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December 22, 2024
 

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Christopher Hobson
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2021
Lessons from living through a pandemic
COVID-19 has revealed that collectively we are not very good at dealing with situations of uncertainty.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 5, 2019
Security in 'Society 5.0'
As Japan moves toward Society 5.0, there is a need for a much more transparent accounting of the possible downsides surrounding this transition, and further consideration of how some of the risks can be minimized.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2017
Putting democracy's troubles in context
History shows us that democracy has survived crises far greater than the present moment.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2016
Easy punditry, hard problems
The experience of the Bush years suggests that the institutions of U.S. democracy are not necessarily strong enough to prevent dangerous and reckless decisions being made. This does not bode well for a Trump presidency.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 18, 2015
To counter Abe, opposition must offer viable alternatives
Simply rejecting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies on defense and nuclear power is not sufficient. The opposition must formulate viable alternatives and advance different visions of Japan's future.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 20, 2015
The tragedy of Shinzo Abe
If Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's concern is with strengthening the position of Japan, why he has made so little progress on economics reforms?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 2, 2015
Terrorism is low on the list of dangers threatening Japan
The history of the U.S. and other Western democracies since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 has been a depressing tale of massive over-reactions to a very limited threat.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2014
The 'evil' in Iraq and Syria
Questioning the use of force by the U.S. and its allies in response to the crisis in Iraq and Syria does not mean we should sit idly by as innocents continue to be killed and abused.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 24, 2014
Rebuilding trust in Tepco
Tepco's task of regaining the trust of Japan's public will be just as difficult as resolving the technical challenges in the decades-long work of decommissioning the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2014
Lessons for fixing Fukushima
In March 2011 all of Japan was united by the terrible experience of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident. Three years later this unity is increasingly fracturing as a more uneven reality emerges.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 28, 2013
Exposing IAEA to a dose of reality
Contrasting the International Atomic Energy Agency's findings with the reality in Fukushima, one is left wondering whether the IAEA mission got lost in a Potemkin village during their trip.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 26, 2013
Time to take over Daiichi?
Rather than rely on Tepco and a bare bones staff of regulators, it's time that the Japanese government consider taking control of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2012
Wakeup call for Japan's politicians
The massive shock that Japan received from the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, was not enough to shake the country's politicians out of their comatose state. This was already evident before the recent national elections.
Freed anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson arrives in France
U.S.-Canadian anti-whaling environmental activist Paul Watson, who was released from prison in Greenland's capital Nuuk after five months in detention, arrives with Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, near Paris, on Friday.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

Podcast

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

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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