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JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 25, 2015

At Abe-Obama summit, all roads lead to China

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe embarks on a seven-day tour of the United States this week, the highlight of which is a summit with President Barack Obama.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2015

China's growing breastfeeding problem

This past week, Beijing announced that it was considering a ban on infant milk formula advertising in hopes of changing the country's dire nursing statistics.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / LOCAL POLLS '15
Apr 24, 2015

Vanishing communities find themselves facing shortage of leaders

At a glance, the town of Kanna in southern Gunma Prefecture looks like just another beautiful rural community, surrounded by deep mountain forests stretching along the Kanna River, which is touted as having some of the clearest water in the Kanto region.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2015

Right-wing candidate's nude campaign poster skirts election law

Campaigning for Sunday's second wave of quadrennial unified local elections has highlighted a legal loophole that allows candidates to go to extremes — including nudity — to gain votes.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2015

Asia must solve its growing China problem

Asia needs a growth plan that relies less on China and more on domestic demand.
EDITORIALS
Apr 21, 2015

Keep the Bandung spirit alive

Countries the world over should take the spirit of the Bandung declaration seriously and apply it to today's international situation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 21, 2015

China considers using lay judges in some trials

China will appoint citizens to help judges decide some local court cases, in the Communist Party's broadest yet experiment with jury trials.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 20, 2015

Chiyoda Ward candidate swears off campaign vans

As election candidates fire up megaphone-armed vans to holler their names and slogans throughout their constituencies, one young candidate is shunning the noisy practice.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 19, 2015

Toyota delivers a blow to Abe's 'reshoring' plan

Toyota's move to build new factories overseas deals a blow to the government's hope that the weak yen would encourage manufacturers to move production back to Japan.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 19, 2015

Clinton faces early test on free trade deals

Just a week after formally launching her presidential campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton is already being tested on a thorny issue for Democrats: free trade deals and their impact on workers.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2015

A tribute to Australian leader Malcolm Fraser

Malcom Fraser was Australia's moral compass: a forthright liberal voice for human rights on refugee policy, a compassionate voice on international aid and relief issues, and a powerful voice for an independent foreign policy.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 17, 2015

In positive sign ahead of Abe visit, members of Congress offer bipartisan fast-track trade bill

Senior U.S. lawmakers reached agreement on Thursday on a bill to give the White House "fast track" authority to negotiate a trade pact with 11 other Pacific nations that is central to President Barack Obama's strategic shift toward Asia.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2015

Hillary Clinton runs for office first, thinks last

Despite having had at least 20 years to think about what she'd like to do as president, Hillary Clinton lacks a convincing campaign platform.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2015

In British election, leaders' odd tastes bring relish

In an election that will shape the destiny of the United Kingdom, anguish over how to eat bacon sandwiches and hot dogs has brought a note of absurdity to the battle for Downing Street.
EDITORIALS
Apr 14, 2015

Opposition must step up its game

The opposition camp is failing to provide voters with a meaningful alternative to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2015

In Russia, Hillary Clinton would already have lost

If Hillary Clinton had just announced her candidacy to run for president in Russia, rather than in America, she'd already be in deep trouble.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 13, 2015

Hashimoto keeps head up despite subpar poll results

Toru Hashimoto's Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) and his opponents in the established parties saw mixed results from Sunday's prefectural and municipal assembly elections, but the Osaka mayor insisted Monday he will continue to look forward, not backward.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2015

Republicans look to deepen probe into Clinton's response to attack on Benghazi consulate

As Hillary Rodham Clinton begins her presidential campaign, Republicans are vowing to intensify their latest investigation into the former secretary of state's response to the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 12, 2015

Iraqi leader to seek arms with deferred payment on U.S. visit

Iraq's prime minister will seek President Barack Obama's help to acquire billions of dollars in drones and other U.S. arms to fight the Islamic State group during a U.S. visit this week, a senior Iraqi official said.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2015

An opportunity for China

For China, accepting lower growth provides a crucial opportunity to support stable and sustainable development.
EDITORIALS
Apr 12, 2015

Behind Xi's corruption crackdown

While Chinese President Xi Jinging's crackdown on corruption is boosting his popularity, it remains to be seen if he will change the system that allowed corruption to flourish in the first place.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2015

Robots leave behind Chinese factory workers

Chinese factory owners are increasingly turning to automation, leaving millions of low-skill workers with an uncomfortable sense of impending obsolescence.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 11, 2015

Abe gets negative reviews ahead of U.S. visit

At the end of this month Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Washington, D.C. He can expect the red carpet treatment because he has ticked more boxes on the Pentagon's wish list than all his postwar predecessors combined.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 11, 2015

'The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japanese Studies' examines when modern Japan began

The first chapter in this dense collection of Anglophone academia asks, "How and when did modern Japan begin?" Editor James D. Babb, a lecturer in politics at the University of Newcastle, has collated a selection of texts that address this question, many of which grapple with the ostensibly inscrutable...
Reader Mail
Apr 11, 2015

Understanding of Vietnam War in U.S. is better

Regarding the April 5 Counterpoint column titled "America's memory wars and the Vietnam debacle," in two respects professor Jeff Kingston offers readers an incomplete and dated impression of the current state of American understanding of the Vietnam War.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 10, 2015

Okinawa activists establish fund to fight Futenma base move

Money matters in politics. This is something Okinawans locking horns with the central government over the plan to relocate U.S. Marine Corp Air Station Futenma seem to have cottoned on to, setting up a private-sector fund to promote their anti-base cause.
JAPAN / Politics / LOCAL POLLS '15
Apr 10, 2015

Voters in Saga face small candidate field, big issues

Saga is stuck with a paucity of candidates in the unified elections this month even as issues with both national and local implications stalk the ballot.

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