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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2017

An idea whose time has come?

An idea that might be the solution to runaway populism has suddenly gone mainstream.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 16, 2017

Comedian Jimmy Carr talks about sensitivity, universal jokes and the best sound he can hear at a stand-up show

"OK, let's kick off with a question for you, in time-honored tradition," Jimmy Carr says to me at the outset of our interview. "Do many comedians make it over to Japan?"
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 15, 2017

Kremlin denies meddling in French election, targeting top candidate Macron with 'fake news'

The Kremlin denied on Tuesday that it was behind media and internet attacks on the campaign of French presidential front-runner Emmanuel Macron though his camp renewed the charges against Russian media and a hackers' group operating in Ukraine.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 8, 2017

Japan in 'tricky spot' on yen as Trump meeting looms, Pimco says

The Bank of Japan is seeking to uphold its monetary policy without giving the impression it is weakening the yen before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with U.S. President Donald Trump this week, according to Pacific Investment Management Co.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2017

Vague U.S. policies may speed China's buildup

Without clarity on how it intends to prevent China's militarization in the South China Sea, the Trump administration may give Beijing an excuse to do it even faster.
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 27, 2017

Constant blaming of referees is becoming farcical

Lunch with a former Premier League referee was going well until the chat about his forthcoming holiday was interrupted by another customer. "You didn't give Arsenal a penalty in 2011 against Manchester United. It was nailed on. You cost us three points," he told my lunch companion.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2017

Brexit, Trump and a warning

In this global network age, a wisely led U.K. should not be too close and committed to America or the EU at the expense of good relations with other countries.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2017

How space could trigger an economic crisis

The World Economic Forum's annual assessment of global risks, published this month, rates extreme weather events as the most likely risk to the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 21, 2017

The triumphant second coming of Endo's 'Silence'

Martin Scorsese's adaptation of "Silence," Shusaku Endo's tale of Catholic missionaries suffering brutal repression in 17th-century Japan, has met with mixed reviews. Some have found it ponderously overlong and, for those unfamiliar with Japanese history, baffling in context. It is, in fact, not a minute...
Reader Mail
Jan 20, 2017

Osprey training belies treaty provisions

Defense Minister Tomomi Inada confirmed in a rubber-stamping fashion that Ospreys' midair refueling drills in Okinawa would be resumed, even though the cause of the Dec. 13 crash had not yet been fully investigated and detailed to the public.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 20, 2017

West African leaders aim to persuade longtime Gambian ruler to step down; regional force pauses intervention

anjul/Dakar
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 20, 2017

Energy pick Perry admits warming is real but says fighting it shouldn't cost jobs, regrets 'oops' moment

Rick Perry, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the U.S. Energy Department, said during a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday that global warming caused by humans is real, but that efforts to combat it should not cost American jobs.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 18, 2017

The long goodbye: making sense of Brexit from Japan

What Brexit will mean in practice remains a mystery. Also unknown is what effect — if any — Britain's divorce from the EU will have on 'Brexpats' in Japan.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 15, 2017

Beijing says 'one-China' policy can't be bargaining chip after Trump calls principle negotiable

China has pushed back against U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's suggestions that the "one-China" policy on Taiwan is negotiable, with the Foreign Ministry in Beijing urging the incoming administration to "recognize the high sensitivity of the Taiwan question."
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2017

Dangerous uncertainty surrounds Taiwan Strait

The world's most dangerous flash point got much more dangerous last Wednesday when China sent its lone aircraft carrier into the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan scrambled fighter jets in response. This is how accidental wars start: provocation and counter-provocation in an environment with too much uncertainty....
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 14, 2017

The evolution of the Japanese ego: Learning to say 'I'

When Adam and Eve defied God, creator and master of the universe, and ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge, what did they learn? To say "I."
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 14, 2017

Trump's nominees stray from his path on Russia, torture

In two days of Senate confirmation hearings, Donald Trump's national security nominees have shown they aren't afraid of disagreeing with their boss, even on matters at the heart of his campaign promises.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2017

Trump's crazed transition is making history

Judging by his post-election transition — which has been, hands down, the strangest in U.S. history — all we really know about how Donald Trump will govern is that we must expect the unexpected.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2017

Will Washington and Beijing's cool war heat up?

The big question for 2017 is whether the U.S. and China will let their troubled relationship unravel further.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 25, 2016

PISA confirms excellence of a handful of nations

The obsession with rankings on international student assessment tests may be counterproductive.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2016

As liberal Europe withers, whither the EU?

The EU started as a loose collection of states cooperating for common ends but has turned into a consolidated continental state with little concern for what European peoples desire.
Japan Times
JAPAN / JAPANESE IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Dec 19, 2016

Getting more students to go global

What is essential for students to be competent global players?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2016

Trump versus China: the 'madman' strategy

If Donald Trump pursues his madman strategy toward China, we are all in for a rough time.
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2016

A step forward for Japan-Russia ties

The summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin helped set the stage for future efforts to resolve the long-standing territorial row.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 13, 2016

Why Japan should reconsider joining the AIIB

Now that the Chinese-led bank has begun operations, Japan's concerns have largely been addressed.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2016

Italy's was just the latest stupid referendum

Like David Cameron's Brexit fiasco, this didn't have to happen.
EDITORIALS
Dec 4, 2016

Diverse views on abdication

The government must reflect the will of the people when it decides how to respond to Emperor Akihito's desire to abdicate.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 3, 2016

Trump reportedly invites Philippines' Duterte to visit next year

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump invited Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte to the White House next year during a "very engaging, animated" phone conversation, a Duterte aide said on Friday, amid rocky relations between their two countries.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2016

Fillon can beat Le Pen, but don't bank on it

Given pollsters' massive predictive failures elsewhere this year, no one should count on left-wing voters turning out to help defeat right-winger Marine Le Pen.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.