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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2019

China's Uighur crackdown shows fear and insecurity

Xi Jinping has a brash foreign policy and a security state because he knows the real threat is from within
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Dec 1, 2019

Seeing without sight: A second encounter with a pope

When Pope Francis came through Tokyo last week, I got the chance to see my second pontiff and was surprised with a second blessing — both humbling but also very different experiences.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 30, 2019

Taro Yamamoto blurs the popular line on climate change

Climate change is not much of a social issue in Japan. Even in the wake of three recent weather-related disasters, there has been little discussion across the political spectrum that climate change contributed to them. In Europe and the United States, left-leaning groups demand action to mitigate the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Nov 30, 2019

Sachiko Hara: Acting on a dream to perform

Using acting techniques inspired by Japanese angura (underground) theater, Sachiko Hara impressed European directors and won her way into German theater.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2019

Suriname leader Desi Bouterse convicted of murder

A court in Suriname on Friday convicted President Desi Bouterse of murder for the execution of 15 opponents in 1982 following a coup to seize power, sentencing the man who has dominated the former Dutch colony's recent history to 20 years in prison.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2019

Why dogs and people rule the world

Evolution has favored the friendliest canine and human species over more aggressive competition.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2019

Peru opposition leader Keiko Fujimori walks free from jail

Peruvian opposition leader Keiko Fujimori walked free from prison Friday night after being jailed for more than a year pending a trial over allegations she accepted illegal campaign contributions from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 29, 2019

Modi's nationalistic right-hand man may one day lead India

Fresh off a resounding re-election victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined other lawmakers in India's colonial-era Parliament building to applaud the man to his right.
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2019

Can 'Statues of Peace' really help?

The article "Statue dedicated to 'comfort women' unveiled near Washington" in the Oct. 29 edition referred to the "comfort women" issue as both a conflict between Japan and Korea and a matter of women's rights.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 28, 2019

Revisiting Japan's nuclear arms debate

As long as the U.S. nuclear umbrella exists, the Japanese government will not have the political impetus to change its policy on nuclear weapons.
Japan Times
Events / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Nov 28, 2019

Uyghurs living in Kansai try to deal with the stress of a crisis back home

With more and more news coming out about the situation in China's Xinjiang region, a group of Uighurs worried about relatives living there open up about the toll it's taking on their lives in Japan
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 27, 2019

The summit that kick-started Okinawa's reversion

The decision to hand back Okinawa, one of the few times in history when land seized in war was returned peacefully — was reached over the course of several steps.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 27, 2019

Cherry blossom-viewing party: Breaking down Abe's latest cronyism scandal

Every year since 1952, the prime minister, via taxpayer funds, has hosted one of the nation's largest cherry blossom-viewing parties.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 27, 2019

U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn struggles to find antidote to anti-Semitic 'poison'

Inside an arts center in one of London's most multicultural districts, Jeremy Corbyn declared anti-Semitism "vile and wrong." Outside, the slogans emblazoned on two red vans were equally blunt. "A vote for Labour is a vote for racism," declared one. The other said simply: "Never Corbyn."
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 25, 2019

China's growing threat to academic freedom

Professor Nobu Iwatani's detention in China marked a potential new, dangerous phase in the CCP government's undermining of academic freedoms for its expansive regime security interests.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 25, 2019

Local focus delivers win in Kochi for ruling bloc's gubernatorial pick as voters ignore Abe scandals

The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito won a local victory Sunday night in a gubernatorial poll in Kochi Prefecture, as voters chose to ignore national political scandals engulfing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and support the hand-picked successor of the current governor over a...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 25, 2019

China meddling allegations roil Taiwan election campaign

New allegations Beijing tried to infiltrate Taiwan's democracy roiled election campaigning on the island this weekend, with President Tsai Ing-wen's main opponent vowing to drop out if he had taken money from China's Communist Party.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 23, 2019

Hong Kong campus siege nears end as city gears up for election

A Hong Kong university campus under siege for more than a week was a deserted wasteland Saturday, with a handful of protesters holed up in hidden refuges across the trashed grounds, as the city's focus turned to local elections.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 23, 2019

GSOMIA lives, but what's next for Japan and South Korea ties?

After South Korea's surprise announcement to remain a party to a key intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, wartime labor, the issue at the heart of strained bilateral ties, remains far from being resolved.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 23, 2019

Amazon files lawsuit against Pentagon's $10 billion cloud contract with Microsoft

Amazon filed a lawsuit in a federal U.S. court on Friday contesting the U.S. Defense Department's decision last month to award a Pentagon cloud computing contract worth up to $10 billion to rival bidder Microsoft.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2019

'Smart cities' urged to look beyond rich white men and target those in need

A growing push to put cities on a digital path to a greener future risks excluding groups like the poorest, disabled and elderly, and will fail to benefit those people unless technology is used to help meet their needs, rights advocates have warned.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 21, 2019

Japan's global leadership in the G-Zero world

How should and how can Japan navigate the world's emerging transformative and chaotic landscape?
EDITORIALS
Nov 21, 2019

Sri Lanka returns an authoritarian to power

The return to power of the Rajapaksa clan could redirect the country's geopolitical orientation toward China, a potentially important shift given the island's location astride vital sea lanes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 21, 2019

Hopes for 11th-hour deal dim as deadline for Japan-South Korea intel pact looms

As the clock ticks closer to the deadline for renewing the pact, Tokyo and Seoul appear no closer to bridging significant gaps.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 21, 2019

Trudeau reshuffles Cabinet amid anger in Canada's energy-rich west

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday made major changes to his Cabinet, making several ministerial appointments in a bid to help stave off increasing unhappiness in the energy-producing west.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 20, 2019

U.K. accuses China of torturing ex-Hong Kong consulate worker

The U.K. has accused Chinese authorities of torturing a former employee of the British Consulate in Hong Kong, a move likely to further damage relations strained in recent months by London's gestures of support for pro-democracy protesters in its former colony.
EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2019

Is the U.S. going too far with North Korea?

Peace with North Korea is an important and laudable goal, but not at any price.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo