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COMMENTARY / World

Nov 17, 2003

U.S. continues to stir Muslim resentment

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- In an Oct. 1 report to the U.S. Congress, titled "Changing Minds, Winning Peace," a high-level panel warned that "hostility toward America had reached shocking levels." It recommended that the administration overhaul and increase public-relations efforts to salvage its plummeting image among...

COMMENTARY

Nov 17, 2003

Japan's milestone election

By Keizo Nabeshima

Japan took a major step toward a two-party system when the opposition Democratic Party of Japan made big gains in the Nov. 9 Lower House election. The poll will be remembered as a milestone in Japanese political history for this reason and because it was the first Japanese election to be fought over...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 17, 2003

A weak dollar for a strong economy?

By Christopher Lingle

GUATEMALA -- Since mid-March, the dollar's value measured by a trade-weighted index against a basket of currencies has declined by 6 percent and by 9.6 percent for the entire year. Some economists, businessmen and politicians in America believe that a weaker dollar will be "good" for the U.S. economy....

COMMENTARY

Nov 15, 2003

Prospects for six-party talks

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- U.S. President George W. Bush's recent offer to provide Pyongyang with written assurances that the United States does not intend to attack North Korea and the North's willingness "to consider" this offer provide the basis, however tentative and contentious, for a negotiated solution to the...

COMMENTARY

Nov 15, 2003

Election heralds dawn of new political era

By Kenzo Uchida

The Nov. 9 election of the House of Representatives ushered Japanese politics into a new era in which two parties will dominate: the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan.

COMMENTARY

Nov 12, 2003

Democracy: a most contentious ideal

By Ronald Meinardus

MANILA -- No other philosophical or political idea is as contentious as the concept of freedom. All principal writings of political philosophers deal with the issue of freedom in one sense or another, leading to an enormous -- and at times confusing -- body of sources. Freedom defines the relationships...

COMMENTARY

Nov 11, 2003

A step toward a dynamic Japanese government

By Sam Jameson

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 / World

Nov 10, 2003

China can learn from Japan

By Mamoru Ishida

China faces mounting pressure to revalue its allegedly undervalued yuan. I am concerned that China could repeat the mistakes that Japan made in exchange-rate policy. China can learn much from Japanese experiences in economic management and currency diplomacy.

COMMENTARY

Nov 10, 2003

Britain needs political center

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The British Conservative Party has once again kicked out its leader. Ian Duncan Smith had shown himself unable to control his party and capitalize on the mistakes and failings of the current British Government led by Prime Minister Tony Blair. He lacked charisma and displayed a sad lack of...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 9, 2003

Is Japan to mainland Asia what Britain is to Europe?

By Takashi Inoguchi and Ramesh Thakur

The European landmass lies to the south and east of Britain, the Asian landmass to the north and west of Japan. A newspaper headline in Britain once famously declared: "Fog over the channel, continent isolated." Japan may lack such endearing chauvinism, but is far more homogeneous and closed as a society...

COMMENTARY

Nov 9, 2003

Iraq changes U.S. presidential scenarios

By Harvey Stockwin

HONG KONG -- Seen from East Asia, American politics appear to be undergoing a sea-change. Mainly under the pressure of events in Iraq, President George W. Bush's re-election in 2004 has become much more uncertain, and it has become easier to see some of the Democratic Party's potential candidates becoming...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 9, 2003

APEC future rests on political relevancy

By John Barry Kotch

SEOUL -- Another APEC summit has come and gone but has anything really changed? The question that needs to be asked is whether the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is still relevant? No one attending the recent APEC summit in Bangkok really wanted to leave -- especially after the magnificence...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.

Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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