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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 22, 2020

Japan can't run out the clock on coronavirus

Next month the Olympic torch will arrive in Japan for a four-month relay to launch the opening ceremonies for the Tokyo summer games. But rather than anticipating the sight of Olympic torchbearers, much of Japan is fixated on a different relay: hundreds of masked passengers grimly walking off the quarantined...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2020

'Fictitious Girl's Diary: The Movie': An honest portrait of office minutiae

Comedian Bakarhythm brings his nameless female bank clerk character to the big screen and lovingly documents the trivial goings-on in the life of a Japanese office worker.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 19, 2020

Changing attitudes, not regulations, is the key to Japan's future

There is little indication that the Japanese public will change and allow the reforms required to put Japan's economy on a more stable footing and facilitate growth.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2020

Who can beat Donald Trump?

U.S. President Donald Trump is such an alarming figure that many Democratic voters so far appear willing to overlook in Michael Bloomberg what they would never forgive otherwise. And that, perhaps, is the clearest sign yet that American democracy is in crisis.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2020

Is political change coming to China?

The viral epidemic has come at the worst time, laying bare the weaknesses of Xi's rule.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2020

A new place for Tokyo on the international stage

The problems of international relations and foreign policy are too great to be left to governments alone.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2020

The first offer is the best offer in negotiations

Japanese policymakers nee to pay continuous attention to the changing situation in the Middle East.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2020

How to stop the next global outbreak of disease at its source

China's appetite for wildlife needs to be treated as a public health threat.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 15, 2020

The real Tokyo Olympics: Esports and the future of Japanese soft power

In just a few short months there will be two Olympics in Tokyo, but only one has the potential to establish Japan as a leader in the next generation of sports.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2020

What Iran's attacks on American bases tell us about China's missile program

The belief that Chinese missiles are numerous, but inaccurate, is likely now outdated.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 14, 2020

'Shape of Red' shows what Japanese women really want

Yukiko Mishima addresses the dangers of traditional gender roles with her latest film, 'Shape of Red,' adapted from a Rio Shimamoto novel.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 14, 2020

Oddly shaped celestial body Arrokoth sheds light on planet formation

A vaguely hourglass-shaped icy object called Arrokoth residing in the far reaches of the solar system — the most distant body ever explored by a spacecraft — is giving scientists intriguing clues about the formation of the planets including Earth.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 12, 2020

Duterte poised to shake up the regional security order

Following through on his threat to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) could upend regional security arrangements — although not necessarily for the worse.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2020

Japan's silence on HPV vaccinations will lead to 11,000 cancer deaths, study says

A decision by the government to stop recommending adolescent girls receive an HPV vaccination will likely result in almost 11,000 deaths from cervical cancer if it is not reversed, according to a study in a prestigious medical journal.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Feb 11, 2020

As Asia panics over coronavirus, Singapore wins praise for its approach

As governments in Asia struggle to reassure their populations over the coronavirus, public health experts say Singapore's approach in communicating to the public is providing a model for others to reduce panic, rumors and conspiracy theories.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2020

China's misguided priorities prove costly

Will the Chinese Communist Party learn from its errors in handling the coronavirus outbreak, or will it revert to its old habits of denial and distraction?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2020

It's been a sad, bad week for the United States

The world's leading power is now being governed by grievance and emotion.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2020

North Korea's next submarine might make nuclear negotiations with U.S. even tougher

Kim Jong Un has spent much of his time as North Korea's leader developing bigger and more advanced nuclear weapons. This year, he may try to make them harder to find by putting them under the sea.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2020

Where no alliance has gone before

Japan and the U.S. could have the first security partnership that operates in space.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2020

Huawei and the realities of the 5G world

The real test is how countries adapt to the realities of a 5G world, a world in which Huawei is just the most obvious and immediate risk.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2020

A climate change lesson from Scotland's little ice age

Countries will be more resilient if they stick together.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Feb 3, 2020

GeeXPlus brings anime YouTubers to Japan

One Japanese major publisher and producer is seeking to capitalize on YouTube influencers with a highly unusual approach: inviting non-Japanese anime YouTubers to live and produce content within Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 1, 2020

'Untangling my Chopsticks': Searching for the origins of Japanese fine dining

Engagingly written and well-researched, Victoria Abbott Riccardi's culinary memoir, 'Untangling My Chopsticks,' traces her year immersed in Kyoto's kaiseki culture.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2020

The Trump administration's 'realism' isn't the answer

If his Middle East peace proposal is any indication of how U.S. President Donald Trump will deal with other international issues, Japan should be worried.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2020

Wanted: rational pension reform

Businesses that cannot pay the social insurance premiums for their employees are not qualified to hire people in the first place.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 27, 2020

Closing Japan's gender gap: The role of women in media

Women in media are discriminated against first by being women, and then in the way they work once they have children.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 27, 2020

Seoul draws wrong THAAD lessons

China's growing economic influence in South Korea has provided a wedge that Beijing has tried to use to separate Seoul from Tokyo and Washington.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2020

America is safer when Trump alone can't start a war

No matter who is president, Congress needs to re-establish its role in the use of force.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 27, 2020

There's a case for climate concern but not everyone in Japan is ready to go the extra mile

The people living on Shiraishi Island are already recycling, composting and reusing their plastic bags. How do we convince them to take the next step in environmental awareness?

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