May 16, 2012

Shaky resolve on North Korea

The leaders of Japan, China and South Korea, meeting in Beijing on Sunday, agreed to strengthen cooperation toward preventing a nuclear explosion test by North Korea and to launch talks this year on a trilateral free trade deal. But their joint statement, issued one ...

Apr 12, 2012

Ill-advised hiring cuts

The Noda administration has decided to reduce the number of recruits by government ministries and agencies for fiscal 2013 by 56 percent from the fiscal 2009′s level — that is lower than the 70 percent average reduction Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada asked the ...

Mar 23, 2012

Bowing out with a farewell of great expectation

by Tom Plate

What was most amazing to Westerners at least -and perhaps, especially, to the Chinese people — was that his comments were broadcast live on official China TV. After all, his official observations weren’t exactly pretty. Here is the back-story. In every historical movement and ...

Feb 16, 2012

Snow Revolution's orange shadow

by Anders Aslund

Vladimir Putin’s regime is warning Russians that their budding “Snow Revolution” will be as big a mistake as Ukraine’s Orange Revolution of 2004. But, while the similarities between these two popular movements are palpable, their differences are essential, so comparing them might help the ...

Jan 29, 2012

A victory for women

Voters in Otsu, Shiga elected Japan’s youngest-ever female mayor last week. Congratulations go out to Ms. Naomi Koshi, who is only 36, almost half the age of the outgoing mayor, Mr. Makoto Mekata, 70. Mr. Mekata held the post for two terms supported by ...

Dec 25, 2010

Coast guard leaker docked

The Japan Coast Guard on Wednesday suspended for one year a coast guard navigation officer who on Nov. 4 leaked to the Internet the video footage of the Sept. 7 collisions between a Chinese trawler and two Japan Coast Guard cutters near the Senkaku ...