author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 21, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

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
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 12, 2016
Counterterrorism and liberties on collision course
The continuing standoff between Apple and the FBI over data stored on an iPhone that belonged to the alleged perpetrators of the San Bernadino terrorist attacks highlights the frictions between protecting civil liberties and maintaining security. The USA Patriot Act has drawn widespread condemnation...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 5, 2016
Japan's counterterrorism efforts falling short
The Foreign Ministry invited ridicule toward the end of 2015 after it advertised job openings for part-time counterterrorism analysts. While the expansion of the exploited precariat of non-regular workers to nearly 40 percent of the workforce is lamentable in itself, who would have thought some of them...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 27, 2016
Does Tohoku's disaster tourism exploit or educate?
Disaster tourism can be an unsettling descent into voyeurism as visitors ghoulishly gawk at, and photograph, those caught up in catastrophe as if they're at a petting zoo. The concept has prompted widespread condemnation of insensitive tourists and travel companies exploiting disasters as marketing opportunities....
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 20, 2016
1936 coup failed, but rebels killed Japan's 'Keynes'
This Friday marks the 80th anniversary of the February 26th Incident, a coup staged by young military officers who hoped to spark a general uprising, but whose revolt was quashed on the orders of Emperor Hirohito.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 13, 2016
Onagawa is on the rebound from devastation
On March 11, 2011, the magnitude-9 Great East Japan Earthquake propelled a powerful tsunami through the port of Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, claiming 827 lives — nearly 10 percent of the town's population — and destroying 70 percent of all of its buildings. It was the most severely damaged town in...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 6, 2016
A Tohoku father seeks accountability for his daughter's death
As the fifth anniversary of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami approaches, the tragic story of 74 schoolchildren and 10 teachers who drowned near Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, continues to resonate painfully.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 30, 2016
Work-life balance in Japan leans in one direction
The concept of work-life balance is intrinsically appealing. People are so busy with work nowadays that they can't escape, tethered as they are to their jobs by smartphones. This situation generates stress and encroaches on private time with family and friends. Weekends? What weekends?!
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 23, 2016
Hiroko Kuniya's ouster deals another blow to quality journalism in Japan
Hiroko Kuniya, the widely respected anchor for NHK's stellar "Close-up Gendai" news analysis program, has been ousted from her position after 23 years with the show. She now joins a growing list of prominent news presenters and commentators who have discovered the apparent perils of not kowtowing to...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 16, 2016
Asia is imperiled by COP21's climate cop-out
The nations of the world gathered at the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) last month to come to an agreement on the urgent mission of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, all they produced was an attractive vision statement that is more sham than solution.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 9, 2016
'Comfort women' problem requires a grand gesture
Due to his unassailable nationalist credentials, Prime Minister Abe is uniquely positioned to make a powerfully symbolic gesture of contrition.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 2, 2016
In Abe's Japan, a woman's place is on the margins
On Dec. 16, Japan's Supreme Court struck a blow for patriarchy by refusing to strike down the law requiring married couples to adopt one surname, a regulation that weighs disproportionately on women since in almost all cases they adopt their husband's family name. For career women, this requirement burdens...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 26, 2015
Asia's person of the year and the death of a giant
It took two elections spaced over a quarter of a century, but Myanmar's military junta has finally got the message and is obeying the will of the citizens as expressed in the 2015 elections. In November, the ruling Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) woke up to find out just how reviled it really...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 19, 2015
Recommended reading for the holidays and beyond
'Black Dragon River' stands out among the nonfiction books that caught the eye of columnist Jeff Kingston over the past year.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 12, 2015
Gerald Curtis, the ultimate insider in Japanese politics, retires
Gerald Curtis will retire this month from Columbia University, where he has been teaching since 1968.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 5, 2015
Done right, moral education could be a good thing
The Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is enacting another one of the conservatives' long-standing policy desires by reintroducing moral education in secondary schools from 2018.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 28, 2015
Asia mostly backsliding on democratic values
In Japan, lawyers are fortunately not arrested by the state for doing their job, as they are in China. Nor are academics faced with indictment for challenging mainstream history narratives, as in South Korea.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 21, 2015
Resumption of Antarctic whaling flouts rule of law
The rule of law has been Japan's trump card in its ongoing rhubarb with China over competing territorial claims in the East China Sea.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 14, 2015
Chinese media crucial in public diplomacy effort
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently had a cameo in the animated adult cartoon "South Park." In the episode, Xi (not the real Xi) revealed that Japan decides "who is gay or not" in Asia. The character also said the Japanese "are dogs who refuse not apologize to the Chinese Republic" and then kissed...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 7, 2015
South Korea's new state textbook 'corrects' history
South Korea recently announced plans for a revisionist textbook that will whitewash that country's history and has the academic community outraged over political meddling. At least the move gives South Korean President Park Geun-hye something in common with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 31, 2015
'Japan Lobby' takes the gloves off in PR battle
The Sankei Shimbun advocates a more aggressive diplomatic stance on history issues and this dovetails with the mission of Japan Conference, a reactionary organization that includes numerous lawmakers. From their perspective, Japan has been too reticent and polite on the world stage and the gloves need...
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’
SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER