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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2016

Germany catches the North African disease

News that scores of women were sexually assaulted by young men of Middle Eastern appearance in Cologne, Germany, on New Year's Eve will come as no surprise to women in North Africa.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2016

Africa suffering under a yoke of corruption

The book 'The Looting Machine' by Tom Burgis explains why a continent blessed with one-third of the world's hydrocarbon and mineral wealth remains mired in poverty and dysfunction.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Dec 24, 2015

The Japan Times advisory board rates paper's coverage

The Japan Times Media Advisory Board members who have been monitoring the newspapers' reporting met Nov. 18 to discuss progress from the previous board meetings and offer advice for the future.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2015

Europe has plenty of its own Donald Trumps

Populist bigotry about Muslims has already mainstreamed in Europe. Europeans haven't been outraged enough about that.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2015

Memo to Moscow: Syria is Turkey's Ukraine

Ankara is determined to make it clear that no solution for Syria can be reached unless Turkish interests are fully taken into account.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2015

Putin has misjudged his erstwhile ally Erdogan

Having already underestimated him once with deadly results, the best way for Putin to figure out how Erdogan will respond to any further Russian moves is probably to imagine how he himself would react. The two men have a lot in common.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2015

What does the Islamic State think it is doing?

Islamic State and its supporters may be congratulating themselves, seeing a barbaric victory in Paris, but they are forgetting the fate suffered by the Taliban in the months following the 9/11 attacks.
Reader Mail
Nov 13, 2015

Coverage of China overly critical

Enough already! Normally a fairly balanced newspaper, the Nov. 4 issue of The Japan Times carried no less than eight articles that are directly or indirectly critical of China.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2015

Putin fires a shot across Obama's bow

Barack Obama insists that Vladimir Putin's intervention in Syria is a sign of weakness, but the Russian Navy's recent cruise missile launch showed rising strength.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 20, 2015

Assad marches toward Aleppo in assault likely to stoke fresh wave of refugees to EU

With Russian warplanes in the air and Iranian special forces on the ground, an emboldened Syrian President Bashar Assad is turning back to the biggest trophy in his country's civil war, and this time Europe is also on the front line.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2015

The reason why Russian jets are buzzing Turkey

Vladmir Putin is willing to sacrifice Russia's warm and profitable ties with Turkey if it means keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2015

Sons and gun lovers, a tragic combination

Yet another deadly shooting in America, but the gun fetishists still refuse to acknowledge the need for even a minimal dose of common sense.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2015

When you can't see Singapore, it looks like Beijing

Air pollution is getting out of hand in Southeast Asia, and big corporations and small-scale farmers are both to blame.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2015

Saakashvili for Ukraine prime minister?

Reform-minded Mikheil Saakashvili will need a miracle to effect much-needed changes in Ukraine.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 27, 2015

Syrian rebel group plays down al-Qaida ties, looks to play bigger role in country

When an explosion killed almost all of its leaders in a single blow last year, many thought it was the end for Ahrar al-Sham, a powerful Syrian insurgent group founded by members loyal to al-Qaida.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2015

Crimea's happy now, but for the persecution

Most of Crimea's inhabitants are happy, but for a minority the move to Russian control over the peninsula has been miserable.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2015

Cameron is right about how to take in refugees

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has taken a battering over his handling of Europe's refugee crisis, but his new approach is the right one.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2015

Beijing's history narrative

The grand parade in the center of Beijing on Sept. 3 to commemorate the end of World War II in China highlighted two contradictory narratives, both immensely important for understanding the country's future path.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2015

The Republicans' misguided Beijing-bashing

While U.S. Republican presidential candidates clearly view China-bashing as a vote-getter, it's highly unlikely that they'd make good on any of their get-tough policy statements if elected.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2015

War on Islamic State has given Jordan new life

Tiny, oil-poor Jordan has parlayed the war against Islamic State into tangible gains.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 26, 2015

Want more heroes? Bring back the military draft

If the French train incident tells us anything useful about defending against terrorism, it is that ordinary people will sometimes be the only defense.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2015

A dangerous time for Russia-NATO relations

It is the early stages of a standoff between nuclear powers that are the most dangerous.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2015

Iran deal didn't trigger an arms race

The hyper-arming of the Middle East dates to the mid-2000s, before the U.S. and its partners began negotiating in earnest with Tehran over nuclear weapons.
JAPAN / History
Aug 8, 2015

Truth hurts: censorship in the media

"Truth, it has been said, is the first casualty of war." — Philip Snowden, July 1916
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2015

Turkey's democracy is being quietly stolen

If President Recep Erdogan succeeds in using a rekindled Kurdish conflict to secure his presidential powers, it will be difficult for Turkish democracy to survive in any meaningful sense.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 29, 2015

Learning English requires a different approach

If the most important goal is to teach Japanese students how to speak the kind of everyday English used in the corporate world, then it's imperative that teachers provide them with frequent practice doing precisely that.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 22, 2015

Syrian Islamists, courting West, say they will protect minorities

A conservative Islamist rebel group said on Tuesday it would protect Syria's minorities, pressing a campaign in Western media to address concerns about one of the most powerful insurgent forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 24, 2015

Newspapers play a critical role in education

Attempting to shield students from the realities of life that newspapers cover on a daily basis is an exercise in futility.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2015

Waterloo shows why the Brits need Europe

Just as Napoleon Bonaparte learned at Waterloo, the British may not want to risk being on their own, outside a resentful Europe that unites against it.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2015

Greece's Tsipras isn't on the side of democracy

The question for Greeks today is whether they think the leftist policies of Syriza will give them a better future with default, capital controls and the drachma.

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