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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2023

Vladimir Putin's favorite entrepreneur specializes in war

The support that the leader of the Wagner mercenary group enjoys in invasion-era Russia reflects Vladimir Putin’s unusual idea of private enterprise.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2023

Raises for retail workers won't protect them from automation

Increasing wages at Walmart and its competitors is a positive move, but automation is reducing jobs and the hours staff are needed.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2023

LDP flips on LGBTQ bill after gaffe by Kishida aide

The party will prepare to submit a bill encouraging understanding of LGBTQ issues, seeking to repair the damage from the former aide's discriminatory comments.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 6, 2023

Japan-South Korea talks fail to inspire hope of breakthrough

Senior diplomats from Japan and South Korea make limited progress in wartime labor talks.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2023

AI is improving faster than most humans realize

Technologies such as ChatGPT will profoundly change the economy and other aspects of life, but they are getting better so quickly that it’s impossible to say how.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2023

What are the prospects for a cross-strait detente?

Taiwan and China both seem keen to dial down tensions while the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang could well win the island’s 2024 presidential election.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 4, 2023

'Beijing’s Global Media Offensive': China's fight to win influence around the world

Author Joshua Kurlantzick's up-to-date and rigorously footnoted new book details the country's efforts to write its own narrative and sway minds through media.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2023

‘Blood batteries’ drive America’s frantic EV ambitions

In its quest to secure the raw materials needed to make electric vehicles, the U.S. is turning to some questionable places.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Feb 3, 2023

Japan Times 1923: Doubtful news agency claims Tokyo English dailies favor cause of Japanese war office

With a change of editors at the top of The Japan Times, other publications call out a newly detected 'pro military' stance from the newspaper — and the paper responds on the front page.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 3, 2023

Soaring death toll gives grim insight into Russian tactics

The slaughter from fighting in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and the town of Soledar has ballooned what was already a heavy toll.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 2, 2023

The importance of the Constitutional Democratic Party’s visit to Taiwan

Taiwan needs a broader base of supporters other than just conservatives in key partner countries to keep it safer.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 2, 2023

Superheroes need not apply for the BOJ’s top job

The challenges facing Kuroda’s BOJ successor look almost conventional. There’s no sense of national peril this time.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 31, 2023

U.S. and South Korea to hold 'tabletop' exercises on nuclear threats next month

Talks by the two countries' defense chiefs came amid rising public support in Seoul for developing its own nuclear weapons after North Korea’s record-breaking flurry of missile tests.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2023

A George Jetson world will start with parcels — not people

Before air taxis start taking passengers, the technology will be tested in moving freight before the public accepts their everyday use.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jan 30, 2023

The 2% target: Central banks' inflation touchstone faces post-pandemic reckoning

By announcing an inflation goal, central bankers feel they build credibility for themselves and focus the planning of households and firms in ways that help keep inflation controlled.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 28, 2023

Japan eyes lifting South Korean export controls as Seoul works to improve ties, report says

Any move would come amid ongoing talks over a new plan to resolve the issue of wartime labor and as concerns mount over the increasingly tense regional security environment.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 28, 2023

Translations and books about Japan for your 2023 reading list

From Osamu Dazai to Yu Miri, the year ahead promises of trove of books about Japan and newly translated literature.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 27, 2023

Begging Japanese companies to hike wages is not the answer

Japan’s prime minister is asking employers to pay workers more. He should make the market do that instead.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2023

Bet you didn't know you needed a sleep coach

Getting quality sleep is starting to look like a competitive sport in today's health-obsessed society.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jan 27, 2023

Erdogan thrusts NATO expansion issue into Turkey's tense election campaign

Facing his biggest political test in two decades in power, Erdogan took a stance that has proven effective before — criticizing perceived Islamophobia in Europe.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 27, 2023

Kuroda’s head-fakes make the unthinkable plausible

Skepticism about the Bank of Japan’s intentions is clouding Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's last months on the job.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2023

The world ignores Myanmar’s plight at its peril

Nearly two years on from a brutal military coup, the country has slid into civil war. A failed state in the heart of Asia benefits no one.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 25, 2023

The growing comprehension gap that isolates Japan

Japan's central bank governor and the market are talking at cross-purposes. It shows a country that’s both badly understood and a poor communicator.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2023

The coming El Nino could be a glimpse of a grim future

A temporary spike in temperatures next year because of the El Nino weather pattern might motivate the world to curb carbon emissions.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2023

‘Woke’ is a political term with a long and complicated history

The idea of wokeism has been used by both Black and White Americans to fight injustice since the early 1900s.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 25, 2023

Troubleshooter Chris Hipkins faces a tough road as New Zealand PM

Hipkins built a reputation for competence in tackling COVID-19, though he acknowledges some mistakes and faces a tough battle to retain power in an October general election.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2023

U.K. election results pose mixed questions for Sunak and Starmer

The prime minister narrowly avoided an unprecedented defeat last week. His opponent in the battle for No. 10 was served a policy warning.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 21, 2023

Most Asians in U.S., even those of Chinese descent, see China negatively

Only about 4 in 10 Chinese Americans see China in a positive light, with 15% holding a very unfavorable view of the country, more than the rates for India (10%), Vietnam (5%) and Japan (4%).
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 21, 2023

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.

Longform

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly