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COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Nov 2, 2010

'Homogeneous,' 'unique' myths stunt discourse

Last month I attended an international lecture by one of Japanology's senior scholars. I'll call him Dr. Frink. Decorated by the Japanese government for his contributions to the field, he talked about Japan as a "unique" state that never really changes, even as it slips to third place behind China's...
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2010

Senkaku history provides 'proof' for both sides

Last weekend, angry young protesters in China and Japan took to the streets to demonstrate to the international community their countries' claims over what Tokyo calls the Senkaku Islands and Beijing refers to as the Diaoyu.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Dec 1, 2009

A level playing field for immigrants

For the first time in Japan's postwar history, we have a viable opposition party in power — one that might stick around long enough to make some new policies stick. In my last column for 2009, let me suggest how the Democratic Party of Japan could make life easier for Japan's residents, regardless...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Dec 2, 2008

Hailing the tail end of Bush

Regarding Barack Obama's election as U.S. president, I welcome the groundswell of hope. It's about time. The past eight years have been, well, awkward for Americans overseas.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 26, 2008

Asia's first lady of the environment

If Barak Obama is serious about developing proactive environmental policies that are international is scope, he would do well to work closely with Japan.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 23, 2005

Big Money warms to socially responsible investing

Environmentalists have been preaching for decades that true societal change will only happen when the really big-money players, such as multinational corporations and banks, begin to balance profit-making with social responsibility.
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2005

Unstable bond unraveling

South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun's March 23 statement denouncing Japan for its colonial past is bound to seriously damage Tokyo-Seoul relations that have been improving in recent years. The statement reverses positive diplomacy Seoul has pursued on the basis of a 2003 agreement between Roh and Prime...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 23, 2003

N. Korea: where NGOs fear to go

PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS: The NGO Experience in North Korea, edited by L. Gordon Flake and Scott Snyder. Praeger Publishers, 2003, 176 pp., $45 (cloth). Pity the poor nongovernmental organizations trying to work in North Korea. They face a monumental challenge -- aiding a society that is starving and...
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2003

Fears of 'anti-Americanism' overblown

MANILA -- In 1996 Samuel Huntington published his epochal work "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order." In it, he argues that, since the demise of the Cold War, cultural divides have become the focal points of international conflicts. Judging from recent editorials in American and...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 3, 2002

Kawasaki finds cultural assets among industrial blight

A year ago, a ward along Kawasaki's waterfront launched a campaign to rediscover the district's attraction and dispel its negative image as a pollution-plagued home to smokestack industries.
JAPAN
May 28, 2023

Japan slowly wakes up to health risks of PFAS ‘forever chemicals’

Residents in western Tokyo have been testing themselves to measure their exposure, with results showing levels of the chemicals that could bring long-term health risks.
Japan Times
Special Supplements / Hiroshima G7 Summit Special
May 19, 2023

Diversification fueled through ‘education of conscience’

In 1864, when the isolationist foreign policy of the Tokugawa shogunate was still in effect, Jo Niijima, a 21-year-old son of a samurai, left Japan for the United States, risking capital punishment. For Niijima, it was an adventurous quest to seek a land where greater equality, freedom and human rights...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / Q&A
Mar 23, 2023

To 'stand on Taiwanese soil': An interview with Taiwan's top diplomat

Joseph Wu shares his thoughts on Tokyo-Taipei cooperation, TSMC semiconductors, Japan's new defense posture and the future of relations with Beijing.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 19, 2023

Racial dynamics are inescapable when dating in Japan. That doesn't mean your experience will be negative.

