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COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2016

Why is the U.S. presidential race so close?

Many people around the world are probably wondering why Hillary Clinton — who is obviously more prepared and better suited for the U.S. presidency than her opponent, Donald Trump — isn't waltzing to victory.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2016

When it comes to the Beatles, we'll never let it be

The Beatles' career as a live band came to a — literally — screeching halt in August 1966, when on their final American tour, the howling of frenzied female fans became so deafening they could no longer hear themselves play. Author Tom Wolfe, describing a San Francisco stadium gig, wrote of "great...
WORLD / Society
Sep 28, 2016

Women a minority among top earners, researchers say

Women account for a fraction of the richest people in eight of the world's wealthiest countries and the gender gap gets wider the higher the income bracket, a study by the London School of Economics showed on Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2016

Life in the shadow of North Korea

The one place in the world that's not on edge about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un's increasingly scary militarism is South Korea.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2016

Trump's strengths didn't help him this time

In Monday night's presidential debate, Donald Trump failed to convince doubters he's qualified to become president.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2016

Turkey's growing freedom deficit

Today, Turkey is further than ever from creating a society whose members feel free to speak openly and honestly.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 24, 2016

Japan's future typhoons: disruptive, deadly and destructive

Six typhoons have made landfall this year on the Japanese archipelago, already giving 2016 the distinction of being the second-worst year in terms of direct typhoon hits in modern times. But it's only Sept. 25 — the season's not nearly over and we're getting closer to matching or surpassing the 2004...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 24, 2016

Shizuoka: Where writers go to hide from the world

Ask a Japanese person which part of Japan they most associate with writer Lafcadio Hearn and they are likely to instantly respond: Matsue, a seaside town in Shimane Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2016

Casting globalization to help everyone

Information technology has democratized so many elements of our lives. By democratizing the law, perhaps it can save globalization — and the international order.
Reader Mail
Sep 24, 2016

Finding a solution for costly medicine

The mind boggling times we live in ("Pricey drugs push health burden up" in the Sept. 15 edition). On the one hand, we have people promising us a DNA revolution that can alter the code(s) of life, self-driving cars in the next 20 years, space travel, etc.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2016

Israel ponders the future without its fathers

Israelis will soon face an uncertain future without their founding generation, who always surmounted the seemingly unsurmountable.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2016

Offer Kim security for a freeze

A freeze on the development of North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs in exchange for an end to sanctions and the establishment of ties with the U.S. would be a win-win situation for everyone.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2016

Hillary Clinton: It's political malpractice, stupid

The biggest reason why Hillary Clinton shouldn't be president? She is an atrocious politician.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 20, 2016

Fed is a prisoner of exaggerated expectations

The notion the central bank could orchestrate economic growth was optimistic and unrealistic.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 20, 2016

Sanctions alone won't halt Kim

Greater efforts must be made to get North Korea to return to the six-party talks.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 20, 2016

Age-old Arctic shipping vision still just a dream

Traversing the Arctic still makes little sense for shipping companies due to cost and risk.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Sep 18, 2016

Londoner finds her voice on the Tokyo stage

Originally setting out to be a Japanese voice actress, Reina has arrived at a destination she had not foreseen, a place where outside voices are rarely heard.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 17, 2016

'Elderly terrorists' and 'hidden poverty' — Japan's new normal?

It's hard to read Spa! magazine without feeling that something is dreadfully wrong with Japan. Week after week, it pursues themes that soon grow familiar: hopeless poverty, pointless toil, unrelieved loneliness. In just one issue this month (Sept. 6) it tackles, in separate articles, "hidden poverty,"...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2016

Saving refugees to save the European Union

Rather than uniting to resist the populist threat they all face, EU member states have played into its hands by becoming increasingly unwilling to cooperate with one another.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 14, 2016

Japan's dual citizens get a tacit nod but keep their status in the shadows

Is the 'don't ask, don't tell' status quo the ideal situation for a country that tends to be reflexively conservative on issues of race and nationality yet benefits from the dual-citizen population?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2016

Team Clinton attacking Trump's lies with ... lies

Why are Hillary Clinton's people resorting to the exact same style of lying that they claim to criticize about Donald Trump?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2016

Clinton never learns she can't hide every stumble

The drip-drip-drip of revelations about Hillary Clinton's actions have been far worse for her than if she'd been more forthcoming in the first place.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2016

Why burkini bans are unwise

Using bans to force immigrants to assimilate isn't the best way to integrate them into mainstream society.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2016

The security of nukes in insecure regions

More efforts are needed to develop well-considered and broadly supported plans to secure nuclear weapons in volatile regions.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 10, 2016

Godzilla hits middle age but is still fueled by Japan's anxieties

Within one month of its July release, Toho's "Shin Gojira" ("Godzilla Resurgence") attracted more than 3.6 million viewers. Box-office takings are already estimated to have surpassed ¥5.3 billion, putting the film more than halfway toward the seldom-attained figure of ¥10 billion. Toho has great expectations...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2016

U.S. should stay out of the China-Philippines spat

If Manila wants to defend its interest against the region's most important power, it should create a military capable of doing so.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2016

Age of Asian sweatshops coming to an end?

Automation is replacing human labor in Asian garment factories, but workers who lose their jobs face an uncertain future.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2016

Uzbeks paid dearly for U.S. support of Karimov regime

U.S. interest in their country has made Uzbeks' lives unspeakably miserable. And unless something radically unexpectedly takes place, that's likely to continue.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2016

The Islamic State group's European strategy

Europe needs its democracies to unite around a common strategy to defend against manifold security challenges.

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?