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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2021

The world should learn from India’s COVID-19 cataclysm

Strategies that kept the pandemic at bay in 2020 won't necessarily work in 2021.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 7, 2021

China faces nationalist anger over U.S. military plane in Taiwan

China’s muted reaction over a U.S. military flight to Taiwan prompted criticism from nationalists online, underscoring the pressures on President Xi Jinping to follow through on heated "red line” rhetoric.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / EXPLAINER
Jun 6, 2021

What's behind surging tensions in the Taiwan Strait?

In recent months, China has ramped up its military activities near the island as the threat of conflict in a dispute with a long and complicated history grows.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2021

Don’t let autocrats run the internet after COVID-19

Lukashenko's government blocked much of the internet during protests last summer with the help of technology from U.S.-based Sandvine Inc.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2021

Indonesia can’t afford the luxury of Australia’s carbon habit

A business based on mining, hauling and burning heavy rocks to spit out electrons struggles to survive everywhere that fuel-free renewables manage to take root.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2021

Is a CEO worth 1,000 times the median worker?

What now gets disclosed is often subject to manipulation, presumably to make the numbers look better.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2021

Olympics buzz fades as Japan loses training camps

Most of the cancellations so far have been in the 500 or so municipalities involved in the Olympics 'host town' program.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2021

Hong Kong's old boys club is living on borrowed time

Blame Hong Kong's clubby world of family-controlled and male-dominated businesses. Close to a third of the city's 2,500-odd listed companies had no women on the board as of the end of 2020.
JAPAN
May 31, 2021

There may not be enough doctors in Japan to support the Olympics

Organizers had initially planned to have about 10,000 doctors, nurses and medical staff on standby for the games but have had to cut that number down to about 7,000.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 30, 2021

What is really behind the calls to cancel the Olympics?

If the Asahi genuinely believes that the Olympic Games should be canceled, why does the paper not withdraw its sponsorship from the games?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2021

Florida’s new social media law violates the first amendment

The key provision of the Florida law states that 'a social media platform may not willfully deplatform a candidate for office” — and imposes a $250,000 per day fine for violations.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 29, 2021

Dear Japan, the Olympics are a bureaucracy, not a democracy

While Tokyo could theoretically pull the plug right now — two months from the rescheduled start date — the city is contractually obliged to go ahead.
Japan Times
TENNIS
May 29, 2021

Naomi Osaka's plan to skip French Open news conferences met with both support and criticism

Naomi Osaka received support from several athletes on Thursday but was slammed by French Tennis Federation President Gilles Moretton.
A sign directs people to a measles testing center in Gaines County, Texas, on Tuesday. A measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico is sparking fears of worsening public health crisis in the United States. 
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2025

Texas measles outbreak was entirely avoidable

"It’s more contagious than COVID, more contagious than the flu, more contagious than Ebola,” says Paul Offit, of Philadelphia's Vaccine Education Center.
The latest "Captain America" movie depicts a conflict between the U.S. and Japan over a newly discovered element, but the premise seems implausible and likely reflects a late-stage decision to replace China with Japan to avoid alienating Chinese audiences.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 28, 2025

A U.S. war with Japan? Only in ‘Captain America.’

It’s clear that Japan must be a stand-in for China — possibly a late-stage replacement in a movie that became notorious for its multiple rewrites and reshoots.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. by his side, speaks with the media during his first official arrival at the Pentagon to take his new post on Jan. 27.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2025

Firing top generals makes the U.S. less secure

How should we think about this rare purge at the very top of the uniformed military? Is it unprecedented?
Wayne Gretzky arrives for the inauguration ceremony before Donald Trump is sworn in at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, on Jan. 20.
MORE SPORTS / Ice Hockey
Mar 2, 2025

Wayne Gretzky faces backlash in Canada over support for Donald Trump

Trump's provocative comments about making Canada the 51st U.S. state have raised tensions.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy departs following a contentious meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday. Plans to sign a critical minerals deal between the two nations were scrapped after the talks quickly devolved into a fiery exchange over U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2025

Trump’s Oval Office clash with Zelenskyy was a win for Putin

Nobody in Ukraine, or any other country formerly under Moscow’s boot, believes that Putin will honor the terms of a ceasefire without credible guarantees.
The entrance to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, in the city of Hiroshima, on Feb. 22
JAPAN / Society
Mar 3, 2025

Annual visitors to Hiroshima museum top 2 million for the first time

The total number of visitors since the museum's opening is expected to surpass 80 million by the end of this month.
If U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt had forced British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to surrender to Adolf Hitler and hand over his country's coal with no U.S. security guarantees, it would resemble what Donald Trump did to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2025

The Oval Office meeting that damaged America’s standing

Had Roosevelt forced Churchill to surrender to Hitler and hand over his country's coal with no U.S. security guarantees, it would resemble what Trump did to Zelenskyy.
A new study analyzing organs from deceased individuals found plastic particles accumulating primarily in the brain, with the highest concentrations in recent autopsies, raising concerns about long-term exposure despite unclear health effects.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2025

You might have plastic in your brain. Don’t panic — yet.

It’s unsettling, but the amount of plastic in your brain is probably less than the plastic spoon’s worth grabbing the headlines.
Houses and buildings lie in ruins in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Jan. 19 following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025

Egypt's alternative to Trump's 'Gaza Riviera' aims to sideline Hamas

Cairo's plan does not tackle issues such as who will foot the bill for Gaza's reconstruction or outline any specific details around how the strip would be governed.
Seven & I has spent months fending off Couche-Tard’s takeover bid with complex maneuvers, but instead of chasing defensive strategies, it should focus on strengthening its core convenience-store business, which still has untapped potential.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 4, 2025

7-Eleven’s time-wasting isn’t so convenient

Retail is a fast-moving industry — and months spent fending off Couche-Tard means less focus on strategy.
Shiori Ito is the first Japanese director to have been nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature film. "Black Box Diaries," which tells the story of her quest for justice following her rape in 2015, hasn't been released in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 4, 2025

Can Shiori Ito’s documentary open Japan’s black box?

Concerns about footage in "Black Box Diaries" have stopped its release in Japan. But Shiori Ito's story needs to be brought to people’s attention — in all its harrowing details.
Multibillionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk speaks via video link to an election campaign rally for the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Halle, Germany, on Jan. 26.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 5, 2025

Musk rallies the far right in Europe. Tesla is paying the price.

The multibillionaire's support for right-wing political parties could help boost his empire by cutting back regulations he thinks impede tech innovations.
Mendoza, Argentina, offers a combination of natural beauty, a thriving wine industry, political conservatism and valuable resources, making it an attractive potential safe haven amid global instability.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2025

I just found my nuclear war hideaway

This question is less and less theoretical: The world seems to be living on the edge, with growing tensions between great powers.
The Eastern District of New York Court Federal Court House in New York on Feb. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 6, 2025

Judges face rise in threats as Musk blasts them over rulings

In recent weeks, Musk, congressional Republicans and other top allies of U.S. President Donald Trump have called for the impeachment of some federal judges.
Palestinian fighters and crowds gather to watch a hostage release in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 15.
WORLD
Mar 7, 2025

U.S.-Hamas talks complicate Gaza truce efforts, analysts say

The direct contact is "a sign of a breakdown in mediation for a wider ceasefire," one expert said.

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