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April 24, 2024
 

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COMMENTARY

Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / Commentary
Apr 2, 2023
Landmark U.N. deals highlight need to see ties between climate and biodiversity
If you look behind the headlines on recent climate and biodiversity progress, there is growing recognition that how these efforts interact is critical.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / Commentary
Jul 21, 2022
Streaming is sadder now
A short explanation for this vibe shift: There has been a little loss of faith in the growth potential of streaming, and doubt has profound ripple effects.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / Commentary
Sep 16, 2020
Breaking down Suga's picks for his first Cabinet
With Yoshihide Suga formally appointed as prime minister on Wednesday, all eyes will be watching to see how the newly minted leader will steer Japan.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / Commentary
Jun 22, 2020
COVID-19's potential lasting influence on post-pandemic governance
Once a vaccine is found, will world powers embrace globalism or isolationist policies?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Commentary
May 8, 2020
Japan prods firms to leave China, affecting ties with Beijing and Washington
The COVID-19 experience has left Abe with no choice but to step back from China's embrace.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Commentary
May 8, 2020
What will Tokyo’s postponed Olympics mean for Japanese politics?
The possibility of the 2020 Games' cancellation and the economic fallout created by the pandemic could deal a blow to Abe's legacy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Commentary
Apr 26, 2020
In the fight against COVID-19, neighborhood associations could be Japan's ace in the hole
For all their faults, Japan's neighborhood associations also help build community solidarity — a resource that will be sorely needed in the months to come.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Commentary
Apr 14, 2020
Japan and U.S. must lead preparations for next pandemic
The global crisis over the COVID-19 pandemic calls for a global solution, but so far the international community has not shown a strong desire to get on the same page.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Commentary
Mar 23, 2020
V4+Japan: A new mode of cooperation or a doomed project?
Much has been written about the reinvigoration of the Japan-EU relationship after signing the strategic and economic partnership in the last few years. But Japanese rapprochement to the EU does not end in Brussels. In recent years, another European platform has been activated by Abe’s proactive policy: The Visegrad 4.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society / Commentary
Feb 20, 2020
The ugly history of blaming ethnic groups for disease outbreaks
As the coronavirus outbreak grows in scale and scope, a nasty side effect spreads: discrimination. Inside China, people from Wuhan have been treated like lepers. Outside, we're seeing numerous reports of verbal and physical abuse aimed at ethnic Chinese, and an aversion to Chinese restaurants and other places associated with the country.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Commentary
Feb 16, 2020
Coast guard ship deal highlights growing Japan-Philippine security ties
Earlier this month, Japan and the Philippines inked a contract for the delivery of vessels that would constitute the largest in the Philippine Coast Guard. Though this was just one of many developments in the Japan-Philippine defense relationship, it is not without significance for their security ties as well as for the broader bilateral relationship more generally.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / Commentary
Feb 13, 2020
Can Japan kick-start paternity leave among workaholic dads?
In January, Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi received worldwide attention after surprising the public with his plan to take parental leave shortly before the birth of his first child.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / Commentary
Feb 5, 2020
Robots, including one by Sony, are coming for fund management jobs
Remember Aibo, the computerized dog Sony Corp. started selling in 1999 as the first personal robot? Hiro Mizuno, the chief investment officer of the Government Pension Investment Fund, does. So he asked Sony's computer science lab unit to build him a cyberhound using artificial intelligence to help oversee the external fund managers who manage GPIF's ¥175 trillion ($1.6 trillion) in assets.
Japan Times
WORLD / Commentary
Jan 30, 2020
Why is Tokyo defying population outflows among world's 'superstar' cities?
Like a lot of big cities in the developed world, Amsterdam lost population in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s as its inhabitants opted for newer dwellings and more space outside the city. During those same decades, newcomers arrived in large numbers from former and current Dutch territories as well as Turkey and Morocco. But there weren't enough of them to make up for the domestic exodus, and their presence led some longtime Amsterdammers to decide the city was no longer for them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Commentary
Jan 22, 2020
In an uncertain East Asia, Japan's security choices face balancing act between U.S. and neighbors
As the distribution of power in the regional order becomes fragmented with intensifying Sino-U.S. strategic competition, Japan remains at the front line of East Asian security. With Chinese unilateral and coercive efforts altering the status quo on the one hand and the complexity of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula on the other, Japan is compelled to revisit its strategic options as it navigates the most severe security environment in its postwar history.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Commentary
Jan 19, 2020
The Japan-U.S. alliance is stronger than ever, but that doesn't mean it's on autopilot
When the Japan-U.S. security treaty was revised 60 years ago, nobody expected that it would become one of the most remarkable security alliances in history.
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, in seemingly boring fields like materials science or chemistry.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Commentary
Dec 24, 2019
The great power game in the Pacific: What Japan can do
The Pacific island states have never been at the center of geopolitical discussion. The names of the 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) — nations such as Fiji, Kiribati, Palau and Samoa — may evoke a romanticized image of a remote paradise in the Pacific, but certainly not as a point of strategic importance.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Commentary
Dec 5, 2019
LDP statesman Yasuhiro Nakasone helped shape postwar Japan from the top down
Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who died at 101 on Nov. 29, will undoubtedly be remembered as a giant in Japan's political history.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Commentary
Dec 1, 2019
Aligning interests deepen Japanese-Aussie defense ties
Australian Defense Minister Linda Reynolds made her first official visit to Tokyo in November, holding talks with her counterpart, Taro Kono, reiterating their commitment to the security relationship between the two countries, and consolidated a series of new measures designed to deepen their defense cooperation.
'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 cannabis market growing rapidly amid regulatory shift
The legality of products that contain cannabinoids, a group of substances derived from the cannabis plant, has been somewhat murky in Japan.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
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.
Hybrid work takes root in Japan, survey finds
A dealer works in the trading room at a foreign exchange brokerage in Tokyo on March 28. An overwhelming majority of respondents who currently work remotely in some capacity say they wish to continue to do so.
Shohei Ohtani signs deal with sports technology company Rapsodo
Shohei Ohtani has been appointed as the new technology ambassador for Rapsodo, the company announced Monday.
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.
Tsukiji 2030s: A stadium, culinary center and transportation hub
A computer-generated image shows redevelopment plans for the former site of the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo.
Hearing the impact of climate change in Okinawa, one bird call at a time
Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.
Japan’s cannabis market growing rapidly amid regulatory shift
The legality of products that contain cannabinoids, a group of substances derived from the cannabis plant, has been somewhat murky in Japan.

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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