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The limits of Japan’s immigration charade

The limits of Japan’s immigration charade

Following the Liberal Democratic Party’s electoral landslide last month, the government has once again affirmed a familiar contradiction: Japan will...

latest 10

The Japan Times

Midori inagaki

Hong Kong’s democracy fight is also a battle for women’s freedom

Hong Kong’s democracy fight is also a battle for women’s freedom

This weekend, as the world marks International Women’s Day, the Hong Kong human-rights barrister Chow Hang-tung is preparing to return to court on...

latest 10

The Japan Times

Frances Hui

Why the Iran war morphed into panic selling in Asia

Why the Iran war morphed into panic selling in Asia

It turns out, the biggest financial victim of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran is not the S&P 500, but equity markets...

latest 10

The Japan Times

Shuli Ren

Israel has become America's not-so-secret weapon

Israel has become America's not-so-secret weapon

The ongoing war against Iran has raised a number of important issues: the ability of air power alone to achieve regime change, the ethics and...

latest 10

The Japan Times

Hal Brands

Europe is stronger than the world thinks

Europe is stronger than the world thinks

If there is one key takeaway from the just-concluded Munich Security Conference, it is a message of trust and confidence in Europe. The European Union...

latest 20

The Japan Times

Nadia Calviño

Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei and his deadly legacy

Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei and his deadly legacy

Within hours of the massive explosion near the Tehran compound of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Saturday morning, Israeli and...

latest 20

The Japan Times

Pegah Banihashemi

AI is proving a 100-year-old prediction true

AI is proving a 100-year-old prediction true

Great minds go off on odd tangents. In 1930, John Maynard Keynes took time out from thinking about the Great Depression, which was throwing millions...

latest 20

The Japan Times

Adrian Wooldridge

Regimes come and go. China’s interests in Iran will endure.

Regimes come and go. China’s interests in Iran will endure.

Those who view U.S. President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran as a blow to China should think again. Beijing will manage any potential leadership...

latest 20

The Japan Times

Karishma Vaswani

A win — and a lesson — from Toyota’s Elliott deal

A win — and a lesson — from Toyota’s Elliott deal

Sometimes the most important lessons in life involve what not to do. The Toyota group may have prevailed over minority shareholders in a buyout, but...

yesterday 30

The Japan Times

Juliana Liu

Canada has an opportunity to redefine its role in the Pacific

Canada has an opportunity to redefine its role in the Pacific

As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney touches down in Tokyo this week, he steps onto a geopolitical chessboard that has been radically reconfigured...

yesterday 30

The Japan Times

Stephen R. Nagy

AI leaders may spend billions only to lose the market

AI leaders may spend billions only to lose the market

I recently asked Claude to help me think through the structure of my next book. I already knew where the weak point was — I just wanted to see what...

tuesday 50

The Japan Times

Gautam Mukunda

SoftBank’s Ohio power plant delivers an AI sticker shock

SoftBank’s Ohio power plant delivers an AI sticker shock

U.S. President Donald Trump famously likes to build big things — or at least have others build big things to which he can attach his name. True to...

tuesday 60

The Japan Times

Liam Denning

The Middle East ensnares another U.S. president

The Middle East ensnares another U.S. president

Little about the U.S. attacks on Iran makes sense. I will leave it to regional experts to explain the rationale behind and the impact of the strikes...

tuesday 50

The Japan Times

Brad Glosserman

The high price of political paranoia

The high price of political paranoia

In authoritarian systems, national interests and objectives often conflict with the leader’s beliefs, desires and insecurities. The more centralized...

tuesday 50

The Japan Times

Nina L. Khrushcheva

Lessons for Japan from Russia’s war in Ukraine

Lessons for Japan from Russia’s war in Ukraine

With a mandate after its Feb. 8 election victory, the Takaichi government will likely accelerate its planned revisions to Japan’s core...

02.03.2026 50

The Japan Times

Yuichi yoshida

India is getting richer, but its cities are unlivable

India is getting richer, but its cities are unlivable

India is getting richer every year, but its cities don’t seem to be getting any more livable. Not because the country is too poor, or because...

02.03.2026 50

The Japan Times

Mihir Sharma

Paddington, pints and the art of modern diplomacy

Paddington, pints and the art of modern diplomacy

This is the face of diplomacy in 2026: A 64-year-old Japanese man with a Paddington bear plushie downing a pint and exclaiming, "That’s boss,...

02.03.2026 60

The Japan Times

Gearoid Reidy

Takaichi, Trump and Japan-North Korea relations

Takaichi, Trump and Japan-North Korea relations

In her recent meeting with families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi clarified her position that she is...

01.03.2026 50

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Trump’s ambitions for Iran: He wants everything.

Trump’s ambitions for Iran: He wants everything.

U.S. President Donald Trump never did explain to Congress or anyone else what his justifications and goals would be for attacking Iran. Now, with...

01.03.2026 60

The Japan Times

Marc Champion

Keeping the Chinese ‘tiger’ and U.S. ‘wolf’ at bay

Keeping the Chinese ‘tiger’ and U.S. ‘wolf’ at bay

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s impressive victory in this month’s general election signifies a pivotal moment in the maturation of the Japanese...

27.02.2026 60

The Japan Times

Stephen R. Nagy

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already changed the world

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already changed the world

Four years after Russia invaded Ukraine with its full might, how has the war changed its various protagonists? It’s a question worth asking, even...

