author

 
 

Meta

Sam Jameson
For Sam Jameson's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY
Nov 11, 2003
A step toward a dynamic Japanese government
Japanese voters on Sunday took a big step toward creating a two-party political system, but history shows that Japan still has a long way to go before it becomes a country in which changes of government occur periodically.
COMMENTARY
Nov 29, 2001
Japan's contradictory help
Former Foreign Minister Koji Kakizawa faults Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's dispatch of Japanese troops to assist American forces in South Asia as nothing but a "parcel delivery service" that fails to confront contradictions bedeviling Japan's security policy.
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2001
Japan not innately militaristic
At any time of the year, evaluating Japan and its military intentions is like looking through a telescope. From one end, everything appears bigger than it actually is. From the other, everything looks smaller.
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2001
Another blast from Mr. Bix
To more than 80 percent of Japanese voters, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi looks like a populist reformer. But to the American winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction, Koizumi is a "rightwing nationalist."
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2001
An end to hopes of change?
The surprising triumph of maverick reformer Junichiro Koizumi as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and prime minister of Japan could ironically wind up sabotaging hopes for periodic changes in the nation's government.
COMMENTARY
Apr 2, 2001
Japan's economic 'kuroko'
For more than a decade, Japan's financial authorities have been trying to treat the growing mountain of bad loans at Japan's banks as a "kuroko" of the Japan economy.

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