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JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 18, 2021

Former Prime Minister Abe bids for a new role: LDP kingmaker

With Suga's falling popularity opening up an opportunity, Abe and his allies are vying for greater control over the LDP at the expense of Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2021

Taliban mullahs vow softer approach to win over skeptical world

Even before the group announces what's next, it appears to be in a stronger position on the world stage than it ever achieved during its five-year rule that ended after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2021

Biden has only himself to blame for the Taliban's victory

There was no strategic imperative for U.S. President Joe Biden to order a hasty pullout of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, yet he did.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2021

With Afghanistan’s collapse, a moment for Moscow and Beijing

The roles played by China and Russia now may well determine whether Afghanistan becomes a threat to the region and the wider world.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2021

Will central bank digital currencies doom dollar dominance?

CBDCs are coming, but they won't change the face of international payments and they won't dethrone the dollar.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2021

Sports betting is in the midst of another seismic shift

The sports betting industry will continue to be dominated by today's large players, but augmented by acquisitions of smaller bookmakers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 14, 2021

Olympian tattoos fail to leave their mark on the Japanese press

After Tokyo was awarded the Olympics in 2013, many thought tattoos would be a major issue during the Games. In the end, they barely scratched the surface of public attention.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 12, 2021

Shimoji Island's airport takes on new importance amid China threat

Clearly, circumstances are different today compared to 1971. So the outdated Yara memo preventing Okinawa's Shimoji Airport from being used for military purposes needs to be reconsidered.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 12, 2021

NASA says an asteroid will have a close brush with Earth. But not until the 2100s.

The trajectory of Bennu is known precisely enough that the chances of collision are exactly zero for the next century. But the crystal ball becomes fuzzier in 2135.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2021

A dangerous new variant of populism

As anti-greens and anti-vaxxers join forces, any number of stray populist demagogues might seek to lead movements against environmental and COVID-19 vaccination policies.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 11, 2021

'Hours on a footnote’: Scientists felt joy and frustration in making climate report

Specialists, all 234 of them working for free, reviewed more than 14,000 scientific studies published since 2013 to draft the latest version.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 10, 2021

New technologies demand new thinking about power and strategy

As the world enters the fourth industrial revolution and Society 5.0 emerges, we need a more fulsome understanding of technology.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 10, 2021

A money-loser, yet a medal-winner: The dichotomy of hosting the Games

Hosting an Olympic Games is an economic disaster, even in nonpandemic times. After more than a century and over 50 installments, there are enough case studies to conclude that the home nation is invariably the biggest loser from the world’s largest sporting event.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2021

The Black reporter who exposed a lie about the atom bomb

Charles Loeb defied the American military's denials and propaganda to show how deadly radiation from the strike on Hiroshima sickened and killed.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2021

The great COVID-19 stonewall of China

Beijing has been doing everything in its power to prevent an independent forensic investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2021

The far-right’s new-old war on women

Ultimately, the real problem for many on the far right is liberalism, and particularly the liberation of women from laws and social norms enforcing male domination.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY
Aug 6, 2021

Duterte in a bind over Philippines’ golden Olympic moment

Amid a brewing nationalist brouhaha, President Duterte never stops praising China while gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz calls for the assertion of Philippine claims in the South China Sea.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 6, 2021

Atlantic Ocean currents weaken, signaling big weather changes, study says

The Atlantic Ocean's current system, an engine of the Northern Hemisphere's climate, could be weakening to such an extent that it could soon bring big changes to the world's weather, a scientific study said on Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 6, 2021

China’s demographic manipulation

Officially, China's demographic situation was nothing to be alarmed about. But less than a month after the census was released, Beijing suspiciously loosened the family-planning rules.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 6, 2021

Second best in the world at the Tokyo Games, but still saying sorry

Many Japanese athletes who fell short of gold have wept through interviews and apologized profusely — sometimes, even after winning silver.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2021

Shocked investors scour Xi’s old speeches to find next crackdown target

China's abrupt education overhaul has prompted even seasoned investors to reassess how they interpret statements from Xi Jinping and top officials.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 5, 2021

Katie Kitamura and the cognitive dissonance of being alive right now

Her new novel, “Intimacies,” introduces readers to the perceptive, digressive mind of an interpreter at The Hague who is dealing with loss, an uncertain relationship and an insecure world.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 5, 2021

$5,800 whiskey bottle, a gift from Japan to Pompeo, is missing, U.S. says

The State Department is investigating the whereabouts the bottle, according to two people briefed on the inquiry and a document made public this week.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2021

Biden puts Southeast Asia in U.S. sights — at last

The Biden team has shifted into high gear, dispatching officials and announcing policies to reinforce U.S. ties with Southeast Asia in a belated diplomatic offensive.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Aug 2, 2021

Tokyo today: A city in a state of perpetual rebuilding

When you think of Tokyo, what do you think of? Is it the chaotic commercialism of Shibuya or the temples nestled in the city's backstreets?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2021

Xi opens a Pandora's box with antagonism of India

Chinese aggression and the breaching of border agreements has made the rise of a more antagonistic and militarily stronger India a certainty.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2021

How behavioral economics views mask mandates

What we know from behavioral economics suggests that universal mask requirements will undermine the effort to get as many people as possible vaccinated.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 29, 2021

Doctors blast Biogen Alzheimer approval as ‘regulatory failure’

The New England Journal of Medicine opinion piece is another sign of persistent furor over the agency's decision.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 27, 2021

Promise and peril in a changing cybersecurity sphere

A relentless increase in cyberattacks is prompting a reassessment of responses and an increasingly popular option is going on offense.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2021

Even as Beijing's grip tightens, Hong Kong maintains status as finance hub

More than a year after the crackdown began, signs of an investor exodus are hard to find.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight