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Japan Times
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Apr 25, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court isn’t done with abortion. Not by a long shot.

The recent showdown over the abortion pill mifepristone offers a glimpse of the legal fights likely to land at the court in the coming years.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 17, 2023

Taking on Erdogan, Turkish opposition leader banks on everyman appeal

Kemal Kilicdaroglu is aiming to attract voters tired of the president’s bombastic rhetoric and tough-guy persona, campaigning not just as an anti-Erdogan but as his polar opposite.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2023

Approval rate for Kishida's Cabinet rises above 30% in latest poll

The approval rate climbed 3.6 percentage points from the previous month to 33.5%, up for the third straight month, according to the poll.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2023

Kishida Cabinet's approval rate rises to 29.9% in latest poll

The disapproval rate also fell 1.3 points to 40.9%, but it still surpassed the approval rate for the seventh month in a row.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 21, 2023

Why pharmaceuticals are a key issue in the ongoing U.S.-China conflict

Beijing has control over the chokepoints — active pharmaceutical ingredients and raw materials — of pharmaceutical supply chains.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2023

One-size-fits-all COVID-19 booster plan needs a rethink

Public health officials should recognize that additional COVID-19 booster shots should now be a more nuanced decision.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2023

How much heat can the human body stand?

The hottest June ever and a record-breaking start to July should be a wake-up call. We weren’t built for this.
The nuclear-powered USS Annapolis submarine makes a port call at South Korea's Jeju Island on Monday. It was the second such visit by a U.S. submarine to the country in the span of about a week.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2023

Nuclear Consultative Group strengthens Northeast Asian deterrence

The logic for trilateral coordination between the U.S., Japan and South Korea is compelling. The NCG is an important first step toward that goal.
Digital Minister Taro Kono discusses the My Number system inspection at a government meeting in Tokyo on June 30.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 26, 2023

My Number woes put digital minister Taro Kono under pressure

Another misstep could deal a further blow to the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and jeopardize the political standing of Kono.
Former U.S. President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump arrives to speak at an event in West Palm Beach, Florida, on July 15.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 2, 2023

Indictment could push Trump closer to 2024 Republican nomination

The former U.S. president has made the indictments a central plank of his campaign platform, portraying himself as the target of a biased justice system.
A demonstration is held in Hong Kong on Thursday over the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 24, 2023

The Fukushima hysteria has a lesson for the nuclear renaissance

From the reaction prior to the Fukushima release across Asia, you’d think Tokyo was embarking on a program to poison the region’s water supplies.
The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% in March, the lowest level ever recorded in the monthly data, but then rose to 6% in June, showing how erratic it can be.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2023

The mysterious fall and rise of Black unemployment

After a roller-coaster move this spring, it’s now essentially back to where it was in February. How much is statistical noise?
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Kursk during World War II in Russia's Kursk region on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 26, 2023

Russia pushes long-term influence operations aimed at U.S. and Europe

Russian spy agencies are using the techniques to hide the Kremlin’s involvement in cultivating pro-Russia messages, a U.S. analysis has shown.
Former Foxconn founder Terry Gou gestures during a news conference in Taipei on Monday. Gou announced that he will run for president of Taiwan as an independent candidate.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 28, 2023

Foxconn founder Terry Gou announces Taiwan presidential bid

Trailing his competition, he will must secure signatures from around 290,000 voters for his bid to become official.
Then Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and U.S. President Donald Trump meet during their final debate ahead of the 2020 election, in Nashville, Tennessee, in October of that year.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2023

Trump vs. Biden: Do American voters want either?

Confidence among the American public in their leaders and in their political system continues to erode.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and members of his new Cabinet at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 14, 2023

More flash than substance in Kishida’s Cabinet reshuffle

The reshuffle was consistent with past Liberal Democratic Party practices and portends a continuation of status quo policies and initiatives.
Liberal Democratic Party election strategy committee Chair Yuko Obuchi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Sept. 13.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 21, 2023

Scandal-tainted Yuko Obuchi's appointment could backfire on Kishida

Obuchi still faces questions over a nearly decade-old political funds scandal, and last week she was hit with fresh allegations of financial impropriety.
Slovaks will vote on Sept. 30 in a tight election that polls show could deliver an unlikely comeback for Robert Fico.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 25, 2023

Russia may be about to get a new friendly leader in Europe

Slovaks will vote on Sept. 30 in a tight election, and former Prime Minister Robert Fico has tapped into concerns over the fallout from the Ukraine war.
Central to China’s global media campaign is the aggressive use of new technologies to target and spread messages, silence critics and create a digital infrastructure that is more easily controlled.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2023

Pushing back against China’s media offensive

China is using propaganda, disinformation, censorship and covert tactics to promote its preferred narrative and suppress critical reporting.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a news conference after his Cabinet reshuffle in Tokyo on Sept. 13.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 3, 2023

Two years in, Kishida delivers stability but fails to wow

Despite little to boast about, Kishida is on his way to becoming one of the longest-serving prime ministers in recent history.
Ukrainian and Russian forces fight for control of the city of Bakhmut in May. Elon Musk asked why so many American lawmakers care more about what happens in Ukraine than the migrant crisis at the U.S. border.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2023

Message for Elon: We must keep supporting Ukraine

Elon Musk asked, "Why do so many American politicians from both parties care 100 times more about the Ukraine border than the USA border?”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a high level Security Council meeting on the situation in Ukraine, on the sidelines of the 78th U.N. General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on Sept. 20.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 11, 2023

Ukraine fatigue unlikely to reach Japan anytime soon

Japan’s support for Ukraine remains steadfast at a time when popular opinion across several Western countries shows growing signs of weariness.
People gather on Wednesday near the al-Ahli hospital where hundreds of Palestinians were killed earlier in a blast that Israeli and Palestinian officials blame on each other.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 2023

Gaza hospital tragedy escalates war risk, no matter who’s to blame

The Gaza hospital tragedy escalates the conflict and raises questions as to what really happened and who is to blame?
Iran holds its National Army Day parade in Tehran in April 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 25, 2023

U.S. must press its advantages over Iran or war will spread

The Hamas attack on Israel was a geopolitical earthquake. The aftershocks will reverberate for years to come.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds his glasses during an Upper House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 1, 2023

Hotly debated tax cuts risk backfiring on Kishida administration

When Kishida announced plans to cut income and residence taxes to ease the hit from inflation, there was a chorus of skepticism rather than joy.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield addresses an emergency session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the United Nations headquarters on Oct. 27.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 3, 2023

Where’s the United Nations in all this? Oh, right, nowhere.

In times of crisis, the United Nations turns into a Babel in which everybody distrusts everybody else and finding common ground becomes impossible.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog's claim all Gazans are responsible for Hamas' actions ignores the iron grip the group has over the strip and how isolated its people are.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2023

No, Gazans can’t rise up against Hamas

Claiming all Gazans are responsible for Hamas' actions ignores the iron grip the group has over the strip and how isolated its people are.
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Falls Church, Virginia, on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 9, 2023

U.S. elections show Republicans have clear voter problems

Abortion as an issue that breaks strongly for the Democrats doesn’t seem to be going away at any point soon.
A giant panda at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington during one of its last days on American soil. Pandas Tian Tian, Mei Xiang and Xiao Qi Ji were returned to China on Nov. 8 upon Beijing's request.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2023

Pandas don’t play diplomatic hard ball like China does

Panda diplomacy is endangered, with the forced return of three bears from Washington to China an exercise in "dumb power."
Mainland Chinese student Zhou Hongxu arrives for a court hearing on suspicion that he attempted to develop a spy network for China in Taiwan in March 2018.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2023

Spies bring their China warnings in from the cold

The spy chiefs say Western nations need to safeguard technology innovation, particularly in areas like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Longform

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