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May 22, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2011
Debt undermines the classic answer to recession
By Robert Samuelson
"Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist."
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2011
A new code of conduct for the South China Sea
By William A. Masters
A rash of run-ins between China and rival claimants in disputed areas in the South China Sea has prompted a search for a conflict avoidance and management mechanism. In January 2012, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China will begin negotiating a Code of Conduct (CoC) to govern activities...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2011
Vaclav Havel's life in truth
By Jiri Pehe
Long before Czechoslovakia's communist regime collapsed in 1989, Vaclav Havel was one of the most remarkable figures in Czech history — already a successful playwright when he became the unofficial leader of the opposition movement. Though he hoped to return to writing, the revolution catapulted him...
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2011
Populism hinders globalization
By Shinji Fukukawa
The world is in a shroud of thick mist. At the time the Cold War ended, people around the world widely expected that globalization would make progress, the U.N.-centered order of peace would be maintained and market-economy-based global high growth would materialize. However, the ensuing reality has...
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2011
India flaunts poverty of its moral leadership, brandishing an ad hoc, reactive nuclear policy
By Ramesh Thakur
The Australian Labor Party has just endorsed, albeit narrowly, Prime Minister Julia Gillard's call to lift the contentious policy of the ban on uranium sales to India, although the latter is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2011
Suicide pact at Durban climate-health summit
By Gwynne Dyer
The Durban climate summit that ended Dec. 11 has been proclaimed a great success. The chair, South Africa's international relations minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, told the delegates: "We have concluded this meeting with (a plan) to save one planet for the future of our children and our grandchildren...
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2011
Why are monotheisms so sexually obsessed?
By Gwynne Dyer
One should not mock the sexual obsessions of Islamic fundamentalists; it's like shooting fish in a barrel.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2011
Road map for Afghanistan as contested as ever
By Harsh V. Pant
Another conference on Afghanistan has come and gone, but the problem remains as intractable as ever. No one has any idea how the underlying issues facing Afghanistan and the region will be resolved, but the international community soldiers on in the hope that ultimately there will be light at the end...
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2011
Motivation for college study
By Takamitsu Sawa
These days we often hear that there are two signs that the Japanese people, especially youths, have become inward-looking: The number of Japanese students going overseas for study has declined sharply, and far fewer employees in the public and private sectors are willing to take up posts outside the...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2011
Obama could learn from LBJ's leadership style
By Joseph A. Califano Jr.
Without presidential leadership in the trenches, there is no chance that Congress, particularly a divided Congress, will step on the third-rail politics of raising taxes or cutting popular programs such as Medicare, much less deploy the federal government to reduce the number of Americans living in poverty....
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 18, 2011
Their spirit seems willing but young Japanese are hesitant to get hitched
By Roger Pulvers
Back in the days of "there's gold in them thar hills," one of the prospectors' doleful refrains boasted the title "My Girlfriend's a Mule and a Mine." Across the Pacific and some 150 years on, I wouldn't be surprised if an echo of that plaintive air were not about to catch on among young Japanese males...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2011
London versus the eurozone: The game is on
By Howard Davies
Ever since the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community in 1973, after the French withdrew Charles de Gaulle's veto of its membership, Britain's relationship with the European integration process has been strained.
Shinjiro Koizumi takes farm ministry reins after predecessor's rice gaffe
Agriculture minister Taku Eto (left), who resigned on Wednesday, and former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi
Nissan’s troubles might go all the way back to Ghosn 
A lot at a Nissan plant in Mexico. The company may have overextended itself during the Ghosn era.
Japan confirms hard-line position ahead of possible tariff talks in Washington
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, at a news conference on Tuesday. He said that when Japan states it wants the tariffs reviewed, it means Tokyo wants them removed.
Tokyo to cover cost of base service fees for water utilities through summer
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is looking to make the cost of base service fees in water utility bills free during the summer, hoping the financial support will allow residents to turn on their air conditioners and protect themselves against heatstroke.
Trump’s wake-up call for India’s foreign policy
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Feb. 13. Trump’s coercive use of trade threats against India during the Pakistan military crisis has undermined trust in the U.S.-India partnership and exposed Washington as an unreliable security ally.
Onosato’s march to yokozuna could usher in golden age for sumo
Onosato (left) battles Gonoyama on Day 6 of the Summer Basho. With Onosato on the cusp of promotion to yokozuna, there could soon be two titans at the top of the sport fighting for titles.
A window into the mind of Esperantist and political activist Teru Hasegawa
Teru Hasegawa, Esperanto name Verda Majo, wrote leftist political essays during WWII.
Nissan’s troubles might go all the way back to Ghosn 
A lot at a Nissan plant in Mexico. The company may have overextended itself during the Ghosn era.
Random stabbing cases in Japan raise fears: Could the next victim be me?
Police officers stand guard on May 7 outside Todaimae Station in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward after a random stabbing that injured a University of Tokyo student.
Japan confirms hard-line position ahead of possible tariff talks in Washington
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, at a news conference on Tuesday. He said that when Japan states it wants the tariffs reviewed, it means Tokyo wants them removed.

Podcast

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

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb
By Alex K.T. Martin

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