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JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 24, 2021

Sanae Takaichi emerges as dark horse candidate in LDP leadership race

Despite initially being viewed as a no-hope candidate, Takaichi has used Shinzo Abe's backing and media appearances to build support among lawmakers and the public.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2021

Don’t let U.S. presidents start nuclear wars on their own

Aside from the possibility that individual members of the military might refuse orders they deem unlawful, there are no constraints on a U.S. president's ability to initiate a nuclear war.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2021

Twitter's business reboot is off to a troubling start

CEO Jack Dorsey vowed that Twitter was on a new course, headed for rapid-fire innovation and game-changing product rollouts. Still, nothing much has changed.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 22, 2021

Will Japan’s next PM take a shot at constitutional amendment?

An important political factor at play here is that every single LDP candidate has to voice support for constitutional amendment if they hope to win the party presidential race.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2021

The U.S. Navy gets its drone fleet into the water

Drones, cyber and AI are still far too small in terms of the budget, and U.S. officials must continue to swing their focus away from the big contracts and toward the more-nimble systems
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2021

Hong Kong’s nonelection is momentous and meaningless

An 'election” devoid of genuine debate or competition is a momentous sign of the lack of genuine democracy Hong Kong can expect in the future. It is also meaningless.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Sep 22, 2021

How do you deflect a controversy? Keigo Oyamada blames the media.

Musician Keigo Oyamada cries foul over how he was portrayed in a pair of magazine articles that ended up causing him a job at the Tokyo Olympics.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 21, 2021

China's neighbors worry Australia sub deal will destabilize region

Some Southeast Asian nations are concerned that the AUKUS partnership could provoke China and spur a regional arms race.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 20, 2021

Musk soars while Bezos sues in the new space race

As Jeff Bezos's companies fall behind Elon Musk's SpaceX in the race to return to the moon and launch satellites, they're increasingly resorting to politics and legal filings to get ahead.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2021

Vaccine debate and climate goals top a scaled-back U.N. summit

The U.N. wants diplomats to have the face-to-face time they need to address crisis issues, but they don't want to be remembered for hosting a superspreader event.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2021

Speed limit on the autobahn? It’d be great for the planet

For libertarians and petrol-heads, not to mention the German engineers who spent decades building ever more powerful combustion engines, limiting speeds would be hugely disappointing.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 18, 2021

China conducts military exercises southwest of Taiwan

The Chinese Defense Ministry said military exercises will be 'conducted regularly” based on the situation in the Taiwan Strait and the need to maintain sovereign security.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 18, 2021

LDP candidates differ on same-sex marriage and women's rights issues

Widely seen as the leading contender, vaccine chief Taro Kono recently veered from mainstream thinking in the LDP by saying he favors the introduction of same-sex marriage.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 18, 2021

Japan takes step toward first female leader as two women run

Two women are in contention to become leader of Japan for the first time — a potential turning point for a country that ranks below Saudi Arabia in female political representation.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 17, 2021

The policies and political backgrounds of each of the LDP leadership contenders

The candidates will hold policy debates, outline their platforms and seek further support among LDP lawmakers and rank-and-file members up until the Sept. 29 election.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2021

Can America learn from its defeat in Afghanistan?

The value of an independent commission to examine the U.S. Afghanistan withdrawal is that it would offer some insulation from the daily pressures of Washington politics.
Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court. Former Guangming Daily editor and journalist Dong Yuyu, 62, was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 29, 2024

China court sentences journalist Dong Yuyu to seven years on spy charges, family says

Former editor and journalist Dong Yuyu was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump attends the Group of 20 summit in Osaka in June 2019.
EDITORIALS
Nov 29, 2024

Japan should prepare for tariff-loving Trump

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's focus on tariffs as a core economic strategy could disrupt global trade.
The European Central Bank has signaled the need for coordinated fiscal and monetary efforts, with expectations for rate cuts amid rising inflation.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2024

Winter is coming for the euro in more ways than one

The European Central Bank has signaled the need for coordinated fiscal and monetary efforts, with expectations for rate cuts amid rising inflation.
Should Trump-o-phobes emulate Ellen DeGeneres, the comedian and ex-talk show host, who has apparently bolted for Britain to avoid the incoming administration?
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2024

Do you dislike Trump so much you’d quit the U.S. like Ellen?

DeGeneres’s escape from Trump may look like a political statement, but she’s not really a desperate pilgrim in reverse, risking all for new beginnings.
Brain adaptations during pregnancy may enhance efficiency rather than cause loss of function, similar to transformations seen during adolescence and menopause.
COMMENTARY
Nov 29, 2024

We’re finally starting to understand the pregnant brain

Brain adaptations during pregnancy may enhance efficiency rather than cause loss of function, similar to transformations seen during adolescence and menopause.
Residents of Suttsu in Hokkaido attend a briefing session Saturday explaining a recent survey by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan in relation to building a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 1, 2024

Locals uneasy after Hokkaido nuclear waste survey results

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO) briefed Suttsu residents on research regarding volcanoes and active tectonic faults near the town.
A resident walks past destruction caused by Israeli bombardment in a neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

The Lebanon ceasefire can be leveraged for a broader deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already said he sees the ceasefire as a pause in which to increase pressure on Hamas in Gaza and to rearm.
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte holds a news conference in Quezon City, in Metro Manila, on Tuesday. She denied she was plotting to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., saying recent comments that sparked a government probe only reflected "consternation" with her one-time ally.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

Philippines politics is often mad. It just got crazier.

Manila cannot afford to be distracted by the latest round of clan rivalry and violent threats.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks in the Lower House in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 2, 2024

Ishiba questioned on political reform, social issues and the economy

The prime minister reiterated his skepticism about abolishing corporate donations to political parties.
Chinese people's sentiment toward Japan is believed to be impacted by their use of social media platforms such as Weibo and Douyin, as well as whether they have visited Japan.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 3, 2024

Nearly 90% in Japan and China have negative views of other

The proportion of Japanese respondents who said they had a negative view of China stood at 89.0%, down 3.2 percentage points from a year before.
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk (second from right) jumps to head the ball during an English Premier League clash against Manchester City in Liverpool, England, on Sunday.
SOCCER
Dec 3, 2024

Liverpool players prepared to 'go to war' for each other: Van Dijk

The captain believes the mentality within the squad is a crucial factor in its recent success.
While Donald Trump’s legacy and the future ideological direction of the country remains uncertain, the U.S. still retains a democratic future and a dynamic character.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

The post-cold war era is finished. Liberalism and democracy will go on.

For now, the weirder, stranger future the U.S. is entering still looks like a democratic future.
The advent of “relationship bots” will change the world’s oldest profession, but the need for human connection will persist.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

AI will transform sex work but not intimacy

There is already at least one relationship bot called Replika and more will surely follow. And they will only get better.
U.S. President Joe Biden hugs his wife Jill Biden as his children Hunter and Ashely Biden look on during his presidential inauguration in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021.  
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2024

Hunter Biden’s pardon is understandable — but wrong

Who wouldn't try sparing a child from prison? It's still a tragedy for the republic.

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