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April 29, 2024
 

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Adam Minter
For Adam Minter's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2021
Asia’s movie rebound is good news for everyone
In the absence of Hollywood fare, 'The Eight Hundred,” a Chinese war epic, became the world's top-grossing movie with a $460 million take.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2020
Trump leaves a mess behind at NASA
President-elect Joe Biden needs to focus on what has made the U.S. space program distinctive in recent years: the power of private competition.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2020
Has Bacardi solved the world’s plastic problem?
Various types of plastic react differently during the recycling process. If two different types are mixed together, the output will be a mishmash of limited economic value.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 6, 2020
Japan's new Olympic experiment is a risky mistake
Various measures to protect spectators are being tested out, including smartphone apps that issue warnings about which parts of a stadium are crowded at any given moment.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2020
Banning glitter won’t save the oceans
Those sparkly bits of plastic that make ornaments twinkle, wrapping paper glimmer and wreaths shimmer are increasingly seen as an environmental hazard.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2020
Don’t give up on recycling plastics
Fortunately for the world, the recycling industry has a history of transforming what was previously “unrecyclable” into useful products. It's poised to do so again.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2020
China finally makes its peace with ‘foreign garbage’
After years of trying to ban recycling imports, the central government seems to be coming to its senses.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2020
COVID-19 isn't the only crisis facing the Olympics
The Summer Games have been postponed; the Winter Games could be a calamity.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2020
Green-energy firms have a human rights problem
The renewables business needs to clean up its act.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2020
In St. Paul, police reform is working
Not far from where George Floyd was killed, a young mayor is making big changes.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2020
On COVID-19 and protests, some good news
Minnesota, the epicenter of the George Floyd demonstrations, so far hasn't seen a much-feared spike in infections.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2020
Street vendors won’t save China’s economy
A new push to welcome informal workers back onto the streets will create more problems than it solves.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2020
In George Floyd’s city, inequalities are everywhere
Black communities — and businesses — are at a steep disadvantage in Minneapolis.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2020
NASA should beware of viruses from outer space
As the space agency prepares to bring home Martian soil samples, it needs to update its planetary-protection rules — and soon.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2020
At overloaded thrift shops, coronavirus is wreaking havoc
A glut of donations and a lack of demand have left a crucial American industry reeling.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2020
Will the comeback of plastic bags outlast the COVID-19 pandemic?
Reusable products are eyed with suspicion now, but sustainability still has a bright future.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2020
Can China end its wildlife trade?
The government's latest crackdown on the $75 billion business won't work. Here's what might.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2020
With sailors stranded, shippers face a hard choice
Before the pandemic, 100,000 seafarers traveled in and out of the world’s ports every month. Some had spent weeks or months aboard the cargo ships, tankers and other merchant vessels that are essential to moving products and commodities across the globe. In a ritual little noticed outside the industry, new crews would regularly arrive to relieve them, ensuring that the world’s vast merchant fleet wasn’t endangered by fatigued sailors. Now, thanks to the coronavirus, this critical process is breaking down, threatening the safety of the world’s waterways and the functioning of a business that carries 80 percent of global trade.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2020
In the world’s informal economy, there’s no shelter from the virus
Some of the world's most vulnerable workers are also the hardest to help in a crisis.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2020
Coronavirus won't sink the cruise industry
Travelers tend to have short memories, and the ships' key demographic won't give up their sail-away cocktails.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Putin’s war will soon reach Russians’ tax bills
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday.
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.
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.

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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