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July 14, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY
Jan 6, 2004
Delegation: good intentions, bad idea
By Ralph Cossa
HONOLULU -- Some unsolicited advice to professors, congressmen, former ambassadors and other ex-diplomats, and anyone seeking a Nobel Peace Prize nomination: if you really want to help resolve the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula, stay home!
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2004
Falling dollar barely changes trade flow
By Michael R. Czinkota
WASHINGTON -- We hear about record breaking declines in the value of the dollar, rising U.S. trade deficits and a retrenchment of inward investment flows. Cassandra-like voices point to the war-caused budget deficit, foresee a growing U.S. dependence on the mercy of foreigners and predict the imminent...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2004
Contrived problem resists quick solution on Peninsula
By David Wall
LONDON -- In late autumn I attended a conference on the slopes of Mount Fuji. The focus of the conference was security issues in Northeast Asia, addressing the so-called nuclear threat from North Korea. It was a high-level conference with participants, including a minister of defense, from many countries...
COMMENTARY
Jan 5, 2004
Pro-U.S. stance on the line
By Takamitsu Sawa
U.S. political scientist Francis Fukuyama once predicted that the end of the Cold War would usher in an age when economic power would be the source of national strength. It seems his prophesy was off because of the policy stance of the Bush administration.
COMMENTARY
Jan 5, 2004
Tokyo, Seoul owe more than symbolism
By Doug Bandow
WASHINGTON -- Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is in custody, but the struggle to suppress Iraqi insurgents remains. Washington needs allied help to lighten its burden. The most generous aid should come from nations that the United States has defended for decades, particularly Japan and South Korea,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2004
What a liberal/conservative view means
By John Rouse
MUNCIE, Indiana -- The new year is a good time to examine current applications and definitions of liberalism and conservatism. Writers to the letters section of newspapers often pen their missives in absolutes with few illustrations of what their ideological pronouncements mean or imply for citizens,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2004
As axis turns, Pyongyang feels the squeeze
By John Barry Kotch
SEOUL -- It turns out that the construct of the "axis of evil" was more than an applause line in the 2002 State of the Union speech by U.S. President George W. Bush. What it really has come to convey is the interaction between axis members, which was little appreciated by Bush speechwriters at the time....
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2004
Myanmar doesn't need new constitution
By Nyunt Shwe
Myanmar (also known as Burma) is celebrating what could be the most auspicious anniversary in its 56 years of independence, which was declared at 4:20 a.m. on Jan. 4, 1948. Interestingly, the British government had agreed to grant independence on Jan. 1, but superstitious elements within the newly formed...
COMMENTARY
Jan 4, 2004
No East Asian card too wild
By Brad Glosserman
HONOLULU -- The National Intelligence Council, which does strategic analysis for the U.S. government, recently published parts of its "2020 project" (www.cia.gov./nic/NIC_home.html), examining forces that will shape the world through 2020, region by region. The East Asia analysis posits three "broad...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2004
Chance to defuse Kashmir
By Glyn Ford
LONDON -- The last dispute left from the end of the British Empire -- the Kashmir question -- may finally be en route to resolution. The unilateral cease- fire declared by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in November along the de facto border, the Line of Control (LOC), and then seconded by India,...
COMMENTARY
Jan 1, 2004
Fantasy of the final solution
By Sarah Benton
LONDON -- WMD: a new acronym for a new century and what a terrible augury of the century. If weapons of mass destruction are ever used for their intended purpose -- to annihilate mankind -- this century will be mankind's last. Perhaps the flippancy of the new century's young adults should after all be...
COMMENTARY
Dec 30, 2003
Loose threads of democracy
By Ronald Meinardus
MANILA -- After analyzing the transition of some 30 countries from nondemocratic to democratic systems in the late 20th century, Samuel Huntington wrote "The Third Wave." Asia had emerged as a significant player in the tide of global democratization that began with the overthrow of the military dictatorship...
Nissan clinches $4.5 billion bond deal after orders soar
Nissan Motor has raised $4.5 billion through a junk bond sale in U.S. dollars and euros, part of which carries a record-high coupon rate.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Osaka police crack down on crime ring over underage prostitution
Osaka Prefectural Police headquarters
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
Is Japanese skin really ‘too smooth’ for Hideo Kojima’s games?
Hideo Kojima, the leading auteur in Japanese video games, has skirted controversy in the wake of the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
An emoji used to say it all. Now it might say too much.
Apple’s Craig Federighi shows off a set of emoji at a conference on June 13, 2016. While the small pictures have proved helpful in conveying nuance in our texts, younger people are using them less often.
‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

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