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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2021

Can Democrats go it alone on immigrant amnesty?

If Democrats try to enact an amnesty, they will probably get shot down — but not before doing more damage to public confidence in the U.S. political system.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2021

The future will be weirder than we think

The future may become unthinkably weird and that weirdness will likely come sooner than we think.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 4, 2021

Sweden and Canada ask for women's gold medal soccer match to be moved to avoid heat

Trackside temperatures at the athletics stadium hit 40 degrees earlier this week, and with the women's medal game due to take place at 11 a.m., both sides have expressed concerns.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2021

Biden puts Southeast Asia in U.S. sights — at last

The Biden team has shifted into high gear, dispatching officials and announcing policies to reinforce U.S. ties with Southeast Asia in a belated diplomatic offensive.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2021

More shots alone won’t win the global war on variants

The delta COVID-19 variant is tipping the pandemic into a frightening new stage and vaccination efforts are unable to keep up.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2021

Millennials getting raises have retiring baby boomers to thank

Retiring baby boomers and massive government aid in response to the COVID-19 pandemic may help explain the rising incomes and workers quitting in huge numbers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 30, 2021

Olympic COVID-19 fears give way to unseen mental injuries in sport

The measures to keep athletes and officials safe from COVID-19 have also heightened mental and emotional pressures.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2021

Legitimate pain research is more crucial than ever

Researchers today say opioids are not only dangerous; they are not a good long-term solution for chronic pain sufferers. The relief tends to wane with time.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2021

How behavioral economics views mask mandates

What we know from behavioral economics suggests that universal mask requirements will undermine the effort to get as many people as possible vaccinated.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2021

Apple and Google are winning big, but one is about to pull ahead

Investors are focusing on intermediate business fundamentals, signaling that Google-parent Alphabet stands on firmer ground relative to Apple.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2021

Friends or foes? U.S. and Russia eye base deal on Afghanistan

The Kremlin may now hold the key to a continued U.S. presence in Afghanistan with an offer to allow American troops the use of Russian military bases in Central Asia.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 29, 2021

Doctors blast Biogen Alzheimer approval as ‘regulatory failure’

The New England Journal of Medicine opinion piece is another sign of persistent furor over the agency's decision.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 28, 2021

Rails, nails and bails win over the Olympic spirit

The significance of Japan's Olympic gold-medal skateboarding wins is that they show there's a raft of sports that many don't take seriously but deserve credit.
Kaz Shiomi is looking forward to the Osaka Expo this year, which will be held from April 13 to Oct. 13.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 10, 2025

Kaz Shiomi: ‘I want to show people … how to color outside the lines’

Producing toys under her kiko+ & gg* brand, the business owner hopes to encourage children to find their own unique paths in life.
Olaf Scholz, Germany's chancellor, during the SPD party congress in Berlin on Saturday
WORLD / Politics
Jan 12, 2025

Scholz steps up criticism of Trump’s expansionist rhetoric

In power since 2021, Scholz’s SPD party has slumped as an early election looms for Europe’s largest economy on Feb. 23.
Houses destroyed in the Palisades Fire along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, on Thursday
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2025

California fires expose a $1 trillion hole in U.S. home insurance

Santa Ana winds and wildfires are natural to California, but climate change and human development have made them far more destructive.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a statement after meeting with the National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 13, 2025

Canada has counter-tariffs ready if Trump launches trade war, Trudeau says

Canada buys more U.S.-made goods than any other country, according to U.S. Commerce Department export data — about $320 billion in the first 11 months of last year.
A man casts his ballot during the general election at a polling station in Tokyo on Oct. 27.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 13, 2025

Ishiba keeping eye on Lower House multiseat constituency talks

The prime minister is believed to be eyeing cooperation with opposition parties by using electoral system reform as an opportunity.
Marriage boosts men’s health, but women’s outcomes depend on having an egalitarian partner, with caregiving gaps revealing ongoing gender inequalities.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2025

Equitable marriages could save lives (and love)

Husbands live longer than single men. For wives, the calculation is more complex.
The TikTok logo is displayed outside the offices of the social media app's company offices in Culver City, California, in 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 14, 2025

China discusses sale of TikTok U.S. to Elon Musk as possible option

Under one scenario that’s been discussed by the Chinese government, Musk’s X would take control of TikTok U.S. and run the businesses together.
Elon Musk’s recent decision to demonetize far-right critics on X has sparked confusion about free speech on social media, with both sides misinterpreting the platform’s role in content distribution and monetization.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2025

Musk and his critics are both wrong about free speech on X

Neither side is using the concept in a constitutionally accurate way.
The Hollywood sign shrouded in smoke from an overnight blaze in the Hollywood Hills on Jan. 9
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2025

The Hollywood fires will cause harm long after they burn out

We’re not going to be able to turn the clock back on this creeping disaster. It will be many centuries before our atmosphere recovers from the damage.
Because of the U.S. dollar peg, Hong Kong can no longer be Asia’s go-to fundraising platform, eroding a key selling point for the financial center.
COMMENTARY
Jan 15, 2025

Hong Kong-dollar peg makes less sense than ever

It’s increasingly clear that the currency regime, which inevitably ties the city’s lending rates to those of the U.S., is outdated and needs a revamp.
Migrants wait to be processed on U.S. soil after crossing from Mexico in El Paso, Texas, in May 2023.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 15, 2025

Trump’s immigration crackdown will be swift and ugly. Here’s how.

U.S. President-elect Trump plans major immigration crackdowns, focusing on deportations, birthright citizenship, and humanitarian programs, marking a significant shift in policy.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has expressed ambitions to build an "everything app," and adding TikTok to X, formerly Twitter, could bring him closer to that vision.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2025

Elon Musk won’t save TikTok

A Musk takeover of TikTok remains far from a done deal. It would require a wildly complex spinoff and it’s not immediately clear how he would fund a purchase.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2025

Ishiba Cabinet approval inches up to 28.2%

The Democratic Party for the People led the opposition camp in public support for the first time in the January poll.
Demonstrators in Rabat, Morocco, on Thursday show support for Palestinians following the news of a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel.
COMMENTARY
Jan 17, 2025

Gaza ceasefire deal is a win for Trump

Donald Trump secured a Gaza ceasefire by pressuring Israel into an agreement, but achieving a lasting peace will depend on resolving deeper regional issues.
More Japanese students are reluctant to study abroad following the pandemic, when borders were closed for many countries.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2025

Tokyo to offer financial aid to students studying abroad

Applicants need to be Japanese nationals who are either enrolled in or set to enter a university or technical college in Japan and whose parents reside in Tokyo.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers an address to the nation at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Dec. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 17, 2025

South Korea investigators file request to extend President Yoon's detention

In order to hold Yoon in custody for longer, investigators need a court to approve a detention warrant for up to 20 days.
The TikTok logo is displayed on a mobile phone next to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 18, 2025

TikTok says it will go dark Sunday in U.S. without assurance from Biden

The statement came hours after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law banning TikTok on national security grounds if its Chinese parent company does not sell it.

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