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BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Jul 2, 2007

'Cool Earth' efforts with Merkel could help Abe change climate in Japan

You don't have to read gossip columns to know that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have been seeing a lot of each other lately.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 24, 2007

Big breasts, funny hair, anything dumb — the way to go on TV

Last spring, TV tarento Rei Kikukawa made news when she appeared in a bra commercial. TV commercials are the bread-and-butter of most tarento (media stars), and Kikukawa has done her fair share, but since gaining stardom she's managed to avoid overt exploitation of her sex appeal. That's because she...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2006

Long inevitable goodbye of Tony Blair

LONDON -- In early 1999, Paddy Ashdown, then the leader of Britain's Liberal Democratic Party (and since then, as Lord Ashdown, Europe's envoy in Bosnia), was found with a woman not his wife and forced to resign his post.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 5, 2005

Making sense of kanji

Kanji query Two very interesting responses to the letter of June 7 about pronouncing kanji.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 21, 2004

Workplace worries

Bullying and dismissal I've been working for a private university for almost eight years. During that time, I have put up with constant "ijime" from two other teachers, who finally got their way and are having me fired. No reason was given for my firing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Nov 21, 2004

Toilet humor in the Tokyo underground

"Tell Franck he's an asshole," barks David Pallash down the phone to me. "And that he is just tooooo French."
COMMENTARY
Oct 7, 2003

Japan's diplomatic needs

In his second Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi retained both Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Defense Agency Director General Shigeru Ishiba. This promises continuity in Japan's foreign and defense policy, at least for the next three years in which Koizumi is likely to serve as...
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2003

50-year testament to the absence of war

HONG KONG -- Sunday is the 50th anniversary of the signing of a document that has lasted much longer than expected and has had a profound influence on the course of modern Asian history.
EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2003

Controversial bill reaches Diet floor

There is no question that Japan should do what it can to help bring stability and democracy to Iraq. Although the world remains divided over whether the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was justified, rebuilding the country is an international undertaking that should be supported by as many nations as possible...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 30, 2001

Ichiro prefers to let his bat do the talking

He may be the ultimate Mariner, but when it comes to dealing with the media, baseball superstar Ichiro Suzuki can act more like a clam.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2001

FSA should hire experts to enhance effectiveness of No-Action Letter system

Third in a series
EDITORIALS
Oct 31, 2000

A medical advance fails in its promise

Some desperately ill children in Japan are dying because the smaller organs they require for transplant surgery are unavailable here. When their families can afford it, children needing such operations must travel to the United States or other countries where the use of organs from brain-dead donors...
COMMENTARY
Sep 15, 2000

Looking for Mori's successor

A couple of weeks ago, Koichi Kato, former secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, appeared at a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo. Kato is receiving growing public attention as a potential contender for the post of prime minister to replace unpopular Yoshiro...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 29, 2000

Play revives old debate over Nazi A-bomb

"Absence of A-bomb: Were the Nazis duped -- or simply dumb?" So asks the weekly U.S. News & World Report in a piece for its July 24-31 cover story, "Mysteries of History." The question is being revisited now perhaps because of a recent Broadway import from London: Michael Frayn's "Copenhagen."
LIFE / ALTERNATIVE LUXURIES
Jun 1, 2000

Our planet, our teacher

In conversation with writer Masanori Oe, one hears the word "discovery" quite often. It's no wonder. Since the days of his translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead into Japanese and his film documentaries on the psychedelic movement in New York City in the late 1960s, he has pioneered new directions...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 1999

'Advance Australia fair' takes on a whole new meaning

"There goes another shiftless Aboriginal," said the Pioneer bus driver to those of us taking the half-day tour of Alice Springs. "We give them cars, they drive them till they're out of petrol, then, bloody hell, they just leave the bloody things by the side of the road."
EDITORIALS
May 25, 1999

Security not served by vagueness

The controversial bills for implementing the Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines finally cleared the Upper House Monday with some key issues remaining unresolved or vague: at least they seem so to ordinary people. One such issue is the emergency condition that requires Japan to mobilize the Self-Defense...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 1999

A new bridge over the Pacific revealed

Is friendship between nations possible? Can Japan and the United States be friends as the U.S. is with Canada and Britain, or are they forever destined to have a relationship that turns on a calculation of mutual advantage?
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Jun 7, 2023

Is Japan going to legalize same-sex marriage?

A series of court cases is helping to shape the debate over whether or not Japan will act on legalizing same-sex marriage.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2022

What you’ll find inside Nintendo’s new California theme park

Starting next year, Nintendo fans can step through a life-sizeu00a0warp pipe and enter the Mushroom Kingdom for the first time on American soil.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2022

AI can make crypto safer for everyone

Artificial intelligence can make cryptocurrencies easier to use without the need for intermediaries that people may not trust.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2022

Ensuring Taiwan’s safety is for the global public good

Taiwan's irreplaceable position in trade and technology makes the island a global public good with the world community having a vested interest in its fate.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2022

If AI ever becomes sentient, it will let us know

What we humans say or think isn't necessarily the last word on artificial intelligence.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2022

The global economy in transition

The green transition is a powerful mechanism for increasing resilience and reducing vulnerability to the weaponization of energy supplies.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2022

Don’t jump to conclusions on politics of ending Roe v. Wade

Americans favor abortion rights, but most aren't intense pro-life or pro-choice partisans. A definitive Supreme Court ruling might alter the current landscape.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2022

Is Wimbledon’s ban on Russians a double fault?

Banning players from Russia and Belarus does more to preserve the tennis tournament as a politics-free zone than support Ukraine's war effort.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 9, 2022

Sanctions and sanctuary: Japan responds to Russia's war in Ukraine

As Vladimir Putin's grim war in Ukraine escalates, The Economist's Tokyo bureau chief, Noah Sneider, joins to discuss the reasons for the conflict, the lengths to which Japan is supporting Ukraine, and how the war will redefine relationships between Japan and its northern neighbor, Russia.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Feb 13, 2022

At Beijing press conferences, the questions tell their own story

There were 12 questions asked in English on Saturday, and 11 were about a doping scandal. There were seven questions asked in Chinese, and they were about, basically, anything else.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 11, 2022

Japan’s entry ban leaves students and universities counting the cost

Restrictions on new entries have seen projects disrupted, scholarships lost, international exchange undermined, career plans left in tatters and much more.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.