Search - opinion

 
 
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2022

The other threat to democracy

In recent years, we have watched authoritarian leaders come to power democratically, only to erode constitutional norms and institutions once in office.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2022

American book-banning tradition is as old as the Mayflower

One activist said, 'Why is everyone so upset? Controlling what children read is entirely different from controlling what adults read.”
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 17, 2021

Pork referendum poses test for strengthening U.S. and Taiwan ties

Taiwanese citizens will vote Saturday on four questions, but it's a potential pork ban that has Washington worried.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Nov 10, 2021

Aaron Rodgers admits he 'misled' people about his vaccine status

Days after he tested positive, the former Super Bowl champion defiantly told 'The Pat McAfee Show' that he had not lied, but returned to the program on Tuesday to clarify his comments.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 10, 2021

In LDP race, divided factions and empowered junior lawmakers make election a toss-up

Unlike last year, when a majority of the party's prominent factions swiftly banded together to back Yoshihide Suga, most factions are divided over who to support.
JAPAN / Politics / The LDP's game of thrones
Sep 10, 2021

What to watch once official campaigning begins in the LDP race

While previous presidential elections have subscribed to a typical formula, this year's vote will be anything but dull.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 13, 2021

‘The Party and the People’ shows Chinese leadership as responsive but unaccountable to the public

In his new book, Bruce J. Dickson refers to contemporary Chinese politics as a study in nuanced contrasts: authoritarian yet cooperative; repressive yet responsive to public opinion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 6, 2021

'Prelude to Pearl Harbor': With diplomatic lines drawn and soft power spent, a standoff emerges

Author John Gripentrog looks at the events and attitudes that paved the way to the Second World War in “Prelude to Pearl Harbor: Ideology and Culture in US-Japan Relations 1914-1941.”
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
May 13, 2021

IOC expresses confidence despite public opposition to Tokyo Games

As things stand now we are moving full ahead. We continue to plan for full games. That's the way it has to be for us,' IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 24, 2021

China lashes out at U.S. allies in bid to thwart Biden strategy

China's assertive response on the heels of a rare public dust-up with U.S. officials in Alaska last week shows Xi's government is digging in against international criticism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2021

The second Jacksonian age

The Jacksonian era, like our own, was a time of extreme democratization and rampant anti-elitism.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 28, 2021

Left out? Israeli's unvaccinated fear exclusion as economy reopens

Other countries are likely to scrutinize Israel's early experience to see how it addresses mostly unanswered questions about balancing individual rights with obligations to public health.
SOCCER / From the Spot
Feb 12, 2021

WE League chair 'grateful' for Yoshiro Mori's sexist remarks

Kikuko Okajima is pleased that the now-former Tokyo 2020 president brought attention to the issue of gender equality in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2021

Hong Kong’s slum landlords put everyone at risk

Subdivided apartments — cubicles carved out of existing flats or buildings — are an emblem of the government's failure to tackle the city's housing shortage.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2021

Bezos-Buffett-Dimon dream team couldn’t fix health care

The dissolution of the Haven accord is emblematic of the profound challenge that haunts business leaders and politicians alike.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 28, 2020

Battered Turkish economy puts a powerful Erdogan to the test

Turks had been grappling with a falling currency and double-digit inflation for two years when the pandemic hit in March, sharply worsening the country's deep recession.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives aboard Air Force Two in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, traveling to a campaign fundraiser, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2024

Trump campaign prepares attack plan for Harris in case Biden withdraws

The effort assumes that the U.S. vice president would be the most likely candidate to replace the president at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Considering there is another full year left before the current term of the Lower House expires, Fumio Kishida’s announcement he is standing down as the Liberal Democratic Party's leader has many wondering why.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 15, 2024

With Kishida’s sudden departure, who will lead Japan?

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s unexpected decision to not seek reelection has prompted a leadership race within Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris shakes hands with former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 11, 2024

Harris rattles Trump in combative U.S. presidential debate

The Democratic vice president put her Republican rival on the defensive with a stream of attacks on abortion limits, his fitness for office and his myriad legal woes.
The government is preparing to set Japan’s new Nationally Determined Contribution, an emissions reduction commitment made by members of the United Nations climate framework's Paris Agreement.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Dec 10, 2024

As Japan nears new climate goal, criticism of policy process ramps up

Critics say the process is not intended to facilitate genuine debate, and that those who support the energy status quo are overrepresented on policy panels.
Hanna Shelest outside her apartment building in Odesa, Ukraine, on Jan. 20
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2025

I spent Trump’s inauguration in Ukraine. This is what I saw.

In nearly three years since Russia’s invasion, Odesa has moved from shock and fear to denial and, finally, adaptation.
Defending the rights of transgender and nonbinary people isn’t only about waging legal battles. It’s about more persuasive arguments.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2025

Trump can’t erase trans people with the stroke of his marker

There hasn’t been as much outrage as I had anticipated, but it makes sense. Most Americans, polls show, don’t personally know anyone who identifies as transgender.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 3, 2025

BOJ discussed worries about price upward deviation in January

One member referred to "a growing possibility that underlying CPI (consumer price index) inflation will rise steadily toward achieving the price stability target of 2%."
Supporters of the impeached South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, protesting in Seoul on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2025

South Korea’s political drama is far from over

The potential for violence in the days ahead is still great. Still, that shouldn’t take away from the urgent and necessary reform of the political system.
A wave of fear is spreading in immigrant communities as ICE uses secretive, aggressive tactics, bypassing legal protections and spreading panic reminiscent of authoritarian crackdowns.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2025

Unmarked vans and secret lists. The police state has arrived.

"It’s the unmarked cars,” a friend who grew up under an Argentine dictatorship said. He had watched the video of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil’s abduction. In the video, which Khalil’s wife recorded, she asks for the names of the men in plainclothes who handcuffed her husband.
Imperial family members attend a spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace imperial garden in Tokyo on April 22.
JAPAN
May 23, 2025

Support for female imperial family members keeping status at 64.9%: poll

While many respondents backed the idea, 10.7% opposed it and a total of 24.3% had no opinion or were not sure.
Members of the California National Guard stand outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles on June 8. California Democrats have unified against the Trump administration’s use of federal troops to quell unrest and its deportation campaign, but the stance may backfire for the party nationally.
COMMENTARY
Jun 16, 2025

ICE protests in LA are forcing a tough choice on Democrats

As the rightward shift among voters in the last election made abundantly clear, the state’s politics don’t always translate to other parts of America.
The Liberal Democratic Party's Tokyo chapter head, Shinji Inoue (right), at the party's headquarters on Sunday night
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 23, 2025

Tokyo election results signal uncertainty for LDP ahead of Upper House race

“It was a very tough election,” said Shinji Inoue, head of the LDP’s Tokyo chapter, early on Monday morning after the results came in.
Vanuatu's Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu (left) welcomes United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the tarmac of Port Vila's international airport, on May 18, 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 23, 2025

Vanuatu calls upcoming ICJ ruling a 'game-changer' for climate justice

Vanuatu's climate change minister says he hopes the International Court of Justice will say it is the "legal obligation of states to address climate change."

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear