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July 15, 2025
 

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Constantine Pleshakov
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2016
May Day, Russia, Mayday!
Russian President Vladimir Putin used this year's holiday marking the Soviet victory in World War II to whip up jingoistic hysteria.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 11, 2016
War returns to the Caucasus region
The frozen war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region has thawed, with serious implications for the region.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2016
Pacific dreaming in Moscow
Russia's government announces yet another set of impotent plans to develop its long-neglected Pacific region.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2015
With friends like Vladimir Putin, who needs enemies?
Avenging the City of Light, Russia and the West can turn Syria into the desert of darkness, but from that darkness nothing good will come.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2015
Russian Navy's red tide rising
Short of naval assets but wanting to flex its muscles at sea, Russia is employing a maritime version of the 'hybrid warfare' it used to take control of Crimea.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2015
Russian eagle takes steroids, reads Hegel, seeks recognition
The goal of Vladimir Putin's aggressive foreign policy may be a new contract with the West in which Russia is recognized as a leading power and treated as an equal.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 19, 2006
On your own in the Ice Age
MOSCOW -- If scientists are bent on calling the overall weather mayhem of the past few years "global warming," more power to them, but this winter the term looked like a huge misnomer to the population of Eurasia -- from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 20, 2006
Even a child knows better
MOSCOW -- Occasionally, we all get wrong ideas about ourselves. A middle-aged person starts dressing like Leonardo di Caprio, a pizza deliveryman begins emulating "The Godfather," a school teacher turns herself into a Gestapo interrogator.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 3, 2006
Putin 'exiles' the high court
MOSCOW -- Exiling someone is so very Russian. Although centuries passed by and regimes changed, authorities retained exile as a great tool of punishment and manipulation. Less objectionable than execution or imprisonment, it effectively uprooted and silenced the regimes' opponents -- and sometimes destroyed...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Dec 15, 2005
Russian rightwingers ride benzene spill
MOSCOW -- The city of Khabarovsk is ill-starred. Founded by hopeful entrepreneurs as a major trade hub in the Russian Far East on the doorstep of China, it turned into a big dump -- a symbol of missed opportunities and disillusionment.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Nov 12, 2005
Downsized Russian holiday
MOSCOW -- Wouldn't you feel confused if your government moved Christmas Day to Dec. 21 and named it the Day of Fraternal Oscillation?
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Oct 16, 2005
Lenin can still save Russia
MOSCOW -- To: Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 26, 2005
Playing war in the Far East
MOSCOW -- Chinese walk into Vladivostok, Russians occupy Qindao. Amphibious armored vehicles negotiate the surf, jet fighters refuel in the air, troops land on barren beaches. A Hollywood World War III movie? An Internet prank? A hallucination from a crazed war veteran? Nope, they are joint military...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 31, 2005
Nature never tries to be nice
MOSCOW -- Planet Earth, aka Mother Nature, is a sturdy killer. Preachers, environmentalists and sunset lovers keep trying to persuade us that it is as benevolent and fragile as a loving aging parent. Not at all. The environment we live in is hard-nosed and violent -- hardly a mother figure but rather...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 5, 2005
Denial of existential needs
MOSCOW -- The blackout that hit Moscow late last month wasn't any better or worse than others that have struck big cities recently, say New York in August 2003. It is the same old thing over and over again -- people stuck in subways and elevators, hospitals canceling lifesaving surgeries, crowds grimly...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
May 15, 2005
Cannon fodder won the war
MOSCOW -- Writing a book is not unlike planting a garden. You make elaborate plans for each section; you comb encyclopedias and guides for advice; you collect every piece of information about the species that interests you; you say to yourself that, unlike other gardens, yours is going to be consistent,...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Apr 17, 2005
Behold John Paul II, a marvelous actor
MOSCOW -- Sixty years ago when friends of a young Pole, Karol Wojtyla, grieved that the talented actor was abandoning the stage for a Catholic seminary, their concerns were in vain. Actually, though, the young man never quit acting. As Pope John Paul II, he became the greatest artistic star in the world....
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Apr 1, 2005
Best face on a looting binge
MOSCOW -- The city "went mad" amid an "orgy of looting." Thousands of people of all ages roamed the streets, plundering shops and government offices. Armed with sticks, they smashed everything they couldn't take home and fought each other over valuable spoils. The dictator's palace, foreboding in the...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 20, 2005
Artwork unfurled without a destination
MOSCOW -- To be popular with art historians, you have to be a dead Italian male. Everyone else is suspect to tenured professors and critics, particularly if the work is going to last for just 16 days and is made of nylon and steel. Such was the case with a revolutionary project by Christo and Jeanne-Claude,...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 1, 2005
Waltzing around the issues
MOSCOW -- Summits have gone to the dogs. Gone are the days when a meeting of two presidents could change the world overnight, redrafting borders, changing governments and ensuring peace or war.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
Tropical Storm Nari moves northward, with possible landfall Tuesday
Tropical Storm Nari's forecast path as of Monday morning
Nissan clinches $4.5 billion bond deal after orders soar
Nissan Motor has raised $4.5 billion through a junk bond sale in U.S. dollars and euros, part of which carries a record-high coupon rate.
Students in Japan struggle with Japanese language and math sections on national exam
The correct answer rate for the Japanese language section on a national test dropped to 67.0% from 67.8% the previous year among elementary school sixth-graders.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
Is Japanese skin really ‘too smooth’ for Hideo Kojima’s games?
Hideo Kojima, the leading auteur in Japanese video games, has skirted controversy in the wake of the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
An emoji used to say it all. Now it might say too much.
Apple’s Craig Federighi shows off a set of emoji at a conference on June 13, 2016. While the small pictures have proved helpful in conveying nuance in our texts, younger people are using them less often.
‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

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