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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 13, 2023

Unpacking the limits to Japan’s military awakening

Japan must find ways to frustrate China's furtive efforts to alter the regional status quo while avoiding the risk of open combat.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2023

Prime Minister Kishida’s 2023 survival strategy

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has a tough road ahead, but he is politically savvy and has been adept at making the moves necessary to remain in office so far.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2022

Are Putin and Xi in decline? Populism and autocracy still have deep resources.

Liberal democracy is still imperiled, despite all the recent cheerfulness from enemies of authoritarianism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 28, 2022

Haruhiko Kuroda spent 2022 showing the courage to be disliked

Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda ticked nearly everyone off in a chaotic year. He won't care.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2022

Don’t turn your hobby into a side hustle

It's not good for our mental health to assess the potential profitability of every pastime.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Women at Work
Dec 27, 2022

Battling the odds to rise to the top: One woman's career in the IT sector

Yuki Shingu found taking a career break to help nurse her ailing father gave her a broader perspective on her rise through company ranks.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 26, 2022

Kishida Cabinet unpopular among young people, survey shows

Approval ratings for Kishida's Cabinet tend to drop as the ages of the respondents go down, according to the results of the opinion poll.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2022

Java without java? The crisis brewing in coffee

The Indonesian island is a byword for caffeine. The woes piling up for the coffee industry are on full display.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 13, 2022

Is Japan’s counterstrike capability a departure from its post-WWII pacifism?

What is the future of Japan's defense-oriented security posture amid growing military threats and a worsening geopolitical environment?
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 30, 2022

U.S. Senate passes same-sex marriage bill with bipartisan support

The bill, named the Respect for Marriage Act, passed with 12 Republicans joining all Democrats present in support.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2022

Is the clock running out for the prime minister?

Will Prime Minister Fumio Kishida be able to recover from his political troubles, or is he on a path to join the party's long list of short-lived prime ministers?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2022

Republicans misjudged the power of abortion rights

Republicans found out in the U.S. midterms that reproductive freedom is as much a core issue as inflation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2022

Get ready to relearn how to use the internet

Everyone knows that an AI revolution is coming, but no one seems to realize how profoundly it will change their day-to-day life.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 25, 2022

New U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warns of ‘profound economic challenge’

Sunak faces a formidable challenge to steady the U.K. economy in the face of headwinds including double-digit inflation, rising interest rates and a surge in mortgage costs.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Oct 19, 2022

Putin is safe in power for now, but risks lie ahead, current and former officials say

Russian leader's grip on power remains firm despite military setbacks in Ukraine, a botched mobilization and political infighting, eight well-informed sources say.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 27, 2022

Shinzo Abe’s funeral furor is Japan’s most unedifying debate

Partisan bickering over Shinzo Abe's state memorial was an embarrassment for the nation on the world stage.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2022

Respect and protest: Abe funeral draws large crowds with contrasting aims

Huge throngs gathered around the Nippon Budokan for what may be remembered as one of the most controversial ceremonial events in Japan in recent years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Explainer
Sep 16, 2022

Why people are opposed to Abe's state funeral

The ceremony has drawn criticism over its legality, its cost to the taxpayer and whether it forces the public to mourn a controversial political figure.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 7, 2022

Britain’s new PM Liz Truss to get closer to Japan and tougher on China

Truss is reportedly set to label China a 'threat' to U.K. interests and seek closer ties to other Indo-Pacific countries such as Japan, India, Australia and South Korea.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 7, 2022

Mr. Play-It-Safe prime minister is living dangerously

Fumio Kishida's approval ratings are tanking. The prime minister must be more proactive to ensure his political longevity.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2022

Stop calling everything you disagree with ‘anti-democratic’

Democracy itself is not to blame for every wrongheaded or misguided decision made by a freely elected government.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2022

China-linked bots attacking rare earths producer ‘every day’

Fake social media accounts linked to the Chinese Communist Party are targeting U.S. and Australian collaboration on critical mineral supply chains, experts say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 19, 2022

Leaders summit provides forum for international debate

The sixth edition of the Global Opinion Leaders Summit was held on July 28 and 29 in Tokyo and attended by over 1,200 people. Held under the auspices of Worldwide Support for Development (WSD), with support from the International Democrat Union (IDU) and the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR),...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 17, 2022

Lay Japan’s war debates to rest along with Abe

Commemorating the end of World War II can be a sensitive moment in Japan. How to honor the slain prime minister is now another one.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 15, 2022

China's Taiwan drills accompanied by wave of misinformation

As millions watched a Weibo livestream of a flight-tracking site showing Pelosi's flight landing in Taiwan, unsubstantiated claims emerged that her plane was forced to turn back to the U.S.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 4, 2022

What role should Japan play as the Russia-Ukraine war shakes the international order?

Executives of the Asia Pacific Initiative discuss the part Tokyo should play as Russia's invasion of Ukraine approaches six months.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Aug 3, 2022

‘We never give in to autocrats': Why Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan

Given Pelosi's position as U.S. House speaker and second in the presidential line of succession, Beijing has emphasized that it views her visit to Taiwan as a 'major provocation.'
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 20 and former U.S. President Donald Trump in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Aug. 15
WORLD / Politics
Nov 4, 2024

Harris makes last-minute appeals while Trump embraces violent rhetoric

Opinion polls show Donald Trump and Kamala Harris locked in a tight presidential race.
A post-election analysis by the polling company Blueprint discovered that the top reason why American swing voters eventually supported Donald Trump over Kamal Harris was culture (+28) followed by inflation (+23).
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2024

It’s too soon to say wokeism is dead

The Republicans ran the most unwoke man in America for the presidency, Donald Trump, and were amply rewarded for it.

Longform

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