Search - politics

 
 
EDITORIALS
May 14, 2014

Redressing vote-value disparity

Lawmakers' personal interests should not be allowed to stand in the way of reforms to reduce the disparity in the value of votes.
Reader Mail
May 14, 2014

Vulgar model for adolescents

It was rather shocking to read some of the racist remarks with which North Korea's state run media assailed U.S. President Barack Obama recently. One wonders what sort of crude remarks the Washington establishment has made about Kim Jong Un since he assumed power. Who knew that foreign relations could...
JAPAN
May 13, 2014

Inamine to lead anti-base group to Washington

Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine will lead a delegation of Okinawa residents and politicians to Washington on Thursday, as tensions rise between the mayor and the central government over the plan to build a U.S. military replacement base in the city's Henoko district.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2014

It's a Thai thing: ditching the new for the old

More than almost any other political crisis on the face of the earth today, it is the crisis in Thailand that saddens American columnist Tom Plate.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2014

ADB could use some 'Abenomics'

As Asia's economic growth continues to drive the global economy, it is time for the Asian Development bank to bid farewell to systems that enable development money to flow without regard to results and impact.
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2014

Northern Ireland can't have peace and justice

The bleak truth is that the closest Northern Ireland will get to reconciling irreconcilable principles left over from the Troubles will be to combine a policy of no prosecutions with a tribunal to uncover the truth — along the lines of South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
May 11, 2014

Returnees' experiences drive a will to give something back

The returnees profiled here highlight the potential that can be unlocked within individuals lucky enough to have the chance to live overseas and, crucially, receive the right support on their return to Japan.
JAPAN / History
May 10, 2014

Going nuclear: How close has Japan come?

We examine the historical debate on the country's nuclear ambitions
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 10, 2014

The Sewol tragedy: for whom the bell tolls

South Korea is a nation in mourning, sharing the unfathomable grief of parents who lost their teenage children on what should have been a festive school trip. It is a nation experiencing collective depression, where many are tormented by the heartbreaking and endless grim news about the students who...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 9, 2014

Ukraine rebels ignore Putin call to delay self-rule vote

Pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine ignored a public call by Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone a referendum on self-rule, declaring they would go ahead on Sunday with a vote that could lead to war.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2014

Obama stakes his priorities

While President Barack Obama's recent Asian sojourn might have not been enough to dispel apprehensions of America's commitment to the region, it did signal that Washington has no intention of ceding its strategic space.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2014

Sunni-Shiite divide pre-empts tranquil future

As long as Sunnis and Shiites refuse to think about their past together, it is difficult to foresee a tranquil future for Iraq.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 8, 2014

Putin's move in east Ukraine shows wariness of overplaying hand

Vladimir Putin's call for pro-Moscow separatists to postpone an independence referendum in eastern Ukraine shows the Russian president has achieved as much as he can for now without taking the potentially catastrophic step of sending in troops.
JAPAN / Politics
May 7, 2014

Ex-leaders revive no-nukes crusade

Three months after his defeat in the Tokyo gubernatorial race, former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa has teamed up once again with fellow ex-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to renew their effort to abolish nuclear power, even as the central government takes steps to revive it.
JAPAN / Politics
May 7, 2014

Kada bows out of Shiga race

Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada announces she will not seek a third term but will instead team up with a Lower House member to form a local, anti-nuclear political party.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 7, 2014

Republicans dredge up Benghazi controversy in bid for election-year ammo

Benghazi is back.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 7, 2014

U.S. to send team in response to Nigeria schoolgirls' mass kidnapping

The United States has offered to send an American team of experts to Nigeria to support the government's response to the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by an Islamist militant group, President Barack Obama's administration said on Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 30, 2014

Rough transition raises issues over F/T's future

On Dec. 18, 2013, the Festival/Tokyo website announced that following the implementation of "a new administration system," Program Director Chiaki Soma, 38, would resign from her position and be replaced at the end of March 2014 by Sachio Ichimura, 64, the then chairman of F/T's executive committee....
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 30, 2014

Turkey's Erdogan calls on U.S. to extradite rival Gulen

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday he would ask the United States to extradite an Islamic cleric he accuses of plotting to topple him and undermine Turkey with concocted graft accusations and secret wiretaps.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 29, 2014

Reverberations of the Ukraine crisis

Having annexed Crimea, Russia has lost Ukraine, turning it from friend to foe. There can be no return to business as usual anytime soon.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 28, 2014

Wireless is way forward for Internet

The Internet may feel like it is everywhere, but large pockets of sky, swaths of land and most of the oceans are still beyond a signal's reach.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2014

Ukraine narratives spawn dangerous presumptions

Competing, starkly different U.S.-Western narratives are spawning dangerous presumptions with regard to the Ukraine crisis.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 28, 2014

'Japanese' remark serves economist's purpose

Swedes must be stewing with regret for giving American economist Paul Krugman the Nobel Prize after one of his columns likened the trajectory of Scandinavia's biggest economy to Tokyo's battle with deflation.
EDITORIALS
Apr 28, 2014

Plug political funding loopholes

The fact that a question even exists on whether Your Party former chief Yoshimi Watanabe broke the law when he personally borrowed ¥800 million from a cosmetics company chairman ahead of elections points to the inadequacy of current laws on political funding transparency.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 26, 2014

Aloha gozaimasu: Japan's influence on Hawaiian culture

In 1868, the first year of the Meiji Era, 148 Japanese men, mainly from the Kanto area, set sail from Yokohama on the British ship Scrito, bound for Honolulu in the Kingdom of Hawaii.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 26, 2014

Asian paradox: Closer but cooler

The mini-Cold War between Japan and South Korea has kept Washington busy as it tries to forge closer security ties between its allies to offset the rise of China. Policymakers confront the Asian paradox of deepening distrust and conflict in tandem with widening economic and human exchanges. Relations...
Reader Mail
Apr 26, 2014

Depending on Obama to curb Abe's notions

Regarding U.S. President Barack Obama's trip to Japan last week: Animosity among Asian leaders is nearing a critical mass as governments of the main players becoming increasingly hard-line and intolerant. America must insist that Japan cease its deliberate tit-for-tat aggravations that risk serious...

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