27.02.2026 60

The Japan Times

Marc Champion

Thai leaders won big. Their economy is still sick.

Thai leaders won big. Their economy is still sick.

Thailand may have seen its best economic days. The one-time star risks settling into a new — and entrenched — role as Southeast Asia’s laggard....

27.02.2026 60

The Japan Times

Daniel Moss

What happens when paid work disappears?

What happens when paid work disappears?

What we typically refer to as “artificial intelligence” is, in practice, a set of data-based systems. These technologies are already transforming...

26.02.2026 80

The Japan Times

Peter G. Kirchschläger

Lessons from four long years of war in Ukraine

Lessons from four long years of war in Ukraine

This week marks the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. No one expected the war — except for a handful of intelligence analysts...

26.02.2026 70

The Japan Times

Brad Glosserman

Memo to the Trump administration: Iran has no Maduro

Memo to the Trump administration: Iran has no Maduro

Japan has a proverb: “Hell if you retreat, hell if you advance.” It describes a situation in which no choice offers escape. Unfortunately, that is...

26.02.2026 70

The Japan Times

Kuni Miyake

Hello, little kitty — Japan’s $20 billion cat boom

Hello, little kitty — Japan’s $20 billion cat boom

Much of Asia was celebrating the Year of the Horse this month. In Japan, which does not mark Lunar New Year, attention turns to a different animal....

25.02.2026 80

The Japan Times

Gearoid Reidy

Strike on Mexican drug lord tests state power and resolve

Strike on Mexican drug lord tests state power and resolve

Murders, torched cars and highway blockades. Bank branches set ablaze on otherwise empty streets. Tourists stranded in resorts in Puerto Vallarta....

25.02.2026 90

The Japan Times

Juan Pablo Spinetto

Sorry Soseki, I wish we had AI translation aeons ago

Sorry Soseki, I wish we had AI translation aeons ago

Natsume Soseki, the great Meiji-era writer and scholar, famously said that “I love you” should be translated into Japanese as “Tsuki ga kirei...

25.02.2026 90

The Japan Times

Damian Flanagan

Congress must stop war by mission creep

Congress must stop war by mission creep

As in Venezuela last month, as in Iraq in 2003 — as in so many places for thousands of years — and as appears to be unfolding in Iran now, the...

24.02.2026 80

The Japan Times

Andreas Kluth

After a historic vote, can Bangladeshis rise to the occasion?

After a historic vote, can Bangladeshis rise to the occasion?

On a day that will be long remembered, Bangladesh’s interim leader, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, stepped down Monday...

24.02.2026 100

The Japan Times

Salil Tripathi

U.S. top justices’ ruling on tariffs marks a turning point

U.S. top justices’ ruling on tariffs marks a turning point

It took almost a decade, but Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court finally found a way to stand up to President Donald Trump’s executive...

24.02.2026 80

The Japan Times

Noah Feldman

The theater of the absurd that is India vs. Pakistan cricket

The theater of the absurd that is India vs. Pakistan cricket

If you’re looking for the most politicized international sport, the sport most ridden with the visceral furies that pit nation against nation, look...

24.02.2026 80

The Japan Times

Tunku Varadarajan

In a fragmented world, the OECD matters more than ever

In a fragmented world, the OECD matters more than ever

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio toned down the Trump administration’s criticisms of its European allies at the recent Munich Security Conference...

24.02.2026 80

The Japan Times

Kumiharu Shigehara

Silver’s surge suggests a brighter future for solar

Did we just pass "peak solar"? That’s the claim now circulating among many analysts. Hitting net zero will require 630 gigawatts of panels...

22.02.2026 90

The Japan Times

David Fickling

American allies ask, without shared values, why not China?

20.02.2026 30

The Japan Times

Brad Glosserman

Give everyone in Japan a subscription to Claude

20.02.2026 40

The Japan Times

Gearoid Reidy

Debunking the myth of Japanese militarism

20.02.2026 30

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Stability as strategy: Japan’s moment for global leadership

20.02.2026 40

The Japan Times

Christina L. Davis

In a new Cold War, Japan-U.S. ties grow in importance

20.02.2026 40

The Japan Times

Stephen R. Nagy

The black market for Russian and Iranian oil is in trouble

18.02.2026 40

The Japan Times

Javier Blas

Putin has weaponized the peace talks. The U.S. can stop him

18.02.2026 30

The Japan Times

Marc Champion

Lessons for Japan’s scientific community from Trump’s America

18.02.2026 40

The Japan Times

Yuko Kakazu

Time for Takaichi to tackle Japan’s political taboos

18.02.2026 30

The Japan Times

Edo Naito

Musk is wrong about AI and retirement: You still need to save.

18.02.2026 30

The Japan Times

Allison Schrager

Trump’s trade truce won’t restore the U.S.-India relationship

17.02.2026 60

The Japan Times

Brahma Chellaney

Japan’s inbound tourism booms as outbound travel lags

17.02.2026 80

The Japan Times

Peter Chai

Cuba is home alone in Latin America

17.02.2026 50

The Japan Times

Juan Pablo Spinetto

Why is everyone so self-righteous?

17.02.2026 80

The Japan Times

Steven Sloman

Trump is a lot like Kaiser Wilhelm: vanity itself

17.02.2026 50

The Japan Times

Max Hastings

Sanae Takaichi is not who you think she is

17.02.2026 60

The Japan Times

Gearoid Reidy