Richard Halloran - The Japan Times

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Richard Halloran

For Richard Halloran's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 7, 2006

Navies that drill together cut the slang

HONOLULU -- The United States, particularly the Bush Administration, has often been accused by politicians, academics and assorted critics in other nations, including several in Asia, of acting unilaterally, a fancy word for going it alone.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 17, 2006

Time for a new approach to Pyongyang?

HONOLULU -- Ever since the North Korean fireworks display of missile launches on July 4, the world has watched the spectacle of political leaders and diplomats of America, China, Japan and South Korea scurrying for a response to Pyongyang's leader, Kim Jong Il.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 27, 2006

China showing less angst over Taiwan

HONOLULU -- In the seas around the U.S. island territory of Guam in the Central Pacific, a delegation of 10 Chinese army, navy and air force officers watched three American aircraft carriers and other armed forces go through strenuous training paces last week.

COMMENTARY / World

May 16, 2006

Assessing Guam's new military value

HONOLULU -- The U.S. Air Force is surging ahead with plans to revitalize its bases on Guam from which to project power into the skies over the western Pacific and the islands and continent of Asia.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 13, 2006

Taiwan's KMT sees stability in status quo

HONOLULU -- Chairman Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan's Nationalist Party, better known as the Kuomintang (KMT) did a marathon swing through the United States in March to deliver several pertinent messages:

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 23, 2006

PLA officers get a whiff of the right stuff

HONOLULU -- The U.S. Pacific Command and the People's Liberation Army of China have quietly begun an exchange of military officers that is intended to reduce the chances of a miscalculation leading to hostilities between the established power in the Pacific and the rising power of East Asia.

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 2, 2006

U.S. Navy puts maritime pirates on notice

HONOLULU -- In ordering a U.S. Navy destroyer to capture and board a suspected pirate ship on the high seas in the Indian Ocean, the United States has fired a warning shot across the bow of would-be terrorists who might lash up with pirates in the Asia-Pacific region.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 24, 2006

Cross-eyed over abuses by North Korea

HONOLULU -- Among the policy differences dividing the United States and South Korea, one that stands out is divergence over the issue of North Korea's abuses of the human rights of its own citizens.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 21, 2005

Muslims condemn terror

HONOLULU -- A conference in Mecca of Islamic leaders representing Muslims in a wide swath from Morocco through the Middle East and South Asia to the southern Philippines has issued a rare but resounding denunciation of terror, saying that violence must be condemned "in all its forms and manifestations."

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 17, 2005

Strategic changes for Japan-U.S. alliance

HONOLULU -- Much of the American and Japanese news coverage of the new security agreement between Washington and Tokyo has focused on its political aspects but overlooked the far-reaching strategic changes it has projected for the revitalized alliance.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 9, 2005

The politics of assigning a nuclear carrier to Japan

HONOLULU -- The easy part of newly assigning a U.S. aircraft carrier to Japan, which was to persuade the Japanese to accept a nuclear-powered vessel, has been accomplished. Now comes the hard part: deciding which one of 10 carriers should be based in the port of Yokosuka.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 10, 2005

America overhauls its Asia-Pacific force

HONOLULU -- Amid plans for a sweeping realignment of United States military services in Asia and the Pacific, the U.S. Army in the Pacific has begun extensive changes intended to turn it into the most flexible expeditionary force that it has been since the end of the war in Vietnam 30 years ago.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 26, 2005

Finessing a tougher Taiwanese defense

HONOLULU -- The new commander of American forces in Asia and the Pacific, Adm. William J. Fallon, has begun making subtle but distinctive changes in his command's endeavor to keep the peace between Taiwan and China, widely considered to be potentially the most explosive conflict in Asia.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 19, 2005

Junichiro Koizumi's great leap forward

HONOLULU -- The stunning electoral victory engineered by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan last week ought to make leaders in Washington, Beijing, Pyongyang, Seoul, and at the United Nations sit up and take note because it marks a great leap forward in Japan's emergence from the passive and pacifist cocoon in which it had wrapped itself since the end of World War II 60 years ago.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 12, 2005

Again, a war that affects few Americans

HONOLULU -- In the four years since the terrorist assaults on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, at least two distinct changes in the realm of security have taken place: One seems to have escaped notice; the other is all too evident.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 30, 2005

Drills put U.S. Navy on notice

HONOLULU -- Soon after Adm. Gary Roughhead took the helm as the new commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the Chinese and Russian armed forces gave him something to think about.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 22, 2005

Taiwan skimping on defense readiness

HONOLULU -- The political leaders of Taiwan, both government and opposition, are in serious danger of misreading or ignoring the increasingly stiff warning signals coming from Washington.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 17, 2005

Viewing the United States from an Asian perspective

HONOLULU -- During a gathering of Asians and Americans in Honolulu, the Asians seemed ambivalent about the role of the United States in their region. As one put it, "We want the Americans to be on tap but not on top."

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 6, 2005

Deciphering China's military intentions

HONOLULU -- Surely the most pressing security question confronting the United States in Asia and the nations of Asia themselves is: "Will China become a serious military threat in the western Pacific?"

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 17, 2005

A fresh democracy or Maoist disaster?

HONOLULU -- For 10 years, the remote Himalayan kingdom of Nepal has been slipping nearer and nearer to the edge of collapse; the tipping point is now close at hand.

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

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

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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