Philip J. Cunningham - The Japan Times

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Philip J. Cunningham

For Philip J. Cunningham's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 31, 2016

In U.S. election, the fix is in

When push comes to shove, the status quo must — and will — be maintained.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 21, 2014

'The Interview': It's time for Sony Japan to say no

To put the lame, ill-conceived comedy film 'The Interview' on the frontline of a trumped-up battle in defense of Western values is a bit like betting the bank on Bozo the Clown and refusing to back down.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 13, 2008

Yes we can . . . what, Mr. Obama?

KYOTO — America appears to have been swept up in a feel-good moment. But as much as U.S. President-elect Barack Obama appeals to me as a public speaker and wordsmith, as much as I appreciate his candid, inclusive style as an antidote to everything redolent of President George W. Bush, as thrilled as I am for black Americans, who have proudly claimed the mulatto son of a Kansas mother and Kenyan father as one of their own — and by his precedent feel empowered by his victory — I don't think the feel-good moment has arrived, or if it has, it is cruelly illusory.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 15, 2005

Disaster responses redefine 'Third World'

BANGKOK -- "If America and Thailand were both hit by natural disaster, Thais would handle it better," a Thai lawyer once told me.

COMMENTARY / World

May 5, 2005

Homecoming for Taiwanese icebreaker

BEIJING -- The just-ended visit of Lien Chan, the chairman of Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), to China symbolized the end of a long-standing intra-China feud and is undeniably a diplomatic breakthrough for both sides.

COMMENTARY / World

May 22, 2004

Koizumi diplomacy takes a bold step

BANGKOK -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is to be commended for his pluck in venturing to North Korea at a time like this. Indeed, given the political maelstrom he is stepping into, his bold move has every chance of failure. There is predictable opposition from Japan's aging legions of anticommunists, mitigated to a certain extent by Koizumi's generally genial relations with the Yasukuni rightists. There is also the predictable U.S. disapproval of such maverick, unilateral diplomacy, somewhat mitigated by Koizumi's firm support of Washington on Iraq.

COMMENTARY / World

May 3, 2004

Myanmar sanctions hurt more than help

BANGKOK -- With the imminent release of prodemocracy leader Aung San Su Kyi from house arrest, it is not too soon to reconsider the usefulness of U.S. sanctions against Myanmar.

CULTURE / Art

Jun 20, 2001

Face to face with individuality

"Are you Korean or Japanese?" goes the question.

CULTURE / Books

Feb 12, 2001

How to profit from a nation's tragedy

THE TIANANMEN PAPERS: The Chinese Leadership's Decision to Use Force against their Own People -- in their Own Words, compiled by Zhang Liang, edited by Andrew Nathan and Perry Link, with an afterword by Orville Schell. Public Affairs, 2001, 560 pp., $30 (cloth). "The Tiananmen Papers" surfaced with a big splash in January -- even the new U.S. president has said he will read them. The overall quality of the reports contained in this thick volume has been judged by a number of China scholars and intelligence experts to fall within the realm of believability, though University of Michigan China scholar Ken Lieberthal was quick to point out that such leaks tend to be edited in a way that is favorable to the political cause of the leaker. The plausibility of the Papers is high because there is little that is new, and what is familiar can be corroborated from other sources.

CULTURE / Books

Jan 30, 2001

When does a faith become a cult?

FALUN GONG'S CHALLENGE TO CHINA: Spiritual Practice or "Evil Cult," by Danny Schechter. Akashic Books, 2000, 225 pp., $24 (cloth). Last year about this time, I visited Tiananmen Square, mingling with tourists and day-trippers enjoying the warmth of the midday sun. As I reminisced about this historic spot, where students had erected their headquarters in 1989, a police van pulled over and I saw a more subdued form of protest and crackdown.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 13, 2001

In Thailand, good losers teach a key lesson

SISAKET, Thailand -- "If the counting is fair, losers must accept the results," said Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, trying to calm down an anxious nation as rioting spread to over a dozen provinces in the wake of national elections Jan. 6. Having just lost the premiership as his party was trounced at the polls, Chuan knows what losing feels like.

CULTURE / Books

Nov 21, 2000

From the mouths of babes: a myth

SPITTING IMAGE: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam, by Jerry Lembcke. New York University Press, 2000, 280 pp., $18.95 (paper). My most lasting memory of the Vietnam War is the divisiveness it created in the small American town where I grew up. The nation was divided at every level. Even junior and senior high school kids could be grouped into hawks and doves, more or less along existing fault lines separating hoods and hippies. And the arguments went in circles, something like this:

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 1, 2000

The right WTO strategy for the wrong reasons

U.S. President Bill Clinton's victory in getting Congress in line on the WTO question was capped by a triumphant New York Times Op-Ed piece by him about why China should be in the World Trade Organization. There are many good reasons why, but Clinton's argument that this will "save" China and make it safe for U.S. investment fails the test. Worse, yet, Clinton employs his trademark baby-boomer spin to reassure Americans that they are in for a feel-good, commitment-free commitment.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 3, 2000

Crackdown keeps online China in line

The arrest of poet Huang Beiling in Beijing on Aug. 12 was reported by his brother Huang Feng, an independent publisher, who was himself arrested a week later. Going after writers and publishers with "political problems" is not a new sport in China, but an unfair one. Civil society has not yet produced non-state actors strong enough to stand up and cry "foul." Given the enormous strides China has made in publishing, from the newsstand to the Internet, locking up poets and publishers is a giant leap backward.

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

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.

The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces

By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Spotlighting a Niigata castle town through sushi

Spotlighting a Niigata castle town through sushi

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