Search - politics

 
 
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2014

Now Kaieda must deliver

The head of the Democratic Party of Japan says the party will fiercely confront the Abe administration, which he called a 'raging horse,' to push politics aimed at protecting people's lives and jobs.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Feb 15, 2014

Leave Article 9 alone: New Komeito's Osaka women

Political alliances often resemble shotgun weddings. But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and smaller opposition forces such as Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) that are pushing to amend the Constitution are now wondering...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014

'Top of the Lake'

Director: Jane Campion, Garth Davis
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 13, 2014

Making sense of cultural nonsense

In today's complicated world of mass media and communication, contemporary British artists are finding new means of expression.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2014

Iraq near implosion as 'bad years' come back

Iraq's 'bad years' seem to be making a comeback, and this time the U.S. has little leverage over Iraq to control events from afar.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2014

Reviving China's economic rebalancing act

As China remains among the world's poorest countries, with per capita income amounting to less than $7,000, its position as the world's largest exporter of capital signifies a gross misallocation of resources. It should adopt a float exchange-rate regime as soon as possible.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2014

Big money backs wrong man in India

There is a great, virtual storm blowing through India today to make Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, seem like the nation's natural and inevitable leader.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 10, 2014

Tamogami finds some support in younger generation

He may have lost the Tokyo gubernatorial election Sunday, but Toshio Tamogami appears to have won over younger voters who favored the hawkish former Air Self-Defense Force general more than middle-aged and elderly voters did, according to media exit polls.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2014

Russia's Potemkin Olympic village

Even if the Sochi Games pass off successfully and, despite the security restrictions and official bigotry, athletes and visitors enjoy their stay, will Russia's brief display of national pride really be worth the financial and political cost?
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2014

Hashimoto's self-serving gambit

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's resignation Friday before the city assembly is nothing more than a political maneuver to bypass a snag he encountered in his plan to integrate Osaka Prefecture and the city of Osaka.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 5, 2014

Do you think the nuclear issue should be the focus of the Tokyo election?

Tokyoites go to the polls Sunday to elect a governor to replace Naoki Inose, who quit his post in December amid a political funding scandal. So who will — or would — they vote for?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2014

Saving Japan and China from a dangerous new conflict

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had hoped to herald his economic reform program at Davos last week. Instead, his mention of tensions between China and Japan exposed the lack of multilateral institutions like those created in Western Europe after 1945 to settle Northeast Asian disputes.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Feb 2, 2014

Hashimoto's costly comeback bid vexes voters

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's surprise resignation and second mayoral bid is greeted with criticism and concern in the city and prefecture.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 2, 2014

Melting Arctic ice brings hope to Russian city

The city of Nadym, in the extreme north of Siberia, is one of the Earth's least hospitable places, shrouded in darkness for half of the year, with temperatures plunging below minus 30 Celsius and the nearby Kara Sea semipermanently frozen.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 1, 2014

Can local voices derail the Super Shinzo Express?

Voters in Nago, northern Okinawa Island, threw down the gauntlet on Jan. 19 when they reelected as mayor the incumbent, Susumu Inamine, a staunch opponent of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the congested city of Ginowan in the south to the Henoko...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 31, 2014

Asia's emerging democratic axis

A Japan-India democratic axis, with U.S. support, could reshape the Asian strategic landscape and block the rise of a Sino-centric Asia. A rudderless India is in search of its own Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2014

Concerns of G-20 leadership

Having assumed the presidency of the Group of 20 nations, Australia should identify one core concern for each summit beyond economic matters.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2014

David Cameron faces Tory backlash over EU immigration

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron's attempt to avoid a parliamentary rebellion risked further damaging the already tense relationship he has with his Conservative Party's rank-and-file lawmakers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 29, 2014

It’s ‘otherness’ that helps define ‘self’

For better or worse, in contemporary art it is common to see male photographers tend toward featuring landscapes and objects, and female photographers working on problems of shifting identities, family and the body. In this respect there is a strong lineage for Ayaka Yamamoto's first Tokyo solo exhibition...
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 28, 2014

Abe's deceptive rice reform

On Dec. 9 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared that his government has abolished the subsidy system for reductions in rice acreage, yet subsidies for growing rice as animal feed will greatly increase.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2014

Why the world must remember the Holocaust

This year's observance of the International Remembrance Day — the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp — fell at a time when there are reminders all around us of the dangers of forgetting.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2014

Mindless inventiveness for checkered legacies

To say that the late Ariel Sharon's eight-year-long coma had given Israel time to 'come to terms' with his checkered legacy is a cliche that deserves to be swept away.
WORLD
Jan 25, 2014

'Abe-genda': nuclear export superpower

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is now in New Delhi to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Indian Republic. His presence speaks volumes about closer diplomatic, security and economic ties and, at least from Tokyo's perspective, a common agenda on responding to the rise of China. India remains...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2014

Francois Hollande: What became of dull Mr. Normal?

However indignant French President Francois Hollande might have been about a glossy celebrity magazine revealing the details of his affair with a French actress, the idea of sitting down and drafting his resignation was almost certainly not among them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2014

Actress Nikaido sets her own agenda

Many young Japanese film actors start as models or pop stars and then, as they accumulate magazine covers or CD sales, move into TV and films. Many also play versions of themselves again and again on screen, which may suit their fans just fine, but makes for repetitive viewing.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 23, 2014

Economy to be Abe's Diet focus, at least at first

This year's 150-day regular Diet session will open Friday with a key policy speech by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expected to play to his strength — the economy — rather than his controversial diplomatic or national security policies.
Japan Times
JAPAN / DAVOS SPECIAL 2014
Jan 23, 2014

Young entrepreneur out to change education

The Global Shapers are highly motivated young people between the ages of 20 and 30 with the potential to be society's future leaders, according to the World Economic Forum, which selects them based on several factors, such as their initiative, commitment and potential to "make a difference."
Reader Mail
Jan 22, 2014

Better remedy than income taxes

I agree with Keisuke Akita's opinions in his Jan. 8 letter, "A simple remedy for inequality," except for his assertion that economics is not a science. There are no indisputable laws in economics comparable to Newton's laws in physics, but much of the pure sciences is based on theories, and theories...

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