Search - commentary

 
Menu
Search
 
April 22, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
3,468 results
Sort by: Relevance Newest Oldest
After adjusting your search parameters, press Enter on your keyboard or click on the red magnifying glass to run your query again.
Critics say excluding Israel from the Nagasaki bombing anniversary while inviting representatives from countries with human rights violations, such as Iran, which is pursuing its own nuclear weapons, undermines the ceremony's message of peace.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 7, 2024

Nagasaki bombing ceremony misses an important invitation: Israel's

Nagasaki’s Mayor Shiro Suzuki explicitly disinvited Israeli Ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen to the 79th anniversary of the bombing of the city, citing security concerns.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attend the Japan-U.S. Extended Deterrence Dialogue in Tokyo on July 28.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 7, 2024

Japan-U.S. alliance transforms with concrete 'two-plus-two' talks

Despite the long and challenging history of Japan-U.S. two-plus-two meetings, this year's Tokyo meeting was truly groundbreaking.
U.S. Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, and her just-announced running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, greet supporters on Tuesday at Temple University in Philadelphia, the first day of their "Battleground State Tour."
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 7, 2024

Harris VP pick is a regular guy — exactly what she needs

Walz is the perfect counterbalance to Harris. He brings deep experience as a governor, House contacts as a former congressman and an everyman back story.
Japan, once a secondary player in Southeast Asian regional integration, now needs to balance strengthening ties with ASEAN while navigating its position between the U.S. and China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 8, 2024

Japan takes a soft diplomatic approach to ASEAN ties

Shifting dynamics in Southeast Asia are compelling Japan to carefully navigate its role amid intense U.S.-China competition.
New Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar's ascension to power, combined with Netanyahu’s refusal to agree to a cease-fire unless the group capitulates, makes finding a resolution in Gaza difficult.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2024

New Hamas chief is an arsonist in a desert tinderbox

Yahya Sinwar fills a post that opened with the July 31 killing of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s politburo chairman, while on a visit to Tehran.
A Goku balloon from the “Dragon Ball” anime series takes part in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan in November 2018. Japan’s creative industries are under threat as AI tools make it easy to mimic anime, manga and other forms of the nation’s artistic output.
COMMENTARY
Aug 9, 2024

Japan’s soft AI stance is betraying its anime artists

From Studio Ghibli to Pokemon, the country’s creatives have driven its influence and must be protected.
JPMorgan Asset has wagers that profit when the yield gap between shorter and longer-term Japanese bonds narrows, and is among those mapping out the BOJ’s next policy step after a wild week of trading.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 10, 2024

JPMorgan Asset gameplans for risk BOJ hikes are done this year

"It’s pretty clear that the Bank of Japan is not going to move until markets settle down,” said the head of global rates at the firm.
Although markets can promote economic efficiency under the right conditions, there is no “invisible hand” to deliver solidarity, agency, material sufficiency and environmental sustainability.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2024

A new worldview for troubled times

The problem is not that humans are predominantly ignorant or evil. Most people abhor social discord, abject poverty and environmental destruction.
A man makes his way along an earthquake-damaged street in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in January. With last week's tremors in Kyushu and the nature of the Nankai Trough, some experts believe that the omens of a disaster can be seen.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 11, 2024

Japan is living in the shadow of the megaquake

People tend to view the quake threat in the abstract. It’s kind of like thinking about death — I know I’ll die someday, but I hope it won’t be today.
Conservatives were wrong to call the Paris Olympic's opening ceremony a display of LGBTQ+ ideology and PC uniformity. While it did critique conservative nationalism, it mainly targeted rigid PC moralism or "wokeism."
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2024

The emancipatory meaning of the Paris Olympics

The Olympic opening ceremony's theme didn’t just show Europe at its best; it reminded the world that only Europe could host such an event.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a summit in Bangkok in November 2022. Despite Japan-China relations stagnating in recent years, Xi's administration presents some interesting opportunities for an overture between the two countries.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 12, 2024

Will Japan and China’s relations continue to stagnate?

Japan and China have historically been at odds and relations have stagnated. This pattern can be broken by seizing the moment, one that offers some key opportunities.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (second right) takes part in the inauguration ceremony for the Deep Tech Lab - Quantum in Copenhagen on Sept. 29.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2024

The growing strategic race in emerging technologies

Japan’s security and trading partners are increasingly serious about developing quantum capabilities. Japan has to do more to both keep pace.
The destruction left behind by the Borel Fire near Lake Isabella, California, on July 29
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2024

Wildfires are getting weirder. Case in point: 'firenados.'

Sometimes fire thunderstorms even create their own lightning, which spawns new blazes miles away.
The only surprise about Ukraine's offensive into Russian territory is that it came so late into the war, and that’s primarily because of Western restrictions on the use of donated weapons.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2024

Want peace for Ukraine? Let it strike in Russia

The only surprise is that it came so late — 2½ years into President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
A return to the world with interest will almost certainly mean an increase in the bifurcation of Japan's haves and have-nots.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2024

Is Japan ready for a ‘world with interest?’

