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COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2014

Reducing the global threat posed by nuclear weapons

The best calculations show that even a limited nuclear warhead exchange between India and Pakistan would wreak havoc on food distribution networks, killing up to 1 billion people worldwide.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 12, 2014

The humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons

This week a meeting in Vienna reminded the world that as long as nuclear weapons exist, it is irresponsible not to confront the implications of their use. They are not some deadly virus or long-term environmental threat; they are the poisonous fruit of a technology that we created.
COMMENTARY
Dec 5, 2014

The pope has a point in denouncing materialism

Pope Francis finds himself ranged against a pitilessly Darwinian outlook in Europe, which, maintained by self-interested political and business elites, seems to go unexamined by apathetic voters.
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Nov 25, 2014

Grand Prix Final places on line at NHK Trophy

Yuzuru Hanyu's expected return to the ice won't be the only drama unfolding this week in the NHK Trophy at Osaka's Namihaya Dome, where spots in the Grand Prix Final will also be on the line.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Nov 22, 2014

Konami's winning take on 'the beautiful game'

Soccer, more than any other sport, is the world's game. Played by millions, it is unquestionably the most popular sport on the planet.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 18, 2014

Why better economic policy may not save ailing Japan

Japan's economic problems, particularly its long demographic shift, may not be very amendable to better policy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2014

Rebooting nuclear security

In these days of economic woe, potential pandemic disease and widespread civil unrest, it may come as a surprise that so many people around the world still view nuclear conflict as the greatest threat facing humanity. And for good reason.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 7, 2014

Internet users called to answer to system's ills

Responding to a dizzying array of issues that threaten to break the Internet, from privacy to tax dodging to cybercrime, a group of the world's leading governance organizations say greater user involvement, not top-down control, is needed.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 4, 2014

A chain reaction of empowerment

More than anything, the world needs people who will take active steps to transform their own local community when it comes to dealing with any of the bewildering array of threats confronting humanity today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 28, 2014

OK Go shares a love of Japan with fans

'Sharing' used to be a dirty word in the music industry, but OK Go have been instrumental in changing that.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 14, 2014

Ebola threatens Africa's development

The World Health Organization's dramatic warning that the Ebola epidemic threatens the 'very survival' of societies has a public health consultant wondering where all the millions of dollars in aid to African countries to improve their health systems have gone.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2014

A serial intervener, after all

In launching his presidency's seventh bombing campaign, Barack Obama has shown himself to be one of the most militarily aggressive U.S. presidents since World War II.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 29, 2014

Developing countries embracing nuclear energy despite Fukushima woes

Three years after Japan closed all of its nuclear plants in the wake of the Fukushima meltdown and Germany decided to shut its industry, developing countries are leading the biggest construction boom in more than two decades.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / 'SUMMER DAVOS' SPECIAL 2014
Sep 10, 2014

Suzuki promotes Mie Pref. globally

Mie Gov. Eikei Suzuki, selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum this year, is trying to promote his prefecture on the global stage.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2014

Aussie uranium for India

The journey to the point where Australia has agreed to sell uranium to India has been tortuous, and the controversy is unlikely to fade anytime soon.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Aug 21, 2014

The search for new antibiotics turns to insect guts and genome mining

Pampering leafcutter ants with fragrant rose petals and fresh oranges may seem an unlikely way to rescue modern medicine, but scientists at a lab in eastern England think it is well worth trying.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 16, 2014

The awakening of a nation permanently at peace

There's something to be said for national isolation. Peace, for example. The very few foreigners allowed into Japan during its 250-odd years of almost total seclusion, from the early 17th century to the mid-19th, were awed by the spectacle of a nation permanently at peace.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2014

The bill for Putin's policy will be high

Virtually every retaliatory move against the West proposed by Vladimir Putin as a result of the Ukraine crisis has backfired on Russia and left it in a far weaker financial position.
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.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 9, 2014

Prelude to WWII: Japan's Nomonhan debacle

There has been considerable media hoopla about the centennial of the outbreak of World War I. The subsequent slaughter of 16 million people was prompted by the assassination of an Austrian archduke and duchess, which activated the system of interlocking alliances intrinsic to the balance of power that...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2014

Indonesia gets a sprout with a new president

Having conducted an election that produced a successor president without excessive tumult or corruption, Indonesia may well be on its way to emerging as a major global player.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 17, 2014

Ryuichi Sakamoto delves into cities and nature at Sapporo International Art Festival

Sapporo is generally known for three things: snow, ramen and beer. These things, and festivals such as the Snow Festival or City Jazz, are what draw more than 14 million tourists to the city every year.
Reader Mail
Jul 16, 2014

Biggest responsibility for adults

I read with interest Hitomi Nagahashi's July 10 letter, "English for third graders lagging." I agree completely with Nagahashi's statements that "English education is not just about words and grammar" and that English education "at an earlier age is key to globalizing Japan."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 12, 2014

The high cost of peace and quiet

Peace and quiet! How rare it is, how precious. Why rare? Because a full-blooded modern economy is no monastery, no "ancient pond" into which a frog may jump, producing the hushed "sound of water" immortalized by the haiku poet Basho (1644-94).
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2014

Cost of 'making' democracy

For most of the American electorate, the U.S. perseveres as the messenger of democracy to a world that usually hasn't earned it and probably doesn't deserve it. But consider what this proud effort in the Mideast, Afghanistan, Ukraine and elsewhere has done to U.S. civil liberties and to U.S. democracy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 7, 2014

Let dinosaur aspirations die

British and Japanese politicians need to recognize that the power and influence of their countries are no longer what they used to be and that their governments must 'cut their cloth.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 5, 2014

Off the beaten path on Japan's paper trail

At a little roadside store in rural Nagano, a foreign tourist is miming a rice bowl with her cupped left hand. Firm in the belief that Japanese washi (paper — wa meaning Japanese and shi meaning paper) was made from rice, she waves her flattened right hand across the "bowl," miming her desire for "sheets"...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2014

Ironies of Iraq without end despite the best-laid plans

For President Barack Obama to stay true to his vision, judgment and instinct, he must ride out the extremely uncomfortable unpopularity of openly conceding that the Iraq war — of which he is now the prime custodian — never made sense.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 14, 2014

Happy endings: foreigners working in Japan's film industry

Film is supposed to be a universal language, but the film business in any given country is usually run by the locals for the locals. The one great exception is Hollywood, which has been making films for the world since the silent days and is open to talent, preferably English speaking, from around the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2014

U.S. foreign policy marked by blatant hypocrisy

It is a truth universally acknowledged that behavior by others inconsistent with social norms is condemned as hypocrisy but similar discrepancies in our own conduct is rationalized as understandable prioritization in the face of multiple goals. When the military deposed Egypt's first freely elected president,...

Longform

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