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April 28, 2024
 

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Gautaman Bhaskaran
For Gautaman Bhaskaran's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2005
'Morality police' on a rampage in India
MADRAS, India -- When the mullahs in Iran curbed personal freedom, Indian political leaders cried out loudly and called them names. Yet, India is now witnessing the same frightening restrictions on individual rights.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2005
New Delhi gives U.S. the nod over Iran
MADRAS, India -- India needs natural gas from Iran and nuclear technology from America. New Delhi chose to give priority to the latter, and went along with the European resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency asking Tehran to comply with its nuclear obligations. Iran has been asked to sort out its nuclear problems with the IAEA, so for the time being, the issue will not be raised in the United Nations Security Council.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2005
Natural gas pipeline may energize peace
MADRAS, India -- It is being called the Peace Pipe. The natural gas pipeline running from Iran to India through Pakistan may be a reality in early 2006. Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Iyer made this announcement during his recent visit to Islamabad.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2005
Labor clash has lessons for India, Japan
MADRAS -- India's image as an attractive destination for global capital may take a beating after a July 25 clash between the police and workers of Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Ltd. in the city of Gurgaon, located near New Delhi. Scores of workers were severely injured and taken to hospital. Others were taken into custody by the police.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2005
New Delhi and Washington grow closer
MADRAS, India -- It seems that India and the United States are finally on the same side. After years of mutual suspicion during the Cold War -- when New Delhi veered toward Moscow and Washington played the China card -- Indo-American relations appear set to follow a mature path and agenda.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2005
New Delhi gets serious about cigarettes
MADRAS, India -- A recent study in the United States revealed that films have a powerful effect on viewers' behavior. When actors smoke on screen, they serve as a link between big tobacco companies and impressionable young people.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2005
India can't account for its loss of tigers
MADRAS, India -- The future of the Indian tiger, the country's pride and national animal, does not look bright. It is being butchered not just in the darkness of the night but also in broad daylight.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2005
Nepal's king under pressure inside and out
MADRAS, India -- Recently Nepal's King Gyanendra dismissed his democratically elected prime minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, and took over the Hindu kingdom's administration. This was a dictatorial and primitive move.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2005
Neglect led to higher Indian casualty toll
MADRAS, India -- In India, very few people had heard the word tsunami, let alone understood what these waves could do. Until Sunday, Dec. 26, hardly anybody had the vaguest inclination of the destructive ability of the sea.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2004
Singh moves to resolve Kashmir conflict
MADRAS, India -- India's new prime minister, Manmohan Singh, welcomed his Pakistani counterpart, Shaukat Aziz, in New Delhi the other day with a classic line: "Who could say 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall would be a thing of the past. My hope and prayer is that we can do something similar in the Indian subcontinent. I earnestly and sincerely will work to that end."
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2004
Linking Islam to terror spawns hatred
MADRAS, India -- Sadly, since Sept. 11, 2001, much of the world, in particular the United States, has equated Islam with violence and death.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2004
Taj Mahal survives foibles of humanity
MADRAS, India -- Sadly, India continues to let its heritage and history decay. For example, recently when a scholar from the country's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi asked India's National Archives, also in the same city, for a document, the request was not entertained. The scholar was told that the document was "too brittle."
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2004
The sky should be the limit for Kashmir
India and Pakistan are still holding on to their own rigid positions. India keeps harping that Kashmir can only be one of a list of subjects to be discussed. Pakistan disagrees and argues that Kashmir is a central issue that has to be tackled first.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2004
India continues to shine for only a few
MADRAS, India -- One important cause for the debacle of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition in the recent Indian general elections was their slogan, "India Shining." Some analysts feel that it alienated the country's millions of poor people.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2004
Halfway home is far from a China deal
MADRAS, India -- The Dalai Lama is still the leader of Tibet. He may be just a figurehead, but China, which annexed Tibet in 1959 and drove the Dalai Lama and his followers into India, knows that only this monk can convince his people to reconcile to Beijing's control over Lhasa.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2004
Nepal's political woes have India worried
MADRAS, India -- There is growing concern about the state of political affairs in Nepal, where a Maoist insurgency is festering. Earlier this month, incidents in the royal household affirmed that not all was well between King Gyanendra and his son, Crown Prince Paras. Paras has been a headache for Gyanendra ever since the latter took over as Nepal's constitutional monarch following the 2001 massacre of King Birendra and other family members.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2004
Stigma, lack of funds hamper AIDS fight
MADRAS, India -- With still no vaccine or cure two decades after the first cases of the disease were reported/detected, AIDS is undoubtedly a terrible threat facing mankind.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2004
Death-penalty debate rages anew in India
MADRAS, India -- India is once again hotly debating capital punishment. This time the discussion has been provoked by the death sentence given to Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old schoolgirl. Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has stayed Chatterjee's hanging and is examining a clemency petition from his family.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2004
Dowry custom killing India's daughters
MADRAS, India -- Recently a mother strangled her newborn baby in a well-known hospital in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh. The infant was a girl.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2004
Indian candidates take care of business
MADRAS -- India's elections are sometimes compared to a circus. Some call it the greatest show on Earth. I prefer to call the national elections, the first phase of which began last week, the greatest "family show" on Earth.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Ukraine is far from doomed
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Top U.S. and China diplomats talk tough amid warnings of new ‘downward spiral’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday

Podcast

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

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability
Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

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