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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2015

China's war on Western values

The Chinese leadership's fight against liberalism and 'Western values' — such as its intensified Internet censorship and the jailing of human rights lawyers — is directly undermining its efforts to root out official corruption, promote innovation and deepen engagement with the outside world.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2015

Foreign recruits are Islamic State's cannon fodder

Aspiring jihadists looking to join the Islamic State army are often lured to the front lines with promises of changing the course of history, but at least for less-skilled foreign recruits, especially those from Central Asia, the experience of fighting for the new caliphate is oftren brief and bloody.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 12, 2015

Belle and Sebastian lean toward politics and away from twee on newest album

Belle and Sebastian are headed back to Japan, but are not quite as you remember them. For nearly 20 years the Glasgow indie darlings have been pigeonholed as producers of twee, lovelorn songs for corduroy-clad outcasts, but with their newly released ninth album, that stereotype is in danger of looking...
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2015

When push comes to shove

The forcefulness with which the Abe administration is pushing ahead with work on a replacement facility for a U.S. Marine Corps air station in Okinawa could harden the attitude of Okinawans long-opposed to its construction.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2015

Thousands sign petition for free speech amid climate of self-censorship

Journalists, academics, authors, filmmakers, musicians and members of the public put their names on an online petition supporting freedom of expression amid concern about self-censorship by media, lawmakers and society over the recent hostage crisis and the government's handling of it.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2015

China's looming G-20 moment

Chinese President Xi Jinping certainly will not pass up the chance to ensure that the G-20 agenda serves China's interests next year.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 10, 2015

Australia sub deal puts Abe in precarious position

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott survived a leadership challenge on Monday, but his last-minute pledge to allow an open tender on the construction of new submarines poses a challenge to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who must weigh the political risks of becoming more public about his ambition to tap...
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2015

The Saudi-U.S. partnership

Despite its longevity and convergence of mutual interests, there are tensions in the Saudi-U.S. relationship that have grown in recent years and will only get larger. Business as usual cannot continue.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 9, 2015

Iran tells West: Rouhani at risk if nuclear talks fizzle

Iran's foreign minister has warned the United States that failure to agree a nuclear deal would likely herald the political demise of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani, Iranian officials said, raising the stakes as the decade-old standoff nears its end-game.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 7, 2015

Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear: Russia's War with Japan

Richard Connaughton's "Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear" is a detailed study of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, the first war where an Asian power defeated a European power since the Mongol invasion of the 13th century.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2015

Discerning threats in the fog of disorder

Leaders and analysts gathering at the 51st Munich Security Conference will try to discern the next emerging global threats following a horrendous year for international peace and security.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 6, 2015

Piketty's solution for Japan's sick economy? A fourth arrow

French economist and author Thomas Piketty has received rock-star treatment in Japan while arguing that the Bank of Japan's ultra-loose monetary policies are ginning up stocks and real estate for the wealthy.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2015

One-child policy didn't give China too many boys

Research suggests that it was China's liberalizing economic reforms of the 1970s and 1980s that might have been responsible for today's heavily skewed gender ratio in favor of boys.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2015

Tehran shouldn't underestimate Obama's abilities

Tehran should be careful not to base its negotiation calculations with Washington on yesteryear's political realities.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 3, 2015

Hostage crisis could influence Japan's Mideast priorities

As shock waves over the execution of two Japanese hostages by the Islamic State group continue to reverberate, questions emerge about the effect the crisis may have on Japan's Middle East policies.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 3, 2015

Canadian foreign minister to quit amid talk of tensions with prime minister

Foreign Minister John Baird is unexpectedly set to resign from the federal Cabinet this week amid what sources said had been tensions with the prime minister's office.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 3, 2015

Greece ruptures 30 years of political consensus in Europe

By catapulting to power an improbable alliance of the hard -left and nationalist far-right, Greece has shaken up Europe's political kaleidoscope and may have signaled the end of an era of centrist consensus.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2015

Putin's 'family values' only add to his legend

The Kremlin seems to be doing little to stop a fast-spreading story that President Vladimir Putin's younger daughter heads a company that is developing ways to stop the nation's brain drain.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2015

Greece eyeing Russia card?

There is speculation that the new government of Greece might try to get bridge financing from Russia if Europe does not accept the demands of the leftist ruling coalition that just swept snap elections.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2015

Welfare state rises as exceptionalism declines

America's national character will have to be changed if progressives are going to implement their agenda to increase the size of the entitlement state.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 2, 2015

Japan's political satire offers comic wordplay — but rarely any offense

The tragic murders at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo touched off worldwide debate about what forms of satire in the public sphere are appropriate, and under what conditions.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2015

A dispossessed Palestinian advises a refugee from Syria

A dispossessed Palestinian writer advises Syrian refugees not to believe in promises from the international community and never to stop loving Syria.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2015

Obama and Modi work the magic of 'optics' for the benefit of each other's home crowd

For his first Republic Day in office — a day when India celebrates its republican history, diversity and military might with a grand pageant in New Delhi — Prime Minister Narendra Modi dipped into his hat and pulled out Barack Obama. The main point of the U.S. president's visit seems to have been 'optics.'
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2015

Hostage talks deadlocked

Jordan and Japan tensely wait as Amman's request for proof of life is answered only by a mysterious silence from the Islamic State hostage-takers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 30, 2015

Fate of hostages unclear as swap founders

Japan and Jordan await word on Kenji Goto and pilot Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh as the Islamic State group fails to provide proof of life for the hostage swap.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2015

New phase in India-U.S. ties

What India's prime minister and a lame-duck U.S. president have just accomplished again underscores how well Narendra Modi understands the workings of modern-day diplomacy and how far ahead he is of his political critics.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 30, 2015

Japan's hope may be found in its hinterlands

As the European Central Bank prepares to inject up to a trillion euros into Europe's faltering economy, it would be wise to study Japan's lackluster experience with massive quantitative easing.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2015

Commissioner Bud Selig's winning legacy

American baseball has a spring in its step as spring approaches, thanks partly to the winning legacy of a longtime fan from Milwaukee, retiring baseball commissioner Bud Selig.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 28, 2015

Japan-South Korea relations remain hostage to history

Japan and South Korea face a stark choice: to find ways to settle their disputes over history or stay locked in a frozen political relationship that plays into China's hands.

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