Search - commentary

 
Menu
Search
 
November 16, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
4,024 results
Sort by: Relevance Newest Oldest
After adjusting your search parameters, press Enter on your keyboard or click on the red magnifying glass to run your query again.
The tanker Boracay, part of Russia's "shadow fleet" suspected of involvement in drone flights over Denmark, is escorted by a French naval vessel on Oct. 1 off the coast of Saint-Nazaire, France.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2025

Putin is taking his hybrid warfare to the sea

Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to contest the Baltic, make no mistake.
Amid the election of Sanae Takaichi as Liberal Democratic Party president, and possibly the next prime minister, Japan's economy shows signs of recovery, but weak wages, a conservative corporate culture and currency issues raise doubts about a true economic thaw.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 13, 2025

Hypothermia in the land of the rising Sanae

Of late, the country has suddenly given every impression of heat. There are good reasons to believe hypothermia is over.
Brooklyn Nets' Cam Thomas dribbles past Phoenix Suns' Oso Ighodaro during the NBA pre-season basketball game at the Venetian Arena in Macau on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 14, 2025

The NBA’s return to China is no slam dunk

From a commercial point of view, re-engaging with its second-biggest market is an obvious move.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, holds a news conference at the Diet on Oct. 7. The collapse of the LDP-Komeito coalition highlights the risks of an opposition more focused on obstruction than solutions. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 14, 2025

Japan’s opposition coalition is a recipe for paralysis, not progress

The collapse of the LDP-Komeito coalition highlights the risks of an opposition more focused on obstruction than solutions.
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt moors at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in April 2018.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 14, 2025

Singapore thrived in a U.S.-led world. Now what?

Singapore is a mind-blowing success story that reminds us how distinctive America’s post-World War II global project was.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order on tariffs at the White House on April 2. Trump's protectionism is rippling through labor markets and dampening consumer demand around the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 14, 2025

Is the global economy as resilient as it seems?

U.S. economic expansion is losing steam as the Trump's erratic economic policies, harsh immigration tactics and cuts in social expenditures take a toll on growth and employment.
A barrel of annealed neodymium iron boron magnets prior to being crushed into powder in Tianjin, China, on June 11, 2010.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 15, 2025

China flexes superpower status using rare earths in global supply chain grab

The true impact is yet unknown but the move already has companies and policymakers considering countermeasures and alternative suppliers.
Refugees and migrants, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, crowd a platform at a train station in Budapest in September 2015. Hungary's focus on pro-natalist policies and minimal immigration has led to a significant improvement in its fertility rate compared to Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 15, 2025

Asia can learn from Europe’s immigration mistakes

The result is dangerous confusion where legitimate policy debates about labor shortages become entangled with xenophobic fears about cultural invasion.
Shenzhen International Airport. Chinese job seekers, worried about competition in tech fields, are upset about the new K visa, which allows foreign talent to work in China.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2025

China’s visa uproar is part of a DeepSeek illusion

Some of the resulting backlash on Chinese social media against the new K visa has been downright xenophobic and even racist.
Japan's political center is in turmoil, with the ruling party losing its long-held dominance and a series of complex negotiations ahead. The country’s leadership future is now uncertain.
COMMENTARY
Oct 15, 2025

A negotiator’s nightmare in Nagatacho

The LDP has since pushed back the date to vote for the next prime minister to Oct. 21.
Protesters rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta on the second anniversary of the Gaza war on Oct. 7.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2025

The U.S. is losing hearts and minds in Southeast Asia over Gaza

For the first time, more respondents among the 10 ASEAN nations said they would align with China (50.5%) over the U.S. (49.5%) if forced to choose.
A Chinese trade delegation in Madrid for talks with its U.S. counterpart holds a news conference on Sept. 15. Rare earths, along with tariffs and other key issues, will define the next phase of the China-U.S. rivalry as both sides escalate tensions, vie for leverage and leave room for tactical negotiation.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2025

The Sino-U.S. economic cage match heats up

Notwithstanding momentary attempts at detente, the long-term path is toward competitive confrontation.
North Korea celebrates the 80th founding anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang with a military parade on Oct. 10.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2025

North Korea’s military is more advanced than you think

Pyongyang is now in its strongest strategic position in decades, a reality that demands urgent attention.
Jon Heese (second left) takes part in a 2024 New Year's nihonshu barrel opening ceremony.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2025

Why I chose Japanese citizenship over permanent residency

It may be adequate for some residents’ purposes, but when the chips are down, many will be shocked at just how few protections it offers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a plenum session of the Knesset in June.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2025

Has Japan’s Diet finally begun its ‘Knessetization’?

My focus is entirely on whether Japan's parliament will finally begin to “Knessetize” (referring to Israel's parliament, and by extension, unstable coalition politics.)
Komeito chief representative Tetsuo Saito speaks during a debate with leaders of other political parties at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo in July. His party exited the ruling coalition with the ruling-LDP after 26 years, citing concerns over political donations and transparency.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2025

Is Komeito’s split with the LDP really about political funding?

Was Komeito negotiating in good faith or looking to undermine the Takaichi administration before it even commenced?
AI’s potential to resolve advanced economies’ debt and growth issues is uncertain as it faces significant obstacles and may exacerbate political unrest, inequality and global conflicts.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025

Will AI pay off the West’s debts?

