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April 30, 2024
 

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Marc Champion
For Marc Champion's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2015
Cameron has only himself to blame for tight race
British Prime Minister David Cameron's agenda for the last two years before the election has been dominated by Europe and immigration, but many voters care more about the economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2015
Gallipoli and Armenian genocide shouldn't mix
All political leaders manipulate history, but the decision by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to shift the 100th anniversary commemoration of the allied landings at Gallipoli forward 24 hours to April 24 — the same day as the anniversary of the Armenian genocide — was unusually crass.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2015
Call Cameron's 'gaffe' anything but guileless
There's been much debate over whether British Prime Minister David Cameron's shock announcement about his political future was just an unguarded slip — as he tried to look like a normal family man rather than a power-crazed politician on a soft-feature TV show — or a tactic.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2015
Ukraine needs to realize it can't beat Putin
The longer Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko pretends to his people that Ukraine can seize Donestsk and Luhansk back from Russia by force, the more lives, sovereignty and wealth Ukraine will lose.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2015
Erdogan's reinvention of Turkey isn't funny
As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reminds Turkey of its roots through cosplay, the continued purging of judicial institutions as well as the jailing and intimidation of journalists in that country make the debates in France over free speech look quaint by comparison.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY
Jan 20, 2015
U.K. Muslims' 'special burden'
Do Muslim minorities in Britain and other European countries have a special burden to help track down Islamic extremists?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2015
Charlie Hebdo's cartoons aren't the issues
Those news outlets that chose not to publish Charlie Hebdo's cartoons — after 12 people were killed — might have done so out of principle rather than fear, but if so, their news judgment was off.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2014
U.S. soft power takes a hit in wake of report
It's a testimony to U.S. soft power that Washington persuaded so many allies to take part in a policy of torture that they must have known would one day blow up in their faces.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2014
Why reuniting territories would benefit Russia
Russia could serve its own interests by encouraging some of the territories that helped break away from neighboring countries to rejoin them.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2014
Is Putin losing Ukraine by stoking a war?
Russian President Vladimir Putin risks alienating ethnic Russians living in Ukraine by fueling war there.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2014
Putin's defense of Hitler pact should worry all
The fact that — in 2014 — Russian President Vladimir Putin is openly prepared to defend the 1939 Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact — an archetype of cynical, totalitarian politics — should concern us all.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2014
Is Ukraine's crisis the U.S. and Europe's fault?
The question at the heart of the Ukraine crisis remains whether Russia should have special right to determine the policies and governments of its neighboring countries.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2014
Why Russian jets are testing NATO's airspace
The danger of the new Cold War is that there is complete disagreement between Russia on one side and the U.S. and EU on the other as to the dividing lines. For most Russians, the borders created by the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 aren't a given.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2014
Who's afraid of a gas cut to the EU this winter?
The danger posed to the EU by a stoppage in Russian natural gas supplies this winter depends on whether countries are willing to sacrifice for another and unify in their response.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2014
Mourning Excalibur, the dog Ebola didn't kill
A petition to save the pet dog of a Spanish nursing assistant who has contracted Ebola received more than 370,000 signatures before it was sedated and killed. Yet there are no reports of people clashing with police to persuade their governments to do more to help stop the the spread of Ebola in Africa. A university study seems to confirm this preference we have for cute animals over adult humans.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2014
Russia's hand in east Ukraine violence is exposed
After the fighting in Donetsk this week, there's no doubt Russia is working to destabilize Ukraine. Countries participating in Russia's South Stream natural gas pipeline project should pull out.
COMMENTARY
May 27, 2014
Caught between guns and disgust in east Ukraine
Throughout eastern Ukraine, ordinary Ukrainians are caught between the armed thugs of 'The Donetsk Criminal Republic,' a threatening Ukrainian military and a terminally corrupt state. Most have no desire to join Russia, but feel little enthusiasm for the new post-revolutionary order.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2014
Nigeria's kidnapped girls and Iran's brave women
Both Turkey and Iran have seen a big expansion in the number of women going to university in recent years. The demand by women to decide their own cloethes and fates will surely grow in tandem.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2014
Tatars are reason enough to care about Crimea
Put aside the cries of 'Munich' and 'Sudetenland' that surround Russia's ongoing annexation of Crimea. In human terms, Crimea's Tatars are the reason to care.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2013
Turkey playing 'orientalism' card against West
For many years, most Western journalists defended the Turkish government against the the suspicions of secular Turks who worried about radical Islamic or authoritarian agenda. But the liberal reforms stopped several years ago.
When will Japan intervene to support the yen?
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has reiterated the government's readiness to take an appropriate action as the yen continues to slide against the U.S. dollar.
'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.
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.
Yen rebounds strongly after first slide past ¥160 since 1990
The yen dropped to ¥160.245 per dollar on Monday before heading into the other direction to ¥155.01 amid speculation of an intervention by Japanese currency authorities.
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.
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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Leading Japan’s sustainability from Tokyo

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