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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 4, 2021

Europe recalibrates on China as Merkel's term nears end and trans-Atlantic tensions ease

A major investment deal reached in December between the EU and Beijing may end up being the high-water mark for ties.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2021

The Cold War playbook won’t help Alexei Navalny

That Navalny ended his hunger strike and his life isn't in imminent danger — for now — doesn't remove the underlying issue.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 26, 2021

China’s maritime policies need a considered response from Japan

Careful countermeasures must be considered as Beijing integrates its ocean organizations and steps up its territorial goals.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 21, 2021

The death of George Floyd reignited a movement. What happens now?

For many Black Americans, real change feels elusive, particularly given how relentlessly the killing of Black men by the police has continued on.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 17, 2021

Sorry folks, Kei Komuro is no Meghan Markle

The situation surrounding the pending marriage of Princess Mako to Kei Komuro is entirely different to those facing the British royals.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2021

Fintech uprising will define post-pandemic banking

Shifting behavior because of the pandemic and industry trends that have accelerated over the past year might leave top banks with little choice but to remain consumer friendly.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Apr 8, 2021

Masters chairman not in favor of boycotts in response to Georgia voting law

Boycotts protesting the introduction of a new Georgia voting law could end up hurting the state's most vulnerable citizens, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 25, 2021

Merkel’s COVID-19 crisis is changing the shape of upcoming election

Reverberations from a quickly reversed Easter lockdown decision could have significant consequences for the future of Europe's largest economy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2021

Who helps pay Amazon’s low-wage workers? Americans do.

Amazon can afford to lift its workers out of poverty, so why does it rely on taxpayers to fill in the blanks?
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 24, 2021

Manslaughter probes in Italy worsen AstraZeneca vaccine troubles

Two doctors and a nurse in Sicily were placed under investigation following the sudden death of a navy officer hours after he received the shot.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2021

Keeping troops in Afghanistan makes America safer

The case for maintaining a small yet strong military presence in Afghanistan is sound, if not popular.
European Union nations and Japan fret about a world without the U.S. security umbrella. They could ease their fears by moving closer together.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 26, 2025

Japan-Europe: The security alliance the world needs now

Even before Trump’s return, Europe and Japan both rapidly needed to shift from their peacetime posture to one preparing for war.
A guard tower at Manzanar Internment Camp in Independence, California, in July 2013. Nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were removed from their homes on the West Coast by the U.S. Army and sent to Manzanar and nine other internment camps between March 1942 and November 1945.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 26, 2025

Use of wartime powers revives internment camp memories

It took more than 40 years for the U.S. government to officially set the record straight that abusing the Alien Enemies Act during World War II was both illegal and immoral.
Palestinians take part in an anti-Hamas protest calling for an end to the war with Israel, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. 
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2025

Israel must not ignore the anti-Hamas protests in Gaza

Though still relatively small in scale, the anti-Hamas demonstrations in Gaza clearly indicate a shift in opinion.
Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement conviction and election ban intensify France’s political divide, challenge French President Emmanuel Macron’s government and set the stage for a far-right succession battle.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2025

Le Pen’s MAGA-style martyrdom is new risk in France

One big factor could complicate Le Pen’s pivot to MAGA martyrdom, however: The antics of Trump himself.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of South Korea's Democratic Party, during a meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul on Monday. Lee is the top candidate for the next presidential election, with support of 34% respondents in a Gallup poll released April. 4.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 9, 2025

South Korea opposition leader Lee steps down amid expectations of presidential run

The country holds a presidential election on June 3 after former president Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment.
The Trump administration has slashed LGBTQ+ health research funding, dismantling key programs and halting studies on disparities and mental health, which experts warn will reverse progress and harm vulnerable communities.
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 2025

The very idea of LGBTQ+ health is under attack

The Trump administration is rapidly breaking down the research infrastructure for these communities and doing so in a manner that guarantees it can’t be restored.
U.S. President Donald Trump listens to remarks during a swearing-in ceremony for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz in the Oval Office in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 19, 2025

Trump seeks to put more civil servants under his control

The move would give him power to directly hire and fire as many as 50,000 jobs reserved for career federal employees.
Pope Francis was known for his strong environmentalism, highlighted by his influential 2015 encyclical calling for global climate action.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 23, 2025

The next pope will help decide the planet’s fate

As much of the world retreats from climate activism, the Vatican has a chance to stand out by choosing another vocal environmentalist to lead 1.4 billion Catholics.
Tesla, SpaceX and X CEO Elon Musk looks on ahead of the inauguration ceremony where Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th U.S. President in Washington on Jan. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 29, 2025

Musk lays groundwork for midterms donor role as time with DOGE ends

Musk views his money and his social media platform X as potentially more powerful political tools than his time inside the government.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks onstage after winning the general election, at the Labor Party's election night event in Sydney on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 3, 2025

Australia's Albanese, riding anti-Trump wave, claims election victory for Labor

Cost-of-living pressures and concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump's volatile policies had been among the top issues on voters minds.
The 90-day truce in the U.S.-China trade war was a huge relief for small businesses and millions of workers on both sides of the Pacific.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2025

Trump and Xi tone down a senseless trade war

It was a huge relief for small businesses and millions of workers on both sides of the Pacific.
U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out Friday at the Supreme Court after it blocked his bid to resume deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, saying the justices are "not allowing me to do what I was elected to do."
WORLD / Politics
May 17, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court maintains block on Trump deportations under wartime law

The top court faulted his administration for seeking to remove the Venezuelan migrants without adequate legal process.
The rush to electrify everything is reshaping energy, but without addressing demand, grid and supply risks, the green transition may falter.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2025

It’s electricity realism, not climate denialism

Electrifying everything comes with plenty of risks of its own.
Public opinion polls published over the weekend show that support for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet is weakening.
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2025

Ishiba’s support falls, but likely no ouster before July election

Polls published over the weekend showed support for Ishiba’s Cabinet ranging from 22% to 31%.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 23, 2025

Netanyahu links embassy shootings to hostility over Gaza

Netanyahu has vowed to press on with the war and there was no sign that the Washington killings would affect the conduct of Israel's military operation.
South Korean presidential candidates Lee Jae-myung (left), of the Democratic Party,  and Kim Moon-soo, of the People Power Party, shake hands as they prepare for the second televised debate for the upcoming presidential election in Seoul on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 24, 2025

South Korean presidential race tightens sharply after TV debate

The Democratic Party's Lee Jae-myung's support rate fell to 45%, while backing for the People Power Party’s Kim Moon-soo rose to 36%, according to a poll released Friday.
The Chinese Communist Party has significantly expanded its global influence operations by using tactics like election interference, disinformation, elite capture and pressure on the diaspora to sway politics and policies in democracies worldwide.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2025

Is Beijing engineering election wins for 'soft on China' politicians?

Beijing legally requires all citizens to support Communist Party policies and views ethnic Chinese everywhere as instruments for advancing its global goals.
Shipping containers at the port of Oakland, in California. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the U.S. will find other ways to impose tariffs if the current plan doesn't work.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 30, 2025

If trade court ruling stands, Trump seen shifting to other options for tariff assault

Legal and trade experts' advice to foreign governments, companies and other clients: Assume the tariffs will resume in one form or another.
Tokyo police declared that Japanese young men and women were simply "not accustomed to one another’s society" due to their cultural upbringing — and thus freewheeling dance venues and foreign customs needed to be reined in.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Jun 4, 2025

Japan Times 1925: Tokyo police impose curfew on ‘social dances’

In June 1925, concern over “the moral effects of the Western dancing” on Japanese youth led to restrictions on social venues.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear