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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2019

Democracy is on the march worldwide, not in retreat

Mass protests in country after country show how powerful the demand for social equality remains
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 5, 2019

Gay Byrne, Ireland's 'most influential broadcaster,' dies at 85

Ireland's best known television personality, Gay Byrne, who hosted "The Late Late Show" for almost 40 years, died aged 85 on Monday, and was hailed by the prime minister as the "most influential broadcaster in the history of the state.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2019

Beijing is determined to reshape the globe

The Belt and Road initiative seeks to remake Eurasia in China's image.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2019

Germany's windmills are wildly unpopular

In renewable energy, competition from fossil fuels isn't the only problem: Local politics may be an even higher hurdle.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 4, 2019

In boost for Taiwan leader, China-friendly veteran James Soong set to run for Taiwan presidency

Tsai Ing-wen's chances of being re-elected as Taiwan's president received a boost as one of Taiwan's most senior China-friendly politicians appears set to enter the election, potentially sapping votes from the main opposition candidate.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 3, 2019

Trump's push for Seoul to pay more for U.S. troops throws alliance into question and puts Tokyo on notice

Despite faltering denuclearization talks, U.S. President Donald Trump has been heaping praise on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, brushing away concerns by top Asian allies over recent missile launches and boasting of his "very good" relationship with the dictator of the nuclear-armed pariah state.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 31, 2019

Questions over raising minimum wages

The adoption of a social security policy for the purpose of a competition policy must be avoided.
Japan Times
JAPAN / The Argument: Casinos
Oct 30, 2019

Japan is going all-in on casinos. Will the gamble pay off?

More and more municipalities in Japan are considering placing a bet on casinos following the enactment of a law last year that spelled out a raft of rules on the structure of the nation's planned integrated resorts (IR), nomenclature for casinos.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2019

Shin Adachi's mission to bust the myth of marital bliss in 'A Beloved Wife'

Shin Adachi discusses his latest feature, 'A Beloved Wife,' which will be screened in the main competition at the 2019 Tokyo International Film Festival
Japan Times
JAPAN / The Argument: Casinos
Oct 30, 2019

Any economic benefits of casinos come at far too steep of a price

Those who support bringing casinos to Japan boast of their economic benefits, but any perceived boon for the economy is far outweighed by their destructive consequences.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / The Argument: Casinos
Oct 30, 2019

Casinos are misunderstood and a needed part of destination resorts

As a longtime member of a nonpartisan group of lawmakers promoting integrated resorts, my basic stance is to promote the introduction of IRs as a whole, rather than casinos alone.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2019

Over two-thirds of Japanese people say they read fewer books, blaming work and smartphones, government survey shows

Some 67.3 percent of Japanese say they are reading fewer books, with about a third of such people attributing the decline to time spent on devices such as smartphones, according to a Cultural Affairs Agency survey.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2019

How the Kurds helped in the hunt for al-Baghdadi

Now what they want is Washington's support in their negotiations with Damascus.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2019

Generation X faces a bleak future

As Gen Xers passed through each stage of life, they have been living through the worst possible time to be whatever age they happened to be.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2019

Former Canadian PM on democracy's role in world affairs

The fifth Global Opinion Leaders Summit was held in Tokyo on Oct. 17 with former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivering the keynote before a panel discussion on geopolitical and economic issues.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2019

Beautiful harmony in an angry world

The internet, which was going to bring citizen liberation, has ushered in forces of social disintegration.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2019

Baghdadi is dead but the Islamic State group is not

We've seen before that the killing of a leader can make a terrorist group more resilient.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2019

Microsoft's Pentagon cloud computing win comes at a cost, legal and internal

Microsoft Corp. scored a major victory in securing a milestone, $10 billion Pentagon contract for cloud computing services. But the contract — unthinkable for Microsoft even a year ago — will likely come at a cost, legal and internal.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2019

Trudeau survives but ...

The elections have made Canadian politics more complex: It is now chess — not checkers.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 27, 2019

Two pro-remain UK political parties to try to trigger Dec. 9 election

Two of Britain's smaller political parties have joined forces to try to trigger a Dec. 9 election and have written to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, to ask for a delay to Brexit to hold it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 26, 2019

The mysterious case of Japan's vanishing bookstores

Decades of writing a column about the country's media industry has imparted me with a strong sense of familiarity with media personalities, companies, publications and sales channels. When they expire, it often hits me hard.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 26, 2019

Sports are feeling heat from climate change

Thanks to deadly heat waves, the Olympic marathon is moving from Tokyo to Sapporo next year. It's a sign of things to come.
Reader Mail
Oct 25, 2019

The weaponization of denial

Yoichi Funabashi's opinion pieces are usually well-informed, thoughtful and sane. It's a disappointment to find him now writing as a patriot. His article "Tokyo, Seoul and the weaponization of history" in the Oct. 11 edition boldly broaches urgent issues but fails to come to terms with the main one....
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2019

Putin took the Mideast, the U.S. can get it back

Thanks to Obama and Trump, Russia the 'regional power' has added a new region.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Oct 22, 2019

Sawamura Award selection committee needs to adjust with the times

Ever heard the one about the guy who had to walk 5 km, uphill, through a hailstorm just to get to school every day?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2019

NATO can save the Kurds and make Turkey happy

Turkey is a member of NATO, so why not use the alliance to forge peace along its Syrian border?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2019

Where women see bias, men see a 'pipeline' problem

McKinsey's enormous new data set shows diverging opinions on what stalls young women's careers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2019

Jeff Bezos' Amazon needs a leash, not a breakup

The New Yorker and the Atlantic have never been known for their business coverage, so when both magazines published long articles about Amazon.com Inc. in their current issues it signaled that something is in the air. That something is antitrust.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 21, 2019

No Sawamura winner named for 2019 season

The Sawamura Award is an honor given to the top pitcher in Japanese baseball each season.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat