Search - opinion

 
 
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2020

Make-or-break moment in coronavirus fight could happen this week

The world’s ability to check the coronavirus contagion and fully recover from the worst peacetime recession since the Great Depression may depend on what international economic policy makers decide this week.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Food Sustainability in Japan
Apr 11, 2020

To meat, or not to meat: The future of Japanese cellular agriculture

Would you notice if the cubed meat in your cup noodle wasn’t “real” meat? If you did, would you care? What if the future of our meat supply counted on it?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2020

How do you lift a coronavirus lockdown? Ask Austria

Ending strict confinement measures should be done extremely carefully.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 7, 2020

Crisis offers an opportunity for radical educational reform

Shifting the start of the school year to fall would bring the nation a number of benefits.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2020

Coronavirus tests Abe’s leadership as economy stalls

The prime minister's economic package may look bold, but action comes late.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2020

Isolation changes everything for status seekers

COVID-19 is upending all the usual ways for people to win the approval of their peers.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 7, 2020

The EU’s latest existential crisis might be its biggest one yet

When the European Union’s 27 leaders last managed to gather in person, they didn’t even talk about the coronavirus.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 7, 2020

Poland moves to hold Europe’s only national vote in lockdown

Poland’s ruling party is pressing forward with conducting Europe’s only national election during the COVID-19 crisis.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2020

Sunday in the park with COVID-19

The only way to safely enjoy nature these days is to keep away from one another.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2020

Spain’s tragedy was all too predictable

The prime minister dithered before imposing lockdown measures that could have saved thousands of lives.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2020

A vision of post-pandemic New York

Once this is over, the city will be younger, cheaper, poorer and segregated in a new way.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2020

How contagious are asymptomatic carriers?

Researchers are still trying to understand why COVID-19 is deadly for some and invisible in others.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 1, 2020

Over half of Americans are postponing their weddings as industry reels

One of the last weddings performed in public in Las Vegas was on St. Patrick’s Day. The groom wore a dark suit. The bride wore a rockabilly-style black halter dress. The minister was Slash from Guns N’ Roses — or, rather, a licensed officiant performing as the shaggy-maned, top-hatted guitarist....
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 1, 2020

Better ties with China: Japan’s coronavirus silver lining?

COVID-19 has caused surprisingly little damage to Japan-China relations. In fact, ties may emerge stronger in unexpected ways.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2020

Wannabe autocrats love the COVID-19 pandemic

In Hungary and Poland — as in Israel and elsewhere — liberty suddenly seems cheap. Even in a pandemic, it shouldn't be.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Apr 1, 2020

Are Tokyo's hospitals and health care system ready for a COVID-19 storm?

With the number of COVID-19 cases in Tokyo having nearly quadrupled in 10 days, it seems no longer a question of whether Japan will declare a national emergency, but when and how.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2020

With U.S. 2020 race all but halted over coronavirus, Joe Biden quietly widens lead over Trump

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden has quietly expanded his lead over President Donald Trump among registered voters, even as the rapidly spreading coronavirus has all but sidelined the former vice president's campaign, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 1, 2020

In China, a young diplomat rises as aggressive foreign policy takes root

Diplomats returning from overseas postings don't usually receive special attention at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a vast government bureaucracy with thousands of staff.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 1, 2020

Japan’s art institutions struggle to cope with the COVID-19 crisis

Since the quarantine of the Diamond Princess, Japan has gone from being one of the world’s most at-risk countries to lucky outlier, to being again fearful of COVID-19 getting out of control.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2020

Crisis response shows Trump isn’t a dictator

The U.S. president has shied away from trying to grab power.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2020

Search for the greater global good

Nations must look past short-term calculations of parochial advantage.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2020

Keep a tight rein on virus-tracking tools

Tools that democracies need to fight a pandemic are not appropriate when it's over.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2020

Confirmed coronavirus cases is an 'almost meaningless' metric

More complete and complex data is needed to know when it's safe to reopen the U.S. economy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2020

One battle Boris Johnson is clearly winning

The COVID-19 crisis gives the U.K. prime minister a huge bounce.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2020

Once-in-a-century pandemic promises to reshape our world

The geostrategic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis will likely hold major implications for Japan.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2020

China’s misplaced pandemic propaganda

Barely a month ago, China was in the grip of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. Thousands of new infections were confirmed every day. Hospitals were overwhelmed. People were dying by the hundreds. People couldn’t leave their homes. But the government’s draconian lockdown seems to have worked: The...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2020

COVID-19 transmission: What we know

There is not yet an ironclad scientific consensus on exactly how the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is spreading, but experts are getting a pretty good sense of it. That understanding needs to be central to our strategy of combatting the virus with minimal collateral damage.

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