Search - long form

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2017

What liberal world order?

As global power has shifted from the West to the 'rest,' the liberal world order has become an increasingly contested idea, with rising powers like Russia, China and India increasingly challenging Western perspectives.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2017

Confucius blocks change in South Korea

At the 'chaebol,' Confucian reverence for the 'emperor' translates into obedience to company founders and their families, who are treated like royalty.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 2, 2017

Uighur Islamic State fighters vow blood will 'flow in rivers' in China

Vowing to plant their flag in China and that blood will "flow in rivers," a new video released this week purportedly by the Islamic State group shows ethnic Uighur fighters training in Iraq, underscoring what Beijing sees as a serious threat.
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Feb 28, 2017

JSF erred in sending Uno to Asian Winter Games

What a difference a week makes.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Feb 23, 2017

In case you missed them: a year of responses to Community stories, part 1

The first in a series of selections of unpublished letters about Community stories from the year just passed.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2017

Bank of Japan's Kuroda warns low rates may sow seeds of new financial crisis

Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said Thursday low profitability at financial institutions could sow the seeds of a new financial crisis, offering his strongest warning to date of the demerits of aggressive monetary easing pursued by major central banks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 7, 2017

The textural flair of Tiziano Vecellio

Bold in color and expressive in texture, the works of Venetian painters have their own distinctive place within Renaissance art. Taking the lead was Titian (1488/90 -1576), who became official painter to the Venetian Republic, and whose fame spread across the Europe of his day.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2017

Time for U.S. left to start putting Americans first

Nationalism, not globalism, is the future of American politics — but right now, it's only the right that's riding the wave.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 31, 2017

Putin instigating biggest Russian Arctic military buildup since Soviet fall

The nuclear icebreaker Lenin, the pride and joy of the Soviet Union's Arctic great game, lies at perpetual anchor in the frigid water here. A relic of the Cold War, it is now a museum.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2017

U.S. suffers an excess of intellectual emptiness

Both U.S. President Donald Trump and higher education suffer from a 'storm of outraged ego.'
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2017

Brexit, Trump and a warning

In this global network age, a wisely led U.K. should not be too close and committed to America or the EU at the expense of good relations with other countries.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / GAUGING TRUMP
Jan 23, 2017

Under Trump, Asia 'pivot' security plank may rise from the ashes

With the ascension of Donald Trump to the White House, former U.S. President Barack Obama's "pivot" to Asia appears to have been burned to the ground. Its remains must yet cool, but what may ultimately emerge from the ashes could prove reassuring to Asian allies fearful of an American retreat amid China's...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2017

Full transcript of Donald Trump's inaugural address

President Donald Trump's inaugural address, as delivered:
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jan 15, 2017

Examining a year in the life of the country's Diet

When not trying to get elected, Japan's 700-plus Diet members (475 in the House of Representatives, 242 in the House of Councilors) conduct the weighty business of the nation. With the 193rd session of the national legislature under the current Constitution scheduled to commence on Jan. 20, let's look...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 14, 2017

Recalling the ins and outs of our memory

In the Harry Potter films, Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore shows the young wizard memories that he keeps in glass vessels. The franchise portrays memories as things that possess a physical structure that can be moved around. Although they appear to look like wispy bits of fluff, they are given...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2017

Failure of economic theories

Are there any answers to the digital Wild West that seems to be taking over?
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 4, 2017

In New Year's speech, Abe prioritizes economic growth

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe maintained Wednesday that his top priority for the new year will continue to be the economy and that he will first try to have the Diet enact the fiscal 2017 budget as quickly as possible.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 24, 2016

Tales from the cracks: 10 of the best books about Japan released in 2016

It's been a difficult year — one that felt like humanity was living on a fracturing ice shelf. That uncertainty came from our exposure to wars and natural disasters, and even our struggles with "truth" itself. The best Japan-related books released in 2016 seemed to channel this feeling of instability...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Dec 24, 2016

It's a small world after all in Komagome

On a crisp and cloudless winter morning, the streets outside Komagome Station in Tokyo's Toshima Ward scintillate with shards of sunlight cutting between sharp shadows. I bundle up against the cold, and set off to seek out an artisan that I heard tell of on a backstreet last summer. It's a luxury to...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2016

As liberal Europe withers, whither the EU?

The EU started as a loose collection of states cooperating for common ends but has turned into a consolidated continental state with little concern for what European peoples desire.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 21, 2016

Japan experiencing budding startup wave as fundraising environment improves

A wave of startups is emerging in famously risk-averse Japan as cash-rich corporations increasingly delegate the task of keeping pace with technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics to smaller, nimbler businesses.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 18, 2016

Japan's pop music scene saw a power struggle in 2016

Media, both domestic and overseas, spent a lot of time focused on the streaming services arriving in Japan in 2016. Months of "Can these platforms thrive in CD-loving Japan?" speculation reached a climax in September, when global market leader Spotify finally debuted here. There was a big press conference,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 14, 2016

Outgoing chairman credited for Mitsubishi Fuso turnaround

On arrival at Narita airport in 2009, the incoming chief executive of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp., Albert Kirchmann, asked his assistant there to pick him up, "Tell me, what are 'my people' expecting?" Hesitantly, the assistant replied, "They are expecting you to defend Fuso by standing up for...
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 6, 2016

Abe's Pearl Harbor visit rooted in pragmatism amid uncertainties surrounding Trump

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit this month to Pearl Harbor will be a historic gesture that represents the strength of the Japan-U.S. alliance and the evolution of the bilateral relationship since World War II.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2016

Targeted protectionism can aid developing economies

Thai-style targeted protection example could work wonders, even in some of the basket-case economies in Africa and the Middle East.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 22, 2016

Review: Cheap Trick at Shinkiba Studio Coast

The house lights dimmed to the rumbling introduction of Cheap Trick's "Stop This Game," while founding bassist Tom Petersson and new drummer Daxx Nielsen mounted the stage; the former clad in charcoal tones, while the latter sported a black T-shirt. Then, as vocalist Robin Zander appeared in a white...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 15, 2016

The vast Eurasian hinterland

Prime Minister Abe is employing his new concept of 'Eurasia' to identify in more strategic ways than ever the mutually complementary aspects of Japan and Russia's geopolitical positions.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2016

A blow to U.S. exceptionalism

Donald Trump won by using a mix that has been effective in other nations for years: a combination of strong nationalism and an anti-corruption agenda.

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