Politics & Diplomacy
Hashimoto to retract sex suggestion for U.S. military
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto aims to retract his remark that U.S. servicemen in Okinawa should use its adult entertainment industry to avoid committing sex offenses.
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK Mar 26, 2012
Costs of a policy of profligacy with foreign lives
by Hiroaki Sato
In the early hours of March 11, Sunday, a U.S. soldier went on a rampage in a village in Panjway, southwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan. He went from one mud house to another, shot, stabbed, and burned 16 villagers. Or so it has been reported. ...
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK Feb 27, 2012
American safety tab in terms of drone deaths
by Hiroaki Sato
Sometimes people make a startlingly mindless argument. One recent example is “Drones for Human Rights” (New York Times, Jan. 31). “Drones are not just for firing missiles in Pakistan,” began Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Mark Hanis, who co-wrote the op-ed. “In Iraq, the State ...
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK Jan 30, 2012
Aggression born of American 'exceptionalism'
by Hiroaki Sato
I thought American exceptionalism was debunked and dying. I was wrong. Most recently, American exceptionalism jumped to the political fore at the start of this century. It did so with a swagger, ironically, because of the 9/11 attacks. In his speech that night, President ...
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK Dec 26, 2011
Strange how isolationist stance can ruin a politician's reputation
by Hiroaki Sato
Perhaps because it’s a round number, the 70th anniversary of Japan’s assault on Pearl Harbor has given me the impression that more articles on it saw print than in the past, except for, as I recall, the 50th anniversary of the same. Back in ...
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK Nov 28, 2011
Learning to live with the builders of America
by Hiroaki Sato
During one week this month, the drivers of four taxis that I took hailed from four different countries. One of them said his was a small country near India when I asked him where he was from, my standard question when I see the ...
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK Oct 31, 2011
Controversy is no stranger to Nobel Peace Prize
by Hiroaki Sato
Earlier this month, when the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced its decision to award its annual Peace Prize to three African women — two Liberians and one Yemeni — Time magazine published online, on the same day, a list of the top 10 among “the ...
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK Sep 26, 2011
Two 'systematic' acts of brutality and coverup
by Hiroaki Sato
When Mark Hatfield, who had served as a U.S. Senator from Oregon for three decades, died in early August, obituaries noted that he was one of the first U.S. soldiers to visit Hiroshima not long after the atomic bombing of the city, and that ...
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK Aug 29, 2011
'Gratuitous' bombing of a defeated enemy
by Hiroaki Sato
The International Center of Photography recently had an exhibition, “Hiroshima: Ground Zero 1945,” and I attended the panel discussion. This month 66 years ago the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Back in 1995, I had attended another ICP panel discussion on ...
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK Jul 25, 2011
The self-inflicted costs of a 'war of choice'
by Hiroaki Sato
In mid-July when Mumbai was attacked with three explosions, The New York Times carried photos of some of the bloodied casualties up front — at least in its online version — and I wondered: If the newspaper for “all the news that’s fit to ...
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK Jun 27, 2011
Dealing with addiction to the 'war on drugs'
by Hiroaki Sato
Earlier this month a spate of reports and commentaries came out on the failure of the U.S. “war on drugs,” beginning with the Global Commission on Drug Policy flatly stating the war “has failed.” Perusing them, I thought of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. I used ...
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK May 30, 2011
Bedfellows of those 'lax,' 'insular' Japanese
by Hiroaki Sato
Are some of those who write for The New York Times utterly unaware of the rest of the world — including the United States? Take the article last month, “Culture of Complicity Tied to Stricken Nuclear Plant” (April 21, 2011). “Given the fierce insularity ...
Commentary | THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK Mar 27, 2011
Don't destroy that invader, it was here first!
by Hiroaki Sato
NEW YORK — Among the most recent invaders of the United States to be exterminated that I learned about is the red lionfish. Before that, the Asian carp got all the attention. About the time the carp scare was quieting down the yellow jacket ...