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May 01, 2025
 

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A recent study shows promise for a personalized mRNA vaccine to prevent pancreatic cancer recurrence, offering hope for patients and highlighting the potential of tailored cancer treatments.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2025

Pancreatic cancer vaccine shows hope. Make the investment.

When researchers offer data suggesting a personalized vaccine might be able to keep the cancer at bay for years, it’s worth paying attention to.
Just like in times of old, with unresolved territorial disputes, regional disunity and economic self-interest prevailing over solidarity, Southeast Asia faces growing instability as tensions escalate.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2025

Southeast Asia must learn to defend itself

Would any of the region’s governments lift a finger to maintain peace on behalf of a neighbor?
U.S. President Donald Trump’s public humiliation tactics, such as belittling foreign leaders and political opponents, mirror those of dictators like Stalin and Mao, reflecting his authoritarian tendencies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2025

Fear and loathing in the Oval Office

Trump should be thought of as a dilettante despot, the Roman emperor of reality TV.
The Nikkei stock average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Many firms on the TSE have price-to-book ratios of less than 1, lowering the perceived quality of the exchange, which should consider taking steps to increase valuations and trading volume.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2025

Tokyo Stock Exchange must weed out underperforming firms

Tokyo wants to become Asia's top financial hub, but faces big obstacles. Among them, the presence of too many companies with low profitability and growth prospects.
President Donald Trump’s order making English the official language of the country is unnecessary, as nearly 80% of people in the U.S. already speak it at home.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2025

America doesn’t need an official language

After all, what is our shared culture if not the mix of cultures — including languages — that make and remake America every day?
U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, marked by betrayal and disregard for relationships, has weakened America’s global alliances, prompting countries to consider alternative allies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2025

America is surrounded by enemies — that it created

This is not just a Trump problem; America’s whole reputation is shot.
A protest called "America, wake up" is held in front of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on March 8, days after U.S. President Donald Trump paused American military and intelligence support for Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2025

Ukraine needs U.S. weapons — but it needs intelligence more

The problem is that, on issue after issue, Trump changes course on a whim.
Instead of spending billions to resurrect woolly mammoths, we could focus on preserving endangered species, saving ecosystems, and securing biodiversity for the future.
COMMENTARY
Mar 17, 2025

Got $10 billion? Don’t blow it cloning a woolly mammoth.

Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based biotechnology and genetic engineering startup valued at $10 billion, has raised $435 million to "de-extinct” the woolly mammoth.
There seems to be a preference for similarly educated and similarly earning spouses in modern marriages, reflecting a trend that prioritizes parity over "marrying up."
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2025

What really changed the marriage market

The internet connects us with so many potential mates that our puny human brains can’t handle it.
By promoting healthier aging through measures to extend workforce participation, increase social engagement and improve health care systems, Asia’s policymakers could create a “silver demographic dividend” that helps to sustain the region’s economic dynamism.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2025

Reaping Asia’s silver demographic dividend

Concerns that older workers are not as productive as their younger counterparts are overblown.
Japan, despite facing multiple territorial disputes, lacks a dedicated university program on the issue, unlike Western countries, and would benefit from an interdisciplinary academic initiative to foster expertise.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 17, 2025

Japan needs academic programs focused on territorial issues

While many countries have territorial disputes with their neighbors — in fact, there are at least 150 active disputes worldwide — Japan faces issues with nearly all its neighbors.
Shohei Ohtani gets a kiss from his dog Decoy at a game in August 2024. The Japanese slugger-pitcher’s return to his country to kick off the Major League Baseball season has sparked immense excitement, highlighting his unparalleled career and symbolic role as a national hero.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2025

Superstar Shohei Ohtani for prime minister

He’s unavoidable in Japan: His face adorns ads for cosmetics, mattresses, English conversation schools and, most recently, convenience store rice balls.
U.S. President Donald Trump reviews troops aboard the USS Wasp in Yokosuka, Japan, in May 2019. The shifting global security landscape has sparked discussions in many countries, including Japan, about developing nuclear weapons in response to changing U.S. commitments.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2025

Changing U.S. commitments spark nuclear armament debates, including in Japan

Given Japan's unique history in 1945, it will take more than fear or harsh rhetoric to push the country into considering the development of nuclear weapons.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet in Pyongyang in June 2024. Moscow has ditched its historic hostility to North Korea's nuclear program, a clear sign of Russia's scramble for allies amid its international isolation.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2025

It’s time to flip Russia’s script on North Korean nukes

Countries who want deterrence and stability must stop Russia from influencing perceptions of North Korea's nuclear program — one that, in an about-face, Moscow now supports.
A soldier stands guard at a railway station in the Sibi district of southwestern Balochistan province, Pakistan, on March 12 as part of a security operation after militants hijacked a passenger train the previous day.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2025

Pakistan’s economy is back. But so is terrorism.

The disconnect between the grim drumbeat of terror attacks on the country’s margins and the positive economic news from its heartland is startling.
Elon Musk and President Donald Trump's assertion that U.S. aid cuts to programs including PEPFAR and USAID in Africa aren't causing harm is not true. Children and others are already dying as a result.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2025

Musk says aid cuts haven’t killed anyone. That's not true.

