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Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jan 18, 2016

Study highlights massive global wealth divide ahead of key business and political leadership summit

Politicians and business leaders gathering in the Swiss Alps this week face an increasingly divided world, with the poor falling further behind the superrich and political fissures in the United States, Europe and the Middle East running deeper than at any time in decades.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jan 18, 2016

South China Sea? For Beijing, Taiwan is the No. 1 security issue

For China, whose President Xi Jinping is already taking an increasingly muscular approach to claims in the East and South China seas, the question of Taiwan trumps any other of its territorial assertions in terms of sensitivity and importance.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2016

Clinton goes on offense against Sanders at Democratic debate

U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton went on the offensive against top challenger Bernie Sanders at a debate on Sunday in reaction to his recent rise in opinion polls, saying he is soft on gun control and that his proposed health care overhaul is unrealistic.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 16, 2016

Mainstream Republicans despair as Trump and Cruz dominate presidential race

With two weeks to go until the first contest of the 2016 presidential race, Republicans who fear their party has been hijacked by the likes of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz found little to comfort them in the latest debate.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 15, 2016

New centrist conservatism

To address the challenges confronting the nation, the LDP must move leftward and once again embrace center-right politics.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 14, 2016

Ted Cruz reportedly did not disclose 2012 Senate campaign loan

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz failed to disclose to the Federal Election Commission a loan from Goldman Sachs for as much as $500,000 that was used to help finance his successful 2012 U.S. Senate campaign, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2016

Refugees, sexual harassment and Angela Merkel

No good deed goes unpunished, and Angela Merkel's Germany is paying a price for its generosity to Middle Eastern refugees — but it's not an unbearable price.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 13, 2016

Views from Taipei: Should Taiwan declare full independence in the event of a DPP win?

People in the Taiwanese capital speak their minds about whether the island should consider declaring full independence from China in the event of a victory by the Beijing-wary opposition in upcoming elections.
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2016

America's struggle with gun violence

More than 100,000 people have been killed as a result of gun violence over the past decade in America, and millions more have been the victim of assaults, robberies and other crimes involving a gun.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2016

Saudi Arabia has bigger problems than Iran

While Saudi Arabia is hardly fertile ground for revolution, the government faces unprecedented challenges both within and outside the country.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jan 10, 2016

A year in the life of Japan's Supreme Court

Grand rulings hogged the headlines in 2015 while the Petty Benches sweated the small stuff and big issues were kicked down the line.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 9, 2016

Different-names ruling leaves door open to possibility of same-sex marriages

While the Supreme Court ruling said there is nothing unconstitutional about compelling married couples to register under one name, they didn't expressly limit marriage to a man and a woman.
Reader Mail
Jan 8, 2016

Thai government on road to reform

Regarding the opinion piece by Pavin Chachavalpongpun in the Dec. 21 edition titled "Thailand in 2015: a year of spinning its wheels," I wish to make the following clarifications:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2016

Russia's isolationism is official

Russia's latest National Security Strategy provides valuable material for the study of the angst, paranoia and befuddlement now gripping the Kremlin.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 4, 2016

2016: the year of looking beyond Japan's Abenomics

After three largely squandered years, Abe must finally get serious about the reforms he's been promising.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2016

Whac-a-Mole sex slavery

As the recent Islamic State fatwa demonstrates, there's no end in sight to the sexual enslavement of women.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Jan 4, 2016

Let's discuss healthy eating in Japan

In a country where food culture permeates all aspects of life and society, it is perhaps unsurprising that Japan leads the 'World Health Olympics.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 3, 2016

Jamie xx: The archaeologist of U.K. rave culture

Sitting in his favorite East London cafe, Jamie Smith is nervous. Tonight, he will headline his biggest ever show as Jamie xx at Brixton Academy.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 2, 2016

'15 saw Abe keep nationalism in check, reset Seoul, Beijing ties

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's diplomatic gains last year may give him momentum for the crucial Upper House election and his life-long ambition of revising the Constitution.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 31, 2015

The issues that grabbed you or got your goat in the Year of the Sheep

Readers praise and pan Community articles from the past 12 months.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 30, 2015

Views from Nagoya: What did you make of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'?

Cinemagoers offer their opinions after a showing of the much-anticipated seventh installment in the 'Star Wars' saga.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 30, 2015

Georgia, with eye on 2016 election, switches prime minister

Lawmakers in Georgia voted on Tuesday to approve Georgi Kvirikashvili as the ex-Soviet state's new prime minister, an appointment widely seen as an attempt to boost the ruling coalition's flagging popularity amid an economic slump.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 28, 2015

Trump chides Rubio-endorsing Republican panel chief's Benghazi probe debacle

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump assailed a leading committee chairman in Congress on Sunday for backing Marco Rubio, Trump's rival for the party's nomination.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2015

The folly of a British 'Brexit'

A British exit from the European Union would have dire consequences.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 24, 2015

Re-print of Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' unleashes row in Germany

For the first time since Adolf Hitler's death, Germany is publishing the Nazi leader's political treatise "Mein Kampf," unleashing a highly charged row over whether the text is an inflammatory racist diatribe or a useful educational tool.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 23, 2015

On a Christmas visit, expat thoughts turn to 'going home'

Reconnecting with home can be a cause for reflection: Where have I been, and where am I going? Is there another life to return to?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 22, 2015

Plenty of food for thought in a good year for great plays

The year now ending began gloomily with the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris reminding us of hopeless breakdowns in mutual understanding and tolerance worldwide; now it's set to close hot on the heels of an agreement by nearly 200 countries at the COP21 talks in Paris on the need to counter threatened...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 21, 2015

Japan's married-name law isn't just about names

The Supreme Court's ruling on surnames raises a fascinating question: How much should a constitution reflect the distinctive values of a society and how much should it express universal rights?

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan