in sumo is guaranteed, it seems almost inevitable that Onosato is destined for the top of the sport's pyramid.
Man suspected of using smart glasses to cheat on Waseda University exams
The Waseda University campus in Tokyo. An 18-year-old male test-taker is suspected of using smart glasses to cheat during the university's entrance exam.
Japanese billionaire sues Meta over investment scams using his image
Entrepreneurs Yusaku Maezawa (second from right) and Takafumi Horie (third from right) attend a study session on fake social media ads and investment scams at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on April 10.
Japanese rap creates its mecca in Pop Yours
Tokyo-based artist Jumadiba says he forgoes the label of simply “rap” for his music because the Japanese rap scene isn’t confined to a particular sound.
Who’s toughest on China? Biden’s tariff tactic ups ante as election looms.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about new actions to protect American workers and businesses from China's "unfair" trade practices, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
Was Onosato's defeat of Terunofuji an era-defining bout?
Onosato (right) defeats Terunofuji at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on May 12. While nothing in sumo is guaranteed, it seems almost inevitable that Onosato is destined for the top of the sport's pyramid.
Ishin struggles to set itself apart from other parties
Nippon Ishin no Kai Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita (right) speaks beside Yui Kanazawa, the party's candidate in the Tokyo 15th district by-election on April 28. Nippon Ishin lost in this by-election as well as another in Nagasaki held on the same day.

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

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.
How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan
By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there
Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

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