Search - opinion

 
 
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2021

Alzheimer’s drug furor highlights U.S. health system’s failures

The FDA didn't deny that the clinical-trial evidence was poor. It simply ignored that problem and used different reasoning to grant the drug 'accelerated approval.”
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jun 13, 2021

Sari Kaede: 'It's possible to be an ordinary person who just happens to be a trans woman'

Sari Kaede brings her journey as a transgender woman to the screen in a documentary titled 'You Decide.' She hopes to provide some support for young people in the process.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 12, 2021

South Korea's opposition picks Harvard graduate to lead push to power

South Korea's main opposition party picked a 36-year-old who has never served in parliament as its leader, turning to a reform advocate as it tries to reclaim the presidency next year.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2021

JOC executive Kaori Yamaguchi says Tokyo Games should be held without spectators

Yamaguchi said the government was 'confusing' the public by asking them to stay at home and imposing curbs while putting on the global sports showpiece.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 11, 2021

Attending her last G7, Merkel has had enough of U.S. leadership

For Merkel, the relief is genuine at the prospect of dealing with Biden rather than Trump. Still, Europe is determined to carve out a bigger global role on a par with the U.S.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2021

Facebook, YouTube erred in censoring COVID-19 ‘misinformation’

Social media fact-checkers don't have any special knowledge or ability to sort fact from misinformation. What they have is extraordinary power to shape what people believe.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 10, 2021

Young voter anger over housing and jobs threatens Moon's legacy in South Korea

With one year left in his single five-year term, Moon's promise for a more just, compassionate and equitable society rings hollow to many.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 10, 2021

Australia stays sidelined as West unites to sanction China

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been outspoken in calling for multilateral action against China, but the government is wary about further provoking Beijing.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2021

Art is sometimes in the eye of the accountant

Art as investment is a tricky business. Stocks and bonds have cash flows that can be projected and discounted to arrive at a theoretical value. Even commodities are subject to supply and demand curves. Art is altogether more nebulous.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2021

Keeping free speech safe

There was a time when the threat to academic freedom in democratic countries came primarily from the right. Today, however, most of the opposition to freedom of thought comes from the left.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 9, 2021

Japan's chip future lies in a Taiwan science park

Once a dominant name in electronic components, the nation has been overtaken by South Korea, Taiwan and China. Yet Tokyo may have a viable plan to revitalize its domestic sector.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2021

The NBA is making a risky bet with gambling

Basketball is a team game, so it's harder to throw or fix than a tennis match. Still, a clumsy foul or two in the last minute could alter the point spread without affecting the final result.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2021

Legacy weapons are eroding the military’s edge

Though the U.S. spends three times more on defense than any other country, its technological edge is eroding — due in part to the cost of maintaining aging weapons programs.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2021

Despite danger and cost, Japan gambles on successful Olympics

The Tokyo Olympic Games are reaching the point of no return.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 7, 2021

Hungary appears to back-pedal on Chinese university plans after protests

Hungary appeared to backtrack on plans to build a Chinese university in Budapest after thousands took to the streets at the weekend accusing the government of cozying up to Beijing, provoking an angry Chinese response.
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?

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