David Howell - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

Meta

David Howell

For David Howell's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

COMMENTARY

Mar 26, 2005

Alliance lets Japan, Britain influence America to change

NAGOYA/LONDON -- The UK-Japan 21st Century Group, set up two decades ago by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, has been mulling over the foreign-policy dilemmas of the two countries at their annual get-together.

COMMENTARY

Mar 10, 2005

Avoiding sham democracy

LONDON -- There is all the difference in the world between democracy and constitutional democracy.

COMMENTARY

Feb 25, 2005

Spots on Russia's shiny orb

MOSCOW -- By normal standards Russia should be a happy and contented country. Moscow is awash with money, mostly flowing in from the giant energy sector and hugely boosted by the doubling in oil prices the past year. Shops and restaurants are booming. Cinemas and theaters are multiplying and play to...

COMMENTARY

Feb 11, 2005

Accept U.N. for what it isn't

LONDON -- At first glance, the slightly dated, 30-story United Nations building in New York's Lower East Side looks like misery mansion. Everything seems to be going wrong these days.

COMMENTARY

Jan 29, 2005

China's global impact grows

LONDON -- Suddenly China has become the No. 1 topic on the agenda of every Western policy forum and think tank. That the focus should be so sudden is in a way surprising.

COMMENTARY

Jan 14, 2005

Busting tired political myths

LONDON -- Opinion polls continue to put the British Labour Party well ahead of other parties, and the general expectation of the political pundits is that Prime Minister Tony Blair will win yet again when the general election comes, most probably on May 5.

COMMENTARY

Dec 30, 2004

Enough of grievance politics

DUBAI/LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been in the Middle East recently, asserting that the Israel-Palestine dispute is "the most important issue facing the world today."

COMMENTARY

Dec 16, 2004

Cause for Arab optimism

DUBAI -- The Arab world might be expected to be feeling cheerful given current high prices for oil. But, instead, a cloud of unease hangs over Arabia today. There are fears of slow economic development, fears of weakening oil prices as oil production expands elsewhere -- or as the world learns to conserve...

COMMENTARY

Nov 18, 2004

Atomic energy's second wind

COMMENTARY

Nov 1, 2004

We're all in this mess together

LONDON -- Comparisons are often made between Japan's relations with the United States and Europe's trans-Atlantic relationship. In practice, though, the two links are quite different and seem to be getting more so.

COMMENTARY

Oct 16, 2004

Preventing a new dark age

The entire geopolitical system is now enmeshed with Middle East issues. Mideast stability is the absolute key to peaceful global progress, both economic and social, as well as to the future of many world leaders and their policies.

COMMENTARY

Oct 2, 2004

Muddled American dreams

LONDON -- There is a long tradition of learned American commentators interpreting Europe seriously -- and sometimes comically -- wrong.

COMMENTARY

Sep 17, 2004

An oil shock on the horizon?

LONDON -- The world is now drinking 84 million barrels of oil each day. The figure may be meaningless to most people but to energy planners, security strategists and environmentalists it spells growing disappointment and danger. Why so? Because only a short while ago the figure was 72 million barrels,...

COMMENTARY

Aug 31, 2004

Feeling the enemy's breath

LONDON -- The Americans are going home. Or, to be more precise, after more than 60 years, 70,000 American military personnel are to be gradually withdrawn from the European arena. Since the present number of American troops under "European command" is 116,000, this will leave in the longer term between...

COMMENTARY

Aug 21, 2004

Bad book with good message

LONDON -- Here's a slightly crazy story for these hot summer days. The book the whole world is reading on its holidays -- or at any rate the whole English-speaking world -- is called "The Da Vinci Code," by the American writer Dan Brown.

COMMENTARY

Aug 4, 2004

Despite errors, Iraqis are now better off

LONDON -- Is Iraq getting better or worse? One side thinks things are settling down under the new Iraqi government and that, while security is still very bad, the prospect is opening for a democratic Iraq that is prosperous and benign, and exerts a positive and stabilizing influence on the whole of a...

COMMENTARY

Jul 23, 2004

Dream of wind power flags

LONDON -- Is Britain about to reverse its policy on civil nuclear power? Could the British policymakers be reluctantly coming to accept that while the official energy policy is to keep only one nuclear power station going after 2020 it may in practice be necessary to build some more in order to ensure...

COMMENTARY

Jul 8, 2004

Rising doubts about NATO

LONDON -- The June 28-29 summit meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Istanbul was a sour affair. The so-called allies within NATO could not agree on how to help with reconstruction in Iraq and ended up merely offering to do some training of Iraqi personnel, but not much more.

COMMENTARY

Jun 24, 2004

Constitution faces hard sell

LONDON -- So the great battle of the new European Constitution is over -- at least for the moment. The leaders of 25 member-states of the European Union have agreed and signed up to a massive document, entitled a Constitution, which for the first time gives the EU a legal personality and an authority...

COMMENTARY

Jun 9, 2004

Much on the line this month for Europe

LONDON — June is proving to be a traumatic month for Europeans and a busy one for their leaders.

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

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.

How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan

By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Cultural properties:A Fujiya Hotel insider’s view

Cultural properties:A Fujiya Hotel insider’s view

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports