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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2014

Has Britain stepped closer to exiting the EU?

The likelihood of a British exit from the European Union seems to be increasing — which fundamentally alters the importance of the Sept. 18 referendum on Scottish independence.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Aug 31, 2014

Rebel entrepreneur turns job market on its head

Yujun Wakashin seeks to present an alternative lifestyle that he hopes will serve as a wake-up call for dropouts, shut-ins and underutilized hopefuls such as high school girls.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 31, 2014

Man charged with attacking British MP on London street

A man has been charged with a religiously motivated "assault by beating" on British MP George Galloway, police said on Saturday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 29, 2014

Macau panel set to 're-elect' leader

Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui is widely expected to be "re-elected" on Sunday after the pro-China government stifled an unofficial referendum on democracy, taking a much harder line on the gambling hub than leaders have in neighboring Hong Kong.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 28, 2014

Nearly 50 years on, Bradley recalls 1964 Tokyo Games

As Bill Bradley remembers an unforgettable time in a life filled with extraordinary accomplishments, national pride as a collective experience remains a cherished memory from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2014

A broken man living on dreams pulls Japan into Islamic State hostage drama

When Haruna Yukawa was captured in Syria earlier this month, a video apparently released by his captors showed them pressing the Japanese man to answer questions friends say he had struggled with for years: Who are you? Why are you here?
EDITORIALS
Aug 27, 2014

Deng Xiaoping's lasting legacy

Seventeen years after his death, Deng Xiaoping's grip on China remains as tight as ever.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 26, 2014

Grading the Modi government

By the way he talks, new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi might appear to be replicating his Gujarat state model of learning to walk before starting to run with headstrong solutions to the big problems facing the country. Even so, he will have to walk the walk sooner than later.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 26, 2014

Brace for the coming CLASS war

The balkanization of global banking by the U.S.' requiring all foreign banks in the country to become subsidiary companies and international banks with U.S.-dollar clearing accounts to comply to some degree with U.S. foreign policy by refraining from trading with U.S. enemies defines a key threat facing the world today.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2014

Next time, China might have to face the fire

China's leaders should take advantage of the recent respite from instability and low confidence to redouble their economic reform efforts. Otherwise, they can expect alarm bells to begin ringing again.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 25, 2014

Modi's focus on the India-Japan relationship

Given Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's admiration for India, expect Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Tokyo to bring about a major transformation in India-Japan relations.
JAPAN / Politics / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Aug 24, 2014

Nippon Ishin, Yui no To take second shot at dethroning LDP

With their recent “political remarriage,” Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) and Yui no To (Unity Party) enter the union more experienced, and perhaps more wiser, than the first time around
JAPAN / Politics / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Aug 24, 2014

Osaka merger drags on Hashimoto's return to Nagatacho

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto may be moving forward with plans to once again become a notable player in Nagatacho by tying up with Yui no To (Unity Party).
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 22, 2014

Put Japan's casinos where they're most needed

Japan would do better to steer gargantuan casino projects to regions that really need them — like economically depressed Okinawa or Tohoku, the northeast region that still hasn't recovered from the March 2011 earthquake.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2014

Can the Chinese help save Africa's elephants?

Over the last two years, restaurants in Shanghai have dropped shark fin from their menus amid an awareness campaign against the shark-fin trade. Could a similar campaign curb the Chinese public's demand for ivory and help to save Africa's elephants?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2014

U.S.-Israeli affair almost over

Today the endorsement of Israel and financial support from the American Jewish community remain important but diminishing factors in American politics. Sympathies, especially among younger Jews, have moved leftward.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 22, 2014

Polarizing Abe learns the long game

Shinzo Abe is one of Japan's most polarizing prime ministers in decades. He may also have a good shot at becoming that rarity in Japanese politics — a long-serving leader.
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2014

Seabed drilling off Henoko

The Abe administration's approval of the start of seabed drilling off Henoko, Okinawa, shows that it is not much concerned with winning the support of Okinawans as it pushes for construction of a new facility to replace U.S. Marine Air Station Futenma.
WORLD
Aug 21, 2014

Adversaries seize chance to lecture U.S. on Ferguson unrest

Governments scolded by the United States over their human rights records have seized on racial unrest and a police crackdown in the Missouri town of Ferguson to wag their fingers back in disapproval.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 20, 2014

Pakistani military gains political power as protests weaken Sharif

Besieged Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been assured by the military there will be no coup, but in return he must "share space with the army," according to a government source who was privy to recent talks between the two sides.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2014

Asia's budding reform trinity

Three of Asia's most populous countries — China, India and Indonesia — are poised to enter a historical sweet spot, as their respective leaders build a reputation as one of his country's greatest modern reformists.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2014

Eurasia's 'Reagan revolutions' degrade democracy

The three boastful, rabble-rousing leaders of Turkey, India and Russia possess ideological bases like the one U.S. President Ronald Reagan had among Christian fundamentalists and neoconservative intellectuals.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 19, 2014

Obama sending Holder to Ferguson; National Guard deploys

President Barack Obama said he has dispatched Attorney General Eric Holder to meet with federal and local authorities in Ferguson, Missouri, where the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by police has sparked days of protests and violence.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 18, 2014

Who's at the table for Abe's reshuffle?

Rumors and speculation are swirling in Nagata-cho, Japan's political nerve center. The hot topic: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to reshuffle the Cabinet and the leadership of his Liberal Democratic Party next month.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2014

Australia should take lead on global no-first-use convention

There are good reasons why Australia is a credible candidate for leading the push for a global convention to enshrine a universal no-first-use policy for nuclear weapons.
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2014

Intransigent India

India's new prime minister, Narendra Modi, has perplexed international supporters by torpedoing a World Trade Organization deal that would have reformed customs rules and made global trade much easier.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Aug 16, 2014

Kepco: the monstrous 500-pound gorilla of Kansai

Last month, Chimori Naito, a 91-year-old former vice president at Kansai Electric Power Co., admitted what was hardly a secret but which put the utility under intense media scrutiny.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 15, 2014

Anti-coal dominoes theory hits BRICS wall

A year ago, President Barack Obama sought to mobilize the United States behind a grand plan: fight climate change by slashing carbon pollution at home, while prodding other countries to follow.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years