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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2020

Balkanization is bad for Facebook’s business

Social networks suffer when there are fewer people to network with.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 6, 2020

How Angela Merkel inspires the Japanese

For Japan's ambitious female politicians, the German chancellor's approach to climbing up the political ladder by not focusing on gender issues is instructive.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2020

Green-energy firms have a human rights problem

The renewables business needs to clean up its act.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2020

Nuclear-armed China and India fight with fists, stones and clubs

June 15 could mark the date on which China “lost India” strategically.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2020

Putin wins 16 more years of reckless behavior

The West consistently underestimates the Russian president's willingness to take extreme risks.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2020

The war on terror survives Rand Paul’s attempt to end it

Yet the U.S. senator from Kentucky is right to point out that Congress is abdicating its responsibility.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2020

If 2020 wasn't strange enough, printers are staging a comeback

As many have discovered while working from home, we really do print more than we think.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2020

Hong Kong brokers are already reading from Beijing’s script

Some worry that the national security law will compromise analysts' credibility. It's a bit late for that.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2020

U.S. tells Japan it hopes for in-person G7 summit in late August, Japanese sources say

Tokyo told Washington in response that Prime Minister Abe would be willing to attend the summit if it were to be held in late August.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2020

American lockdown exceptionalism

Telling people that they are stupid and too sociable is likely to make the problem worse.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2020

The European Union’s self-help moment

The COVID-19 crisis has created an opening for stronger collective European action.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2020

For the EU, banning American tourists is the easy part

It's the thorny challenges to reopening the European Union's internal borders that show just how tricky living with COVID-19 really is.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2020

China’s rise heralds return of the domino theory

Seventy years ago the Korean War raised legitimate fears that one U.S. loss could set off communist victories across the globe.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2020

Taliban bounties would be a new low even for Putin

Putting a price on American heads today is not at all like the U.S. arming anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 30, 2020

U.S. starts paring back Hong Kong's special status due to security law

The United States began eliminating Hong Kong's special status under U.S. law on Monday, halting defense exports and restricting the territory's access to high technology products as China prepares new Hong Kong security legislation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2020

Americans are failing the mask test

The lack of trust in public health officials is baffling.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 29, 2020

Study of Okinawan history falls casualty to COVID-19

The global pandemic has left Okinawa's tourist industry reeling.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 29, 2020

A week before Tokyo gubernatorial election, Koike takes commanding lead in polls

It appears the incumbent's strategy — taking advantage of her popularity by running a defensive campaign — is working.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2020

In St. Paul, police reform is working

Not far from where George Floyd was killed, a young mayor is making big changes.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 28, 2020

China's lawmaking body adds Hong Kong security law to agenda, report says

The move signals that Beijing may soon hand down a still-secret measure that pro-democracy activists and business groups say could erode the city's unique freedoms.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jun 27, 2020

Fighting for the right to recognize same-sex marriage in Japan

The notion of legal partnerships is gaining acceptance and yet entrenched political obstacles remain.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2020

When to wear a mask and when you can skip it

With the guidance on masks during the pandemic having been conflicting, it's no wonder some people are confused.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 26, 2020

Survey shows Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests may be losing steam

Support for yearlong pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong has slipped, now getting the backing of a slim majority, as the city braces for the imposition of Beijing-drafted national security legislation, a survey conducted for Reuters showed.
Reader Mail
Jun 26, 2020

Paying university teachers just nine months a year is a bad idea

Regarding Takamitsu Sawa’s June 16 opinion piece “No end in sight to the debate over Japan's school year”, I agree with his idea to start the academic year after a long summer holiday. However, his idea to pay university teachers for only nine months seems to be rather immature.
Reader Mail
Jun 26, 2020

Appeasing China doesn’t work and should no longer be tried

In the wake of the brutal ambush of 20 brave Indian soldiers on June 15, the June 8 opinion piece headlined “India’s appeasement policy toward China unravels,” sounds like a prophecy come true. India’s appeasement of China has indeed failed and so will the West’s and Japan’s. Appeasements...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2020

America is on the road to relapse, not recovery

The U.S. isn't following the example of countries that have shown what a “smart reopening” entails.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2020

America's 2020 is not like 1968: It may be worse

Social unrest helped doom Lyndon Johnson's presidency. It may end up saving Trump's.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2020

Hungary's Orban uses COVID-19 crisis for another power grab

Cracking down on an authoritarian regime, even a seemingly inconsequential one, would send a message to America's other backsliding allies.
Scientists still don’t fully understand why women live longer than men. The aging process differs between the sexes and in most mammals, with females tending to live longer than males.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2025

How women could be the key to unlocking longer life

Scientists still don’t fully understand why women live longer than men. The aging process differs between the sexes and in most mammals, females tend to live longer than males.
Rising bear attacks in Japan, driven by climate change, population decline and a shortage of hunters, have prompted intervention by the Self-Defense Forces as urban areas face growing threats from wildlife.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 7, 2025

Along with Japan’s urban bears comes fur and loathing

What’s unusual is that the majority of these incidents are happening not to unlucky hikers or mountain foragers, but to people in residential areas going about their daily lives.

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