In South Sudan, one of the world’s poorest countries, the efforts by Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump are already leading children to die.
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 19, 2025

Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description

The lastest scandal comes amid broader concerns over the LDP's misuse of political funds, further damaging Prime Minister Ishiba’s reputation.
The evolving national security landscape demands a shift in focus from traditional military power to economic resilience, technological leadership and the growing risks posed by both adversaries and allies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2025

Trump's actions and the ‘new national security economy’

Soft power is poorly understood and it is no substitute for situations when brute force is required, but it has genuine influence in subtle ways.
Some critics of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba call him weak and indecisive, saying his leadership has led to policy blunders that may make his grip on power increasingly untenable.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 20, 2025

Prime Minister Ishiba’s struggles put his leadership in jeopardy

With the world as turbulent as it is, the country cannot continue with such a weak and indecisive leader.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, at the White House on Feb. 24. American conservatives want Europe to take on more military responsibility but often scorn its structure, making France the strongest candidate for leadership.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2025

Why U.S. conservatives should fall in love with France

For American conservatives who sincerely want a capable Europe, just supporting European populism is not enough.
Behind Mixue’s growth is an army of franchisees. The company barely manages any stores itself. Rather, almost all of its revenue came from selling store supplies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2025

How to make billions selling $1 lemonade

Behind Mixue’s growth is an army of franchisees. The company barely manages any stores itself. Rather, almost all of its revenue came from selling store supplies.
Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi presents his report on the future of European competitiveness to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, in September.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2025

Europe’s risk aversion comes with consequences

While Europe's culture is more risk-averse, deregulation could spur growth if it adapts to new technologies like AI, balancing risk and reward for a changing economy.
The Pentagon's disbandment of the Office of Net Assessment ends a key institution that provided long-term strategic analysis, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to future geopolitical challenges.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 20, 2025

A sad day for U.S. strategic analysis as the Office of Net Assessment is disbanded

While most focused on the military, ONA was the only group to conclude that winning the Cold War relied on economic means, not troop numbers.
Despite the high cost of defending Ukraine, voters on both sides of the Atlantic — including Republicans in the United States — remain surprisingly united in their support for the country.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2025

The American and European publics still stand with Ukraine

Public attitudes in the U.S. are even more striking. When it comes to Ukraine, Americans broadly agree with Europeans.
Climate change mitigation demands collective action from all levels of society, not just billionaires with private jets, as systemic change is necessary for meaningful progress.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2025

Billionaire’s private jet angst won’t save the world

Data center emissions in the U.S. already rival those of the domestic airline industry and are growing far quicker.
Former World heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman poses during a media conference in Johannesburg in April 2001.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 22, 2025

George Foreman, ageless heavyweight champion, dies at 76

Foreman claimed a world title in his 20s and again in his 40s, and then made millions selling grills.
One of Vladimir Putin’s key conditions for ending the Ukraine conflict is a “complete cessation” of foreign military and intelligence assistance to Kyiv — in other words, stripping it naked of any ability to resist.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2025

I don’t believe a single word Trump and Putin say about Ukraine

One of Putin’s key conditions for ending the conflict: Cut all foreign aid and leave Ukraine defenseless.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the White House on Thursday directing the secretary of the Department of Education to take steps to close the agency.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2025

Cutting the department of education is theater, not a plan

Despite all the pomp, Trump is focused on fixing the wrong problem and that presents Democrats with a perfect opportunity.
At the inauguration of a factory owned by Japanese power electronics manufacturer TMEIC in Tumakuru, India, in 2017. Although Japanese companies have become a significant presence in India, the flow of fresh investment has slowed down.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 23, 2025

Japan-India business ties can go the extra mile

After remarkable growth, Japan-India business ties are plateauing. Companies on both sides need help from their governments to promote more understanding and, hence, opportunities.
Now-U.S. President Donald Trump during a interview at his private club Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, on March, 4, 2024. Trump’s first four years in the White House were filled with falsehoods, and now he and those around him are using false claims to justify their policy changes.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 25, 2025

In his second term, Trump fuels a ‘machinery’ of misinformation

The president and his advisers have ushered the United States into a new era of post-truth politics, where facts are contested and fictions used to pursue policy goals.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
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.
Shohei Ohtani's example could change Japan's views on paternity leave
Shohei Ohtani and Mamiko Tanaka announced the birth of their first child on April 19.
Nearly half of workers in Japan engage in ‘quiet quitting’
"Quiet quitting" is most common among the younger generation, with 46.7% of respondents to a survey in their 20s identifying with the practice, reflecting a less-motivated workforce more focused on work-life balance.
Delta routes new Airbus plane to Tokyo to sidestep Trump tariffs
Delta Air Lines signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on April 9. The airline is flying a new Airbus SE plane through Japan to skirt U.S. import tariffs.
Single, or not? Japanese dating app launches relationship verification system
Tapple, one of Japan's most popular dating apps, has launched the nation's first feature to verify a user's single status via their My Number card.
CDP submits bill proposal on separate surnames, but challenges remain
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers speak to reporters in parliament on Wednesday after submitting a bill in the Lower House to allow married couples to retain different surnames.
Puzzling decisions and opaque rankings are all part of sumo's charm
Chiyoshoma (right) battles Churanoumi during the New Year Basho in Tokyo in January. The Mongolian's drop down the sumo rankings ahead of the May tournament was one of the biggest surprises of the latest banzuke.
North Korea's Kim sets sights on nuclear-armed navy
An unidentified weapons system is fired from the deck of North Korea's latest destroyer, the Choe Hyon, during two days of tests on Monday and Tuesday in this undated photo released Wednesday.
Single, or not? Japanese dating app launches relationship verification system
Tapple, one of Japan's most popular dating apps, has launched the nation's first feature to verify a user's single status via their My Number card.
Counting the reasons why there are so few American cars in Japan
Tesla's store in Tokyo's Shibuya district. While sales of American cars in Japan appear to be shrinking, Tesla's presence in the country is growing.

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One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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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
By Alex K.T. Martin

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Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones
Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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