Gregory Clark - The Japan Times

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Gregory Clark

Gregory Clark has been around a long time (born 1936) and has done a lot of things. As a result, he likes to comment on foreign affairs, economic policies and education plus events in China, Russia, Japan and Latin America (he speaks all four languages).

For Gregory Clark's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

COMMENTARY

Apr 18, 2001

Mistaken cures for the Japanese economy

The debate over economic reform in Japan, especially the alleged need to force banks to dispose of bad loans, resembles the story about the hospital patient on life support because of a serious blood-circulation problem. One result of that problem is badly swollen feet. But the doctors can only focus on the swollen feet, which they amputate. They also want to terminate life support, claiming it did nothing to cure the feet.

COMMENTARY

Mar 24, 2001

The long view on the Kurils

Can Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori stage a political comeback via his March 25 talks in Irkutsk with Russian President Vladimir Putin? Aides have hinted that he favors the "two-island" compromise solution to Japan's long-festering dispute with Russia over ownership of the so-called Northern Territories.

COMMENTARY

Mar 4, 2001

The media close in on Mori

Media vilification of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, to the point of virtually forcing his resignation, shows just how easily the major press and TV outlets here can control events in this emotional nation.

COMMENTARY

Feb 12, 2001

Destroying a fragile trust

In the semirural area near Tokyo where I and some others spend weekends, we have just suffered our first break-ins. Nothing serious. Someone, probably delinquent kids, going through unlocked parked cars looking for loose items. Far more interesting is why we have been able to leave our houses and cars vulnerable and unlocked for so long.

COMMENTARY

Jan 15, 2001

Calling off all bets on Japan

Predictions can be dangerous when Japan is involved.

COMMENTARY

Dec 24, 2000

English-education reform gets watered down

Imagine the fuss if Japan's car industry was producing a million defective cars a year. But for some reason no one bothers much if Japan's English-education industry produces roughly that number of defective English speakers each year.

COMMENTARY

Dec 5, 2000

Old guard may still deliver

As suggested in an earlier column (Nov. 16), the Liberal Democratic Party faction leader, Koichi Kato, probably deserved to fail in his recent attempt to overthrow his party's leadership. His timing and approach were flawed. His call for immediate structural reform and fiscal restraint was bad economics.

COMMENTARY

Nov 16, 2000

In all but economics, Kato makes sense

Koichi Kato, head of a large faction in the Liberal Democratic Party, now aims openly to be Japan's next prime minister. He has credentials. A former diplomat with good English skills and wide international contacts, he would do much to improve Japan's bland global image. He is also one of the few LDP politicians to live up to the word "liberal" in the name of that very conservative party.

COMMENTARY

Nov 6, 2000

Japan has no monopoly on obscuring past

The fuss surrounding a recent book by U.S. academic Herbert Bix, "Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan," said to detail for the first time the Showa Emperor's allegedly close involvement in Japan's past militarism, seems strange. The critics are making much of Japan's lack of interest in these revelations.

COMMENTARY

Oct 25, 2000

Western policies ignore Serbia's history

Japan can be criticized for its simplistic, one-track mind at times. But over problems like Yugoslavia, the one-tracked Western mind, hardened by ideology and moralistic bias, can do far more harm.

COMMENTARY

Oct 8, 2000

The Japanese people really are different

This year there were two Olympics. One was for the world generally. The other was for Japan, with audiences glued to events where hysterical announcers could declare a Japanese victory.

COMMENTARY

Sep 20, 2000

Council's proposals bode well

For an inside view on how Japan Inc. really operates, take a look at the workings of the National People's Council on Education Reform, now winding up its discussions and of which I was made a member, although I am not a Japanese national.

COMMENTARY

Sep 3, 2000

New Zealand let down by laissez-faire

The collapse of the New Zealand dollar, now worth only a fraction of its former value, says a lot about the sorry state of economic punditry nowadays.

COMMENTARY

Aug 16, 2000

Japan, logic and the bomb

This year's August end-of-war anniversaries have seen yet another round of Japanese appeals for nuclear disarmament. Past atomic bomb sufferings give Japan a special moral authority in this area, it is claimed.

COMMENTARY

Jul 24, 2000

Echelon knows what you're thinking

Echelon is the code name for an exclusive club of Anglo-Saxon nations that long ago set out to spy on all global communications. Only now are some of its activities coming to light. The French are angry and want indignantly to know why Britain, their alleged EU partner, has joined with the United States to steal their commercial secrets.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 9, 2000

Opposition gives flawed economic message

According to some Western pundits, the recent Lower House election was going to be a big yawn, with little debate over real issues. In fact, from the start there was a very real debate between the coalition, which argued that the economy still needed pump priming, and the opposition, which claimed that priority should go to something called structural reform.

COMMENTARY

Jun 21, 2000

Korean summit puts hawks in their place

The historic reconciliation between North and South Korea is arguably the most exciting Asian development since the end of World War II. So why is the reaction from Tokyo and Washington so muted?

COMMENTARY

Jun 11, 2000

Mori casts doubt on Japanese democracy

When Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said that Japan is a "kami no kuni" (country of the gods), it can be argued he was doing little more than expressing a personal religious belief before a group of like-minded, Shinto-supporting Diet members. U.S. media claims that he was trying revive Japanese nationalism hinge on mistranslations that have him saying Japan was a "divine nation."

COMMENTARY

May 21, 2000

Much ado about nothing?

Claims that Tokyo's governor, Shintaro Ishihara, is racist because he recently described Asians here as "sankoku-jin" (third-country nationals) -- a fairly neutral Occupation-era term used to distinguish resident Koreans and Taiwanese from Westerners -- were a bit far-fetched.

COMMENTARY

Apr 29, 2000

Ever misunderstanding China

The parade of retrospectives marking the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War tells us a lot about how that war was waged and lost. But missing, as ever, is the why of it all -- the psychology of the people who created the war.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle

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