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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2016

U.S. may be losing East Asia to China

Emerging rifts between a number of East Asian states and the U.S. will likely grow worse with Donald Trump in power.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 19, 2016

Why China's sale of U.S. Treasuries is great news

Japan's replacement of China as America's banker frees Trump to take a tougher stance against an assertive Beijing.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2016

Putin's dangerous fan club

Vladimir Putin's admirers, including U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, should realize that in the Russian leader's zero-sum world, what belongs to another is his to get, what's his is non-negotiable.
Japan Times
JAPAN / JAPANESE IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Dec 19, 2016

Critical thinking essential in global environment

What is the key to developing flexibility in thinking — a crucial ability to live and work in the era of globalization? A recent classroom visit may have revealed a possibility for the future of universities in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 19, 2016

Japanese buzzwords capture the zeitgeist of then, now and what's to come

Take a journey through the buzzwords of years past and present — and hazard a guess at what's coming in 2017.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Dec 18, 2016

A 'Big Bang' in the ring kicks it old school in Japan

American 'joshi puroresu' follows her dreams and finds fresh challenges in the 'mecca of wrestling'
EDITORIALS
Dec 18, 2016

Four years of Abe in power

Four years on, Abe's grip on power seems as strong as ever. The question remains how and where he will use his ample political resources.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 17, 2016

Scientific discoveries inspire amid a turbulent 2016

A number of the notable science stories of the past year are, quite literally, out of this world.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 17, 2016

Trump builds team of bosses and big egos to shake up Washington

With more than 20 nominees now selected, Donald Trump's Cabinet appears much like the president-elect himself: mostly older, white males, many of them wealthy, who see themselves as risk-takers and deal-makers and prize action over deliberation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 16, 2016

Putin exits onsen drama holding all the cards

The summit talks between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not end in hikiwake, or a draw, as Putin once phrased it.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2016

CIA should come clean about Russian 'hacking'

If the CIA has indisputable evidence that Russia threw the U.S. election, it should put up or shut up.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 16, 2016

Now Carlos Ghosn save Mitsubishi Motors?

The man dubbed as 'le cost killer' faces a tough task in reviving the fortunes of the automotive has-been.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 15, 2016

Tardy tactics? Late arrival common for Russian leader

Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again lived up to his reputation: his legendary tardiness.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 15, 2016

Japan places a big bet on Asia's casino bubble

The odds are stacked heavily in favor of the LDP-dominated Diet legalizing casinos but Tokyo may be too late to the party.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 14, 2016

The shape of Japan's foreign policy in the Trump era

It might seem promising that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama this month. But both events actually presage a potentially destabilizing time for Japan — and all of East Asia.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2016

Is America on track to be the Great Satan again?

Donald Trump's choice for U.S. secretary of state is the right messenger to magnify the Great Satan message, but the wrong messenger to magnify the Great Protector message.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 14, 2016

As Park Geun-hye is impeached and Donald Trump battles China, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un laughs

If the latest round of sanctions against North Korea put leader Kim Jong Un in a bad mood, political upheavals in two of his biggest adversaries are giving him a reason to smile.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 14, 2016

After fall of Aleppo, Syria's Assad still far from regaining his country

When President Bashar Assad turns from the wreckage of Aleppo to assert his authority across a fractured Syria, it will be as a figure who is virtually unassailable by rebels, but still faces great challenges in restoring the power of his state.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2016

It's more like 1848 than 1930

The real danger today is that the forces that propelled Trump to the U.S. presidency or that pushed Britain out of the European Union will not be sated by their recent victories.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2016

Tweeting less can be more, Trump

To be successful in his new job, America's tweeter-in-chief will need to use social media differently than he did during the campaign.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 12, 2016

Talking to Trump's team: China's high-flying U.S. expert

China's top diplomat, who recently met a senior adviser to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, is a high-flying former Chinese ambassador to Washington with a deep understanding of U.S. politics, a country he has clashed with, too.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 12, 2016

What it was like to look up to John Glenn

Truly larger than life American heros like John Glenn are a breed that just doesn't come around anymore.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 12, 2016

Emergence of political Islam puts Indonesian president in difficult situation

As the ranks of protesters thickened in central Jakarta on Dec. 2, turning into Indonesia's biggest mass demonstration since the end of authoritarian rule in 1998, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo grappled with a dilemma: should he join the rally or stay away?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 10, 2016

Same-sex marriage sparks a 'culture war' in Taiwan

Taiwan is one of the most LGBT friendly societies in Asia, with an active gay community and possibly the largest annual gay pride parade in the region. In recent weeks expectations spiked that it would soon legalize same-sex marriage. On Dec. 3, The Economist opined, "It would be even better if the country...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 9, 2016

Pressure U.S. on free trade

The biggest loser in the U.S. presidential election was free trade.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 9, 2016

After air crash, Pakistan fights over legacy of 'disco mullah,' a rock star-turned-cleric

The death of Junaid Jamshed, a Pakistani rock star-turned-evangelist, in a plane crash on Wednesday has stirred debate over his legacy, raising questions that cut to the heart of Pakistan's widening cultural schisms.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2016

Trump learned the wrong lessons from Asia

If Donald Trump dislikes China so much, why has he embraced policies that would be at home in Beijing?
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2016

Thailand in 2016: The end of the Bhumibol era

Concerns over the future are running high in Thailand amid the change in monarchs.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2016

France and the 'right' to be spared from guilt

A French court is censoring a video that says Down syndrome children can be happy.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 5, 2016

Trump complains in tweets about Chinese policy after Taiwan call raises ire

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump complained about Chinese economic and military policy on Twitter on Sunday, showing no signs of a conciliatory approach after a phone conversation with Taiwan's president raised hackles in Beijing.

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