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July 19, 2025
 

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Mark Buchanan
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2022
Plastic-munching bacteria offer hope for recycling
Offering a ray of hope, plastic has become so enmeshed in our ecosystem that bacteria have evolved to digest it and scientists are trying to take advantage of that fact.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2020
A coronavirus vaccine is coming, so who gets it first?
While many people will want to be protected against COVID-19, nations will need to decide who needs prioritizing for vaccination.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2020
Quarantine is terrible but it works
Restricting human contact has had a dramatic effect on COVID-19's infection rates.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2020
It’s 2024, and we’re still stuck at home
Wishful thinking can't overcome the scientific models that point to years of COVID-19 outbreaks.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / Commentary
Jan 9, 2020
Nobel Prize for a battery breakthrough was decades in the making
Looking back on the past year in science, the coolest advances seem to be coming in areas such as gene editing and quantum computing. This is sexy research pointing with confidence to the future. Yet we should remember that some of the most important scientific discoveries take place almost without notice,...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2019
Gene editing might alter our DNA and destroy our humanity
Crispr and other tools could save us from the most tragic diseases, but what if they change what makes us human?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2018
Space junk presents a clear and present danger
Pollution generated by human activity isn't limited to the Earth and its climate.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2018
Why de-nuking the North is so difficult
Full denuclearization may not even be possible.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2018
Canada's cautionary tale for all fishing nations
The rise and fall of a Canadian province's cod supplies points to the danger of industrial-scale fishing.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2017
China's electric cars are actually pretty dirty
Electric-vehicle technology is only as clean as its sources of power.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2016
Magical thinking won't stop climate change
Despite the Paris Agreement on climate change, the gap between what needs to happen and what is happening remains large, and is even growing.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2016
A Nobel that helps explain the hole in a bagel
The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics rewarded work that is merely one more step in the study of ordinary matter that has been going on for centuries.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2016
How Trump could start a war with Russia
In his determination to 'make America great again,' Donald Trump should not turn away decisively from the things that have made America great in the past, including steady and unwavering support for its allies.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2015
Is the world getting more peaceful? Maybe not
While some academics believe the world is getting more peaceful, new research suggests they might be getting their math wrong.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2014
Is the European Union too rigid to survive?
Uncompromising attempts to bind Europe together may instead hasten its abrupt and unmanageable dissolution, with unknown consequences.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2014
The trouble with the genetically modified future
Scientists are being irresponsible if they judge the safety of GMOs based on the scattered experience of the past couple decades.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2014
Beware of economists who hide assumptions
There's nothing wrong with making crazy economic assumptions to help get your mind around something. The deception comes in claiming that your conclusions have real-world relevance when the assumptions are nuts.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2014
How inequality curtails a nation's creativity
Given the rarity of really good economic ideas, those who have already achieved success may be the least likely to find them — to be the 'job creators' of the future.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2014
Is wealth inequality near a tipping point?
Today's vast wealth inequality probably isn't the result of any economic conspiracy, or of vast differences in human skills. It's more likely the banal outcome of a fairly mechanical process that, unless altered, could easily carry us into a place where most of us would rather not be.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2013
The chilling biology of the debt-ceiling standoff
The showdown over the U.S. debt ceiling demonstrates that human beings are systematically incapable of understanding how precarious our currently familiar condition really is.
Living conditions index hits lowest level in 15 years in Japan
The share of respondents to a Bank of Japan quarterly survey in June who said they have become worse off came to 61.0%, up 5.1 percentage points from the previous survey.
Tokyo emerges as a top market for global tech talent
Tokyo ranks among the world's top tech talent hubs alongside Beijing, the San Francisco Bay Area, Bengaluru, Paris, New York and Dublin, according to Colliers' newly released global tech markets report.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
CDP leader criticizes ‘Japanese First’ policy and calls for inclusive society
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda said it is obvious that Japanese society could not function without the help of foreign workers in manufacturing, health care, construction and public transportation.
JSA’s 100th anniversary event is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for sumo fans
Egyptian wrestler Osunaarashi has some fun with children during a special Japan Sumo Association event in 2017.
Japan's rice farmers are confounded by Shinjiro Koizumi’s policies
Kiyoshi Shibata stands in front of one of the rice paddies in Murayama, Yamagata Prefecture, where he produces the prefecture's signature rice brand Tsuyahime.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Kawaii Lab redefines idol pop for the TikTok generation
Misa Kimura is the main producer for Kawaii Lab, a project by entertainment agency Asobisystem whose groups have found success by pairing a social media-first strategy with a fresh perspective on traditional idol-pop tropes.
Craig Mod's life in motion in a disappearing Japan
Mod's memoir “Things Become Other Things” chronicles his walking trips across the Kii Peninsula, surveying “a graceful end to a certain life cycle.”
With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.

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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