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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2019

What happens when the internet gets less American?

The popularity of Chinese-owned TikTok raises concerns about security and values.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2019

U.S. trade wars expose an abiding truth

Free trade turns out to be something that helps a rising great power, until it doesn't.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 25, 2019

Masayoshi Son: Tech visionary or robber baron?

We're coming to realize that the SoftBank founder is less a business guru than a 19th-century capitalist.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 25, 2019

Director urges Bollywood stars to break silence over citizenship law and violence

One of Bollywood's leading directors called on three superstar actors to break their silence about a new citizenship law that has triggered riots in India, saying they could influence millions of fans.
JAPAN / Politics / Commentary
Dec 24, 2019

The great power game in the Pacific: What Japan can do

The Pacific island states have never been at the center of geopolitical discussion. The names of the 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) — nations such as Fiji, Kiribati, Palau and Samoa — may evoke a romanticized image of a remote paradise in the Pacific, but certainly not as a point...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2019

May the (space) force be with you

It may sound silly, but it's an idea whose time has come. Here's what everyone should know about the space force.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 23, 2019

Japan's unviable whaling nationalism

The cultural nationalist project to re-imagine whaling as a national culinary culture will likely fail since it appears unlikely that whaling can become a viable commercial enterprise.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2019

In 'Star Wars' economy, one thing doesn't pay

Junkyards and scavengers are everywhere in the series. So why do they waste so much valuable scrap?
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 23, 2019

After gay marriage law passes, Taiwan emerges as new market for LGBT+ surrogacy

On Geoffrey Li's 40th birthday last year, he put aside his dream of an early retirement on an idyllic island and instead decided to raise a child in Taiwan using a surrogate in Southeast Asia.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Dec 23, 2019

The Reiwa Daijosai: Pomp, circumstance and litigation

The separation of church and state in Japan comes under scrutiny in the new era. However, we've been down this road before.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / 2019 in Review
Dec 22, 2019

Japanese trends you couldn't have missed in 2019

Amid the hard news of the past year, there were some trends that lit up Japan's media offered the nation a sense of, if not a little hope, at least some relief.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2019

U.S. prefers mass hysteria to sound policy on vaping

Protecting kids from nicotine shouldn't matter more than saving the lives of millions of smokers.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 20, 2019

'Obamacare' ruling likely to haunt Trump in 2020

While the eyes of America were on the House vote to impeach President Donald Trump, a court ruling to leave the fate of the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare," up in the air may be a bigger risk to his 2020 re-election hopes.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2019

Time for U.S. pivot on North Korea?

It is now time for the U.S., along with Japan and South Korea, to prepare to pivot on North Korea.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2019

Britain: One nation but many voices

In the latest British election, people expressed this own free opinions and rejected old party allegiances as never before.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2019

The U.S. media is in the gutter with Trump

American journalism used to adhere to strict standards, then the U.S. media declared war on Donald Trump.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2019

India is abandoning its founding principles

The country's embrace of religious nationalism is trampling on a tradition of secular liberalism that has served its people well
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / 2019 in Review
Dec 17, 2019

Creative expression stifled by 'safety concerns' in Japan

As the taboo-busting comic Joan Rivers used to say after pressing her audience's buttons, 'Can we talk?' On the evidence of this year's Aichi Triennale, if it's about World War II atrocities, the answer seems to be 'no.'
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2019

Boris Johnson is an incredibly lucky politician

Corbyn was a gift but the prime minister's promises to his new blue-collar supporters on Brexit and spending will be difficult to honor.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2019

Protests could spark stronger U.S.-China deal

The West has a golden opportunity to craft a larger strategy of both containment and cooperation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2019

Don't mock Greta; listen to her

Let's put aside the finger-pointing, and let Time's choice be a reminder that the problem isn't going to solve itself. There's more carbon entering the atmosphere every day.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 13, 2019

How much would you pay to work less?

Women are more willing to forgo salary for better life balance, but flexible policies could widen the income gap with men.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 13, 2019

Canadian lawyer defends decision to defend Myanmar on Rohingya genocide charges

Canadian lawyer William Schabas, an international scholar on genocide, has been criticized by friend and foe for first researching crimes against Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya and now defending the state accused of perpetrating them.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2019

Stop with the gifting and just give

The most wonderful time of the year has developed an irritating verbal tic.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 10, 2019

As election nears, U.K.'s Johnson is criticized for response to photo of sick child

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came under fire on Monday for his response to being shown a photo of a sick child lying on a hospital floor ahead of the Dec. 12 election.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Dec 9, 2019

NPB stars no longer shy about expressing MLB aspirations

Kohei Arihara wants to pitch in the major leagues in the near future. Haruki Nishikawa wants to make the move as well. Hayato Sakamoto doesn't want to, but he had to address it all the same.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2019

Satellites are changing the night sky

The stars we can see from Earth could soon be outnumbered by a swarm of satellites.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan