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Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 15, 2014

Iraq military meltdown blamed on graft, politics

The Iraqi Army that disintegrated under an onslaught by Islamist fighters last week was a hollow force, riven by corruption, poor leadership and sectarian splits — a shadow of the military Washington had hoped to leave in the war-ravaged country.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2014

Memory collides with politics in Putin's 'Normandy landing'

D-Day observances have always been part memorial, part politics.
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2014

A coup by any other name

Last week's military coup in Thailand may have been a reluctant coup, but the inclination should have been resisted. The longer it takes Gen. Prayuth Chanchoa to produce a civilian government, the greater the risk that soldiers will turn their guns against the people.
EDITORIALS
May 15, 2014

Short-circuiting Thai democracy

Thailand's opposition may be successful in its rear-guard battles against a democratically elected government, but these 'victories' are Pyrrhic, resulting in economic instability.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2014

Recep Erdogan's pyrrhic victory

The triumph of Turkey's beleaguered Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party in last week's local elections is unlikely to ameliorate the country's internal conflicts, much less revive its tarnished international standing.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2014

French polls show extreme right moderating

The French municipal elections held late last month have demonstrated that the extreme right is not a threat in today's Europe.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2014

Gulf widens between Qatar and its neighbors

Saudi Arabia's recent decision to withdraw its ambassador from Qatar has revealed the gravity of the crisis in the Gulf Cooperation Council, composed of Saudia Arabia's most immediate neighbors. Gulf politics is shifting.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Mar 30, 2014

Kaoru Yosano, liberal patriot

Some people's traits are not recognized for a long time even by those close to them. One such person is Kaoru Yosano, a 75-year-old former Lower House member — and a liberal politician full of patriotic fervor.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2014

Singh: missing for a decade

It would be interesting to know just what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — in office for a decade but rarely in power during that time — thinks the job requires beyond being a sycophant toward the first family.
COMMENTARY
Mar 15, 2014

Special Asian wisdom for skating on thin ice

Olympic skater Kim Yuna's classy, gracious performance, on and off the ice, at Sochi — even as her fellow Korean countrymen complained that she had been robbed of the gold medal for women's figure skating — makes her a model in sports and in East Asian politics.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2014

Warming or not, this is the best climate for liberals

Bleak judgments about stimulus spending in the U.S. miss the main point of it, which was to funnel a substantial share of the money to unionized, dues-paying, Democratic-voting government employees. In this way, the stimulus succeeded.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2014

'Generation Resignation' youngsters defy stereotypes

While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes the momentum of his economic policies raises the spirits of the Japanese people and buoys the stock market as well, decadeslong economic malaise has already crushed the hopes and dreams of many young people, who will be leading the nation in the years to come.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2014

Pining for Lyndon Johnson, Americans got Christie

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's recent scandals won't impress anyone who has read of the political arm-twisting shenanigans conducted a half-century ago by U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2013

The tragedy of Thailand's politics

For America, the proper question is what, if any, is its role as thousands of angry protesters in Bangkok march not for democracy but, in effect, for an end to it?
Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2013

Mandela halted vengeful politics

Jennifer Kim’s Dec. 15 letter, “Can’t see Mandela as a ‘peace icon,’” reflects the typical hypocrisy that was shown by Western leaders like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan at the time toward white South Africa.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 23, 2013

Back to the future: Shinto's growing influence in politics

Immaculate and ramrod straight in a crisp, black suit, Japan's education minister, Hakubun Shimomura, speaks like a schoolteacher — slowly and deliberately.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 13, 2013

The politics behind Japan's modern era of proletarian art

"Art and Literature in Japan 1926-1936" follows the close of the Taisho Era (1912-1926), which was characterized by democracy, artistic experimentation and widespread social self-absorptions by the citizenry in new fashions such as the "beach pajama" outfits of "modern" girls. The successive Showa Era...
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 12, 2013

Author divides U.S. into 11 American nations

Red states and blue states? Flyover country and the coasts? How simplistic.
EDITORIALS
Sep 26, 2013

Ms. Merkel triumphant

The victory of Germany's conservative coalition in Sunday's elections was a rousing affirmation of the popularity of a wily chancellor whom Germans have come to call 'mummy.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2013

Labor's crushing defeat ends a five-act political tragedy

For the Australian Labor Party, a crushing defeat on Saturday night was the finale of a tragedy in five acts.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 30, 2013

Cory Booker: hope, hype — and heir to Barack Obama?

If Cory Booker were a television character you might think the writers were over-egging things a bit. Tall, athletic, handsome, he is an ambitious politician with a flair for drama. He rescues a woman from a burning building, saves a freezing dog, chases a scissor-wielding mugger, invites hurricane victims...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 1, 2013

Voting for idols is bigger than politics

Elsewhere in the world, the kind of sōsenkyo (総選挙, general election) that fires up public interest and garners media attention is one where political parties compete for national office. In Japan, however, the sōsenkyo of aidoru gurūpu (アイドルグループ, idol group) AKB48 tends to grab...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2013

Why well-informed people are also close-minded

A U.S. study finds that if you know a lot about politics, efforts to undermine or dislodge your political beliefs with facts might well upset you and therefore backfire.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 26, 2013

New legislators rouse Italian politics

Mr. Smith went to Washington. Carlo Sibilia has come to Rome.
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 2013

Italy's opera buffa

If the potential consequences of the Italian national election were not so severe, the outcome would be the stuff of great comedy. After all, one quarter of the votes were taken by a party formed by a standup comedian, while former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has again climbed to center stage and...
Reader Mail
Mar 3, 2013

More women for Seoul politics

Regarding the Feb. 26 AP article "South's Park slow to pick women for top positions": As a Korean, I can say that it is true that discrimination against women in the workplace is a big issue in South Korea. And I'm looking forward to seeing changes in this area just as we welcomed the election of the...
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2013

Campaigning, 21st-century style

The ruling and opposition parties agree to let election campaigns loose on the Internet, but they differ over the extent to which email should be used.
EDITORIALS
Dec 9, 2012

The politics of pop music

South Korean pop singers and groups will not be part of the yearend NHK music show, "Kohaku Uta Gassen," this year. When NHK announced its 50 performers for the singing extravaganza broadcast every New Year's Eve, Korean performers were conspicuously absent.

Longform

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