Search - opinion

 
 
SOCCER
Dec 24, 2021

Kumi Yokoyama pushes LGBTQ conversation forward in Japan while raising game on pitch

Yokoyama was praised by U.S. President Joe Biden for showing courage after coming out as transgender earlier this year.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 24, 2021

Israel considers fourth vaccine doses, but some experts say it’s premature

Experts advising the Israeli government have recommended a fourth vaccine dose, but some scientists have warned that too many shots may cause a sort of immune system fatigue.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 24, 2021

South Korea's Moon pardons disgraced former leader Park Geun-hye

Park, 69, became South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be thrown out of office when a court upheld a parliament vote in 2017 over a corruption scandal.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2021

What’s next for the U.S. Democrats’ big bill?

While the success or failure of Build Back Better has important consequences for the nation, it will likely have limited direct effects on midterm or presidential elections.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 23, 2021

Pro-China group continues to spread misinformation, researchers say

More than 2,000 accounts have promoted falsehoods such as COVID-19 misinformation and the denial of human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2021

Yes, vote-buying is illegal. But why?

A public promise of cash payments to a large number of voters isn't illegal; a private promise of money is.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2021

Biden can promise action, but omicron is in charge right now

The U.S. president's biggest policy promise during the 2020 campaign was perhaps his vow to attack COVID-19 in a professional and competent way.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2021

What the Modi Twitter breach tells us about hackers

Pitching bitcoin has become the Rick Roll of the hacking community — a funny prank rather than a nasty attack.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 20, 2021

With its human rights record in question, China turns to an old friend

Perhaps no international organization has a more symbiotic relationship with Beijing than the IOC.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2021

Cash is dying, but we aren’t ready to bury it

As cash vanishes — without a central bank digital currency replacing it — the public's trust in the convertibility of deposits into official money may become an issue.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 18, 2021

Sapporo faces uphill battle convincing public about 2030 Winter Games bid

About half of all respondents to a 2014 survey said they were worried about how much the Games would cost. A lot has changed since then.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2021

Four ways the U.S. can keep Putin from invading Ukraine

The U.S. should consider disconnecting Russia from the Swift international payment system used by banks around the world, a penalty that helped devastate Iran's economy a decade ago.
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.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2021

If Tesla's got troubles, everyone should worry

Tesla is struggling to procure a raw material only available in China for a battery cell that it's trying to develop, but U.S.-China trade tensions could stand in the way.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2021

Trump just made $1 billion. Where did it come from?

The former president's social media enterprise just raised a lot of money, but from where? And what are the security implications if he assumes the presidency again?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2021

How the U.S. can rein in skyrocketing drug prices

Negotiated prices on many medications would introduce an important new form of cost control in uncompetitive corners of the U.S. prescription-drug market.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2021

Yes, Americans can still hide bank accounts offshore

American citizens can get away with offshore accounts by using complicated trusts or soliciting family members overseas.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2021

What it will take to make the world’s ships run on time

Part of the problem has to do with how we think of supply chains. They are not really chain-like in the sense of linear pathways. If they were, the problems would be easier to fix.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan