Search - long form

 
 
OLYMPICS / Longform
Aug 14, 2021

The race is on to define the legacy of Tokyo 2020

It may be too early to determine a legacy for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but that won't stop people from trying to define it even before the Paralympics have yet to begin.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 5, 2021

The damage done by a lengthy appeals process

The media has no problem reprimanding the government when it loses a court case, but news outlets seldom talk about how the judicial system can drag things on.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 20, 2021

Singapore keeps dorm migrants segregated even as pandemic abates

Weeks after new cases among laborers dropped to almost zero and thousands have received vaccinations, some wonder how long it will take for restrictions to end.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 18, 2021

The 'Quad' has the potential to become a truly historic undertaking

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden invited the leaders of Japan, Australia and India to join him online for a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (“Quad”). Under the Trump administration, the foreign ministers of the Quad countries had convened twice since 2018, but the March 2021 summit represented...
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 28, 2021

In Germany's Black Forest, Putin critic Alexei Navalny gathered strength and resolve

Navalny spent time recovering his physical fitness with intense workouts and took his war with Putin to a new level: targeting him directly for the first time.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jan 18, 2021

Japan scrambles to roll out vaccine, but how many people will get the shot?

Polls have shown recently that nearly 70% of Japanese are willing to get a coronavirus vaccine. But still, skepticism against vaccines is deeply rooted in the country.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / Beyond COVID-19
Dec 29, 2020

America’s post-Trump reckoning

As the Biden administration re-engages with U.S. partners and allies, it will have to provide assurances that arrangements made in the next four years will survive into the future.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 6, 2020

Biden officials to look to repair alliances and help mend Tokyo-Seoul ties

Trump's 'America First' moves have left something of a leadership vacuum that Beijing has been more than willing to attempt to fill — one of Japan's biggest fears.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Oct 21, 2020

As the Arctic's attractions mount, Greenland is a security black hole

Shrinking sea ice in the remote region has fast-tracked a race among global powers for control over resources and waterways.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 21, 2020

Macroeconomic challenges amid the COVID-19 crisis

The government faces a difficult road ahead in guiding the economy through all the twists and turns of the pandemic.
SUMO / Basho reports
Jul 16, 2020

Upcoming July Basho could be fascinating, unpredictable affair

It's hard to know just what kind of physical or mental condition rikishi will be in when things kick off at Ryogoku Kokugikan on July 19.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2020

Masayoshi Son's SoftBank strained by losses and infighting at the top

In early March, before the coronavirus pandemic triggered a global economic lockdown, SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son paid tribute to Rajeev Misra, the man who runs his $100 billion technology investment fund. Wearing a $70 (¥7,500) Uniqlo down jacket, the Japanese billionaire put his arm...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 9, 2020

'The swab goes really deep into your head': What it's like to take the test for coronavirus in Japan

Have you wondered what it's like to get tested for COVID-19 in Japan? With little Japanese, Joe Oliver learned the hard way after being sent by his doctor to head straight to the hospital.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2020

Averting economic disaster is the easy part

It may be too late to avert a public health crisis, but policymakers can still implement the fiscal and monetary measures needed to prevent an economic catastrophe.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2020

The coronavirus and Xi Jinping's worldview

No matter how bad the coronavirus epidemic gets, the crisis will not change how China is governed under President Xi Jinping.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 1, 2020

North Korea's Kim warns of 'new strategic weapon' as nuclear freeze falters

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared that his country is no longer bound by its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests, while also warning of a "new strategic weapon" that he vowed to soon reveal to the world, state-run media reported Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2019

Narita and Haneda, the major airports serving Tokyo, set for large-scale capacity boost ahead of 2020 Olympics

The Tokyo area's two international gateways are looking to push Japan's soaring tourist numbers even higher while also putting their Asian rivals on notice by adding more international flights ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2019

Taro Kono: A different kind of defense minister

For the first time ever, the Defense Ministery is headed by a prime minister-ready politician.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
CULTURE / Film / 2024 in Review
Dec 20, 2024

A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity

International collaborations and indie risk-takers steered the film industry in a fresh direction in 2024.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Jan 5, 2025

'Guernica' is always with us

How do we account for the past year, almost nine decades after "Guernica," when all the boundaries of horror have been pulverized?
Hoshoryu (right) defeats Kirishima on Sunday. Hoshoryu has the look of a contender in the early days of the year's first tournament.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jan 15, 2025

Wide-open field has the New Year Basho looking like anyone's tourney

There has still been enough shakiness among the top-rankers to preclude ruling out any kind of outcome in the year's first tournament.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in Ipswich, England, on Sunday. Guardiola has appeared drained and depressed by City's recent struggles.
SOCCER
Jan 21, 2025

Revitalized Manchester City confident for PSG 'final': Guardiola

Pep Guardiola's side is languishing in 22nd place in the 36-team Champions League table with two games left.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and members of the Liberal Democratic Party take a group photo at the party's headquarters in Tokyo during the Oct. 27 Lower House elections.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 30, 2025

Adjusting to the new normal in Japanese politics

The upheaval of the past year has forced a fundamental rethinking of how political watchers must observe things in Tokyo
Director Park Chan-wook (center) and his cast hit commercial gold with “Joint Security Area,” a film about North and South Korean friendship.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2025

South Korean blockbuster 'Joint Security Area' strikes a chord 25 years on

Park Chan-wook's tale of inter-Korean friendship was a risky undertaking at the time of filming, but it has since become a celebrated cinematic masterpiece.
Germany’s new leader, Friedrich Merz, aims to revive the economy with tax cuts and pro-business reforms, but an aging population, labor shortages and rising social costs may limit growth and strain public finances.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2025

Germany needs an economic miracle. Merz's odds don’t look good.

Merz faces an aging population that’s set to hold back growth and exacerbate strains on the federal budget and social security system.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025

Trump pauses military aid to Ukraine after clash with Zelenskyy

The pause will last until the U.S. president determines the country’s leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace, a senior defense official said.
Russians queue to apply for visas at the Japanese Embassy in Moscow on March 4.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2025

Cherry blossoms and free visas draw Russians to Japan

The number of Russians holidaying in Japan is set to double this year from around 100,000 in 2024, helped by a strengthening ruble.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Moscow in 2022. The war in Ukraine will eventually come to an end and Europe needs to come up with a unified strategy to be a formidable adversary in the Kremlin's eyes.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2025

Europe must set the terms for postwar Russia engagement now

Past trade with Russia didn't work to limit Moscow, but isolation isn't the way forward either. In an eventual postwar scenario, Europe should opt for deterrence, not dialogue.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s JASM plant in Kumamoto Prefecture. Ensuring stability in the semiconductor supply chain is a matter of national security and must be based on cooperation between the government and private sector.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 4, 2025

Identifying choke points in the semiconductor supply chain

Addressing bottlenecks in chipmaking is essential for Japan's economic security and requires public-private collaboration, including aimed at information sharing.
A vehicle carries the coffin of a commander from Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah armed group during a funeral in Baghdad on Sept. 22, 2024.
WORLD
Apr 7, 2025

Iran-backed militias in Iraq ready to disarm to avert Trump wrath

The move to defuse tensions follows repeated warnings issued privately by U.S. officials to the Iraqi government since Trump took power in January.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami