Search - opinion

 
 
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Jul 5, 2023

Would you spend the night in a coffin … for art?

Want to know what it’s like to spend the night in a coffin? Culture critic Thu-Huong Ha joins us to discuss her night in artist Marina Abramovic’s nightmare-inducing Dream House.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2023

Crucial role: Defense of Taiwan hinges on Japan's support

Without the use of bases in Japan, the United States would not be able to employ tactical air power in the event of a conflict.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2023

New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern gives the world a lesson in humility

Jacinda Ardern's leadership stood in such stark contrast to many of her boorish male counterparts, and represented a different kind of politics.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 19, 2023

Kishida Cabinet approval falls to record-low 26.5%

The result apparently reflected anxiety about Kishida's plans to raise taxes to boost defense spending, as well as higher consumer prices.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2023

What the Kardashians can teach climate activists

Climate change is the most pressing issue of our time, a crisis that will affect every every nation and every human life — and yet people seem more curious about the Kardashians.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2023

Satellite-saving robots can turn killer, too

Orbiting machines used to repair other spacecraft can just as easily be used to destroy them and will require new international rules to keep the peace.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2023

Why the Fed needs to take the digital yuan seriously

The e-CNY will be more than just a paperless version of cash for China's local economy, its use in trade settlements would pose a challenge to the U.S. dollar.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2023

What fracking can tell us about the future of fusion

Energy breakthroughs such as with fusion usually come through refinements of existing technologies and processes, not blinding flashes of transformation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2023

Russia and a return to Soviet-style central planning

With Russia's economy crumbling, some of the country's leading economists are advocating for a return to Soviet-style central planning.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 14, 2023

In Cairo's male-dominated electro scene, women DJs spin up more than deep beats

It's a party on the banks of the Nile, and more and more often, it's a woman on stage who's mixing the night's music.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2023

Pope Benedict and the art of strategic retirement

Joseph Ratzinger wasn't supposed to be pope. As pope emeritus, he was supposed to go quietly into history. He may be more influential after death.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2023

Why America doesn’t know how to stop school shootings

After a ban of more than two decades, the U.S. government is finally funding studies on how to prevent death and injury from firearms.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2023

Even with the electric car boom, the U.S. need for oil is climbing

U.S. consumption of fossil fuels is heading toward records — even amid the electric-car boom — and plastics are to blame.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 13, 2023

Japan’s standing is rising, but not so for its leader

Japan's significance as a geopolitical power has rarely been higher, but that's little solace for its unloved prime minister, Fumio Kishida.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 13, 2023

In a first, South Korea declares nuclear weapons a policy option

Yoon Suk-yeol was quick to add that building nuclear weapons was not yet an official policy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 12, 2023

A stronger Japan defense posture is easier said than done

The meeting between Prime Minister Kishida and U.S. President Biden comes as Tokyo and Washington find themselves in sync on the major security challenges.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2023

Record COVID deaths complicate debate on Japan’s post-pandemic policy

Medical experts are calling for a “gradual” approach as the government eyes a possible downgrade of COVID-19's classification as early as this spring.
Members of the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild take part in a picket line outside Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California, on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2023

AI shines a spotlight on Hollywood hypocrisy

Studios haven’t informed or paid background actors properly for being digitally scanned, yet they want the same courtesy from AI companies.
An extreme heat warning in Death Valley, California, on July 15
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2023

Our civilization was built for a climate that’s vanishing

Weather disasters linked to climate change like those unfolding across the northern hemisphere will affect more and more of us.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2023

Government explains radar deployment plan to residents of Okinawan island

The Defense Ministry stressed the need to build a tight surveillance system in the Pacific, where the Chinese military is increasing its activities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a NATO leaders summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12. The leader's efforts to conduct diplomacy in the face of conflict have drawn comparisons with British wartime leader Winston Churchill.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 20, 2023

Why Zelenskyy's diplomacy is a key factor in Ukraine's efforts to win war

The leader's counteroffensive came at a critical time, sandwiched between two summits — the Group of Seven summit in May and a NATO summit earlier this month.
Demonstrators protest against Japan's plan to discharge treated radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the ocean, in Seoul on July 7.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 20, 2023

Fukushima water opposition is steeped in anti-science

Skepticism over Japan’s plan to discharge treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant must not give way to scaremongering.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during Prime Minister's Questions, at the House of Commons in London on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2023

British PM Rishi Sunak avoids wipeout in key local elections

By-elections were seen as an indicator of the two main parties' prospects at a time when voters are struggling with high inflation, strikes and rising mortgage rates.
Support for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet dropped to 30.8% in July, a survey shows.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 13, 2023

Poll shows Kishida Cabinet approval down to 30.8%

The slide in support may have reflected the string of problems related to My Number personal identification cards.
The hack of a U.S. IT management company shows how North Korean cyber spies are now tackling companies that can give them broader access to multiple victims downstream — a tactic known as a "supply chain attack."
WORLD
Jul 21, 2023

North Korean hackers breached U.S. IT company in bid to steal cryptocurrency

The hack shows how North Korean cyber spies are now tackling companies that can give them broader access to multiple victims downstream.
A local resident stands next to a car in front of a residential building heavily damaged in the course of the Russia-Ukraine war, in the settlement of Toshkivka, in the Luhansk province of Russian-controlled Ukraine on March 24.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 1, 2023

Mission impossible: How to get Kyiv and Moscow to talk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's 10-point plan for peace has found some backers, but parts of it have failed to land with everyone.
A disturbing factor that may ultimately defeat the all-volunteer military force is the growing political division across the U.S., which is diminishing the young people's faith in America.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2023

U.S. military’s recruiting woes are a national-security crisis

The U.S. military's struggle to entice even the most surefire candidates — the children of veterans — puts the future of the all-volunteer force in doubt.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a news conference during a NATO leaders summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12.
COMMENTARY / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 27, 2023

Volodymyr Zelenskyy: From a weak anti-war leader to a symbol of the fight for liberation

Shifting away from direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine's leader has called for weapons and galvanized national unity in the face of war.
Contrary to some news reports, the movie "Oppenheimer," starring (left to right) Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh, has not been banned in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2023

'Oppenheimer' spurs debate on the atomic bombings

Christopher Nolan’s biopic has triggered a debate on the rights and wrongs of dropping the bomb. It could lead to a more useful discussion in Japan — assuming it’s ever released here.
Jingu Gaien is a famous landmark, park and sports center in Minato Ward, Tokyo. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 26, 2023

Tokyo's tree-razing drama shouldn't stymie transformation

Residents are raging over a redevelopment plan. But while other cities become stuck in time, Tokyo's best projects can combine the spirit of the past with the hope for the future.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes