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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2013

Why Obama went with Hagel to run Defense

A doctrine of Barack Obama holds that war is sometimes necessary and that war at some level is an expression of human folly. Chuck Hagel would agree.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 3, 2013

Hidetoshi Masunaga: making revolution through the Constitution

On Dec. 14, 2012, two days before the Lower House election in which the Democratic Party of Japan headed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was eclipsed as the conservative Liberal Democratic Party swept back to power in a landslide, a one-page advert with a huge banner headline appeared in a vernacular...
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 1, 2013

New LDP 'nonfaction' holds first meeting

The Liberal Democratic Party may be claiming it has cast off its obsolete ways, but it is nevertheless showing some signs of the old faction-based LDP since returning to power.
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2013

The center resurgent in Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expected a mandate for his party and him in last week's ballot. Instead, Israeli voters almost split in half.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2013

How will Australia rebalance its trade, security relations?

How does Australia reconcile the pull of its European heritage, the security imperatives of the U.S. alliance and its trading ties with East Asia?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2013

Lawmaker looks at risks of populism

Shizuoka Prefecture should hold a referendum for its citizens to decide whether the Hamaoka nuclear power plant should be restarted, assembly member Takuya Abe said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 29, 2013

Few chinks in Abe's armor as Diet reconvenes

The 150-day ordinary Diet session that kicked off Monday will be an opportunity for the opposition camp to confront the new Liberal Democratic Party administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Age in the runup to the July Upper House election.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2013

The Little Englanders are gaining

The real problem is continental drift: Brussels, the capital of the European Union, is getting further and further away from England. Or at least that is British Prime Minister David Cameron's line.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 28, 2013

Who'll govern the governor?

A high-ranking bureaucrat of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government had this to say about new Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose: "Although he served as vice governor, it is not known whether he has the necessary political finesse. I wonder if he is capable of moving metropolitan politics forward."
WORLD
Jan 26, 2013

Iran reformists, hardliners debate 'free' elections

A heated debate about who will be allowed to run in Iran's presidential election has erupted five months before the vote, stoking concerns about a repeat of the protests that followed the contested 2009 poll.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 26, 2013

How Kan-do attitude averted the meltdown of Japan

Covering the catastrophic series of events that began with the magnitude 9 earthquake and the tsunami it triggered on March 11, 2011, 'Tu014dden Fukushima Genpatsu Jiko Su014dri Toshite Kangaeta Koto' is one of the most revealing and insightful books published in Japan in the past decade.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 25, 2013

U.S. resists EU push for digital privacy

The push for strict new limits on how Internet companies collect and use consumer data in Europe has hit stiff resistance from U.S. industry groups and the Obama administration, dimming hopes that the effort could lead to expanded privacy safeguards for users worldwide.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2013

The American comeback kid

One of the more startling forecasts is that China will become the largest economy by 2016 and that the U.S. will become an energy exporter by 2020.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 23, 2013

'Coriolanus' comes home — to Kyoto

It's a fair bet that many people at the Globe Theatre in London last May expected the Kyoto-based Chiten (Point) Company to present a stereotypically Japanese, samurai-style "Coriolanus," complete with taiko drums and period armor.
Japan Times
JAPAN / DAVOS SPECIAL 2013
Jan 23, 2013

Davos fosters the passion to overcome global challenges

Every year in late January, global leaders in business, politics, academia and other fields get together in Switzerland to discuss the various challenges faced by the world.
Japan Times
JAPAN / DAVOS SPECIAL 2013
Jan 23, 2013

Aiming to take Japan's best onto the global stage

Japanese leaders in business, culture, politics and other fields should look abroad and take what Japan can do best to the world, said Yoshito Hori, president of Globis University and managing partner of Globis Capital Partners.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2013

Ban talks about Japan in the world in exclusive interview

In a series of seven two-hour sessions that included informal get-togethers with his wife Soon Taek, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the well-regarded former South Korean foreign minister, shares his insights exclusively with American journalist Tom Plate. The following excerpts from Plate's...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2013

Pakistan's democracy weathering the storms

Since mid-December, Pakistan has experienced political and economic volatility that is extraordinary even by Pakistani standards. The fragile political structure that began to be erected following the resumption of civilian government in 2008 is now shaking.
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2013

The mess in Mali

French President Francois Hollande has sent French forces to stop an Islamic insurgency from taking over the West African nation of Mali. It is a bold step for Mr. Hollande, who faces rising discontent at home as well as fear that the intervention could become a quagmire.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 23, 2013

U.S. president lays out liberal vision

A self-assured President Barack Obama on Monday used his second inaugural address to lay out a bold liberal vision of the American future, drawing direct links between the origins of the republic and some of the most vexing political issues of the day.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 22, 2013

Kada steps down as leader of Nippon Mirai, takes adviser role

Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada was named a policy adviser to Nippon Mirai no To (Tomorrow Party of Japan) Sunday, ending her official leadership role with the ill-fated party she founded in late November for December's Lower House election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 21, 2013

A nagging Japanese riddle: Who's 'left' and who's 'right'?

In the Dec. 16 Lower House election, the Liberal Democratic Party won a resounding victory while the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a crushing defeat, bringing about a change of government after three years and three months of DPJ rule.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2013

Five myths about the next defense secretary

1. Chuck Hagel is anti-Israel.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 19, 2013

Japan's growing diaspora reflects concern for the country's future

Here's a surprising fact: One Japanese in a hundred lives abroad. It's surprising because so much is made lately of Japan's growing insularity. Young people seem less interested than ever in studying overseas, and voters last month elected a new government whose platform includes strong doses of patriotism...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 19, 2013

Meiji Japanese who sought to improve China

ASIA FOR THE ASIANS: China in the Lives of Five Meiji Japanese, by Paula S. Harrell. Merwin Asia, 2012, 407 pp., $35 (paperback)
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 19, 2013

Citizens' woeful social consciousness ensures a bleak outlook for Japan

What is behind the miserable social status of women in Japan?
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 17, 2013

Fujiwara chases a scoop in news-themed thriller

There aren't many celebrities who would make good journalists, but something tells me Norika Fujiwara is one. She's well-traveled, socially active and not constrained by the mechanisms of public-relations strategies.
EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 2013

Chinese media test their limits

Recent protest, including strikes by some reporters, against Chinese authorities' heavy censorship of new year articles by the Southern Weekly, a Guangdong newspaper known for its hard-hitting investigations, points to Chinese people's strong desire for freedom of speech and expression.
EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 2013

Stimulus package alert

The Abe Cabinet on Friday endorsed an emergency economic stimulus package designed to buoy the sagging economy. It is only second in size to the one adopted after the Lehman Brothers shock in the fall of 2008. Government spending will reach ¥10.3 trillion. If spending by local governments and the private...

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