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April 26, 2024
 

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Ramesh Ponnuru
For Ramesh Ponnuru's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2022
Trump is on the defensive for the first time in years
Former U.S. President Donald Trump still hasn't come up with a plausible way to explain why he isn't responsible for last week's Republican midterm defeats.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2022
Biden's no FDR. He's not even Obama.
The Democrats' crowing over their and Joe Biden's legislative victories is not persuasive, but it does help them rationalize coming down to Earth.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2021
Can Democrats go it alone on immigrant amnesty?
If Democrats try to enact an amnesty, they will probably get shot down — but not before doing more damage to public confidence in the U.S. political system.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2021
A scary plan to revise the definition of death in the U.S.
The current law's silence about how brain death is diagnosed means that someone could be found legally dead in Nevada even if ruled alive in Kansas.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2021
Virus keeps refusing to follow anyone’s partisan script
Among the world's rich countries, the U.S. has a middling COVID-19 death rate: better than the U.K. or Italy, worse than France or Sweden.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2021
What Neera Tanden’s demise says about ‘cancel culture’
What Tanden's defeat mostly tells us is that you should not insult a group of thin-skinned people if you might need their support in the future.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2020
‘Clowns' and 'fools’ mark a U.S. debate with only 'lowlights'
The debate changed nothing, except to diminish the country's dignity just a little bit more.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2020
What people fear most about ‘cancel culture’
A new survey shows that rising numbers of Americans are clamming up, regardless of age, race or even politics.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2020
Biden’s old-time liberalism finds its moment
The Democratic candidate's speech repudiated progressives by condemning riots.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2020
Overzealous policies erode support for lockdown
My city’s government has closed the entrance to the parking lot of a park near my home in an effort to prevent people from congregating. The main result, as far as I can judge, is that a lot of people are irritating the neighborhood outside the entrance by parking their cars there illegally. The closure does not appear to have done anything to stop the spread of the coronavirus, even if crowding in parks were a vector for transmission — which a recent study suggests it isn’t.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2020
Is it already too late to stop Bernie Sanders?
Like Trump before him, the Vermont senator is benefitting from a divided opposition.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2020
Forget the Iowa fiasco — Trump is the Democrats' real problem
The U.S. president's triple threat: high approval rating, stable economy and a united party.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2019
Three false claims muddying the impeachment debate
Each side is not only trying to spin the facts, but trying to spin itself as well.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2018
Kavanaugh resembles Roberts, but he's no clone
The U.S. Supreme Court chief justice has encountered some buyers' remorse, but that won't stop the confirmation of Trump's latest Supreme Court pick.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2017
U.S. protectionism's destructive path
Tariffs subsidize narrow interests and for Americans as a whole the record is one of almost unrelieved failure.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2017
Bury Confederacy for good
The meaning of public symbols is not a private matter
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2017
America's liberals want Republicans to not be Republicans
The U.S. left's criticism of GOP lawmakers for not breaking with Trump is hollow and self-serving.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2017
There's no brain science to U.S. college free speech
Campus speakers aren't doing violence to undergraduate neurons.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2016
Trump's strengths didn't help him this time
In Monday night's presidential debate, Donald Trump failed to convince doubters he's qualified to become president.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2016
The EU, not Britain, has a democracy deficit
There is no European public to which the EU can be held accountable.
'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.
'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.
Japan's former PM Aso meets Trump for talks on security and economy
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Taro Aso, vice president of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in New York on Tuesday. The Japanese government’s top spokesman on Wednesday played down the meeting as one conducted "in the capacity of one lawmaker" and “without the government’s involvement.”
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

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass
Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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