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COMMENTARY

Jul 24, 2003

Revolution's legacy at risk

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- After endless debate, which led for several weeks to huge strikes -- mainly in the transportation system -- and massive demonstrations, the French Parliament has largely approved, in spite of opposition from most unions, a bill reforming the laws on retirement. It will have two major effects:...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 24, 2003

Enough nonsense about the liquidity trap

By Christopher Lingle

Tokyo's cutting interest rates was once the response to borrowing costs being too high or credit too tight. Despite no indications that the financial system is deprived of liquidity, the Bank of Japan and the U.S. Federal Reserve Board continue to hold or push down interest rates.

COMMENTARY

Jul 22, 2003

Foot-in-mouth disease spreads among pols

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- Foot-in-mouth politicians are a major cause of public disillusionment with politics. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, not only has a bad reputation for attempting to interfere in the legal process, but also for making stupid and embarrassing gaffes. His latest gaffe at the European...

COMMENTARY

Jul 21, 2003

Japanese-style management deserves updated appraisal

By Yukio Suzuki

Japanese-style management was once widely acclaimed as ideal. Since the collapse of the bubble economy, though, it has been discarded as a model for its incompatibility with reform. Now the system is being revaluated, and active debate is going on in the business community on how to adapt it to changing...

COMMENTARY

Jul 21, 2003

Make way for the New Way

By David Howell

LONDON -- Politicians and gurus from around the world have been gathering in London recently for a grand conference on resuscitating the Third Way -- the hopeful idea that the future can be guided along a path lying somewhere between socialism and free-market capitalism.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 21, 2003

Iraq's long-suffering people desperately need the international community's help

By Agnes Chan

"From now on it is each man for himself." Having said that, our colleague from UNICEF Iraq quietly locked our car's doors. We had just passed the final checkpoint between Kuwait and Iraq.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 21, 2003

Triple alliance stands behind Washington

By Richard Halloran

HONOLULU -- Two journeys to Tokyo this past week have underscored the forging of a new, albeit informal, triple alliance comprising Japan, Australia and Britain that stands alongside the United States in the war on terror.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Jul 20, 2003

'Potter': the order of parents

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- It is normal for a parent to distrust the things kids like. Having heard enthusiastic reports about some new product, be it a toy, computer game or movie, an average parent issues a suspicious grunt, thinking that it is probably overpriced, stupid and aggressive, and that the kid will never...

COMMENTARY

Jul 19, 2003

No assault on U.S. morality

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- For more than a year American politics has focused on war in Iraq. But the Supreme Court's decision voiding state antisodomy laws has inflamed the culture war in America. Conservative religious groups prophesy a moral apocalypse; Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is calling for a federal...

COMMENTARY

Jul 19, 2003

Hong Kong's democratic hopes vs. authoritarian fears

By Harvey Stockwin

HONG KONG -- July 1, 2003 -- when at least 500,000 Hong Kongers marched in nonviolent protest -- will live long in memory, provided that Hong Kong remains an oasis of freedom set in China's authoritarian sea. But it was also a day that will almost certainly be expunged from the Chinese collective memory...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 18, 2003

Discontent runs deep in Hong Kong

By Jonathan Fenby

LONDON -- The way in which the administration in Hong Kong was forced to pull back from its proposed antisubversion legislation has rightly been hailed as a rare example of popular feeling making its impact on the unelected government of the former British colony. But it raises more fundamental questions...

COMMENTARY

Jul 17, 2003

Sino-Indian ties could benefit Pakistan

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- The recent visit to China by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is seen as the first step toward a turning point in relations between Delhi and Beijing following India's acceptance of China's sovereignty over Tibet. The emerging warmth in Sino-Indian ties is also viewed in Pakistan...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.

A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan

By Hanako Lowry

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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