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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2020

Who’s still working at home? The affluent is who

Many of the U.S. ZIP codes hit hardest by the pandemic's economic fallout are those where affluent stay-at-home workers have stopped spending money on local services.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 7, 2020

Where does Japan stand after Shinzo Abe?

Among the former prime minister's diplomatic achievements, the establishment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is a feat with great geopolitical significance.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 7, 2020

For Trump, a pattern of denial, from coronavirus to Russia to climate change

A recurrent theme of Trump's presidency is the rejection of obvious facts when they don't meet his political needs.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2020

An appalling debate is only the latest blow to the U.S. image in the world

Last week's U.S. presidential debate was engrossing — as is a car crash or a tawdry reality TV show. The rudeness and incoherence left most viewers aghast.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2020

Would a universal basic income make us lazy or creative?

We are indeed in the midst of a digital transformation that will destroy many old jobs and create many new ones, and we need structures that help people adapt.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 3, 2020

Trump’s COVID-19 news meets a landscape primed for mistrust

Was it a hoax? Was it a lie? Was the president sicker than he claimed — or not sick at all? Was there any way this alarming news was an ultracynical con?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 2, 2020

Secrecy and speed: Inside Ant Group’s unusual IPO process

The fintech giant is following a highly unusual process that draws on some of the tactics its former parent and affiliate Alibaba Group has previously used.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 30, 2020

Tokyo must thwart Beijing's Senkaku strategy

Japan undoubtedly faces hard choices. But accommodation with an unyielding China is simply not possible.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2020

If we can’t ban nukes, let’s stigmatize them

Since the end of the Cold War, most people have become much less afraid of nuclear war, when instead they should worry more.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2020

Batteries are key to a greener and more electric future

The race to improve battery technology is proceeding on several fronts, the most visible of which is that for electric vehicles.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2020

Lukashenko and Erdogan are laughing at the EU

The EU still requires unanimity for all foreign policy decisions. This has been one factor, amid many, that's neutered European foreign policy over the years.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 26, 2020

Trump Supreme Court pick Amy Coney Barrett known for conservative religious views

In planning to nominate Amy Coney Barrett for the U.S. Supreme Court, President Donald Trump has selected a federal appeals court judge who has staked out conservative legal positions on key hot-button issues in three years on the bench.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2020

China is paying a high price for provoking India

Aggression and expansionism obviously are not genetic traits, but they appear to be defining Chinese President Xi Jinping's tenure.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 23, 2020

[Bonus episode] The making of the Walkman

This episode is based around an extract from the audiobook of 'Pure Invention.' We join in the middle of chapter 5, which is all about the invention of the Walkman.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2020

Avoiding a 'climate lockdown'

To avoid such a lockdown scenario aimed at mitigating climate change, the world must overhaul its economic structures and do capitalism differently.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2020

International law under assault — from unexpected directions

Disturbing of late has been the growing disregard for international law among governments that have been pillars of the world's legal order such as the U.S. and the U.K.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2020

Don’t give up on recycling plastics

Fortunately for the world, the recycling industry has a history of transforming what was previously “unrecyclable” into useful products. It's poised to do so again.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2020

The post-pandemic recovery’s missing link is trust

As with the 2008 global financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has decisively weakened public confidence in expertise.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 21, 2020

U.S. and North Korea came much closer to war than previously thought, book claims

Book by journalist Bob Woodward details scores of instances that highlight the unease felt by top U.S. officials amid the 'fire and fury' of the 2017 crisis.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 21, 2020

When Hitoshi met Bob: A Tokyo love story

Bob Tobin couldn't speak a lick of Japanese. Hitoshi Ohashi couldn't speak any English. Still, they made things work.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 21, 2020

In SUVs and on planes, richest 1% drive climate-heating emissions

The coronavirus pandemic has, though, opened the door to new, progressive policies to help tackle climate change.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 20, 2020

The buck stops with Putin

Those now accusing the Kremlin in Alexei Navalny's poisoning are unlikely to find any “smoking gun.” It doesn't matter: ultimately, the Kremlin is to blame.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 19, 2020

'The Cat and the City' author Nick Bradley: When writing fiction, 'there's no such thing as wasted living'

Nick Bradley's debut novel is a love letter to Tokyo brimming with details of everyday life that he absorbed during his years in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Sep 17, 2020

From the battlefield to manga to Zoom: A Kyushu samurai clan and its legendary warrior get an online outing

Sengan-en, the estate of a samurai clan, is going virtual in honor of the family's legendary warrior, Shimazu Toyohisa, and the manga modeled on him.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 16, 2020

Suga expected to take back seat in shaping Japan's foreign policy

A dearth of diplomatic experience means he'll be relying heavily on key Cabinet ministers and his predecessor's playbook.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2020

Will the coronavirus turn out green or brown?

This year's dip in greenhouse gases will make the world no more likely to achieve the goal of slowing climate change.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2020

Wall Street fears a U.S. election with no clear winner

As it pertains to markets, it is less about the outcome of the election and more about the process.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 16, 2020

After Abe, will Japan return to a 'revolving door' premiership?

The speed with which Suga secured the support of the LDP's secretary-general and leaders of other major factions suggests that he should not be underestimated.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 15, 2020

Jack ‘Murph the Surf’ Murphy, heist mastermind, dies at 83

He called himself "Murph the Surf,” a tanned, roguish, party-loving beach boy from Miami, and he transfixed the nation in 1964 by pulling off the biggest jewel heist in New York City history — the celebrated snatching of the Star of India, a sapphire larger than a golf ball, and a haul of other gems...

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