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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2015

Refugee crisis is suddenly Merkel's biggest challenge

In the past two weeks, Germany has been shaken by a perfect storm of headlines that have elevated the refugee issue to the very top of the public and political agenda.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 30, 2015

12 Osaka-based Ishin no To Diet members expected to join Toru Hashimoto's new national party

Other Diet members will be asked to follow and join by Oct. 20, reports quoting unnamed party sources said.
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2015

Dearth of competition in the LDP

The dearth of any challenge to Shinzo Abe's leadership from within the LDP is disappointing given that many of his key policies are being questioned by the public.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 26, 2015

Unpopular but defiant, Myanmar's ruling party unfazed about poll prospects

Myanmar's ruling party is led by former members of a military junta, evolved from an organization that democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi once compared to a Nazi militia, and took office through electoral fraud.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
May 25, 2015

Let's discuss Osaka referendum in the news

As the city of Osaka prepares for Sunday's unprecedented referendum on the merger plan being championed by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, most media polls show those opposed to the plan holding anywhere from a slim to a wide lead, though the margin is too close to call.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 21, 2015

Tunisian in museum attack showed no signs of hard-line Islamist ideology

Shortly before he and a friend gunned down 20 foreign tourists — including three Japanese — on Wednesday at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, Yassine al-Abidi sat down to a breakfast of olive oil and dates with his family and left for work at his travel agency as usual.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 21, 2015

Militant monks rabble-rousing in Myanmar

With the people of Myanmar heading to the polls later this year, there are troubling signs that some extremists are intent on stirring up trouble.
WORLD
Feb 12, 2015

Obama asks Congress to authorize war on Islamic State

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday sent Congress his long-awaited formal request to authorize military force against Islamic State, meeting swift resistance from Republicans as well as his fellow Democrats wary of another war in the Middle East.
Reader Mail
Jan 14, 2015

Politics and women overseas

The Dec. 14 national election was personally significant for me because, for the first time in my life, I voted. A bittersweet experience it was. I happened to be on a short-term sabbatical in Japan when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for the snap election. During the weeks leading up to it, I collected...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2014

A great year for the far right

The far-right resurgence is impossible to miss, and 2014 will be remembered as the year extreme nationalists in Europe and Asia made a credible bid for power for the first time since the end of World War II.
Reader Mail
Dec 24, 2014

Priorities of dignity and security

Regarding the Dec. 10 editorial, "A test for Taiwan and China": I would like to bring the following points to the attention of The Japan Times readers. The "nine-in-one" nationwide local government election of the Republic of China on Taiwan on Nov. 29 marks the largest local government electoral event...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2014

Xi shows U.S. his no-nonsense approach to bilateral relations

Last week, President Xi Jinping showed the world a newly assertive China that's less worried about impressing others than in pursuing its own goals.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 5, 2014

Anti-EU U.K. Independence Party on cusp of winning first parliament seat

As he walks through the southeastern English seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea with a large banner for the anti-EU U.K. Independence Party under his arm, there is no doubt who 47-year-old builder Phil Drew will vote for in an election this week.
EDITORIALS
Sep 9, 2014

Nago's voters send a message

The outcome of Sunday's city assembly election in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, shows that voters remain strongly opposed to the relocation of U.S. Marine Corp Air Station Futenma to the Henoko area despite economic steps by the Abe administration to buy their support.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2014

Moscow views world as war theater

Even if Ukraine is defeated militarily, that's just one small battle won in an eternal, multi-modal war that Russia is fighting against the West because Russia's leadership is convinced the West is waging one against Russia.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2014

The Middle East crack-up

The horror stories emerging from northern Iraq, as well as the continuing slaughter in Syria's civil war, point to the unraveling of the state system established after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire almost 100 years ago.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 18, 2014

Battling insurgency, Iraq's leaders make rare show of unity

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki broadcast a joint appeal for national unity on Tuesday with bitter Sunni critics of his Shiite-led government — a move that may help him win U.S. help against rampant Islamists threatening Baghdad.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 29, 2014

Before Iraq polls, Shiite militias unleashed war on Sunni insurgents

The Sunni militants who seized the riverside town of Buhriz late last month stayed for several hours.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2014

India's election will not be decided on old lines

A great rage and discontent is blowing across India's landscape of thwarted modernization. Whoever rides this angry tiger into the country's highest office following the current election will have to pacify it quickly.
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2014

Scotland: a nation, not a region

For Scotland, independence — the question in September's referendum — is about democracy not nationalism. It's about righting the wrongs of a country living its life as a region.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 28, 2014

Abe's deceptive rice reform

On Dec. 9 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared that his government has abolished the subsidy system for reductions in rice acreage, yet subsidies for growing rice as animal feed will greatly increase.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 19, 2013

Top-two primary systems could counter American extremist tendencies

The latest game of political chicken that drove Washington to a government shutdown and the very edge of the debt ceiling gave new life to the omnipresent complaint of elder statesmen and centrist wise guys: If only congressional districts weren't so gerrymandered in the decennial redistricting process,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 7, 2013

Wave of state abortion laws returns issue to national prominence

As a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly years ago, Republican Scott Walker pushed two key measures to limit abortions. Neither was successful.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 9, 2013

Sifting through the rubble of Hashimoto's political ambitions

In 1995, the late University of Illinois professor David G. Goodman observed that when serious disagreements arise between Japanese people and foreigners, the former invariably internalize the debate among themselves.
Japan Times
WORLD / TICAD V SPECIAL
Jun 1, 2013

JICA helps Africans develop their future

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), an independent governmental agency that coordinates official development assistance (ODA) for the government, has played an important role for the country in its relations with foreign nations. The following is the story of a JICA staff member who worked...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2013

Time for U.S. to curb drone flights over Yemen

As Yemen's democratic transition proceeds, it's time Washington switched its anti-terror drone campaign to a policy favoring stability and prosperity.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight