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July 01, 2026
 

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Ruth Pollard
Ground Self-Defense Force troops lower the Japanese flag at the end of the day at their camp on Miyako Island, Okinawa Prefecture, in April 2022. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 15, 2026
Who’s afraid of ‘Japanese neo-militarism’? Nobody
More countries see a stronger Japan not as a danger, but a counterweight to China’s actions and growing U.S. untrustworthiness.
A statue of former Indonesian President Suharto at a museum dedicated to him in the city of Yogyakarta. Authoritarian nostalgia is rising across Southeast Asia as leaders and societies whitewash past dictatorships. REUTERS
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2025
How amnesia is turning Asia’s tyrants into heroes
Experts warn that forgetting the realities of autocratic rule threatens democratic institutions, transparency and long-term stability.
A Buddhist monk walks past the damaged Mandalay Palace on Monday. The country's ruling military junta can repeat the mistakes of 17 years ago by blocking aid after Cyclone Nargis left 140,000 dead or allow urgent assistance to flow freely.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2025
The quake in Myanmar should force the junta’s hand
The ousted civilian administration initiated a two-week ceasefire in quake-hit areas to allow aid to reach victims. It doesn’t look like the junta will do the same.
The International Criminal Court is pursuing arrest warrants for Taliban leaders accused of human rights abuses against Afghan women and girls, but legal and political obstacles complicate the process.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2025
The long road to justice for Afghan women
Afghan women and girls need every bit of global support they can get to push back against the Taliban’s unhinged misogyny.
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte holds a news conference in Quezon City, in Metro Manila, on Tuesday. She denied she was plotting to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., saying recent comments that sparked a government probe only reflected "consternation" with her one-time ally.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024
Philippines politics is often mad. It just got crazier.
Manila cannot afford to be distracted by the latest round of clan rivalry and violent threats.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2024
China and India bury the hatchet — for now, at least
Despite the agreement to disengage, the lack of trust is palpable. We are still just one misstep from an army patrol from another dangerous flare-up.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April. Both leaders face an uphill battle to stay at the helm of their respective parties and countries.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 10, 2024
Japan too is wrestling with a flawed leader
Questions about election prospects plague Biden in the U.S. and Kishida in Japan, with both trying to hang on to their commanding positions despite growing discontent.
Telecoms giant KDDI plans with Mitsubishi to take convenience store operator Lawson private could help it as it currently stands behind FamilyMart and Seven & I Holdings in a three-horse race.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 14, 2024
There are clouds on the horizon in Japan’s ‘conbini-land’
Industry consolidation has pushed minor players out of the conbini game.
Mourners at a funeral on Nov. 19 carry the body of a Palestinian shot dead earlier during a raid by Israeli forces on a refugee camp near the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2023
While Gaza burns, the West Bank is at a boiling point
Mideast violence spreads beyond Gaza into the West Bank causing the U.S. to take a stand against extremist Israeli settlers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2023
Just how dangerous are India’s generic drugs? Very.
The red flags for Indian drugs have been there for years. The world deserves much better than contaminated medicine and children poisoned by cough syrup.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 27, 2022
Shinzo Abe’s funeral furor is Japan’s most unedifying debate
Partisan bickering over Shinzo Abe’s state memorial was an embarrassment for the nation on the world stage.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2022
India’s heatwaves are testing the limits of human survival
Each summer in India is a fresh roll of the dice on whether a freak event will occur that leads to a vast number of deaths.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2022
Rape: The war crime that goes mostly unpunished
What’s happening in Ukraine is one of the worst large-scale campaigns of sexual violence in war since Islamic State’s attacks on the Yezidi minority in Iraq in 2014.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2022
The West forgot about the Pacific Islands. China didn’t.
A crucial World War II battle was fought in the Solomons. It’s now the focus of the latest Pacific power struggle.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2022
Is the civilian resistance tipping the balance in Myanmar?
‘Myanmar has been in a state of civil war for a long time, but until now it has been limited to certain territories and ethnic regions. Now, even the Bamar heartland is in conflict.”
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2022
The second drone age is here and it’s a free-for-all
Drones have opened the door to weaponized artificial intelligence, algorithmic and robotic warfare and loosened human control over the deployment of lethal force.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2022
Djokovic debacle exposes Australia’s xenophobic policies
The furor over Novak Djokovic’s COVID-19-related detention has brought to global attention the nation’s strict immigration policies.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2021
Out of Texas, a cowboy solution to an Afghan crisis
The informal currency swap will prop up a small part of the Afghan economy but certainly won’t be enough to prevent the country from slipping into full-blown famine this winter.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2021
Diplomats dither while millions of people starve
Afghans are trapped between a radical Islamist group and a global community apparently content to sit back and let their aid-dependent country plunge into crisis.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2021
Starvation is as much a threat to Afghan women as the Taliban
In an aid-dependent economy already in deep trouble, the removal of tens of thousands female workers, many supporting large families, will only add to those facing hunger.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
Japan's currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.
Japan falls in gut-wrenching fashion as Brazil strikes late to win World Cup clash
Brazil's Gabriel Martinelli (right) shoots past Japan defenders Shogo Taniguchi (left) and Takehiro Tomiyasu to score in the second half of a match in the round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Houston on Monday.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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