To be sure, a wildly upbeat assessment of AI’s potential impact on economic growth has propelled asset markets higher over the last few years.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announces the winners of the 2025 Nobel economics prize at a news conference in Stockholm on Oct. 13. The prize was awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt for their work on innovation-driven economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025

This year’s economics Nobel holds a warning for the U.S

Between 1875 and 1926, 44% of the world’s breakthrough inventions took place in the U.S., with Britain, France and Germany hovering between 14% and 22%.
Global birth rates are declining, raising concerns about the impact on society, particularly women, as it exacerbates isolation while creating a need for structural and cultural changes to support motherhood.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025

Can the world handle having fewer moms?

Fewer women are having children. Those who do are having smaller families than previous generations. This trend transcends the norms of any one culture or place.
As governments race to deepen ties with Vietnam for strategic and economic gain, they must not ignore the country’s escalating human rights crackdown, which threatens both its people and the long-term sustainability of its growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025

Vietnam’s rights suppression carries a heavy price

Some Vietnamese say, "The government allows freedom of speech — just no freedom after you speak."
Then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a policy speech during an ordinary session at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo in January. Sanae Takaichi’s victory may result in fewer proportional seats in parliament, a shift that could hurt smaller parties. Bloomberg
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025

How the LDP-JIP coalition could hurt smaller parties

If the JIP’s proposal goes through unchanged, it would mean a reduction of 46 seats from the proportional representation districts.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi and other lawmakers prepare to cast their votes for Japan's new prime minister in the Lower House of parliament on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025

Takaichi’s choice: revolution, reform or regression

Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stands at a crossroads. Her choices will define not only her legacy but the nation’s trajectory.
The U.S.-China trade war has escalated as both sides use economic leverage, with China asserting dominance over rare earths to retaliate against U.S. tariffs, while the U.S. seeks a collective global response and long-term strategy to reduce dependency on China's supply chains.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025

This is what a real trade war looks like

China has leverage over trading partners every bit as powerful as what Trump seeks to wield.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi meets with Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura after signing a coalition agreement in Tokyo on Monday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025

The winners and losers after Japan’s political shakeup

The country’s ruling coalition has many issues to overcome before proving its long-term viability, but they have time before any national level elections to work through them.
With the recent sumo jaunt to London being essentially a goodwill exercise, <i>rikishi</i> were far more outgoing and relaxed than normal.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Oct 22, 2025

London exhibition perhaps sumo's most successful trip abroad

Over the course of the tournament, sumo received wall-to-wall coverage in mainstream British media.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent takes a picture during the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23 in New York.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2025

Supply-chain economics beat tariff politics

Twenty years ago, China learned the hard way that once supply chains reorganize, they never return to their previous form.
Sanae Takaichi's new Cabinet poses for a group photo at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 22, 2025

Breaking down Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet picks

Takaichi only appointed two women in the Cabinet, which was identical to the previous Shigeru Ishiba administration.
Sanae Takaichi meets with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te at the Presidential Office in Taipei in April.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 22, 2025

The secret to Takaichi’s success in the Indo-Pacific

In her favor, Takaichi, a former economic security minister, seems to understand that this developing security structure centers around Japan.
An extra edition of a newspaper announces Sanae Takaichi becoming Japan’s new prime minister on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 22, 2025

Japan’s new 'Iron Lady' can play 'heavy metal' politics

One of the few things the world knows about Takaichi is her fondness for heavy-metal music.
Despite enduring nearly four years of war, the Ukrainian people continue to live their lives with resilience, showing strength, endurance and the ability to maintain humanity in the face of ongoing hardship.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2025

In Ukraine, we’re learning to live with the war within

We live with the symptoms of collective post-traumatic stress: a nation holding its breath, waking from nightmares.
China warns citizens not to visit Japan as row over Taiwan heats up
Chinese tourists wear kimonos as they visit Sensoji temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district on Saturday.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
China warns of military response if Japan intervenes in Taiwan contingency
Representatives from the Japan Innovation Party hand over a proposal to designate Xue Jian, the Chinese consul-general in Osaka, as persona no grata, to a staff of the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
At Ginza’s newest hotel, luxury is a private treasure
At Fufu Tokyo, each guest room comes with its own private "onsen" (hot spring) — a luxury nearly unheard of in the heart of Tokyo's capital.
Japan may triple departure tax to tackle overtourism
A plane takes off from Haneda Airport.
Japan fully enters sports streaming era as fans face new dilemmas
Sports fan Tadashi Yokoyama streams basketball and fencing on three screens.
Stablecoins: Boring goes big, and now in Japan
Noritaka Okabe, CEO of JPYC, acknowledges a number of potential risks related to stablecoins.
Shohei Ohtani collects fourth MVP Award with 2025 NL honor
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani was named National League MVP for the second straight season on Thursday.
As Japan’s female leader rises, can she cross sumo’s sacred line?
Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (front center) delivers a speech on the first day of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Sunday. Centuries of belief and tradition still underpin the all-male association's stance of excluding women.
Tatsuya Nakadai: A masterful leading man and postwar icon
Tatsuya Nakadai had the look of a leading man in his youth, but his large and searching eyes suggested the pain and loneliness of an old soul.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER