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May 18, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY
Jul 29, 2010
A clash of interests in Asia
By Frank Ching
The show of force mounted this week off the Korean Peninsula by the United States and South Korea was the biggest in decades and was intended to warn North Korea not to take aggressive action against the South.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2010
Safeguarding financial stability
By Robert J. Shiller
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Central bankers around the world failed to see the current financial crisis coming before its beginnings in 2007. Martin Cihak of the International Monetary Fund reported in July 2007 that, of 47 central banks found to publish financial stability reports (FSRs), "virtually all" gave...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2010
Lebanon's Hezbollah finds itself in a corner
By Paul Salem
BEIRUT — The future of Hezbollah, Lebanon's powerful Shiite political and paramilitary organization, has never looked more uncertain. Indeed, given rising tension with Israel and possible indictments of its operatives by the international tribunal investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2010
Living life by the numbers
By Esther Dyson
NEW YORK — Recently I learned that I don't have cancer. My doctor called and said, "I have some good news!" Fortunately, we were in the middle of a fire drill in my office at the time, so no one noticed as I blinked back tears of relief.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2010
Pedal faster, not slower
By Kevin Rafferty
LONDON — Memo to Naoto Kan, David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, and Hu Jintao and Manmohan Singh: Running an economy is like riding a bicycle — if you maintain a good speed, you can make progress; but if you reduce your speed, there is always the danger of losing your balance,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2010
Sumos and the yakuza
By Masahiro Matsumura
OSAKA — Perhaps no other sport is pursued as religiously as sumo wrestling. Before a match, referees — who double as Shinto priests — purify the seaweed, salt and sake. Wrestlers wash their faces, mouths and armpits before entering the dohyo (ring), on whose sacred sand neither shoes nor women...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2010
EU leaders must face a welfare state crisis
By Guy Sorman
PARIS — In the Western part of Europe — the part that former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld maliciously labeled "Old Europe" — almost every government is in deep political trouble.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2010
Muskoka declaration of health highlights abandoned promises
By Hany Besada and Leah Mcmillan
WATERLOO, Canada — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper — who is the 2010 president of the Group of Eight industrialized nations — has summarized the "Muskoka Initiative: Maternal, Newborn and Under-5 Child Health" by exclaiming "We have been successful."
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 26, 2010
Black Sea challenge by U.S. set to keep Russia on edge
A storm is gathering in and around the Black Sea as Russia faces a mounting challenge from the United States, which is beefing up its military presence in former Soviet satellite countries like Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.
COMMENTARY
Jul 26, 2010
Give Israeli 'traitor' unconditional freedom
By Cesar Chelala
NEW YORK — On May 23, Mordechai Vanunu, whom Amnesty International calls a "prisoner of conscience," was sent to prison for three months, accused of violating the terms of his 2004 release from prison. He has spent 18 years in prison, the first 11 years in solitary confinement.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2010
Claims of U.S. financial reform presuppose great leap of hope
By Kevin Rafferty
LONDON — Champagne cork headlines were popping all over the United States the week before last when the Senate passed financial reform measures variously described as "a sweeping overhaul of the big banks" . . . "the biggest changes for generations" . . . "the greatest cleanup since the Great Depression"...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 25, 2010
The samurai who were let out of the box
By Hiroaki Sato
NEW YORK — The Museum of the City of New York has an exhibition titled "Samurai in New York: The First Japanese Delegation, 1860." The "delegation" was the first embassy dispatched by Japan in more than a millennium. The previous one, in 838, went to the Tang Dynasty court to pay tribute to the Chinese...
Success of Chinese-made fighter jets against India raises alarm in Asia
Chinese J-10 fighter jets from the People's Liberation Army Air Force August 1st Aerobatics Team perform during a media demonstration at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, in November 2015.
Japan to recognize Taiwan as place of origin in family registration system
Masataka Yuhara, secretary-general of the Friends of Lee Teng Hui Association in Japan, which has been calling for "Taiwan" to be permitted as a place of origin in family registers.
Akazawa's dilemma: no tariff deal or a half-baked deal
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and his delegation in the Oval Office of the White House in April. Since then, Japan's trade negotiations with the U.S. have produced no tangible results.
Nissan to solicit early retirements while eyeing plant closures in Japan
Nissan's Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, may be closed as part of the struggling carmaker's streamlining efforts.
Closing the gap between what you learn and what you say in Japanese
A few tweaks to the conversations you learn in your Japanese class will help you sound like a native when you step out the door.
In Nintendo’s backyard, foreign indie game devs are thriving
Kyoto's gaming landscape is dominated by Nintendo's headquarters, but a contingent of foreign-born indie developers is also working in the gaming giant's shadow.
Akazawa's dilemma: no tariff deal or a half-baked deal
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and his delegation in the Oval Office of the White House in April. Since then, Japan's trade negotiations with the U.S. have produced no tangible results.
Nissan hoping to electrify home crowd as Formula E returns to Tokyo
Nissan's Oliver Rowland drives during qualifying for Miami E-Prix at Homestead Motor Speedway in Homestead, Florida, on April 12.
For his first feature film, director Ryuya Suzuki created a masterpiece
"Jinsei," which follows its protagonist over a century, probes themes of identity and societal issues with a dark comic touch. The director, however, says he created the story without knowing where it would lead.
Historian Rob Fitts discovers earliest ever reference to baseball in Japan
Japan's Shohei Ohtani carries the Japanese flag onto the field before the start of the World Baseball Classic final against the United States in Miami on March 21, 2023.

Podcast

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

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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