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July 16, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2010
Recalling the foundation of modern tyranny
By Timothy Snyder
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Eighty years ago, in the autumn of 1930, Josef Stalin enforced a policy that changed the course of history, and led to tens of millions of deaths across the decades and around the world. In a violent and massive campaign of "collectivization," he brought Soviet agriculture under...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2010
Overvalued club debate
By Kevin Rafferty
HONG KONG — American domination of the world economy was challenged last week at the Group of 20 summit in Seoul much the same way that Barack Obama's Democrats were mauled in this month's U.S. congressional elections, which the president termed a "shellacking."
COMMENTARY
Nov 18, 2010
A new great game in Asia
By Brahma Chellaney
U.S. President Barack Obama's 10-day Asian tour and the consecutive summit meetings of the East Asian Summit (EAS), the Group of 20 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) helped put the spotlight on Asia's security challenges at a time when tensions between an increasingly ambitious China and...
COMMENTARY
Nov 18, 2010
China's big stick: trade reprisals
By Michael Richardson
China's ascent as a trading power and its push for control of disputed islands and seas in East Asia are confronting the region with a new challenge: how to cope with Chinese moves that make recognition of its sovereignty claims a condition for access to its huge market and strategic resources.
COMMENTARY
Nov 18, 2010
Release of Suu Kyi is no 'Mandela moment'
By Gwynne Dyer
People love historical analogies, so it's easy to think of Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest Nov. 13 as Burma's "Mandela moment." When Nelson Mandela was freed from 27 years of imprisonment in 1990, it marked the start of a process that saw the negotiated end of the apartheid regime and genuinely...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2010
Kan ducks the rice problem
By Kevin Rafferty
HONG KONG — Has Prime Minister Naoto Kan finally woken up to the fact that the world is changing rapidly and Japan risks being left behind? In recent days he has spoken of a fresh fleet of "black ships" off the coast of Japan, and has noted nostalgically that he comes from Choshu (now Yamaguchi Prefecture)...
COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 2010
Unrepentant Bush still backs use of torture
By Cesar Chelala
In his recently published memoirs called "Decision Points," and in interviews publicizing those memoirs, former U.S. President George W. Bush makes it clear his stand on what many consider a basic human rights violation: the use of waterboarding as a torture technique. With characteristic insouciance,...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2010
Fixing the U.S. economy
By Michael Spence
NEW YORK — For many, if not most, Americans, the crisis that befell them in 2008 — leading to slow growth, rising unemployment and high anxiety among voters — appeared to spring from nowhere. Certainly, the vast majority of economists, investment analysts, financial firms and regulators failed...
COMMENTARY
Nov 16, 2010
Japan's narrowing lead
By Takamitsu Sawa
For quite some time now the mass media has been reporting pessimistic views of Japan's future. March 1991 marked the end of an economic bubble and the start of economic stagnation. From then until 2009, Japan's economy grew by an average 0.8 percent per year, an extremely low figure compared with other...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2010
Consumers should demand diamond clarity
By Peter Singer
PRINCETON, New Jersey — Diamonds have an image of purity and light. They are given as a pledge of love and worn as a symbol of commitment. Yet diamonds have led to gruesome murders, rapes and amputations.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2010
Erasing the stigma for sufferers of leprosy
By Yohei Sasakawa
At its 15th session, which ended at the beginning of October, the U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution encouraging governments to eliminate discrimination against people affected by leprosy — and their family members. As the World Health Organization's Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 14, 2010
When a natural selection can appear to some an offensive choice
By Roger Pulvers
One morning in the summer of 1967 I made what was, for me, a momentous decision.
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.
Japan team finds ancient ocean full of squids
The ancient ocean was full of squids, whose population exceeded that of fish or ammonites, a Japanese research team mainly from Hokkaido University has found through a new method using technology.
Japan researchers identify gut bacteria strain that boosts anticancer drugs
Researchers at the National Cancer Center Japan say a new type of gut bacteria named YB328 could help unlock the potential of cancer immunotherapy.
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.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
Japanese scientists discover clue to why women burn more fat than men
Scientists say a recently-published study could help explain why women are typically less prone to weight-related conditions and may lead to new therapies that target calorie-burning mechanisms.
Music idol and anime fandom merch is big business
Businesses who cater to fandoms gathered at Tokyo Lifestyle Week for the second annual Oshikatsu — Merch Collection Expo, a trade show devoted to fandom goods.
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

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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