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March 06, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2012
More crucial than English
By Takamitsu Sawa
On Nov. 21, 2011, the Government Revitalization Unit (GRU) took up the issue of reform of Japan's university system. Five themes were presented by GRU members:
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2012
Europe's potion is now its poison with China inheriting the benefits
By Gregory Clark
Today's lecture is on the sorry state of that dismal science called economics.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2012
Spring erosion of Seoul's ruling party forecast
By Lee Byong Chul
The ascension to power of the pudgy 29-year-old Kim Jong Un in North Korea has grabbed headlines around the world, but the most important story involving Korean young people and politics is taking place in the South.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 22, 2012
Self-effacement is a fine thing, but does Japanese culture take it too far?
By Roger Pulvers
What is it that has aided the people of Tohoku in coping with the tragedy inflicted on that region of northeast Honshu by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011? The entire world marveled at their resilience, courage and stoic altruism.
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2012
Escaping Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires
By Brahma Chellaney
Since coming to office, President Barack Obama has pursued an Afghan war strategy summed up in just four words: "surge, bribe and run." The U.S.-led military mission has now entered the "run" part, or what euphemistically is being called the "transition to 2014" — the year Obama arbitrarily chose as...
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2012
Bring the world closer to Japan
By Shinji Fukukawa
Once the Cold War was over, globalism was widely expected to expand but has since lost its momentum due to the credit crunch stemming from the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the ensuing economic recession around the world. As a result, the World Trade Organization gave up in December on concluding...
COMMENTARY
Jan 20, 2012
Finessing the dramatic opening to Myanmar
By Tom Plate
Perhaps a democratic system of government will not prove the final answer for Myanmar. Just take a look at the Philippines if you're crazy about another possible "for sale" democracy in Asia. But considering what the good people of what used to be called Burma have had to endure — an intellectually...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2012
The Arab Spring: separating fact from fiction
By Fouad Ajami
When the Arab Spring began a year ago, the Western world was shocked. On the surface, it had seemed that liberty had bypassed the Arabs; they had seemed resigned to tyranny. But once unleashed, the upheaval knew no restraint, and there were mayhem and promise in the streets of the Arab world. Since then,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2012
Commitment hatched Europe's ethical eggs
By Peter Singer
Forty years ago, I stood with a few other students in a busy Oxford street handing out leaflets protesting the use of battery cages to hold hens. Most of those who took the leaflets did not know that their eggs came from hens kept in cages so small that even one bird — the cages normally housed four...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2012
Understanding Tehran's behavior
By Ray Takeyh
The perennial conflict between Iran and the West has entered a dangerous new phase, with tensions rising in the Persian Gulf since Iran has threatened retaliation for last week's assassination of a chemical engineer linked to the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. What accounts for Iran's behavior?...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2012
In war, desecration of the enemy is all too common
By Sebastian Junger
The video that emerged in recent days appearing to show four U.S. Marines urinating on several dead Taliban fighters has outraged many people in this country. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have condemned the act, the military has promised an inquiry, and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2012
Peace without Vietnam's pitfalls
By James Dobbins
In 1968 I began my life in diplomacy as an aide to Averell Harriman and Cyrus Vance, who were heading peace talks with the North Vietnamese in Paris. Thirty-four years later, I ended that career as the George W. Bush administration's first special envoy to Afghanistan, appointed weeks after the Sept....
Trump, claiming Japan guiding yen lower, hints at fresh tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that if Japan and China try to weaken their currencies and put the United States "at a very unfair disadvantage," he could impose fresh tariffs on them.
Not even Japan is safe from counterfeit luxury goods
While Japan's luxury goods market remains strong, its seconhand resale market is proving just as much a draw for tourists searching for great bargains — as long as they can manage to get their hands on the real deal.
China’s military puts Pacific on notice as U.S. priorities shift
A photo released by the Australia Defense Force showed an Australian Navy ship in the foreground and two Chinese navy ships in the Tasman Sea in February.
Snow forces highway closures in Tokyo
Officials from the Meteorological Agency hold a news conference about the heavy snow forecast, on Sunday in the city of Saitama.
Prince Hisahito's coming-of-age ceremony set for Sept. 6
Prince Hisahito in the city of Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, on Feb. 12
Can Shiori Ito’s documentary open Japan’s black box?
Shiori Ito is the first Japanese director to have been nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature film. "Black Box Diaries," which tells the story of her quest for justice following her rape in 2015, hasn't been released in Japan.
Japanese stocks stalled at 1989 levels as investors weigh tariffs and rates
An electronic sign displays the benchmark Nikkei stock average on a street in Tokyo. The stock average has been range-bound between about 38,000 and 40,000 since hitting a new all-time high in July last year.
Redevelopment and resistance in historic Nishiogikubo
Tsuyoshi Mizukoshi, owner of a pub in Nishiogi’s commercial area, is a community organizer who is rallying local residents against the road development plan.
Why the latest Iwate wildfire is so difficult to extinguish
Firefighters work to extinguish the forest fire in the city of Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, in this screenshot of a video footage from the Fire and Disaster Management Agency on Friday.
Japan’s climate heroes show potential and limits of local initiatives
Hidetaka Ishii, an official at the Chiba Municipal Government, says close coordination with private-sector operators is key for regional decarbonization efforts.

Podcast

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

Longform

Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows
By Alex K.T. Martin

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