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COMMENTARY
Nov 9, 2011

This time, how about a debate of substance?

The GOP presidential candidates, their sinews stiffened and their blood summoned up, may rightly dread Wednesday's version of what are inexplicably called debates. The candidates have some explaining to do, particularly regarding two subjects that deserve more searching examination than is possible in...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2011

The Commonwealth's missed opportunity

On Oct. 28-30, representatives of 54 countries, mostly heads of government, attended the bi-annual Commonwealth Meeting. High on the agenda was a report by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), established to reinvigorate the Commonwealth, strengthen its Secretariat, and transform its approach to human rights....
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2011

Crime in America: execution of the mentally ill

Christopher Johnson's execution by the State of Alabama creates serious doubts about the justice of a measure that is widely criticized by human rights advocates throughout the world. According to the group Equal Justice Initiative, the Alabama Supreme Court planned the execution without even engaging...
COMMENTARY
Nov 5, 2011

Conformity enforced in the name of diversity

Illustrating an intellectual confusion common on campuses, Vanderbilt University says: To ensure "diversity of thought and opinion" we require certain student groups, including five religious ones, to conform to the university's policy that forbids the groups from protecting their characteristics that...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 5, 2011

Best for Capello to leave Terry out

The best that could happen to John Terry Saturday is that Chelsea beats Blackburn and he is injured. Not badly, just a hamstring strain perhaps.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2011

No chain reaction in reactor 2, expert says

The discovery of xenon in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant's reactor 2 earlier this week was likely a result of "spontaneous fission," a nuclear expert said Friday, agreeing with an earlier conclusion by Tokyo Electric Power Co. that some of the melted fuel did not reach the condition of "criticality,"...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2011

Taxation alone won't save Japan from its public debts

Jun Azumi has joined the chorus of those promising the imminent prospect of a rise in Japan's consumption tax. As finance minister, one would think — hope, perhaps pray — that Azumi should know what he is talking about.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2011

Timing may be everything in TPP

As emerging Asian economies facilitate growth in the region and increasingly stand out as important players in global trade, the United States appears intent on getting its own share of the pie in the form of taking a leadership role in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade framework.
COMMENTARY
Nov 2, 2011

Mitt Romney, the pretzel candidate

The Republican presidential dynamic — various candidates rise and recede; Mitt Romney remains at about 25 percent support — is peculiar because conservatives correctly believe it is important to defeat Barack Obama but unimportant that Romney be president. This is not cognitive dissonance.
COMMENTARY
Oct 28, 2011

Global crises of democracy

In 2000, at the first U.N. millennium meeting in Tokyo, Gallup presented interesting results of a global public opinion survey. Most people, even in the mature Western democracies, believed their government was failing to represent them — refusing to heed their voices, looking after their own and corporate...
COMMENTARY
Oct 27, 2011

Iraq war's lessons lost on U.S.

In a White House Statement on Oct. 21, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged that his country would finally withdraw forces from Iraq. "After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over," he said.
Reader Mail
Oct 23, 2011

Public paying for Tepco's gamble

Tell me it isn't true! In the Oct. 20 article "Tepco ignored higher probability of tsunami," it was reported that a nuclear energy safety expert warned Tepco in 2006 that there was a 10 percent chance that its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant would be hit by a massively destructive tsunami sometime...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 22, 2011

Time for Manchester City to show mettle

There are defining moments in every season and the winning goal scored by Manchester City's Sergio Agüero against Villarreal last Tuesday is one of them for 2011-12.
BUSINESS
Oct 21, 2011

ANA to use Dreamliner to tap overseas markets

All Nippon Airways Co. is targeting overseas customers as competition in the domestic market intensifies, the airline's president, Shinichiro Ito, said Thursday.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 21, 2011

Kabaya starts strong as B-Corsairs evolve

With four games in the books, the expansion Yokohama B-Corsairs now have several relevant things that can be discussed in team meetings. A few trends have started to emerge, too, including the solid play of guards Masayuki Kabaya and Kenji Yamada.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2011

"Chim↑Pom"

The Container Closes Dec. 19
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 18, 2011

Agent Orange revelations raise Futenma stakes

On Sept. 26, Nago City Council became the first municipality on Okinawa to adopt an official resolution calling for the governments of Japan and the United States to conduct an investigation into the spraying and storage of Agent Orange on the island.
COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2011

Steady growth in euro-skeptic club

The governor of The Bank of England in announcing recently another round of quantative easing said that he feared there might be an economic slowdown worse than in the 1930s. He may have been exaggerating in order to justify the bank's decision to print more money at a time when inflation in Britain...
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Why U.S. won't apologize

Given President Barack Obama's past remarks, it's clear he feels strong guilt for Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Oct. 8 article "Hiroshima mayor not pressing for Obama apology"). Unfortunately, it might be a little bit different from the opinion of ordinary American people.
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Setting Futenma's record straight

Yoshio Shimoji makes a patently false claim in his Oct. 6 letter "Close the air station ... tomorrow" that "Futenma was constructed while area residents were herded into concentration camps during and after the Battle of Okinawa."
COMMENTARY
Oct 15, 2011

OWS protesters demanding ultimate entitlement

The tea party's splendid successes, which have altered the nation's political vocabulary and agenda, have inspired a countermovement — Occupy Wall Street. Conservatives should rejoice and wish for it long life, abundant publicity and sufficient organization to endorse congressional candidates deemed...
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2011

Step up interparty cooperation

Policy chiefs of the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito on Oct. 7 held their first consultations on the third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011 to push full-scale reconstruction from the March 11 quake and tsunami, and the Fukushima nuclear fiasco.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2011

Millionaires don't have it made

President Barack Obama has been trying to sell his new "millionaires' tax" to the Rust Belt. "What's great about this country is our belief that anyone can make it," he said in Cincinnati on Sept. 22, praising "the idea that any one of us can open a business or have an idea that could make us millionaires."...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 9, 2011

Conditions are ripe for the volcano of Japan's betrayed to erupt again

Second of two parts
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2011

A beloved liberal tax that is wrong for Europe

Europe is already in pickle, so why not add more vinegar?
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2011

LDP leadership reshuffled

Mr. Sadakazu Tanigaki, president of the Liberal Democratic Party, on Sept. 30 reshuffled some party executives as part of an effort to strengthen the No. 1 opposition party and to take power from the Democratic Party of Japan. But the path toward the party's rejuvenation is not likely to be easy.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Oct 3, 2011

Scoring standout, defensive ace Parker brings fresh energy to Shimane

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Michael Parker of the Shimane Susanoo Magic is the subject of this week's profile.
Reader Mail
Sep 29, 2011

Ban this intolerable stock phrase

I hate the phrase "restore the public's trust." It is too much over-cooked gobbledygook and I'd rather eat nails than hear it one more time. Lamenting the threat to, or decline in, the public's trust in politics is one of those stock phrases that are rehashed whenever politicians write articles for the...

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