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Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 3, 2015

Defense Ministry leak shows SDF chief talking politics in Washington; JCP cries foul

A Japanese Communist Party lawmaker unveiled what he said were confidential records of meetings between U.S. and Japanese military officials in Washington last year.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 31, 2015

Iowa poll puts Clinton support rate under 50% for first time; rival Sanders closing gap

U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders narrowed the gap with leading Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in a recent opinion poll in the political bellwether state of Iowa as support for the front-runner fell below 50 percent for the first time this year.
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2015

Dearth of competition in the LDP

The dearth of any challenge to Shinzo Abe's leadership from within the LDP is disappointing given that many of his key policies are being questioned by the public.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2015

Dumbing down: the key to U.S. political success

Stupidity exists everywhere, but what makes it stand out in America is that most Americans don't think it's bad to be dumb.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 13, 2015

Over 50% of assemblywomen in Japan have been sexually harassed, survey suggests

In yet another sign of deep-rooted sexism, more than 50 percent of local assemblywomen who responded to a recent survey said they had been sexually harassed while on duty.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2015

America's why not election

The U.S. presidential election not only has more candidates than ever; it has the highest proportion of any election in memory of aspirants who are flat-out unqualified.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 5, 2015

No politics behind Russia drift net ban: experts

Russia's newly approved ban on a scorched-earth form of ocean fishing is driven by environmental interests, not international politics, analysts and activists have said.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Apr 23, 2015

Obama, in Everglades, wades into climate change politics

President Barack Obama strolled past reedy sawgrass and twisted mangrove tree roots in Florida's Everglades on Wednesday, part of a push to get Americans thinking and talking about the damage climate change is causing close to home.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2015

Hillary's arduous road to the White House

The ultimate test for presidential candidates in the U.S. is whom voters would rather want to have over in their backyard for an afternoon barbecue. Can Hillary Clinton pass it?
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2015

Pushing Social Security reforms risky gambit, Christie admits

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is making cutting Social Security and Medicare the centerpiece of a possible presidential campaign, conceded on Wednesday that he is taking a risk with the proposal.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2015

America's political system is broken

The fact that U.S. presidential candidates must adjust their positions to conform to the banal, the uninspired, the illegal, with total disregard for the will or the greater good of the people, demonstrates that the American political system is broken.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2015

Two small tents, with most Americans outside

The era of Republicans and Democrats taking pride in calling their respective parties 'big tents' with room for a diversity of views is all but over.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2015

Coming Home: 'a woman victimized by Chinese politics, who retains an inner core of resilience'

"Coming Home" celebrates two relationships: the one depicted in the movie, of a man reuniting with his wife after two decades in prison during China's Cultural Revolution, and the other of director Zhang Yimou partnering once again with his iconic leading lady Gong Li. Together, the pair made their international...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2015

Upstart Indian party slows Modi juggernaut

Delhi voters appear ready to give the Aam Aadmi Party another chance after recent state elections. It testifies to the hard work that members of this anti-corruption upstart have done the past few months to reinstate confidence in their ability to deliver on commitments. They managed to cast the party of new Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the 'establishment.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 10, 2015

Don't mistake the politics of The White Noise Supremacists

If the name The White Noise Supremacists caused you to do a double take, you wouldn't be the first.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2015

Ukrainians would be wise to heed Georgia's war lessons

Many people in Kiev worry that if Ukraine makes a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he will meddle in domestic affairs to an extent that will make meaningful reforms impossible. But Putin hasn't done that in Georgia since the 2008 war.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2015

Obama's State of the Union speech shows populism has gone mainstream in U.S. politics

President Barack Obama reached into his party's progressive past to deliver a robust endorsement of higher taxes for the wealthy, government intervention in the economy and an array of new benefits for lower- and middle-income Americans.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2014

Xi's cultural revolution looks doomed to fail

China's government has just reserved the right to send film and television actors, directors, writers and producers on all-expenses-paid, involuntary, 30-day sabbaticals to rural mining sites, border areas, and other remote locations.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Dec 6, 2014

Obscenity arrest may be hiding dirty politics

What constitutes obscenity in Japan? The term, both legally and morally, has different meanings in Japanese, just as it does in English. In a strictly legal sense, the Japanese word for obscenity, waisetsu, refers to something that maliciously stimulates sexual desire in an inappropriate and immoral...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2014

Will Britain become Europe's most politically unpredictable country?

Investors and businesses in Britain are queuing up for a roller-coaster ride as the country enters a period of political unpredictability.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 19, 2014

Abe's inner circle sprouting horns over next tax bump

A major battle appears to be brewing between the office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Finance Ministry — the most powerful bureaucracy in Japan — over whether to raise the consumption tax from the current 8 percent to 10 percent next fall.
EDITORIALS
Sep 24, 2014

New Komeito's raison d'etre

Natsuo Yamaguchi, the just re-elected chief of New Komeito, and other party leaders should realize that if the party fails to ensure that Japan stays on the pacifist road with respect to the passage of new legislation, it will lose its raison d'etre.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 21, 2014

New opposition party launched as Ishin no To

After months of wrangling, Nippon Ishin no Kai and Yui no To launch a new entity called Ishin no To (Japan Innovation Party) to help realign Japan's opposition parties.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2014

Poor politics led to Scot vote

The very fact that a referendum is being held at all on Scottish independence is an indictment of the quality of British politicians going back particularly to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who triggered Scots' simmering resentment against Westminster with her infamous poll tax.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2014

Indonesia gets a sprout with a new president

Having conducted an election that produced a successor president without excessive tumult or corruption, Indonesia may well be on its way to emerging as a major global player.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2014

Beijing's struggle to control a military district

China's ability to bring North Korea into line may depend on the outcome of an epochal struggle to bring the Shenyang Military District, which borders North Korea, under central authority.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 25, 2014

Sexist slurs present chance to improve decorum in politics

Discriminatory remarks in the assembly hall aren't rare in the world of Japanese politics, but a recent incident involving sexist slurs may offer the chance to end a shameful tradition.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2014

Harassment rife in local assemblies

The sexist taunting of a female politician during a session of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly is part of a long-running problem and victims often suffer in silence, some assembly members say.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2014

Political earthquake in Virginia

The primary election defeat of the second-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives by an unheralded economics professor upends the conventional wisdom that the tea party had slid into oblivion.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2014

Polarization in U.S. keeps getting exaggerated

A new study on political polarization in the U.S., conducted by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, uses large sample sizes and impressive graphics, but its interpretation is exaggerated.

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