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November 22, 2024
 

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UNION

Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine, much like those of past Soviet leaders, stem from a desire to be recognized as a global power and from perceived Western threats.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2024
The sources of Russian conduct
From Josef Stalin to Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet leaders shared Putin’s desire for “great power” prestige.
Ukrainian military Leopard 2A4 tanks during a training exercise in Spain.
WORLD
Jul 20, 2024
How a Berlin Cold War outpost offers a window on challenges today
With the West again aligned against Moscow as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine grinds on, it now seems strangely current.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, view international order as hinging on the concept of indivisible security.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2024
Russia and China want security for themselves and no one else
Putin and Xi seek indivisible security, that is, exercising draconian control over their respective spheres of influence — which shows the extent of their hypocrisy.
U.S. President Joe Biden in the Oval Office in Washington. The idea that the U.S.-China hotline can bridge communication gaps during crises rings hollow.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2024
If a phone rings in a forest and no one answers, is it a hotline?
Hotlines allow states to talk in crisis situations. But China often doesn't pick up when the U.S. calls, raising doubts about the utility of the communications link.
Royalty took the top image spots on the June 3, 1924, edition of The Japan Times. In addition to Japan's imperial celebrations, the paper nodded to the birthday of Britain's King George V.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Jun 1, 2024
Japan Times 1924: Tokyo gaily makes merry
After having suffered from a devastating earthquake the previous year, a royal wedding brings back a celebratory mood to the capital.
Allowing Ukraine into NATO would not only bolster Kyiv's defenses against Russia’s invasion, but also strengthen the alliance’s military capabilities and deter future aggression.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2024
The case for Ukraine’s NATO accession
By admitting Ukraine, NATO could tip the balance decisively in Kyiv's favor and dispel any doubt about the alliance’s future, ensuring a lasting peace.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet in Beijing on May 16.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2024
The fragile fraternity of China and Russia
Putin’s Mao-like bid for a full-fledged military alliance with China, including commitments to mutual defense, also seems to have failed.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (left) and then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in the Kremlin on May 7. While President Vladimir Putin has no real challengers, powerful actors within his government are vying against each other.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2024
The battle of ministries in Putin’s Russia
Historical parallels suggest that Putin’s top-down approach, like Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization and Gorbachev’s perestroika, risks sparking opposition by causing intra-elite infighting.
Construction near Mailuu-Suu in the Jalal-Abad region, Kyrgyzstan. Dams in Kyrgyzstan holding uranium mine tailings have become unreliable after a 2017 landslide.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 24, 2024
Unstable nuclear-waste dams threaten fertile Central Asia heartland
One more earthquake or landslide, and dams in Kyrgyzstan holding back radioactive waste water could burst, rendering the area uninhabitable.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and other Baltic politicians placed on Russia's wanted list risk arrest if they cross the Russian border, but otherwise declaring them as "wanted" is unlikely to have any practical consequence.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2024
Moscow puts Estonia PM on wanted list for destroying Soviet-era monuments
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Baltic governments demolished the monuments they considered their former imperial overlords' propaganda tools.
At the heart of European Union thinking about economic security is fear that economic dependencies will be weaponized.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 30, 2024
EU’s dilemma: balancing national and economic security
At the heart of EU thinking about economic security is fear that economic dependencies will be weaponized.
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hold discussions in Kyiv in September 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2023
Europe needs a new Ukraine strategy
The European Union’s decision to start accession talks with Ukraine represents a symbolic victory rather than a practical one.
"Concussed: Sport's Uncomfortable Truth" by author Sam Peters details the issue of concussions in sports, particularly rugby.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Dec 17, 2023
Rugby in denial over concussion problem, author Sam Peters says
Peters' book includes a section on the damage of repeated heading in soccer but is predominantly concerned with rugby.
Ukrainian police and military experts collect fragments of a downed Russian drone near residential buildings in Kyiv on Saturday.
WORLD
Nov 25, 2023
Russia launches huge drone attack as Kyiv marks historic famine
Ukraine’s air defense said it shot down 71 of 75 drones aimed mainly toward the capital region.
Eddie Jones, who coached Australia at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, has been linked with a return to Japan.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 13, 2023
Eddie Jones expects to land new job by January
Jones has been heavily linked with a return to Japan.
Under President Vladimir Putin rule, reason, logic, and humanity appear to have been systematically eroded from Russian life, similar to the era of Stalin and his gulags. 
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 2, 2023
Russian life imitates dystopian art
The state in Russia has always tended toward absolutism and its coercive and penal arms have rarely wielded as much power as they do now.
A woman cleans a portrait displayed on a tree to mark the Day of Victims of Political Repressions, who were buried during the Stalin era in the woods on the outskirts of St. Petersburg on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 31, 2023
Russians struggle to keep alive memory of Stalin's victims
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to suppress attempts to evaluate Josef Stalin critically.
Japan had hoped to progress to the knockout phase of the Rugby World Cup on international soil for the first time.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Oct 10, 2023
Japanese rugby faces murky future following World Cup exit
The 2019 Rugby World Cup, and all that it promised, feels like a long time ago after the Brave Blossoms' pool-stage exit in France.
Indian leader Narendra Modi shakes hand with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of the Group of 20 leaders' summit in New Delhi on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 9, 2023
G20 leaders paper over divisions on Ukraine and climate
Amid deep divisions, the grouping avoided direct criticism of Moscow and any concrete pledge to phase out polluting fossil fuels.
A new Russian textbook for high school students on general world and national history
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2023
Putin’s history lessons fail to heed the lessons of history
Putin seems to have forgotten is that rewriting history to serve the interests of those in power tends to invite dissent and often backfires.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Russia launched intercontinental ballistic missile during attack on Ukraine, Kyiv says
A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during a test from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Northern Arkhangelsk region of Russia, in this still image captured from video released on Oct. 29.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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