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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2023

Why America doesn’t know how to stop school shootings

After a ban of more than two decades, the U.S. government is finally funding studies on how to prevent death and injury from firearms.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2023

Even with the electric car boom, the U.S. need for oil is climbing

U.S. consumption of fossil fuels is heading toward records — even amid the electric-car boom — and plastics are to blame.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 13, 2023

Japan’s standing is rising, but not so for its leader

Japan's significance as a geopolitical power has rarely been higher, but that's little solace for its unloved prime minister, Fumio Kishida.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 13, 2023

In a first, South Korea declares nuclear weapons a policy option

Yoon Suk-yeol was quick to add that building nuclear weapons was not yet an official policy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 12, 2023

A stronger Japan defense posture is easier said than done

The meeting between Prime Minister Kishida and U.S. President Biden comes as Tokyo and Washington find themselves in sync on the major security challenges.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2023

Record COVID deaths complicate debate on Japan’s post-pandemic policy

Medical experts are calling for a “gradual” approach as the government eyes a possible downgrade of COVID-19's classification as early as this spring.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2023

Why the future of technology is so hard to predict

It's 2023, yet we're not all riding Segways, having sex with robots or cloning humans. What gives?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2023

Don't write off the retooled COVID-19 boosters

Two new studies claim the bivalent omicron shot is no better than the original vaccine. But there are important caveats.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2023

Thanks for the tanks, but send Ukraine Abrams and Leopards too

Western angst about deploying “offensive” weapons is misplaced. Ukraine's entire struggle is self-defense. They need the weapons.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 11, 2023

Carlos Correa comes to terms with Twins, leaving the Mets behind

The Twins deal is also pending a physical. So until it is completed, everyone will have to stay tuned.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 10, 2023

Thai election jockeying heats up as PM eyes way around term limits

Former coup leader Prayut Chan-ocha is maneuvering to stay in power despite a steady decline in his popularity and a constitutional term limit.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 9, 2023

Don’t pay people to leave Tokyo. Make more Tokyos.

Trying to arrest rural depopulation, Japan wants people to quit Tokyo, its greatest metropolis. How about creating new ones instead?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2023

Frederick the Great’s advice for Ukraine negotiations

Kyiv and Moscow both grasp what the 18th-century King of Prussia understood: Diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2023

No, vaccines aren’t making new COVID-19 variants worse

The omicron sequel XBB.1.5 is driving a new wave of COVID-19 infections — and misinformation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2023

It’s now clear that quantitative easing was a colossal policy mistake

There's no convincing evidence that central banks' purchases of trillions of dollars of bonds and other financial assets helped any economy.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 5, 2023

CCTV cameras will watch over Egyptians in new high-tech capital

Installing more than 6,000 surveillance cameras across the New Administrative Capital may help with safety, but it also gives authorities an unparalleled ability to police public spaces.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2023

Cancer vaccine hunt finally makes progress

A small study shows promise in deploying mRNA technology against melanoma — but fighting tumors is vastly more complex than tackling COVID-19.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2023

Actually, it has been a wonderful year for tech’s future

Things looked bleak for the technology sector in 2022. Yet progress across the board gives reason to be optimistic about the coming few years.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2023

'Big challenges': Choosing a nuclear career in Japan

In the decade after the Fukushima disaster, the number of atomic science students in Japan fell by more than a quarter, according to the education ministry.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 3, 2023

A bittersweet first year for Germany’s new chancellor

Entering office with a progressive agenda while offering Germans an air of stability, Olaf Scholz has instead been thrust into the role of a crisis chancellor.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2023

Four ancient truths to help you lead a modern life

The old Greek philosophers struggled with the same hard questions we're still asking today: What makes life worth living? What makes us thrive as human beings?
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Jan 2, 2023

Recruitment issues undermining Japan’s military buildup

The SDF faces an uphill battle as it struggles with a falling birthrate and increased competition with the private sector over a shrinking pool of applicants.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Jan 1, 2023

Japan Times 1948: Tojo's stock rises but he is not likely to become a martyr

News at the start of the new year often focuses on holiday celebrations and feel-good stories as the front pages of 1923 and 1948 show.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 31, 2022

A town-by-town battle to sell Americans on renewable energy

In the fight against global warming, the U.S. is pumping a record $370 billion into clean energy, but the future of the American power grid is being determined by rural communities.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 30, 2022

‘Avatar’ performance shows how Japan is ditching Hollywood

The world's third-largest box office, Japan, is dumping Western movies for local animated hits. Hollywood needs to pay attention.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2022

Saving the bees isn’t the same as saving the planet

Mother Nature spent millions of years creating the most efficient pollinator on the planet. We owe it to the bees to save them.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 28, 2022

How China’s ‘zero-COVID’ reversal is playing out on the ground

The change has brought an explosive surge of infections, drug shortages, and confusion and frustration among the population.
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2022

BOJ debated rising wages and fading deflation risks at December meeting

The increased attention to mounting inflationary pressures could keep alive market expectations the BOJ will phase out massive stimulus next year.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2022

Shipping’s oil era is coming to an end

It's a good start, but reducing shipping's carbon footprint it's not the holy grail of decarbonization. That would entail plugging the industry into the emerging hydrogen economy.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Perspectives
Dec 23, 2022

What to make of Japan’s new defense documents

Nothing in Japan's new defense documents signals an abandonment of the core principles of its security, but a refinement of roles and capabilities to match modern needs.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear