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March 14, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2010
U.K. searching for the center
By David Howell
When national elections are called, the major political parties — while of course emphasizing their differences through their propaganda — in practice all veer toward the center ground and claim it as their own. We are the ones, each leader proclaims, who can unite the nation.
COMMENTARY
Apr 15, 2010
Why precious is strategic
By Brahma Chellaney
Water, food, mineral ores and fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas are resources of the greatest strategic import. They hold the key to human development and, in the case of water and food, to even human survival.
COMMENTARY
Apr 15, 2010
Thailand's bloodshed is unbefitting of a king
By Tom Plate
Even viewing the spectacle from afar, it is utterly brutal on the emotions to observe an otherwise wondrous people and culture tearing itself in two. No one who has ever been treated to the endless charm and hospitality of the Thai people could be blamed for practically breaking into tears over the sight...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2010
For Japan to thrive, the wall must come down
By Robert Dujarric
More than 20 years have passed since the Berlin Wall fell, yet Japan remains shut out from the rest of humanity by its own wall. Though it is a shapeless partition that we cannot touch, it nevertheless cuts off the country from the world beyond its shores. What are the characteristics of this invisible...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2010
Obama's new nuclear policy
By Richard Weitz
WASHINGTON — Perhaps never in history have nuclear security, nonproliferation and arms control received the prominence that they are provided by this month's strategic trifecta: the April 6 release of the latest United States Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the April 8 signing in Prague of the New START...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2010
Who should lead the IMF?
By Kevin Rafferty
HONG KONG — With the popularity of Nicolas Sarkozy plummeting in French opinion polls and with Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) winning a good reputation as head of the International Monetary Fund, speculation is already swirling about when Strauss-Kahn will formally quit the fund to seek glory as president...
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 2010
Whither goes Chinese identity?
By Kazuo Ogoura
The former prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, is now called the minister mentor. He is indeed a great mentor to Singapore, as it is he who has led the nation to become one of the most affluent and most stable, disciplined societies in the world.
COMMENTARY
Apr 13, 2010
Could environmentalism really be communism in disguise?
By Takamitsu Sawa
KYOTO — Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, has published a book bitterly critical of environmentalists that has been translated into several languages. The original title of the book in Czech is "Modra, Nikoli Zelena Planeta," which literally translates as "blue planet, not green." Its...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2010
Vote for change may bring more of the same
By Tina Burrett
Just last month, the opposition Conservative Party seemed as close to unbeatable in the upcoming British election as is possible in politics. But last week Gordon Brown, the usually dour prime minister, had reason to be cheerful. According to the latest polls, Brown's Labour Party could yet emerge as...
COMMENTARY
Apr 11, 2010
Which way will the British go?
By Hugh Cortazzi
The United Kingdom will go to the polls on May 6, almost five years since the last general election. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has clung to power as long as he legally could. Now he must face the electorate. The electorate is fickle and the outcome is uncertain.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2010
The promise of Euro-Atlantic missile defense
By Anders Fogh Rasmussen
PRAGUE — On April 8 in Prague, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama signed a new strategic arms reduction treaty (START). That agreement is an historic achievement and an inspiration for further progress in global arms control. But at the same time, here and now, we must...
COMMENTARY
Apr 10, 2010
A reality check in Asia
By Brad Glosserman
The hearts of Asia-Pacific strategists are all aflutter. The desire of Japan's new government to "rebalance" its foreign policy between East and West and the subsequent tensions between Tokyo and Washington are seen as portents of a shift in the regional balance of power. Propelled by a global recession...
The U.S. says Japan has a 700% tariff on American rice. Is that the case?
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a piece of paper with information about tariff rates at the White House on Tuesday.
China deploys food as a high-impact, low-cost weapon in tariff fight
Boxes of imported pork from the U.S. at a cold storage warehouse in Shanghai
Sumo in March comes in like a lion
Onosato (right) has eased to a 3-0 start in the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka.
Lack of exemption from U.S. steel tariffs 'regrettable,' says Japan
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday
Tokyo livestream murder victim stabbed over alleged debt dispute
Tokyo police at a site where a woman had been stabbed while livestreaming in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Tuesday
Taiwan’s No. 2 diplomat seeks higher-level ‘unofficial’ Japan meetings as ties grow
Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu told The Japan Times in an interview last week in Taipei that he hopes with the island democracy can strengthen ties with Japan and other like-minded nations “at every level.”
14 years after 3/11 disasters, Fukushima vies to become a startup hub
Aizawa Concrete employees work in the Namie factory in Fukushima Prefecture in January.
‘We are not Ukraine’: Top Taiwan officials temper comparisons after U.S. U-turn
People hold a Ukrainian flag and a Taiwan flag during a protest to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Taipei on Feb. 23.
Tokyo’s vinyl experts say overseas buyers are ‘sustaining the scene’
Rintaro Sekizuka runs a record store in both London and Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward.
Slowly but surely, Osaka emerges from Kyoto’s fine-dining shadow
Bar Bota, the 37th-floor watering hole at the Four Seasons Osaka, looks out on a glittering cityscape better known for its cheap eats and drinks.

Podcast

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

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
By Tomoko Otake

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