Ever since Ueda arrived at the central bank 15 months ago, economists have been debating what the "world with interest” will look like.
A ward for heatstroke patients at a hospital in Chennai, India, in May. The country experienced a severe heat wave over the spring and summer, raising concerns about the long-term impact of climate change-induced extreme heat on human health.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2024

Climate change: A health emergency in the making

Global warming's impact on health is an increasingly urgent issue — just look at excess deaths caused by extreme heat. But are health care systems well-equipped enough?
What began as a nonviolent student protest against Bangladesh’s highly politicized system of public-sector job quotas quickly escalated into an anti-government Gen Z revolution.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2024

The fall of Bangladesh’s iron lady

What began as a student protest against the country’s highly politicized system of public-sector job quotas quickly escalated into an anti-government Gen Z revolution.
Henry VIII had to deal with xenophobic mobs in England too — and he did so harshly and imperfectly. But there’s an abiding lesson to be learned.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2024

The U.K. riots and an evil day 500 years ago in London

The enmity focused on the foreign-born may have been sparked by misinformation, but that doesn’t disguise the fact that the tinder was waiting to be lit in Britain.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s decision to step down as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader has thrown the race for his successor into uncertainty.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 15, 2024

Kishida’s resignation opens the door to a chaotic era

With Fumio Kishida's resignation, the LDP faces a crucial election next month with no clear front-runner to become its next leader.
Considering there is another full year left before the current term of the Lower House expires, Fumio Kishida’s announcement he is standing down as the Liberal Democratic Party's leader has many wondering why.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 15, 2024

With Kishida’s sudden departure, who will lead Japan?

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s unexpected decision to not seek reelection has prompted a leadership race within Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
For centuries, Japanese people have been scaring themselves with horror stories as a way of cooling down during the stifling summer months.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 16, 2024

New tales in translation to give you chills and thrills this summer

Recent fright-filled releases with supernatural creatures, shrewd sleuths and creepy killers provide welcome relief from the sweltering heat.
Efforts to hold the Kremlin accountable for the war in Ukraine have begun, with the International Criminal Court already issuing arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and others for unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children to Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2024

The rule of law is coming for Putin

Though the ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes and genocide in Ukraine, it can't prosecute Russian leaders for aggression.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida poses for a group photo with other regional leaders prior to the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) leaders meeting in Tokyo in December.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 16, 2024

Japan's energy diplomacy reflects global divide over how to reach net zero

Japan’s focus should be on advancing truly innovative and effective renewable technologies, rather than prolonging fossil fuel use.
South Africa's 49-year-old skateboarding Olympian, Dallas Oberholzer, competes in the men's prelims during the Paris Games on Aug. 7.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2024

The oldest Olympians might hold the key to slowing down aging

As we age, the number of mitochondria in our cells declines, but that happens much more slowly in people who continue to do strenuous exercise.
New gene-edited crops could address climate change and agricultural challenges; however, high regulatory barriers and safety concerns limit innovation.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 18, 2024

It’s time to embrace a new era of gene-edited food

New crops may improve our health or help us mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Despite the deep pessimism about the Gaza cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas, many parties involved, including the U.S., Egypt, Qatar, the Gulf States, Lebanon and Iran, stand to gain from an end to the hostilities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 16, 2024

Only agents of chaos want more war in Gaza

It took a decade for the U.S. to catch Osama bin Laden after al-Qaida’s 9/11 attacks; Israel may need to wait on catching Hamas’ Yahya Sinwar, too.
Bangladesh's instability adds to the existing regional tensions in South Asia, which is already grappling with violence in Myanmar, terrorism in the Pakistan-Afghanistan area and political turmoil in the Maldives and Nepal.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2024

South Asia’s deepening political turmoil

The ouster of Bangladeshi's government is the latest example of political volatility in South Asia — a region struggling to achieve stability, let alone democratization.
By enabling a few wealthy individuals to wield disproportionate influence, today’s global economy increasingly marginalizes and disenfranchises much of the world’s population.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2024

To preserve democracy, tax the rich

What the world needs are progressive tax systems that redistribute income from the rich to the poor without weakening socially beneficial incentives.
The size of the carry trade strategy is hard to determine because currency transactions, unlike stock trades, aren't tracked on exchanges. We only have estimates.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 14, 2024

How big is the yen carry trade, really?

There is now worry that the unwinding of yen-funded carry trades would wreck investors’ frothy exposures to U.S. technology and AI-related companies.
U.S. President Joe Biden enters the stage after an introduction by his daughter, Ashley Biden, on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2024

Joe Biden begins a long and necessary goodbye

It took grace, maturity and generosity for Biden to bow out. A measure of resentment has also accompanied his exit.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Pope Francis, radical leader who broke the papal mold, dies at 88
Pope Francis blesses the faithful during the weekly general audience at the Vatican in August 2023.
Japan mulls reviewing car safety rules to strike deal with Trump
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's Economic Revitalization Minister and top tariff negotiator with the U.S., speaks to the press upon his arrival at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Friday.
Japan tariff negotiator rules out quick U.S. deal despite push by Trump
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's top tariff negotiator with the U.S., speaks to reporters upon his arrival at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Friday, a day after talks in Washington.
Shohei Ohtani announces birth of daughter
Shohei Ohtani and his wife Mamiko Tanaka attend a Lakers game in Los Angeles on Dec. 8, 2024.
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
The floor is art: Takuro Tamayama transforms mundanity
Takuro Tamayama’s sculpture “Models (Pair, 6 sets, 12 rings)” comes with a mathematical formation that scales it for different spaces.
Nothing sells like Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s marketing megastar
People walk past an advertisement featuring Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani outside Tokyo Dome on March 18.
Calling all Potterheads: ‘The Goblet of Fire’ comes to Tokyo
The Tokyo version of the globe-trotting exhibition features a Ministry of Magic set, which includes an imposing replica of the Magic Is Might monument representing magical fascism.
Tokyo stock picker advises Trump-proofing portfolios with Godzilla creator Toho
The head of Godzilla, a Japanese monster movie character, is seen on a building of Toho Cinema in Tokyo. Toho is one tariff-defensive stock being recommended by brokers.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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.
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER