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July 28, 2024
 

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Jeff Kingston
Jeff Kingston lives in Tokyo, teaches history at Temple University Japan and has been contributing to The Japan Times since 1988. "Contemporary Japan" (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) is his most recent book.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 24, 2013
China's contribution to Japan's defeat
An estimated 14 million to 20 million Chinese died during this epic struggle of resistance against Japanese aggression in a war that produced a staggering 80 million to 100 million refugees. Despite the prolonged onslaught of Japan's modern military machine for eight long years, a divided China, mostly...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 17, 2013
Japan's China imperative: overcoming problems, repairing relations
There is speculation that quiet diplomacy may lead to a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and China's President Xi Jinping. Certainly there are good reasons to expect no meeting of minds on some crucial issues that divide the two nations, but these need not prevent their leaders sitting down together...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 14, 2013
It's time Japan acted to end the war over Yasukuni Shrine
he only thing that Japan's modern reactionaries regret about World War II is defeat. Cabinet ministers show support for this idea when they visit Yasukuni Shrine.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 10, 2013
Aso's Nazi gaffe tarnishes Abe's agenda for constitutional revision
The other night at my local sushi bar conversation turned to Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso's comments about constitutional revision — specifically, his suggestion there is something to be learned from the way the Nazis revised the Weimar Constitution in 1933.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 3, 2013
Where's the love? Japanese feel unhappy, unloved and pessimistic
The results of a Pew Opinion survey released in July 2013 found that the public mood in Japan is improving but remains "mostly one of dissatisfaction." However, that dissatisfaction is 10 percent lower than the level registered in 2007 during Shinzo Abe's first spell as premier.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 27, 2013
Yasukuni Shrine: ground zero for unrepentant wartime remembrance
There is considerable speculation about whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to visit Yasukuni Shrine in mid-August. This is an especially sensitive time of the year as it coincides both with the annual Bon festival, when people honor their ancestors, and the anniversary of Japan's surrender in...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 20, 2013
Abe-power: Can premier deliver on promises and growth strategy?
Once the dust settles tonight, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party/New Komeito coalition will be in control of both houses of the Diet, promising an end to political gridlock.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 13, 2013
Kono Statement: Hit-and-run Abe vandalizes 20th anniversary
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pursuing dead-end diplomacy in East Asia at precisely a time when Japan most needs to shore up relations with neighbors so as to position itself well for China's ongoing rise. Alas, he doesn't grasp that regional reconciliation over history should be his calling card, not...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 6, 2013
Letting opportunity slip away
So why hasn't March 11, 2011, been the game-changer that many anticipated? Richard Samuels' masterful account of Japan's policy responses to its greatest crisis since World War II explains why continuity has trumped change. But maybe, just maybe, it hasn't, as he also reminds us that the consequences are still unfolding.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 6, 2013
Crime pays: Vampire squids wriggle free in wink-and-nod world
It seems the financial world lurches from scandal to scandal as if coated with Teflon, shrugging off demands for accountability.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 30, 2013
Constitutional revision: Proposed Abe-rights look to be all wrong
After the Upper House elections on July 21, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may try to revise the Constitution. This longstanding agenda is now within reach because the Liberal Democratic Party he heads might be able to rally the necessary two-thirds of votes in both chambers of the Diet.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 23, 2013
Happiness: Abenomics falls short
What makes people happy? The global trend toward quantifying happiness certainly got a big boost from Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan kingdom that has championed and made a cottage industry out of the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH).
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 16, 2013
Indonesia 15 years after the New Order
In May 1998 President Suharto resigned, ending three decades in power in Indonesia and what was known as the New Order. As an army general, he had intervened against a coup attempt in 1965 that ended with the sidelining of President Sukarno and months of massacres all over the archipelago as Suharto...
COMMENTARY / World / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 9, 2013
Everything under heaven: Big China rattles region
China's neighbors may have half-believed Beijing's previous "smile diplomacy" and frequent reassurances that its rise posed no threat to regional peace and stability — but now everyone understands what hegemonic aspirations look like.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 9, 2013
Unlike Germany, Japan's right still wrong on wartime history
It seems like there is no time like the present for Japanese to reflect on the wartime past. Japan's shared history with Asia has long been a running sore, dividing Japanese about what happened and why, a discourse that clouds the issue of war responsibility in ways that antagonize East Asian neighbors...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 2, 2013
Crony capitalism: corruption, disparities and stifled initiative
Crony capitalism is the scourge of contemporary Asia, lining pockets and diverting resources in ways that systematically undermine the public interest, accentuate disparities, sap innovative and entrepreneurial impulses — while also subverting governance.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 26, 2013
Is it safe? Ruling party pushes nuclear village agenda
In July 2011, then Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered stress tests on all Japan's 50 nuclear reactors to assess their safety. By May 2012, they were all idled and for the first time in 40 years the nation was not generating a single kWh from nuclear energy.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 19, 2013
Immigration reform: Could this be Abe's new growth strategy?
The politics of immigration in Japan involve anxieties about national identity and worries about crime. Looking at other countries with large numbers of immigrants, the Japanese government has said "no thanks." There are, however, strong economic reasons for Japan to let down the drawbridges.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 12, 2013
Exploring the Northeast Asian rivalry for power, influence via official development assistance
Japan used to be the world's leading foreign aid donor in the 1990s, spreading most of its largesse around Asia. But since 2001, Japan has slipped to fifth in donor rankings as budget deficits and the absence of strong political support lead to cuts in development assistance.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 12, 2013
Death penalty: Systemic failings add to risk of wrongful executions
Japan's continued resort to the death penalty raises a number of troubling questions.
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Ahead of the Olympics, Japan is still talking about the gymnast who won't be there
Japan's Shoko Miyata withdrew from the gymnastics team herself over her drinking and smoking, although it had already appeared as though the association was prepared to send her home from the team’s training camp in Monaco.
Yen melt-up nudges Japanese stocks into correction territory
Japanese stocks are down 10% from their July peak as the yen strengthens.
‘Crazy’ yen rally is at risk of shattering as soon as Wednesday
Some investors are warning that a yen rally is fragile, as was on show this week when the yen rapidly retraced an advance after Thursday’s stronger-than-expected U.S. economic growth figures.
Japan's average life expectancy rises for first time in three years
A decline in COVID-19-caused deaths likely helped boost the average life expectancy for Japanese men and women to rise for the first time in three years in 2023.
The Japanese Olympians looking to shine in Paris
Rim Nakamura, who is attempting to win Japan's first Olympic gold medal in cycling, will be one of the top Japanese athletes to watch at the Paris Games.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

Podcast

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

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
By Alex K.T. Martin

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