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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2016

Is Brexit really inevitable?

Brexit isn't a foregone conclusion. There are three main scenarios that could keep Britain in the EU.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 9, 2016

Violence again convulses 2016 election campaign, testing Trump, Clinton

In the hours after a gunman shot 12 police officers in Dallas, killing five, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton abruptly canceled campaign events. Their Twitter accounts largely went quiet.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2016

Wakayama youth group urges teens to 'end voting virginity'

End your virginity while you are still a teenager.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2016

The Palestinian incentive program for killing Jews

The killers of Israeli Jews are considered 'martyrs' and their families are paid for the service these murderers have done for the Palestinian cause.
EDITORIALS
Jun 29, 2016

Time to close money loopholes

Lawmakers need to get to work on closing the gaping loopholes in the system controlling political funds.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Jun 26, 2016

Cities take cutesy tack to get youths to go to the polls

For town, city and prefectural government offices around Japan, the key issue in next month's Upper House election is not constitutional revision or the economy. It's persuading 18-year-olds to go to the polls.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 25, 2016

Can foreign media pressure force changes in Japan?

Former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's first-person "biography" of late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, "Tensai" ("Genius"), remains atop best-seller lists. It is interesting to note that when Tanaka was alive Ishihara berated him as a crude opportunist. The years have obviously tempered his view, or perhaps...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 25, 2016

Brexit result threatens to undermine special relationship between U.S., Britain

Britain's decision to quit the European Union could send damaging shock waves through the bedrock Anglo-American "special relationship," raising questions about London's willingness and ability to back U.S.-led efforts in global crises ranging from the Middle East to Ukraine.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 22, 2016

In reversal of fortunes, Myanmar's Suu Kyi courts Thai junta

Aung San Suu Kyi leaves democratically led Myanmar this week for military-ruled Thailand on an official visit that highlights the changing fortunes of the Southeast Asian neighbors.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2016

Japan's first lady, Akie Abe, speaks her own mind

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has outlasted those that scoffed at his return to power as leader of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party in 2012. And yet while the prime minister appears to have established himself as an increasingly dominant force in domestic politics over the past decade, the most...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 18, 2016

Absolutism: an acceptable price to pay for order

His contemporaries hardly knew what to make of him. Their bewilderment is reflected in the name by which he is best known to us: the "dog shogun."
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Jun 18, 2016

Hashimoto backs away from confronting Tokyo's fierce media pack

With Tokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe having resigned, who will replace him is a matter of interest not only in Tokyo, but a question likely to impact the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito's fortunes in next month's Upper House election.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 18, 2016

George W. Bush ends exile, hits campaign trial to help Republicans raise money

Former President George W. Bush had every intention of sticking to his self-imposed exile from politics, but found that the phone kept ringing with appeals from Republican U.S. Senate candidates for help, friends say.
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2016

Masuzoe throws in the towel

The Tokyo governor's resignation may be convenient for the ruling parties, but they still must get to work on closing the loophole in the Political Funds Control Law that led to the scandal.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 10, 2016

The gap in 'China policies'

There are fundamental gaps between the American and Japanese perceptions of China.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 8, 2016

Clinton seizes historic role as female presidential nominee as Trump campaign hits new low

If Hillary Clinton's best argument for unifying Democrats and winning the White House is Donald Trump, then she picked a good week to clinch the nomination.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2016

Thailand playing a risky game with China, Russia

The Thai military regime's 'bamboo diplomacy' of playing Russia and China off against the U.S. could prove to be myopic in the game of international politics.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2016

The British people will choose their destiny

The 'Brexit' referendum presents an explicit opportunity to reject a rising and unaccountable administrative state.
JAPAN / Politics
May 31, 2016

Kishida's stock rises as future leader after Obama's Hiroshima visit

When U.S. President Barack Obama laid a wreath at the Hiroshima peace memorial on Friday to honor the 140,000 victims of the world's first atomic bomb attack, one of the city's best-known native sons was standing nearby — and in a position to take credit for arranging the historic event.
JAPAN / G7 ISE-SHIMA SUMMIT SPECIAL
May 25, 2016

Summit agenda laden with difficult international issues

The G7 Ise-Shima Summit in Mie Prefecture is expected to be a major opportunity to present Japan under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a key member of the international community.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2016

Rousseff's impeachment will only fan the flames

As is the case in Thailand, Brazil's political crisis is the product of a struggle between the nation's haves and have-nots.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 13, 2016

Slim majority see no need for Obama to apologize for atomic bombs: Japan Times poll

Earlier this week The Japan Times polled its readers about U.S. President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to Hiroshima. A total of 1042 people from 90 countries responded to the question: "Do you think President Obama should apologize for the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945?"...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2016

Hillary to Bernie supporters: don't vote for me

Confident that she has the Democratic nomination locked down, Hillary Clinton's surrogates are targeting Bernie Sanders devotees with a low-key sales pitch.
JAPAN / Politics
May 9, 2016

Constitutional scholar Kobayashi announces plan for anti-Abe party, Upper House bid

A constitutional scholar inspired by U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders jumps into the Upper House race to stop the 'uncontrollable' government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2016

A vital victory for London

The election of Sadiq Khan as the first Muslim mayor of London was a vote for intelligence and tolerance.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2016

Trump won the GOP's stand-up competition

Donald Trump's remarkable run, however it ends, could be a harbinger of things to come, and future races may well be won by the person with the best stand-up routine.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 6, 2016

It's time Abe fired Aso as his finance minister

Shinzo Abe should admit that entrusting key parts of his shock-therapy program to Taro Aso was a mistake, and an increasingly costly one at that.
EDITORIALS
May 4, 2016

Chaos reigns supreme in Baghdad

Iraq's future is in Iraqi hands, but the politicians of that troubled country must put national interests before the lining of their pockets.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2016

China key to India's future

Is China's success clearing the way for India to take flight?

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years