In the cross-cultural or international dating scene, politics can sometimes sneak in. Avoid the pitfalls simply by being aware of the conversation.
A sign warning for the presence of mines inside a cemetery in Sviatohirsk, Ukraine, in June
WORLD
Jul 29, 2023

In Ukraine, land mines left by Russian forces pose deadly threat

As Ukraine forces push ahead with their offensive after over a year of shifting battle lines, the military and civilians face a deadly problem: mines.
The central business district in Melbourne in 2016
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 2, 2023

Australians fight for the right to work from home permanently

While remote work spells pain for investors in bricks and mortar, employees can only see benefits: "It just helps get through life a little bit easier."
A woman takes her meal alone in Tokyo's Yanaka neighborhood. As the country ages, Japan's average caloric intake has been shrinking.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Oct 9, 2023

Downsizing dinner: Aging Japan is eating less

As older citizens' shrinking appetites lead to less on the plate, businesses are having to adjust to a new market.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a speech to mark the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol at a campaign event at Montgomery County Community College, in Blue Bell, near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 6, 2024

Biden says democracy on ballot as he makes case against Trump

Biden’s remarks Friday offered some of his sharpest warnings yet about the threat he says Trump poses to the country’s institutions.
Noto Tetsudo's Anamizu Station in Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 15. The local railway's services have been fully suspended since a powerful New Year's Day earthquake.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2024

Quake-hit railway vows to resume services

Noto Tetsudo is hoping to bring part of its 33.1-kilometer railway back online in February.
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 25, 2024

Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other

In a departure from boys' club politics, candidates including four women, a writer and an ex-martial artist are making their case for a seat in parliament.
Cleaning worker Hu Dexi, 67, at a shopping mall in Beijing on April 10
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2024

In rapidly aging China, millions can't afford to retire

With a low retirement age, meager pension benefits and no family to support them, many in China feel they simply can't ever stop working.
The modernization of Japan's defense strategy is not just about military capabilities, it is also about building consensus and fostering public understanding.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 21, 2024

The winding road to Japan's defense modernization

The government's efforts to engage the public on defense issues are crucial for building consensus and ensuring the sustainability of defense reforms.
French President Emmanuel Macron gives a speech during the European Youth Festival "Fete de l'Europe" (Festival of Europe) in front of the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) in Dresden, eastern Germany, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 28, 2024

Macron calls far-right rise an 'ill wind' for Europe

French President Emmanuel Macron's trip comes two weeks ahead of European Union elections, in which polls are indicating his centrist coalition is trailing the far right.
Recently, Japan designated Hokkaido Prefecture (including its capital, Sapporo), Fukuoka, Tokyo and Osaka as special zones for financial and asset management businesses. Kumamoto Prefecture was also named a national strategic zone for semiconductors.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 14, 2024

International social infrastructure key to Japan’s high-tech future

Across the globe there is an ongoing search for talent, especially in high-tech sectors, and Japan is no different.
"Khaing," a former teacher with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), sits in a restaurant where she works after fleeing from Myanmar to Thailand to avoid conscription by Myanmar's military junta, in Bangkok on June 4.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 2, 2024

'Can't go back': Myanmar conscription exiles struggle in Thailand

Myanmar's junta says it wants to enlist 5,000 people a month aged between 18 and 35, but details are vague.
As metal prices rise, so do cases of theft, with more and an increasing number of metal cables being stolen from solar power plants in Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2024

Japan's solar plants see over 9,000 cases of cable theft since 2023

The survey were the first to be conducted by the National Police Agency on the situation, at a time when metal prices are rising.
Above part of the photo shows an empty land lot in the city of Kobe and the bottom part shows it was turned into an temporary evacuation area.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 15, 2024

Land ministry to support empty land utilization

The ministry plans to seek the necessary funds under the government's fiscal 2025 budget.
A vaccine that can protect against six types of cancer is available: the human papillomavirus vaccine. Despite its proven effectiveness, many parents and others remain hesitant over its use.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 20, 2024

Boys need the HPV cancer vaccine as much as girls

The virus doesn’t only cause cervical cancer, it’s the culprit behind numerous other cancers
An unearthed Nazca Lines geoglyph in southern Peru
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 25, 2024

AI research uncovers 300 ancient etchings in Peru's Nazca desert

Researchers found the geoglyphs through field surveys conducted at sites selected with artificial intelligence technology from aerial photographs.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji