Search - author

 
 
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 15, 2021

A top virologist in China, at center of a pandemic storm, speaks out

The virologist, Shi Zhengli, said in a rare interview that speculation about her lab in Wuhan was baseless. But China's habitual secrecy makes her claims hard to validate.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2021

Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia delivers more than A-list talent

Since its start in 1999, Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF & Asia) has become the largest festival of its kind in Asia. This year, it is presenting a hybrid edition, with online venues showing films beginning on April 27 and the festival proper held June 11-21 at venues across Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2021

Will China save the U.S. from inflation fears?

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, for example, warned last month that the U.S. might be headed toward an inflationary episode on par with the years after World War II.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2021

Facebook, YouTube erred in censoring COVID-19 ‘misinformation’

Social media fact-checkers don't have any special knowledge or ability to sort fact from misinformation. What they have is extraordinary power to shape what people believe.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2021

Keeping free speech safe

There was a time when the threat to academic freedom in democratic countries came primarily from the right. Today, however, most of the opposition to freedom of thought comes from the left.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2021

Renewable energy boom unleashes a war over talent for green jobs

Difficulty securing a well-trained workforce could end up being a bottleneck in an industry that is key to slashing emissions.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 8, 2021

China markets sold mink and civets, stoking natural origins theory

The hunt for COVID-19's origins has become increasingly political amid criticism that the Chinese government hasn't been open and transparent.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2021

The world should learn from India’s COVID-19 cataclysm

Strategies that kept the pandemic at bay in 2020 won't necessarily work in 2021.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 6, 2021

Should we worry so much about our BMI?

There are few single measures in health care that seem to carry as much weight as body mass index, or BMI. We encounter it not just at doctor’s offices, but with online calculators and smart scales, at gyms and even when determining eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 4, 2021

Worst drought in decades escalates threats across western U.S.

Almost three-fourths of the western U.S. is gripped by drought so severe that it's off the charts of anything recorded in the 20-year history of the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2021

America must rediscover human-rights realism

A policy that virtually ignored human rights, however, would reduce the U.S. to the one-dimensional realpolitik that characterizes Chinese and Russian behavior.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2021

Prosecute the populists?

Until the cease-fire, the world’s attention was trained on Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza, which may have suited Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is facing trial on corruption charges. And Netanyahu is hardly the only populist leader in legal peril.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2021

Did China avoid blame for causing the pandemic?

The WHO first learned of the COVID-19 outbreak from Taiwan, news articles, a public bulletin and from an automated alert system that scans the internet for mentions of unexplained pneumonia.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 2, 2021

Taiwan’s Shih recognized for lifetime of service, dedication

This year, the 38th Niwano Peace Prize will be awarded to the Venerable Shih Chao-hwei of Taiwan in recognition of her work in peace building through her safeguarding of all forms of life, promotion of gender ethics and gender equality, and her approach to open-minded dialogue with different religious...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 1, 2021

‘Womenomics’ author Kathy Matsui seeks to bring ESG to Japanese startups

The ex-Goldman Sachs executive is aiming to build a fund to invest in sectors including health care, fintech, next-generation work and education, and well as the environment.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2021

An overconfident and assertive China forces a tough U.S. response

As the Chinese government is telling foreign audiences to purchase Huawei products, it is warning domestic audiences of the dangers of reliance on foreign technology.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2021

Having a 'side hustle' can transform your career

Creating a product or service based around a personal experience makes it a lot easier to tell a compelling brand story and connect with prospective customers and clients.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
May 30, 2021

Endurance sport looks inward after tragedy kills 21 runners

Ultrarunning has never experienced a day like May 22, when 21 runners died as a storm descended on a high mountain pass during a 62-mile race in northwestern China.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 30, 2021

'Japanese Prints and the World of Go': Exploring the pop-cultural psyche of the Edo Period

Meme-like themes in ukiyo-e prints reveal the rich heritage of go in “Japanese Prints and the World of Go.”
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 30, 2021

Five nonfiction books about Japanese food to devour from cover to cover

In an age where the internet provides an abundance of information, to still be unaware of the varieties of Japanese cuisine could be seen as a form of self-exile from pleasure. While curating a list of the “best” nonfiction on the topic is certainly subjective, the following books, which offer immersive...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
May 29, 2021

If not now, when? COVID-19 spurs global push to tackle wealth gap.

Governments worldwide, facing strong evidence that fallout from COVID-19 has widened wealth gaps as well as wrecking economies, have expanded social safety nets.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2021

Will the productivity revolution be postponed?

Scientific advances — epitomized by the rapid development of RNA-based COVID-19 vaccines — are the most fundamental reasons for optimism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2021

Will the Fourth Industrial Revolution serve sustainability?

Building a more sustainable future therefore requires us to rethink some deeply held assumptions about the role of technology — and artificial intelligence in particular.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 27, 2021

America, Japan and how best to defend Taiwan

The most important form of preparation is in fact not military at all; it is, rather, to mitigate the developed world's economic dependence on key commodities and components made in China.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2021

Immigration is the wealthy world’s challenge of the century

A U.N. report says international migration has become increasingly weaponized and is being used by some as a political tool, undermining democracy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2021

What was unsaid hovers over the Biden-Moon summit

A failure to look beyond the alliance blots what was otherwise a very successful summit and bodes ill for the evolution of this vital security partnership.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2021

'The Big Lie' and its consequences

Under President Donald Trump, the cooked-up issue was whether the count in the electoral college actually represented the popular vote in their states.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 24, 2021

Risk of nuclear war over Taiwan in 1958 said to be greater than publicly known

The famed source of the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, has made another unauthorized disclosure — and wants to be prosecuted for it.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 23, 2021

On North Korea denuclearization, yet another diplomatic dance for the U.S.

The U.S. says it has a new strategy — a “calibrated, practical, measured approach” toward the North's denuclearization — but will it be a departure from that of previous administrations?

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami