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May 02, 2024
 

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GEORGE F. WILL
For GEORGE F. WILL's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2018
Dying of loneliness, despite all our social media 'friends'
How can America fix its epidemic of loneliness?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2018
America should do away with the death penalty
Without being aware of it, Vernon Madison might become a footnote in constitutional law because he is barely aware of anything. For more than 30 years, Alabama, with a tenacity that deserves a better cause, has been trying to execute him for the crime he certainly committed, the 1985 murder of a police officer. Twice the state convicted him unconstitutionally (first excluding African-Americans from the jury, then insinuating inadmissible evidence into the record). In a third trial the judge, who during his time on the bench overrode more life sentences (six) than any other Alabama judge, disregarded the jury's recommended sentence of life imprisonment and imposed the death penalty.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2018
Trigger warning: An embarrassing fragility on campuses
'Un-intellectual' academic bureaucrats have turned students into 'eggshell plaintiffs' traumatized by a multitude of 'microaggressions.'
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2018
U.S. is overdue for another Lehman-type episode
Those who see no Lehman-like episode on the horizon did not see the last one.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2018
Poor Portland progressives: So much to protest, so little time
The current tumults in Portland perhaps reveal something about Oregon's political DNA.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2018
Protectionism proves that evidence is unpersuasive
Trying to produce prosperity with protectionism is as easy as extracting sunbeams from cucumbers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2018
Trump's summit with Kim could foretell catastrophe with Putin
Before the U.S. president's second summit, it's time to note all that went wrong at the first.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2018
Trump's trade wars would avenge only mythical casualties
Many more jobs are lost to the routine churning of the American job market than to NAFTA.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2018
Battling campus oppression of the freedom of expression
'Bias response teams' are squelching liberty of speech at American universities.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2018
After nixing Iran nuclear deal, is containment the only option?
Containing Iran is the least awful choice.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2018
A showcase of humanity's vilest and noblest manifestations
Calling the Holocaust unfathomable is a moral flinch from facts that demand scholarship.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2018
Bolton's beliefs are a recipe for diplomatic delusions
Favoring war against North Korea and Iran, the new U.S. national security adviser is America's second most dangerous man
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2018
Six thousand days into a war without an objective
It would be helpful to have an explanation of U.S. interests and objectives in America's longest war.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2018
Snakes on a plane? For emotional support?
The proliferation of emotional-support animals suggests that a cult of personal fragility is becoming an aspect of the quest for the coveted status of victim.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2018
Frederick Douglass, champion of individualism
Frederick Douglass, the first African-American to attain historic stature, was a legatee of 'the classical liberalism of the American founding.'
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2018
Some policy dentistry could combat truth decay
The American public's mental bandwidth is being stressed by a torrent of information.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2017
A cake is food, not speech, so why bully the baker?
Less bullying and more magniminity from the victors in the fight for same-sex marriage would be seemly.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2017
A nod, and a nodding off, to another year of U.S. hilarity
Sometimes facts are stranger than fiction.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2017
Do automakers dream of electric cars?
The automotive industry is precariously poised between a glamorous past and an opaque road ahead.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2017
America's engine is being slowed by complacency
America is losing the dynamic drive that made it the world's leading economic power.
'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.
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.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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