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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2021

The U.S. can’t keep dodging the trade issue in Asia

China trades nearly three times as much with the rest of the region as the U.S. does and far outpaces Washington in economic diplomacy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2021

Omicron should be a wake-up call for the world

Almost no low-income countries are on track to meet the World Health Organization's goal of vaccinating 40% of their populations by the end of this year.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2021

America's campaign silly season is already under way

People are far more interested in the candidates than they are in policy and they're most interested in the candidates who are already well known, whether or not they're serious contenders.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2021

Should Tokyo boycott the Beijing Olympic Games?

The Japanese government reportedly will refrain from sending a Cabinet minister to the Winter Olympics in Beijing. But that decision has yet to be reached.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 16, 2021

Jerome Powell declares inflation big threat as Fed signals rate hikes

In an abrupt shift, the Fed sped up the drawdown of its asset-purchase program and laid out a plan for a series of interest-rate increases over the coming years.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2021

Putin and Xi show united front amid rising tensions with U.S.

The leaders' meeting seemed intended as a riposte to the 'Summit for Democracy” that Biden hosted last week.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2021

Beijing turns to hybrid 'lawfare' to expand its borders

China has become quite adept at waging “lawfare” — the misuse and abuse of law for political and strategic ends.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2021

Omicron scrambles what we know about immunity

If this thing keeps growing exponentially and infects millions of people in a short time, health systems could collapse, even if a tinier fraction of cases are serious.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2021

Forget bitcoin. Railroads are the new bubble.

Railway carriers will benefiting from the North American manufacturing renaissance that resulted from the supply-chain snarls of the pandemic and trade tensions with China.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 15, 2021

Tom Brady shines on the field as NFL's COVID controversy deflates league

The immortal 44-year-old Brady has decimated his competition this season, routinely outperforming quarterbacks half his age on his relentless march into the history books.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 15, 2021

Conservatives abandon Boris Johnson over new COVID-19 rules

With nearly 100 lawmakers from Johnson's own party voting against him, it was a stinging rebuke of their leader that undermines his authority just as omicron threatens the country.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Dec 14, 2021

Paris 2024 floats openness after two closed-door Olympics

The organizing committee said it planned to send more than 10,000 Olympians down the Seine in a parade of some 160 boats instead of having a traditional march into the Olympic Stadium.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2021

Revenge Christmas is coming, with or without omicron

Unless gatherings are canceled altogether, people will continue to buy Christmas gifts for relatives they may have only seen on Zoom last year.
Economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, a candidate in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election, speaks during a debate in Tokyo on Sept. 14.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 25, 2024

Does Sanae Takaichi have a real shot at becoming Japan's first female leader?

After failing to win the party presidency in 2021, Takaichi is trying her luck once again — and this time her chances of winning seem better than before.
Shigeru Ishiba speaks at a campaign meeting on Sept. 12 in Tokyo in the lead-up to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election scheduled for Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 24, 2024

Japan’s next leader will be different — and flawed

While nine LDP lawmakers are contesting the race to become the country’s next leader, the field has narrowed to just three.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Aug. 28. The visit was part of efforts aimed at resetting British relations with the European Union, especially on defense and trade.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2024

Yes, let’s reverse Brexit (a bit) for Gen Z

Youth mobility isn’t just for privileged graduates seeking experience, CV points or language skills; it can also help fill labor shortages in the U.K.
A farmer harvests rice in a paddy field in Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture, last month.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 25, 2024

In need of rice and some Japanese words that describe necessity

When does something go from being a "want" to a "need"? A few grammar structures can give the listener a sense of how urgent a situation is becoming.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 26, 2024

Canadian PM Trudeau survives no-confidence vote but remains vulnerable

Canada's main opposition Conservatives are already vowing to try again to topple the government as soon as Tuesday.
Funafuti, Tuvalu’s most populous island, on Sept. 6
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Sep 26, 2024

Tuvalu fights to retain its maritime rights amid climate change inundation

Tuvalu's economic zone is rich in tuna, but few foreign jurisdictions that fish in the Pacific have supported efforts to safeguard its maritime boundaries.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan President Yoshihiko Noda (right) and Nippon Ishin no Kai leader Nobuyuki Baba in Tokyo on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2024

CDP's Noda wants to court Nippon Ishin and DPP, but will he succeed?

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan's new leader faces an uphill task of bridging the differences of its peers in the opposition ahead of a general election.
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike amid the ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2024

In Lebanon, Israel set a trap for Iran and itself

Unable to rescue hostages or eliminate Hamas after nearly a year of war, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu expanded the fight to target Hezbollah and Iran.
A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives past an honor guard during a military parade on Victory Day in Red Square in central Moscow on May 9.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 27, 2024

Putin draws a nuclear red line for the West

Experts are debating how seriously to take Putin's new nuclear doctrine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump, shake hands during a meeting on Friday in New York.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 28, 2024

On trip to U.S., Zelenskyy finds Ukraine’s fortunes tied to the election

A whirlwind week of top-level meetings failed to alleviate concerns in Kyiv that a Trump presidency could lead to a dramatic shift in American policy.
Then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe celebrates in Tokyo with party rival Shigeru Ishiba after Abe won the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership vote in September 2018.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 29, 2024

Shigeru Ishiba made his career as an anti-Abe

Over the years, Ishiba's opposition earned him few friends; indeed, he has a reputation for being a "traitor” due to his public criticism of party orthodoxy.
Herbert Kickl, the head of Austria's Freedom Party (FPO) speaks as vote projections show that the party won the general election, in Vienna on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 30, 2024

Far right wins Austria election, boosting European right-wing surge

The Freedom Party led by the polarizing Herbert Kickl won 28.8% of the vote, ahead of Chancellor Karl Nehammer's ruling conservative Austrian People's Party's 26.3%.
Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone talks to fans after the club's match against Real Madrid was halted due to unruly fan behavior.
SOCCER
Sep 30, 2024

Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone calls out instigators after fans disrupt match

Atletico fans threw objects toward visiting goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Employees of the Tokai village government in Ibaraki Prefecture offers a moment of silence on Monday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of a criticality accident that occurred at a facility of nuclear fuel-processing company JCO.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 30, 2024

Ex-mayor raps government for lack of preparedness for nuclear disasters

Tatsuya Murakami, who dealt with a 1999 nuclear accident as a village chief, warns against the pursuit of nuclear power without weighing its risks.
Knowing how Earth’s temperature behaved deep in the past can also help scientists test climate models that predict the future.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2024

We just got a wake-up call from the time before dinosaurs

The die-offs happen when the Earth’s temperature changes too rapidly for organisms to evolve and adapt — as is starting to happen now.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to sign a memorandum on intellectual property tariffs on high-tech Chinese goods at the White House in March 2018.
COMMENTARY
Sep 30, 2024

Trumpism, Stalinism and the tariff debate

Trump loyalists — which these days means almost the entire Republican Party — insist as a group that foreigners, not American consumers, pay taxes on imports.
U.S. lawmakers and others speak at a news conference in Washington in March to voice their opposition to legislation cracking down on TikTok.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2024

China’s silence on U.S. Tiktok ban speaks volumes

Beijing's past actions suggest that protecting its national interests, including ByteDance's valuable algorithm, outweighs concerns about foreign investment.

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