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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2021

Tech censorship is the real gift to Putin

Authoritarians these days have to pay lip service to freedom of speech; what the social media platforms have done takes that concern out of the equation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2021

India must legalize same-sex marriage

India is clearly lagging behind, so much so that the country's courts took close to 25 years to merely decriminalize consensual and private same-sex activity.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / BLACK EYE
Jan 18, 2021

Let's take stock on the progress we've made this Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a good day to look back on how we've progressed and plan how we'll continue to move forward.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2021

A China strategy to reunite America’s allies

Global pressure will be required to push back against China's harmful trade practices, including state subsidies and intellectual property theft.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 17, 2021

COVID-19 — and a dwindling support rate — top issues for Suga as Diet convenes

The prime minister will seek to pass key COVID-19 measures as he faces flak from opposition parties over his response to the deadly virus.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2021

You can’t keep rage off the internet

The removal of President Donald Trump from a number of social media platforms may serve as a catalyst for the formation of new services.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 16, 2021

As Trump clashes with Big Tech, China’s censored internet takes his side

Blurring the distinction between companies and government, official propaganda outlets use Trump's ouster from Twitter and Facebook to argue that nobody in the world enjoys free speech.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Jan 15, 2021

Indictment of ex-minister Takamori Yoshikawa puts Suga in tight spot

With public support sinking over the pandemic and questions raised over his past statements on Abe's spring party scandal, prosecution of a trusted ally only adds to Suga's woes.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2021

This time, Trump impeached himself

Trump had given himself no room for error. He built no relationships with any Democrats, and relatively few with Republicans.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2021

mRNA vaccines could vanquish COVID-19 today, cancer tomorrow

Therein lies mRNA's bigger promise: It can tell our cells to make whatever protein we want. That includes the antigens of many other diseases besides COVID-19.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 13, 2021

Unappeased by court ruling, Indian farmers vow to continue protest

The Supreme Court has halted market-friendly laws until a committee of experts can consult with government officials and the protesting farmers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jan 12, 2021

How Japan can lead a free and open Indo-Pacific

As a friend of the U.S. and a key trading partner for China, Japan has a role to play in calming tensions in the region.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2021

Trump can’t pardon himself

If a president can be impeached for pardoning someone with whom he is 'connected, in any suspicious manner,” then he certainly can be impeached for pardoning himself.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2021

What America has learned from Iranian social media

The U.S. State Department's new approach treated social media as a channel to learn what Iranians thought about both their own regime and U.S. policy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 11, 2021

Dealing with a dire diagnosis in a new country

When Niall Breathnach came down with a rare ailment he was sure to get several opinions before seeking a path for treatment.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 10, 2021

A Tokyo emergency will be a bad omen for the world’s 2021

Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures would almost qualify for Group of Eight membership if they were a country.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2021

Five books that explain the world

To comprehend Russia, including the mindset of Vladimir Putin, I've found more illumination in Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and above all Gogol than in most CIA reports.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2021

World shouldn’t laugh at U.S. too soon

It's OK to have a fun few days laughing at America's discomfiture and at the breast-beating exaggerations of its pundits and politicians.
A public clash between Donald Trump and Elon Musk exposed the national security risks of the U.S. government's heavy reliance on SpaceX, a private company controlled by a single individual.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2025

Washington divorcing SpaceX just isn’t possible right now

The U.S. government depends on SpaceX for low-cost space launches while competitors lag behind.
Shion Tsurubo, a member of boy band JO1, allegedly engaged in illegal gambling on an online casino website.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 16, 2025

Boy band member referred to prosecutors over illegal gambling

Shion Tsurubo, a member of JO1, allegedly engaged in illegal gambling on an online casino website.
After decades of dominance by foreign wrestlers, last month Onosato became just the second Japanese this century to be named to sumo's highest rank of <i>yokozuna</i>.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 17, 2025

The national sport of Japan wrestles with a generational change

As one legend departs, another star is rising. In a new era, sumo is grappling with its future.
Trishit Banerjee moved to Japan in 2015, embarking on an academic and personal journey that taught him lessons about the collective and the individual.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jun 23, 2025

A singular ensemble: Indian food, science and Fukushima

After moving to Sendai for college, an Indian student began thinking about the dynamic between the individual and the ensemble — in food, science and society.
Israel’s rapid military gains in Iran have exposed deep vulnerabilities in Tehran’s defenses, but they also raise urgent questions about how far Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to go and at what cost.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2025

Success in Iran leaves Israel at a strategic crossroads

In Iran, it’s vital that Netanyahu follow his Hezbollah model if his campaign of military shock and awe doesn’t quickly succeed.
Jeremy Allaire, chief executive officer of Circle Internet Financial (center) celebrates during the company's initial public offering on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on June 5.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2025

A digital dollar is a trade war weapon, and Europe may be a primary target

Stablecoins could serve to entrench the existing tech and monetary order dominated by the U.S., as 95% of them are dollar-denominated. The euro commands less than 1%.
The public approval rate for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet in June was up 6.1 percentage points from the previous month, likely reflecting measures that were taken to combat soaring rice prices under new agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 19, 2025

Ishiba Cabinet approval rate improves to 27%, poll shows

The increase likely reflects measures that were taken to combat soaring rice prices under new agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi.
Japan’s governance reforms launched in 2015 sparked a surge in M&A and investor activism, but critics warn the resulting foreign takeovers and short-term focus may come at a cost.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 20, 2025

Has Japan's corporate revolution worked too well?

From private equity to activist investors to consolidation among companies fearful they’ll be targeted next, no acquisition seems beyond the pale.
Candles and flowers adorn a memorial outside the Minnesota State Capitol following the killing of Democratic state assemblywoman Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, in St. Paul on Wednesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 21, 2025

Two days of terror: How the Minnesota shooter evaded police and got caught

The suspect had an imperfect disguise, but it was enough to evade police for two days in the state's largest-ever manhunt.
A family travels by motorbike in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam is grappling with two significant challenges: a declining birth rate, prompting policy shifts to encourage larger families, and the economic threat of U.S. tariffs.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2025

Vietnam has far bigger worries than its baby bust

Vietnam is grappling with two significant challenges: a declining birth rate, prompting policy shifts to encourage larger families and the economic threat of U.S. tariffs.
A person holding U.S. and LGBTQ+ flags stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial, ahead of the presidential inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, in Washington on Jan. 18.
WORLD
Jun 23, 2025

Pride and prejudice: Trump casts shadow on 10 years of gay marriage

At least two sitting Supreme Court justices have indicated they want to revisit Obergefell, which legalized same-sex marriage in the U.S., among other cases.

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