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COMMENTARY / Japan
May 14, 2015

Branding Japan beyond Abe

The people of Japan need to be reminded of their value beyond Tokyo's central government, its dominant party, the LDP, and its main leader, Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2015

Region needs Japan as a counterweight to China

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent trip to the U.S. served as an important reminder of Japan's centrality to Asian affairs.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 12, 2015

New guidelines leave the U.S. defending Japan

During his recent visit to Washington, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was eloquent in stating why Japan enjoyed being allied with America. But it isn't evident what the U.S. receives in return.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 28, 2015

How far is Japan willing to go to back the United States?

What was once America's most stable relationship in Asia is moving into the category of 'it's complicated.'
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2015

U.S., Japan unveil new defense guidelines for global Japanese role

Japan and the United States unveiled new guidelines for defense cooperation on Monday, reflecting Japan's willingness to take on a more robust international role at a time of growing Chinese power and rising concerns about nuclear-armed North Korea.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Apr 22, 2015

Culture, cost and proximity draw Chinese students to Japan

Who are the Chinese students studying in Japan? How do they get into Japanese universities, why do they come, and where do they hope to go after they graduate?
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 2015

Improving Japan-South Korea ties

There are signs of momentum building toward better ties between Japan and South Korea. It must not be impeded.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 15, 2015

Japan needs geopolitical skills

As long as Japan lacks a resolute strategy and prudent foreign policy, it risks becoming a strategic pawn in someone else's game.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 8, 2015

U.S. defense chief says new guidelines will 'transform' U.S.-Japan alliance

Visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday that updated bilateral defense cooperation guidelines will "transform the U.S.-Japan alliance" and enable the two countries' forces to "cooperate seamlessly" to respond to challenges around the world.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2015

Japan's 'deep remorse' over war spelled out in Diplomatic Bluebook

Japan is actively contributing to world peace and stability based on the pledge of never waging war that grew out of "deep remorse" over World War II, according to the Foreign Ministry's diplomatic policy report for 2015, which was released Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 27, 2015

Why Chinese tourists love Japan

Despite the apparent ill will that Beijing, and occasionally the Chinese public, express toward Tokyo, Chinese tourists can't seem to get enough of Japan. In 2014, Chinese visits to Japan increased 83 percent on the previous year.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 24, 2015

SXSW's Japan Nite celebrates 20 lively years

For the past two decades, the Japan Nite showcase has been one of the most celebrated events at the South By Southwest (SXSW) music conference and festival, a gathering where industry types, everyday music fans and performers from all over the world descend on Texas' capital. The music component of this...
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2015

Testing Beijing, Japan eyes growing role in South China Sea security

Seventy years after its Imperial forces were kicked out of the South China Sea, Japan is quietly moving back into the region, forging security ties with the Philippines and Vietnam as both Southeast Asian nations try to cope with China's territorial ambitions.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 8, 2015

China eager to learn from Japan's economic missteps

China is poring over Japanese history for economic lessons to keep its massive economy away from the recession and deflation that has blighted Japan for 20 years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Mar 7, 2015

Chasing Chinese planes 400 times a year stretches Japan's top guns

Fighter pilot Jun Fukuda sits edgily on the couch in his flight suit, waiting for the call that sends him sprinting to his jet. On any given day, he will chase and warn off Chinese military planes nearing Japanese airspace.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2015

Japan's military normalization

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants Japan to become a 'normal' country again, with the capacity to defend its interests and citizens wherever they are threatened. But how should his government go about it?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 5, 2015

Calling for an early Japan-China-South Korea summit

The president of Soka Gakkai International urges Japan to renew its pledge to build lasting peace, strengthen cooperation in addressing environmental problems, and step up efforts to contribute to stability and development throughout Asia.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Feb 23, 2015

Sharla in Japan

Sharla of Sharla in Japan is a 29-year-old, Canadian-born, Tokyo-based “YouTuber” (“That's what they call it here,” she says). With over 200,000 subscribers to her channel, she documents her life.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 23, 2015

Will Japan become Asia's next autocracy?

The LDP's draft constitution contains elements that would move Japan toward illiberalism and autocracy if it was adopted.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 20, 2015

Japan's constitutional millstone

If there is one factor that could help the Abe administration overcome the constitutional millstone against modernizing Japan's military defense, it would be Obama administration support. Japan is the only power that can block China from gaining ascendancy in the region.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 17, 2015

How two small rocks stop Japan and South Korea from getting along

They were once a source of fortune for Japanese fishermen hunting sea lions and abalone, but now the pair of remote rocks in the Sea of Japan are preventing Japan and South Korea from getting along.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 14, 2015

Japan's public diplomacy is expensive and errant

Global understanding does not come cheaply. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has budgeted ¥70 billion — yes, that's more than $500 million — to help get the word out about Japan and ensure that China and South Korea aren't the only ones controlling the narrative.
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 / 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.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 5, 2015

Think tank gives Japan-U.S. diplomacy an Okinawan voice

Shocked by indifference in Japanese and U.S. government circles toward the island's interests, a lawyer has taken matters into her own hands.
JAPAN / History
Jan 1, 2015

Donald Keene reflects on 70-year Japan experience

My first visit to Japan was very short, only a week or so in December 1945. Three months earlier, while on the island of Guam, I had heard the broadcast by the Emperor announcing the end of the war. Soon afterward, I was sent from Guam to China to serve as an interpreter between the Americans and the...
EDITORIALS
Dec 31, 2014

A watershed year for Japan

Japan is at a crossroads in many ways as the nation greets the 70th year since it set out on the path of rebuilding after its defeat in World War II.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 25, 2014

How Japan's economy put itself out to pasture

Simply put, Japan is a bankrupt nation, even as gross domestic product outgrows that of the U.S. economy on a per capita basis.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Dec 25, 2014

Japan Times Advisory Board serves up brickbats, praise for newspaper's coverage

Ichiro Fujisaki, who formerly served as Japan's ambassador to the United States, praised the paper for its "readability." He said he senses that the editors try to choose phrases and words that are easy for Japanese readers to understand.

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