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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2001

Jospin still far from the top

PARIS -- Created 43 years ago by Gen. Charles de Gaulle, France's Fifth Republic has had 14 prime ministers but only five presidents. Most of these premiers have harbored an ambition to become head of state, but only two of them managed to fulfill this dream. Will Lionel Jospin be the third?
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 27, 2022

Taiwan president quits as party head after China threat bet fails to win votes

The main opposition party, the Kuomintang, was leading or claimed victory in 13 of the 21 city mayor and county chief seats up for grabs, including the capital Taipei.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 29, 2019

Campaigns kick off across Japan for prefectural and metropolitan assembly elections

Campaigning began Friday across Japan for prefectural and major metropolitan assembly elections set for April 7, with economic policies, aging, population decline and assistance for the elderly and working mothers the broad issues of concern for voters and candidates.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 21, 2019

Osaka wrestles with merger plan as campaign for governor kicks off

To merge or not to merge? That is the question Osaka hopes to finally answer as the campaign for Osaka governor kicked off Thursday morning.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 29, 2017

Voter apathy can threaten democracy

On April 17 the Asahi Shimbun reviewed the results of various local elections that had taken place the day before. The main story was not who got voted in or out, but whether or not anyone cared.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 23, 2015

Election wins energize Osaka Ishin

The landslide victories scored Sunday by Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) in the gubernatorial and mayoral elections give its new national counterpart a strong advantage in recruiting for next summer's Upper House election and have the establishment parties on their heels.
JAPAN / Politics / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Mar 22, 2015

First wave of April elections litmus test for Osaka merger plan

For most prefectures, cities and towns, April's quadrennial unified elections will be the last opportunity for the next few years to vote on local matters.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jun 10, 2014

Abe treading on lions' tails

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tendency to stumble in building allied support whenever he makes an aggressive move appears most conspicious of late with his efforts to have Japan exercise its right to collective self-defense and to reform farm policy.
EDITORIALS
Feb 18, 2011

The DPJ's losing streak

The results of the Nagoya mayoral and Aichi gubernatorial elections Feb. 6 were miserable for the Democratic Party of Japan, highlighting the DPJ leadership's inability to think strategically to win elections. Prime Minister Naoto Kan and DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada should figure out why, starting...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 1, 2009

Local vote for foreign residents: time ripe?

Permanent foreign residents of Japan may finally face a realistic chance of being granted local-level suffrage under the administration led by the Democratic Party of Japan, which has signaled a willingness to pursue such rights.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2003

Careworn Blair turns 50

LONDON -- As British Prime Minister Tony Blair passes his 50th birthday, the almost boyish bounce that characterized him in the years when he got to the top of the Labour Party, reformed it and then won two crushing general election victories has been replaced by a more careworn appearance. This may...
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN WITH THE NEW
Apr 24, 2003

DPJ's Noda intent on pursuing noble cause in Diet

Before Yoshihiko Noda took over as Diet affairs chief of the Democratic Party of Japan in December, his early morning weekday schedule was set in stone.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2003

Britain's far right poses a rising threat

BRUSSELS -- The press in England has had a field day over the past 20 years chronicling the rise of the Continent's far right. The first chance came in the early 1980s with the emergence of France's National Front led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, a man who believes the Americans built the gas chambers in the...
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2003

System reform advocates to field candidates

A private group advocating the introduction of a system to elect the prime minister by popular vote said Friday it will establish a new political body that will field candidates for nationwide local-level elections in April.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2000

Komeito cool to LDP's limited-suffrage idea

A senior New Komeito member said Sunday he opposes the proposal by a senior Liberal Democratic Party member to grant the right to vote in local elections only to permanent residents in Japan from the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan.
EDITORIALS
May 8, 2000

The return of 'Red Ken'

Red is the color of the British Labor Party. Last week, British voters were a little too red for Prime Minister Tony Blair. The election of Mr. Ken Livingstone, known as "Red Ken" for his feisty leftwing politics, as London's first directly elected mayor, left Mr. Blair with a nasty black eye, but that...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 23, 2019

How to make politics a creative and attractive vocation

Most Japanese people don't want to become politicians because the job lacks creativity.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 30, 2019

Will Japan finally promote its female politicians?

Japan has one of the lowest participation rates of women in national parliaments in the world, but a law is meant to remedy this deficit, even if it includes no enforceable quotas or penalties.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2016

What the Ginowan election means

The Abe administration should think again whether the Henoko project will truly serve to reduce Okinawa's U.S. base burden and enhance the stability of the security alliance.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 30, 2014

Komeito backtracks on Osaka merger referendum

In a surprise move, the Osaka chapter of Komeito will cooperate with Mayor Toru Hashimoto to hold a referendum on whether to integrate the Osaka city and prefecture.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2014

Taiwan's voters say 'hands off'

Taiwanese voters late last month sent an important message to their government and to Big Brother China watching from across the narrow strait — hands off our democracy.
Singaporean presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian gives speech on Aug. 22 in the lead-up to Friday's election.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2023

Singaporeans should vote in their imperfect elections

While the selection process for presidential candidates and the behavior of some of them may not be perfect, Singaporeans should vote on Friday.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives for a meeting of a parliamentary ethics committee at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Feb. 29.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 7, 2024

Kishida's three challenges: Discipline, by-elections and Motegi

How the prime minister handles these matters could impact his political future as well as that of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Vishnu Dabad, a Gau Rakshak, or cow protector, and a politician with the regional political party Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), in Chamdhera village, Haryana, India.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 29, 2023

India's far-right cow vigilantes mobilize before high-stakes elections

Some say cow vigilantism has become a way for young men to use popularity built through taking on alleged cattle smugglers to catapult into politics.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight