John J. Metzler - The Japan Times

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John J. Metzler

For John J. Metzler's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 5, 2018

Moralizing, demonizing and common sense at the U.N.

In a week of speeches that swirled from the sublime to the ridiculous or were simply just boring, the recent United Nations General Assembly debate reached some notable exceptions. Among the sonorous drone of 193 addresses, either restating the obvious or repeating by rote the contemporary global mantra of climate change, the Palestinians and endemic poverty, some chiefs of state reached rhetorical pinnacles.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 21, 2016

U.N. human rights panel is no place for abusers

A political Who's Who of authoritarian regimes are seeking seats on the U.N. Human Rights Council.

COMMENTARY / World

May 21, 2016

Governments paranoid over free media

Many of the world's leaders are developing a form of paranoia about legitimate journalism.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 20, 2013

Making sense of North Korea's March madness

It's ironic that tougher U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea are matched by food and humanitarian assistance from U.N. agencies.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 4, 2013

Results for 2013 rely perilously on leadership

It's time once again to peer ahead at the global political and economic horizons this year. The political landscape offers both promise and peril, but much of the problem is that many of the outcomes will fall to the judgment of leadership.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 17, 2012

Quebec vote signals uncertainty for Canada

Political uncertainty shadows Quebec in the aftermath of a contentious provincial election campaign. Since the vote, the specter of separatism has re-emerged in the multiethnic Canadian province where political rhetoric by the French-language-focused Parti Quebecois could bring about the return of economic instability and undermine fragile business confidence.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 27, 2012

French never blase about the American arts

One of the more instinctive knee-jerk comments in trans-Atlantic relations is that the "French don't like Americans."

Jun 22, 2012

Cold War shadows Serb's win of key U.N. post

Shadows of the Cold War returned to the United Nations in the recent elections for president of the General Assembly, where a previously agreed candidate from Lithuania was challenged and subsequently defeated by a Russian-backed contender from Serbia.

COMMENTARY / World

May 9, 2012

Somali pirates see their ambitions trimmed

There has been a significant drop in ship seizures and hijackings by Somali pirates in the troubled waters off East Africa.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 25, 2012

Pyongyang's next move after the missile fizzle?

In the bizarre ritual of North Korea, a recent rocket launch was intended to put the icing on the dynastic cake of the centennial birthday celebrations of the late dictator Kim Il Sung. The world press had been invited to the reclusive neo-Stalinist state, and the stage was aptly set for the kind of mass rally, goose-stepping parades that define North Korea, as well as for the formal political enthronement of Kim Jong Un. But the anticipated climax of the celebrations — a long-range missile launch — fizzled out and dropped into the Yellow Sea.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 19, 2012

Syrian crisis shadowed by outcome in Libya

As the conflict in Syria churns out a ghastly human carnage, diplomatic efforts to halt the violence are shadowed by last year's intervention in the Libyan conflict, which resulted in a six-month-long military operation to topple a tyrant.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 16, 2012

Is Burma's reintegration with the West for real?

In a world beset by war, ethnic conflict and humanitarian disasters, Burma (aka Myanmar) seems one of those rare places where diplomats can say they are making a positive difference.

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 7, 2012

Egypt muddies waters of relationship with U.S.

When the government of erstwhile U.S. ally Egypt shut down 17 Western prodemocracy groups, trashed their Cairo offices and slapped travel bans on some of their staff, political relations between Washington and Cairo hit a new and unexpected low.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 5, 2011

Ex-East Bloc states reflect on the Arab Spring

A seamless political thread running through the current U.N. General Assembly debate has been that of the Arab Spring, the movement that has shifted the political sands throughout the Middle East.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 6, 2011

China rocks South China Sea boat

A rhetorical conflict has roiled the waves of the South China Sea, the strategic resource-rich region bordered, and in part claimed in various parts, by six Southeast Asian states.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 18, 2011

Portugal has a lesson if the U.S. is watching

Portugal is far along the primrose path to economic bankruptcy, following in the steps of Greece and Ireland. While the Portuguese debt crisis is not nearly as acute as that of Greece and Ireland, it nonetheless serves as a warning to other European Union countries, as well as the United States, that profligate government spending has its price.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 3, 2010

North Korea evokes pity and condemnation

UNITED NATIONS — Amid severe food shortages affecting up to a quarter of the population, horrific human rights abuses, and an expanding and costly nuclear weapons program, the United Nations has tried to respond to North Korea with a combination of carrots and sticks.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 26, 2010

For a fairer, more unwieldy Security Council

UNITED NATIONS — Reform and redesign of the U.N. Security Council has long been on the diplomatic drawing boards. Few countries will argue against the necessity for that, but most balk at the specific details.

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

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.

For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on

By Lance Henderstein

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

A young restaurant leads the way in Karuizawa

A young restaurant leads the way in Karuizawa

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