Search - opinion

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Oct 12, 2017

Motosada Zumoto and the origins of The Japan Times

A 10-minute walk from JR Sapporo Station brings one to a small, white clock tower in the city center. The 13-meter-high Western timepiece is an iconic image of the city and Hokkaido.
JAPAN / Politics / Decision 2017
Oct 12, 2017

Koike's Kibo no To takes a hit as popular Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura cuts support

Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura has withdrawn his support for Kibo no To in a blow to Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, who is also the fledgling party's chief. This setback comes less than two weeks after Omura agreed to cooperate with Koike and Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui, who serves as Nippon Ishin no Kai's co-leader....
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 12, 2017

Catalan conundrum: Spain gives its leader eight days to drop independence declaration, if it was made

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Wednesday gave the Catalan government eight days to drop an independence bid, failing which he would suspend Catalonia's political autonomy and rule the region directly.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS,Decision 2017
Oct 10, 2017

Yuriko Koike’s tactics fail to inspire hope as Lower House election kicks off, analysts say

Just hours before his announcement last month that he would dissolve the Lower House for a snap election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was blindsided by his biggest political adversary of late: Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike. The telegenic, populist governor had upstaged Abe by announcing that she would create...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 9, 2017

Some 350,000 stage demonstration in Barcelona against Catalan independence as tensions mount

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Catalonia's capital Barcelona on Sunday to express their opposition to declaring independence from Spain, showing how divided the region is on the issue.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 7, 2017

Hate speech thrives on social media platforms

On Sept. 8, the anti-hate speech group Tokyo No Hate demonstrated in front of the Tokyo offices of Twitter. The group wants the social networking service to police its users more diligently with regard to racist and other discriminatory tweets.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 5, 2017

Catalonia plans to declare independence Monday as Spain's troops settle in, stocks sink

Catalonia will move on Monday to declare independence from Spain following its banned referendum as the European Union nation nears a rupture that threatens the foundations of its young democracy.
Japan Times
SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Oct 3, 2017

Questions abound as MLB postseason starts

Some burning questions (and answers) entering the 2017 MLB postseason.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2017

People power: The new version

No government, no administration, no political party can afford to neglect these new forces to which the digital age has given birth.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2017

Tech and regulators can find common ground

Big shocks to the landscape, including the operating context for both incumbents and disrupters, require adaptations that can be — and often are — inherently complex.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2017

Autonomous vehicles hold promise of brighter future

Naoki Suganuma, the head of Kanazawa University's Autonomous Vehicle Research Unit, gave a lecture in Tokyo on Sept. 15.
Reader Mail
Sep 29, 2017

Defending Abe administration

I was puzzled by Jeff Kingston's column in the Sept. 17 edition. I will focus on a few points to explain why.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 29, 2017

Foreign investors bet big on Japan stocks right before Abe's snap election call

In the two weeks before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called a snap election, foreign investors using the futures market — which are often hedge funds — suddenly turned hugely positive on Japanese shares.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 28, 2017

Yuriko Koike says second-place finish not good enough in snap vote, plans to wrench power from ruling LDP

Kibo no To is in it to win it in the upcoming national election, Koike says, expressing the intention to wrench power from Abe and his ruling party.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 28, 2017

Trump insists protests are bad for the NFL's business

President Donald Trump has a new message for the NFL: Change or business is "going to go to hell."
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 28, 2017

Could Japan be ready for 'Koikenomics?'

In calling the latest of what's been a five-year flurry of election after election, Shinzo Abe admitted what households have long known: Abenomics is a dud.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 26, 2017

Japan can do more for the Rohingya

The intention was to rebuild a peaceful political society in Myanmar, but the Rohingya have been left out.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Sep 26, 2017

Trump again blasts NFL for anthem protests, claims they're not about racism

U.S. President Donald Trump kept up his verbal battle with the National Football League over players who drop to one knee during the national anthem, saying on Monday their acts of protest had nothing to do with racism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2017

So what's next for Emmanuel Macron?

Four months after Emmanuel Macron became president of France, the French and the rest of Europe still don't know what they are getting.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Sep 25, 2017

Buying a house in Japan can be an investment in joy

The 'return' on your investment in a home in Japan is best measured in terms of the pleasure it will yield and the doorway to the intimacies of community and the Japanese mind it will lure you into.
Reader Mail
Sep 22, 2017

Kingston left out historic facts

The opinion piece by Jeff Kingston in the Sept. 10 edition presented his interpretation of "revisionism" and the "comfort women" issue, assertively describing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as "revisionist" and "extremist." But he did not present important historical facts contradicting the assertions in...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 21, 2017

Islamists lure youngsters in the Philippines with payments, promise of paradise

When he saw his commander holding the severed head of one of his neighbors, teenage Islamist fighter Jalil knew it was time to escape from Marawi.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Sep 20, 2017

Japan doesn't need to criminalize hate speech

Considering constitutional issues and the risk of creating 'martyrs,' the current law strikes the right balance.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2017

An American political tragedy

The U.S. has not had a proactive, forward-looking government since the 1960s, and it's hard to remember the last time it produced a policy that could serve as a model for others to emulate.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Sep 16, 2017

Documentary filmmaker Megumi Sasaki learns to live in the moment in New York

For a long time Megumi Sasaki felt that something did not quite fit.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 16, 2017

The prosaic state of ancient Confucianism

"Confucianism," says historian Hiroshi Watanabe, "is perhaps the most powerful political ideology yet conceived by the human race."

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