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April 26, 2024
 

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Bobby Ghosh
For Bobby Ghosh's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Even if a solution for peace is found to end the conflict between Hamas and Israel, any transitional authority will need to reckon with the militant group's large footprint in Gaza.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2024
A total 'de-Hamasification' of Gaza may be a bad idea
A peace plan needs to reckon with many difficult questions: Who will rebuild Gaza; who will pay for reconstruction and who will adjudicate any war crimes.
The Houthis benefit Iran because they command a large country with plenty of remote locations to fire missiles from and are in close proximity to some of the world’s main energy sources.
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2024
The Houthis are now Iran’s most potent proxy
For the wider world, responding to the growing Houthi menace will require much more than naval flotillas to the Red Sea.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog's claim all Gazans are responsible for Hamas' actions ignores the iron grip the group has over the strip and how isolated its people are.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2023
No, Gazans can’t rise up against Hamas
Claiming all Gazans are responsible for Hamas' actions ignores the iron grip the group has over the strip and how isolated its people are.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2023
Iran wants to make a deal the U.S. must refuse
Khameini thinks he has the leverage for an agreement easing punishment while keeping Iran's nuclear infrastructure. The response should be sanctions, sanctions and more sanctions.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2023
I saw America snatch defeat from victory in Iraq
Few of us who were on the ground couldn't imagine that the Iraq war could go so well, or the peace so badly.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2023
Ukraine must rewrite Russia’s narrative in the Global South
Ukraine has won the West’s support in the war against Russia. But to ensure victory, it will need the developing world’s, too.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2023
India’s BBC raid is just the Modi government's latest attack on the press
The West has indulged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while he has coerced and subverted his country’s media.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2023
Erdogan has undermined Turkey’s earthquake response
President Erdogan's paranoid policies against civil society have weakened the very institutions Turkey needs to deal with the devastating earthquake.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2022
The soccer world must protect Iran’s team
After losing to the United States in World Cup, Team Melli returns home to a hostile population and a vengeful regime.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2022
Expect more hostage diplomacy from a desperate Iran
Recent episodes involving foreigners should be a warning to Western governments that their citizens are an easy target for a regime facing mounting domestic and international pressure.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2022
Rwanda deserves U.K. censure over handling of ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero
The Biden administration is pushing back against President Kagame's treatment of u2018Hotel Rwanda' hero Paul Rusesabagina. Boris Johnson should do the same.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2022
Africa becomes collateral damage of Ukraine war
The continent's leaders have largely been reluctant to push back against Moscow, but their fence-sitting hasn't spared them from the invasion's fallout.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2022
The U.S. risks paying a high price for a nuclear deal with Iran
Removing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard's terrorist designation would buttress an already-dangerous organization.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2021
Why Iraqi Kurds are fleeing their peaceful homeland
Given that so many Iraqi Kurds are now seeking instead to escape from the region shows the extent to which hopes for economic and political opportunity in the post-Saddam Hussein era have evaporated.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2021
Iran drops the fig leaf of its nuclear fatwa
The decree was always more political than religious - designed to provide cover for whatever nuclear course was expedient for Tehran at any given time.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2021
Biden can break from Trump and Obama on Iran
Biden has space to pursue an Iran policy that is neither a reaction to Trump's nor a straightforward continuation of Obama's.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2020
A dismal year everywhere was even worse for Iran
After a year in which the regime has failed on every other front, it will almost inevitably double down on its only other source of legitimacy: its visceral anti-Americanism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2020
Erdogan's political challengers are getting tougher
Neither investors nor the general public seem to be buying Erdogan's promise of a new economic era for Turkey.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2020
Iranian nuclear scientist killing will have fallout
The killing certainly has some of the hallmarks of a campaign of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, attributed to Israel: four were killed between 2010 and 2012.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 23, 2020
Ethiopia’s prime minister trades his Nobel Peace Prize for civil war
We may be long past holding laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize to its lofty standards — the cruel cynicism of Henry Kissinger and open bigotry of Aung San Suu Kyi are just two instances of honorees behaving dishonorably — but Abiy Ahmed’s belly flop from the pedestal is nonetheless remarkable. In less than a year since his uplift in Oslo, Ethiopia’s prime minister has embroiled his country in a civil war and brought the Horn of Africa to the edge of chaos.
'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.
Over 40% of Japan's municipalities at risk of vanishing, study finds
Of 1,729 local municipalities nationwide, 744 have been identified as being at risk of disappearing.
Princess Aiko makes debut at imperial garden party
Princess Aiko attends an imperial garden party in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Yen inches closer to intervention point as BOJ meeting starts
The rate of the yen against the U.S. dollar is displayed in the trading room at foreign exchange brokerage Gaitame.com in Tokyo on Thursday.
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.
For amateur sumo, a fresh start offers hope against time-wasting and gamesmanship
Wrestlers prepare for the start of a bout at the 2023 Sumo World Championships in Tokyo. Starting this month, placing one hand on the clay first is no longer allowed.
LDP veteran Nikai's youngest son expected to succeed him in Wakayama
Toshihiro Nikai, former secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, announced in March that he would not run in the next Lower House election to take responsibility for the political funds scandal that rocked his party and his own faction.
New workers name Shohei Ohtani as 'dream boss' for two years running
Shohei Ohtani has been overwhelmingly voted as the “dream boss” for people who started working in April, according to a survey.
A craft beer crawl through Tokyo’s top bars, brewpubs and dives
If all you drink is Asahi, Sapporo and Kirin, you're depriving yourself of some of the best craft beer Tokyo has to offer — and there sure is a lot of it out there.
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.

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

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability
Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

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