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July 25, 2026
 

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Matthew Brooker
British Queen Elizabeth greets then-Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson during the annual State Opening of Parliament in November 2009.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2026
Sack a British prince? Easy. Fire a U.K. lord? Not so much.
Mandelson, facing a police investigation for passing internal government communications to Epstein during the global financial crisis, resigned from the House of Lords this month.
A campaign poster for a Labour Party candidate in Burnley, England, in June 2024. Britain¡¯s property tax system is unfair and outdated, and a proportional national levy could improve fairness, mobility and long-term economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2025
The U.K.¡¯s property taxes are an irrational mess
There was no justification for a system that imposed a higher tax burden on a terraced house in Burnley, a deprived town in the northwest, than on a fancy mansion in London.
The recent China spy scandal in the U.K. highlights a chaotic, disorienting political and intelligence environment, resembling something more likely found in spy fiction rather than real-world espionage.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2025
U.K.¡¯s China spying scandal is a ¡®Slow Horses¡¯ plot
The China spy scandal currently gripping U.K. politics and media is again redolent of a fictional milieu.
Protesters wave a Hong Kong flag and a sign during a demonstration against the city¡¯s deteriorating freedoms outside the Chinese Embassy in London in July 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2025
Britain must keep its promise to Hong Kongers
The U.K. has a moral obligation and an economic interest in safeguarding the path to citizenship for migrants from the territory it formerly ruled.
Britain¡¯s abolition of the "nondom" tax regime has triggered an exodus of wealthy residents to tax-friendlier countries like Italy, sparking warnings of lost revenue, diminished appeal and a missed chance to reform the system more effectively.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2025
The ultrarich move in herds. Just ask London.
The beneficiaries are countries such as Italy, which is attracting wealthy foreign residents with an annual flat fee of €200,000.
Hyde Park's famed Speakers' Corner in London, which some call the home of free speech, is a place where anyone has the right to turn up every Sunday and talk about whatever is dear to their heart.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2025
Britain¡¯s free-speech retreat can¡¯t be denied
Britain¡¯s climate for free expression is deteriorating, as seen in aggressive police crackdowns on peaceful activists and dissenters across the political spectrum.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses medical staff and media during a visit to a hospital in Epsom, England, on on Jan. 6.
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2025
There¡¯s a target on the back of Britain¡¯s NHS
The scale of the improvement Starmer is targeting has been achieved before, under a previous Labour government in 2007.
U.K. university tuition fees for domestic students are set to rise for the first time in seven years due to a financial crisis in higher education.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2024
Britons don¡¯t pay enough to go to university
U.K. university tuition fees for domestic students are set to rise for the first time in seven years due to a financial crisis in higher education.
Since the Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008, Manchester City has gone from a middling team to winning six of the last seven Premier League titles, an unprecedented success in over 130 years of English soccer.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2024
Soccer needs to avoid a tyranny of the rich
A dispute between the Premier League and Manchester City has both sides claiming victory.
A man searches through the rubble of a wrecked house in the Turkish town of Cankiri after a strong earthquake hit central Turkey in June 2000.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2024
Earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters will shape our future cities
The progress of Antakya¡¯s renewal bears watching. However it proceeds, there will be lessons to learn.
A U.K. biannual customer satisfaction index based on a survey of 15,000 consumers fell to its lowest since 2015 in January and has declined for three straight periods.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2024
Bad service is in the U.K.¡¯s cultural DNA
While the U.K. could treat its customers better, not doing so is a choice. Why? There¡¯s a strain of British society that doesn¡¯t accept the idea of service.
Mainland Chinese student Zhou Hongxu arrives for a court hearing on suspicion that he attempted to develop a spy network for China in Taiwan in March 2018.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2023
Spies bring their China warnings in from the cold
The spy chiefs say Western nations need to safeguard technology innovation, particularly in areas like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2023
The Olympics are a giant money sink. So what?
Staging the world¡¯s greatest games is about way more than just making a profit
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2023
Manchester United looks immune to the banking crisis
The bidding war for Manchester United, a sporting institution, bears little connection to financial reality.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2022
An oligarch¡¯s yacht and 10,000 tons of China¡¯s love for Putin
Beijing surely had to have a hand in giving assurance that a Russian superyacht that sailed into Hong Kong waters was safe from confiscation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2022
Property crisis traps China into a market paradox
The effort to halt the spread of mortgage boycotts risks fueling the behavior officials are trying to prevent.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2021
Manny Pacquiao isn¡¯t the hero the Philippines needs
What¡¯s not to like about Pacquiao? There¡¯s plenty such as his lack of legislative accomplishments as a lawmaker and his support for President Rodrigo Duterte¡¯s war on drugs.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2021
Hong Kong¡¯s nonelection is momentous and meaningless
An ¡®election¡± devoid of genuine debate or competition is a momentous sign of the lack of genuine democracy Hong Kong can expect in the future. It is also meaningless.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2021
Is capitalism just a phase? China struggles with the math
Communist ideology declares that capitalism is just a stage in human society, and that party leaders are the architects of the future there to look beyond this phase.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2021
Art is sometimes in the eye of the accountant
Art as investment is a tricky business. Stocks and bonds have cash flows that can be projected and discounted to arrive at a theoretical value. Even commodities are subject to supply and demand curves. Art is altogether more nebulous.
Japan weighs regulating Pokemon cards amid trading mania
A Pokemon event is held in Jakarta on July 11
Head of Swiss euthanasia firm dies after collapsing while ascending Mount Fuji
Around 200,000 people typically scale the 3,776 meter Mount Fuji each year.
Indian brothers make manga debut in Japan
Two Indian brothers made their manga debut in Japan with "Kung Fu Kung Fool" ¡ª an action-comedy series that follows the adventures of a notorious thief and a young boy.
Japan scientists identify clusters of protein believed to trigger Alzheimer¡¯s disease
A team of researchers said they found a ¡°seed¡± that accelerates the amyloid beta accumulation process in the brain, naming it ¡°Peak 1 amyloid beta,¡± as seen in a mouse's brain.
A perfect storm: Kaze Fujii fans flock to Fuji Rock
Okayama-born singer-songwriter Kaze Fujii has carved out a distinctive place in Japanese pop since his major-label debut in 2019.
The sci-fi sensibilities of electronic trio Black Boboi
Black Boboi was formed in 2018 when solo artists Julia Shortreed, Utena Kobayashi and Ermhoi came together under Kobayashi¡¯s newly founded label, Bindividual.
A perfect storm: Kaze Fujii fans flock to Fuji Rock
Okayama-born singer-songwriter Kaze Fujii has carved out a distinctive place in Japanese pop since his major-label debut in 2019.
Can Japanese comedy get laughs in English? Yoshimoto Kogyo lets the jokes rip
Wes-P has millions of followers and his viral clips made him recognizable out of Japan.
The 180-day locals: Life on Japan¡¯s digital nomad visa
Christopher Flinn works remotely from Tokyo earlier this month. Japan issued 646 digital nomad visas in 2025, but tourism officials are hoping to increase that figure in the coming years, with Japan's relatively cheap cost of living and the weak yen seen as potential draws for young professionals.
Japan reveals hint of new defense spending target in fiscal blueprint
The Self-Defense Forces' Type 16 mobile combat vehicle fires during a joint live-fire drill with U.S. Marines as part of the annual Resolute Dragon exercises in Yufu, Oita Prefecture, on June 28.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

For many people, utility poles and power lines have become such a familiar part of Japan¡¯s landscape that they often go unnoticed.
Why Japan¡¯s utility poles won¡¯t be disappearing anytime soon
By Alex K.T. Martin

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