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August 07, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 30, 2007
Tobacco's road from fashion to filth
By Hiroaki Sato
NEW YORK -- If a recent article in the Science section of The New York Times is any indication, the idea that the history of the tobacco industry in the United States has been nothing less than perfidy has taken hold among the socially conscientious. Titled "Tracing the Cigarette's Path From Sexy to...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 29, 2007
Who will defend Japan's Constitution?
By Craig Martin
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced at the beginning of April that the government was establishing a "panel of experts" to examine the question of whether to "revise the current interpretation of the Constitution," in order to permit Japan to engage in collective self-defense activities.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 29, 2007
Spare a shudder in memory of an American 'ism' that lives on
By Roger Pulvers
This coming Wednesday, May 2, marks the 50th anniversary of the death of a venal and cowardly man, a true antihero of the 20th century.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2007
Yeltsin: a hero of his time
By Nina L. Khrushcheva
NEW YORK -- Boris Yeltsin was utterly unique. Russia's first democratically elected leader, he was also the first Russian leader to give up power voluntarily, and constitutionally, to a successor. But he was also profoundly characteristic of Russian leaders. Using various mixtures of charisma, statecraft...
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2007
America the not so beautiful
By David Howell
LONDON -- It is becoming harder and harder to stay friends with the United States. Hands and hearts stretch out to the American people at this moment as they reel under the truly frightful trauma of the berserk Korean immigrant gunning down droves of students and teachers on a Virginian university campus....
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2007
United Kingdom divorce in the pipeline?
The political marriage of the Scots and English parliaments was consummated 300 years ago in 1707. In less than a week the Scots may begin filing for divorce. The date of the Scottish parliamentary elections on May 3 could herald the end of three centuries of union. U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair may...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2007
Drought dampens Aussie economic boom
By Alan Goodall
SYDNEY -- Weird is the only word for it. In the midst of its biggest-ever economic boom, Australia is drying up. Underground, minerals are being dug up and shipped to Asia at record rates for record prices. Above ground, a drought is so bad that this food-exporting country may not be able to feed itself....
COMMENTARY
Apr 26, 2007
North Korean nuclear deal
By Ralph Cossa
HONOLULU -- (More than) a day later, but not a dollar short. That pretty much sums up what to Pyongyang is a perfectly reasonable negotiating position. It will honor its end of the Feb. 13, 2007, "action for action" denuclearization deal, once the money is in the bank. In short, "checkbook diplomacy"...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2007
Sarkozy vs. Segolene at last
By Dominique Moisi
WARSAW -- The surprise in the first round of the French presidential election was that there was no surprise, except for the huge level of voter turnout. The two leaders of the right and of the left, the favorites in all the polls for a long time, came first and second.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2007
No smile limit in this Australian town
By Peter Singer
PRINCETON, New Jersey -- If you were to walk along the streets of your neighborhood with your face up and an open expression, how many of those who passed you would smile, or greet you in some way?
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2007
Reviving the Mideast quartet
By Volker Perthes
BERLIN -- Following the formation of a Palestinian unity government between Fatah and Hamas, and the Arab League summit that revived King Abdullah's peace plan of 2002, it is time for the so-called Middle East Quartet, consisting of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States,...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2007
The taming of 'speculative capitalism'
By Robert J. Shiller
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Nicolas Sarkozy, the leading contender in the French presidential election, recently lashed out against what he called "speculative capitalism," and says he wants to "moralize the financial zone" created by the euro. What does Sarkozy mean by "speculative capitalism?" Something immoral,...
Toyoko Kids: The lonely street children of Tokyo
Many young people who feel neglected at home flock to the Toyoko area to find a community where they can fit in.
Japan unveils new overtourism countermeasures
The majority of tourists in Japan tend to stay in Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto, resulting in overcrowding in popular tourist spots and a strain on transportation systems.
South Korea couple beat same-sex barriers to parenthood
South Korean lesbian couple Kim Kyu-jin (left) and her wife, Kim Sae-yeon, pose with a "pregnant woman" badge during an interview in Seoul last month.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Australia announces new warships will come from Japan
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate Niyodo sails at an undisclosed location in this image released Tuesday.
Fuji Rock's weekend of surprises was one of its best yet
Radwimps lead singer Yojiro Noda threw himself into the rock band’s Green Stage performance ahead of headliner Vampire Weekend.
How Trump is gaslighting on climate change — with Japan’s help
The Bishu Maru LNG tanker, owned by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, next to the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas
With a new distillery, Suntory makes a spirited move on gin market
A staff inspects a distillation pot still at Suntory's new Osaka Spirits & Liqueurs Craft Distillery, which will focus on gin production and help Suntory capture a bigger slice of the fast-growing gin market.
Junglia brought dinos back to Okinawa. But will it bring tourists?
At Panorama Dining, one of Junglia’s two proper restaurants that also doubles as the rooftop Inifinity Terrace overlook, guests can pay extra to sit in balcony tables made to look like birds’ nests overlooking the park grounds.

Podcast

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

Longform

A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped
By Elizabeth Beattie

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