Search - opinion

 
 
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 18, 2014

EU court adviser says extreme obesity can be disability at work

A European Union law barring job discrimination against the disabled may apply to extremely obese people, an adviser to Europe's top court said Thursday.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jul 18, 2014

Organ donation

Dear Alice,
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2014

High cost to new neutrality

South Korea's elite appears to be splitting into pro-Chinese and pro-American factions that transcend party lines, while German leaders' obsession with growing exports appears to have gagged them on China's human rights abuses and its aggressive behavior toward Asian neighbors.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2014

World needs to right Israel's wrongs

The Israeli bombardment of the Palestinians has proven a policy failure, demonstrated by the Israeli government's resumption of bombing. The Israelis tried to give up, but failed.
OLYMPICS
Jul 17, 2014

Murofushi partners with TMDU

Athens Olympics hammer throw champion Koji Murofushi is teaming up with the Tokyo Medical and Dental University to provide medical and scientific support to athletes and eventually produce more Olympic medalists in the future, the TMDU announced on Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jul 16, 2014

Ian Thorpe's coming-out: Yes, it does matter

Ian Thorpe's willingness to be open and honest and true to himself is a brave step, and it will make a difference in many people's lives. So yes, it does matter.
EDITORIALS
Jul 16, 2014

No winners in Israel-Hamas conflict

The zero-sum mentality of Israel and Hamas is fueling a cycle of violence.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 16, 2014

U.K.'s Cameron promotes women

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday pushed through his biggest government shake-up since coming to power in 2010, promoting women and Euroskeptics to senior roles in an appeal to voters in next May's national election.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2014

Can't win by ravaging Gaza

Israel's targeting of Hamas is an attempt to distract from the slowly building collective sentiment among Palestinians throughout Palestine and among Palestinian citizens in Israel.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 15, 2014

In Ukraine war, Putin playing a double game

As fighting intensifies in eastern Ukraine, signs are emerging that Russian President Vladimir Putin has adopted a twin strategy: pledge his willingness to support a negotiated settlement, but continue funneling arms to separatist rebels.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2014

Polio's comeback laid to immunization ruses

Owing to spurious immunization programs for political purposes, people in several countries are rejecting immunization against polio, a disease that by now should have been a fact of history.
WORLD
Jul 13, 2014

Putin signs nuclear energy deal with Argentina

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a nuclear energy cooperation deal with Argentina on Saturday on a trip to bolster trade ties and strengthen Russia's influence in Latin America.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 12, 2014

Abe's constitutional putsch and U.S. security cooperation

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's putsch involves bypassing constitutional procedures to revise the Constitution because he lacks sufficient support to win two-thirds approval in both houses of the Diet and a majority in a national referendum. Instead, Abe achieved by diktat what he could not gain democratically,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2014

Cost of 'making' democracy

For most of the American electorate, the U.S. perseveres as the messenger of democracy to a world that usually hasn't earned it and probably doesn't deserve it. But consider what this proud effort in the Mideast, Afghanistan, Ukraine and elsewhere has done to U.S. civil liberties and to U.S. democracy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2014

Is there a right to secede?

If a majority of the voters in a distinct region of a country favor independence, does that mean that they have a right to secede? Paradoxically the EU has made it more feasible for states like Scotland and Catalonia to consider independence.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 9, 2014

Both candidates in Indonesia election claim victory

Both candidates claimed victory in Indonesia's presidential election on Wednesday, suggesting there could be a drawn-out constitutional battle to decide who will next lead the world's third-largest democracy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 9, 2014

'Blast!' comes marching back with a '' from its Tokyo drummer

"It was my hugely fortunate destiny to come across 'Blast!' and, as I am 39 this year, I would like to perform it with a heartfelt '39' message [because, in Japanese, three is san and nine is kyu, which is phonetically 'thank you']," Tokyo-born percussionist, composer and performing director Naoki Ishikawa...
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 8, 2014

Crimea euphoria fading for Russians

When she was asked to give up a day's pay to help Crimea, Russian hospital therapist Tatyana could not hide her anger. Why should she subsidize others when struggling to make ends meet herself?
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2014

At some point, U.S. progressives must stand

You would think that, at a certain point, liberals in the U.S. with any dignity would get sick of being used and abused by Democratic Party candidates. Don't expect the dysfunctional relationship between liberals and Democrats to get any better for 2017.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 7, 2014

Poroshenko heeds Ukrainians' call to arms as Russia, EU talk truce

In a country torn between Russia and western Europe, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's decision to resume an offensive against pro-Moscow rebels has carefully ignored both neighbors to show an ear acutely tuned to Ukrainian domestic politics.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 4, 2014

Japan hits back at Beijing-Seoul WWII commemoration proposal

Japan is up in arms after a report that China and South Korea may join hands in commemorating its defeat on the 70th anniversary of World War II.
EDITORIALS
Jul 3, 2014

Questions about nuclear safety

Even as opinion polls indicate that most people would like to see Japan shed its dependence on nuclear power, the Abe administration appears to be trying to turn the clock back to before 2011.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2014

The government decides 'Redskins' bothers you

Some Americans who are paying attention to the absence of Native American revulsion over the name 'Washington Redskins' are not comfortable with the government saying, in effect, that if people are not offended, they should be.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2014

'Black money' fairy tale drives Indian adults

Millions of adult Indians enthusiastically propagate a fairy tale that says once a strong government brings billions of dollars of 'black money' home, India will cease being poor and take its rightful place among the superpowers of the world.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2014

Most Japanese voters oppose security shift

Half of Japanese voters oppose dropping a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War II, a survey showed on Monday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe readied a landmark shift in security policy that would ease the constraints of the pacifist constitution on the armed forces. A third...
Japan Times
JAPAN / JAPAN TIMES FORUM ON FEMALE SCIENCE MAJORS
Jun 30, 2014

Majoring in science may expand opportunities for women

Moderator: Let's discuss the challenge of hiring more female science majors and solutions to that issue. Let me first ask you what kind of skills are you seeking in women? I wonder if the marketing skills of female science majors, instead of just their capabilities in research and development, could...
EDITORIALS
Jun 29, 2014

Rushing on collective self-defense

The Abe administration may adopt a Cabinet decision as early as this week to change the government's long-standing interpretation of the Constitution so that Japan can participate in 'collective self-defense.' Opinions from the public do not seem welcome.

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