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May 04, 2024
 

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Stephen L. Carter
For Stephen L. Carter's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2015
Remembering when space could still awe us
Through a strange process of inversion, the U.S. victory in the 1960s space race against the Soviet Union rendered space travel boring.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2015
Positive thinking really is a hallmark of success
We're often irritated by people who make excuses when they lose and brag when they win, but they might just have the right attitude.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2015
Balance of power tips toward Iran
With Iraq essentially neutralized, Iran is set to become the dominant power in the gulf region.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2014
America's problem? Too many laws
A Yale law professor tells his students that it is unavoidable that there will be situations where police err on the side of too much violence rather than too little. But fewer laws would mean fewer opportunities for official violence to get out of hand.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 31, 2014
Steppe nomads were precursors to the Islamic State
The debate over how to think about the Islamic State group has mainly centered on important but abstruse questions — is it evil or not? — and on what combination of military and economic pressure might be necessary to prevent the establishment of a caliphate.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2014
Obama can't afford to wage another Cold War
The U.S. may not be facing a new Cold War, but it will only weaken its position in the world, and especially against Russia, if it fails to heed the lessons of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2014
The blame for Iraq can wait
American efforts to assign immediate blame for Iraq's unraveling carry with them a whiff of the can't-do spirit — as if, unsure how to proceed in the world, we turn on each other instead.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2014
Class of 2014: Thank you for not disinviting me
Are today's graduating college students too eager to ban commencement speakers whose views they reject?
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2014
Wrong analogy for Ukraine
This month's 65th anniversary of the successful conclusion of the Berlin Airlift has provided supporters of a tougher U.S. line on Ukraine a useful but wrong analogy.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2014
Voters do not deserve blame for low turnout
There was a time in America when political activitists used to say that a candidate whose main strategy was to talk about how rotten the other side was wasn't worth a vote. Can the today's voters who share that sentiment be blamed for not voting on Nov. 4?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2014
West has the moral authority to criticize Putin
Vladimir Putin, like Nikita Khrushchev in the 1950s, is a hard-eyed realist, more than willing to trade an evanescent moral authority for the reality of actual authority. His bet is that the West is made of words when it comes to its criticism of Russian intervention in Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2014
U.S. senator's criticism of bitcoin is misguided for playing down investors' love of the game
It isn't clear why bitcoin deflation matters to the U.S. economy. Goods and services aren't priced in bitcoins. The buyer who 'spends' bitcoins at a restaurant or store is just exchanging them for dollars, which do the buying.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2014
Waging cyberwarfare by the rules
The news that a highly sophisticated malware program called Mask has spent the last six years stealing valuable intelligence from supposedly secure government and diplomatic computers around the world prompts the question: At what point does a cyberattack become an act of war?
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2014
Climate-change skeptics have free-speech rights
One could find himself tugged in two directions by the latest ruling in the defamation suit filed by climatologist Michael Mann, who has long been an object of ire among climate-change skeptics. Now it seems the skeptics have let their ire get out of hand.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2014
At last, Yale surrenders to technology
Yale University ran up the white flag last week in its battle to keep twin seniors Peter Xu and Harry Yu from creating an easier-to-use and more informative version of its online course catalog. As the school's real battle was against technological change, defeat was inevitable.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2013
Pope Francis and the meteor
If, as researchers believe, a city-killer meteor arrives about once a century, then Earth is due. But we're not close to ready, and NASA lacks the money for a serious response system.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2013
When leaps in technology make cheating easier
As economists keep reminding us, the optimal level of cheating isn't zero. Sometimes the costs of monitoring tests and chess games, for example, can outweigh the benefits of the underlying activity.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2013
Bitcoins need to be better than real currency
Bitcoins appeal to people's libertarian side, because they challenge the control of money by governments that too often see inflation and deflation as instruments of policy. This virtual currency suggests the possibility of a future in which networks of individuals can make transactions for their own interests.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2013
Don't blame Dallas for Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy was an extraordinary president at an extraordinary moment in history.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2013
Washington isn't working, so why not move it?
Dispersing the headquarters of Washington's bureaucratic agencies throughout America's hinterland might well reduce people's feelings of alienation and hence lead to better government.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Yen swings stir talk that Japan is in the FX market once again
An electronic screen in Tokyo displays the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and the graph showing its recent swings, on Thursday.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
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.
Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests
An electronic screen displays a graph showing Japanese yen exchange rates surging against the dollar amid signs of intervention by authorities, in Tokyo on Thursday.
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

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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