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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 2, 2021

Japan, the national security superpower

Even I can see the opportunity that Japan has to become a national security superpower.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2021

As suicides rise amid the pandemic, Japan takes steps to tackle loneliness

What constitutes loneliness is a trickier question in Japan, where the overarching term 'kodoku' has been used to describe both loneliness and solitude, essentially lumping them together.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 7, 2020

The publishing industry can't get enough books on supernatural Japanese stories

While this year alone saw the release of well over 100 English nonfiction books about Japan, ranging from accounts of the atomic bombings, to memoirs, travelogues and countless explorations of Japanese culture, one trend in particular stands out from the rest: books on Japanese myths and legends, covering...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 26, 2020

‘Reconciliation’ is an exemplar of the introspective I-novel genre

Naoya Shiga's confessional, autobiographical novella stands the test of time with its themes of relationships, grief and aging.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jun 5, 2020

India’s China standoff shows risks of getting too close to Trump

Indian and Chinese forces are facing off by a glacial lake in the Himalayas that traverses their fluid frontier. The standoff at 14,000 feet (4,270 meters) is the most visible theater of conflict between the world’s two most populous nations, but it’s far from the only source of friction.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Nov 22, 2019

Study reveals music's universal patterns

From love songs to dance tunes to lullabies, music made in disparate cultures worldwide displays certain universal patterns, according to a study by researchers who suggest a commonality in the way human minds create music.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Oct 20, 2019

Linguistic ignorance can be bliss

When it was revealed that Pico Iyer knew only a 'smattering' of Japanese despite living in Japan for 25 years, some were critical. However, could there be artistic benefits to not being fluent?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 7, 2019

A literary platform for the collected writers of Kyoto

Writers in Kyoto is an English-language literary salon formed by writer John Dougill in 2015 to create a 'sense of community' for writers connected to Japan's imperial capital.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 17, 2019

Understanding the challenging world of the literary translator

English translations of Japanese books have found an enthusiastic audience around the world, and while the author is undoubtedly the star of the show, the translator's role should not be underestimated.
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jul 27, 2019

'Pink Samurai': Resolving the paradoxes of Japan's appetite for sex

Scholarly in the depth of its research methods and the sheer scope of its coverage, Nicholas Bornoff explores the means and instruments for achieving erotic pleasure in 1991 Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 18, 2019

'Cutting Back': The collected wisdom of an aesthetic pruner

Breezy, frequently humorous and self-scolding, Leslie Buck's 'Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto' is a poignant look at the storied Japanese world of professional gardening.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping joins Russian President Vladimir Putin and other foreign leaders at a ceremony at the Kremlin’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow on Friday to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2025

Beijing talks peace in Ukraine while aiding Putin’s war

China benefits strategically as long as the war stays within Ukraine, the nuclear risk remains low and its “unlimited partner,” Russia, does not lose.
Japan's Shohei Ohtani carries the Japanese flag onto the field before the start of the World Baseball Classic final against the United States in Miami on March 21, 2023.
BASEBALL
May 15, 2025

Historian Rob Fitts discovers earliest ever reference to baseball in Japan

The widely held belief is that American Horace Wilson introduced the sport to Japan in 1872. Fitts' discovery revises the timeline to 1869.
Author Kazuo Ishiguro (left) and director Kei Ishikawa pose during a photocall for the film “Toi Yamanamino Hikari” ("A Pale View of Hills") at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France.
CULTURE / Film
May 21, 2025

Adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's first novel premieres at Cannes

The author says that adapting the novel — which he wrote when he was 25 — was different from bringing his other books to the big screen.
More Chinese families are clustering in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, a district renowned for having the finest educational environment in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2025

Chinese parents are fueling Tokyo’s education race

International schools in Tokyo are already witnessing an influx of children from the newly arrived, highly involved Chinese households.
A man holding a baby wades through a flooded road following heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, China, in July 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 13, 2025

Natural disasters may be shaping babies’ brains

The findings signal how new generations of children may be marked by climate crises that occur before they were born.
Killer whales have been caught on video breaking off pieces of seaweed and using them to rub and groom each other, scientists announced on Monday, saying it is the first evidence of cetacean tool manufacturing.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 25, 2025

Killer whales use seaweed as tools to groom each other

The researchers hypothesize that the behavior promotes skin health while strengthening social bonds.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba addresses a news conference in Tokyo on Monday. He repeated his pledge to stay on to prevent a political vacuum from forming after his party's poor performance in the Upper House election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 29, 2025

The LDP struggles to define its future after election flub

The public doesn’t know what it wants — other than “not this” — so indecision by the LDP and other parties is understandable.
Vladimir Putin has been rehabilitating Josef Stalin for more than two decades — and reviving some of the worst elements of the Soviet era in the process.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2025

Glory to Stalin and the whitewashing of history

Russia’s Communist Party recently asserted that, in Stalin’s “deeds and works,” Russians can seek “answers to the fateful challenges of our time.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin's determination to keep fighting in Ukraine is prompted by his belief that Russia is winning and by skepticism that yet more U.S. sanctions will have much of an impact on his country.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 6, 2025

Putin doubts potency of Trump's ultimatum to end the war, sources say

The Russian leader is unlikely to bow to a sanctions ultimatum expiring this Friday from U.S. President Donald Trump, sources close to the Kremlin said.
Yu Zidi after heat 2 of the women's 400m medley at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Aug. 3
MORE SPORTS / Swimming
Aug 12, 2025

China's 12-year-old swimming phenom Yu sparks wonder and concern

Even as the swimming world marvels at Yu Zidi's talent, her age has raised questions about the ethics of someone so young competing at the highest level.
As generative AI like ChatGPT becomes more popular, evidence is growing that it may harm mental health by encouraging dependency, weakening critical thinking and even contributing to delusional episodes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 25, 2025

ChatGPT’s mental health costs are adding up

From brain rot to induced psychosis, the psychological cost of generative AI is growing and flying under the radar.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch are both nonbelievers. That’s a rare shared trait in the country’s political history.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2025

How much does faith influence British politics?

For the first time in British political history, both the nation’s premier and the official leader of the opposition have shared such an attitude toward God.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (right) and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attend a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone, in Wonsan, in North Korea, on June 24.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 28, 2025

How North Korea promotes Kim’s ‘Dear Daughter’ as a worthy heir

Kim Jong Un introduced his daughter to the world in November 2022 with a show of affection and menace, holding her hand in front of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Lachlan Murdoch, the eldest son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, arrives for a probate court hearing in Reno, Nevada, on Sept. 16, 2024. A new deal gives Lachlan Murdoch control of his family's media empire for probably decades to come.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 10, 2025

Lachlan Murdoch 'a very different leader than his father'

The eldest son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch strategizes plays designed to generate profits, not increase his political clout.
Super Mario soft toys in various sizes at collector Kikai's residence in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Aug. 19
LIFE / Digital
Sep 12, 2025

'He's a regular man, not unlike us': Marking 40 years of Mario games

Super Mario Bros., released for Nintendo's home consoles in Japan on Sept. 13, 1985, was a landmark of early video gaming.
A soldier on a tank waves an Israeli flag amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas near the Israel-Gaza border in January 2024. 
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2025

War responsibility across borders and generations

The Asia-Pacific War is often remembered for the culpability of leaders, but this overlooks the multitudes who filled the ranks below.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight