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May 18, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2010
A pig's breakfast in Europe
By Howard Davies
LONDON — The Greek debt problem has been poorly handled by Europe's decision-makers. European Union heads of government, and the European Central Bank, initially rejected the idea of involving the International Monetary Fund, but without a fall-back plan. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that part...
COMMENTARY
Apr 21, 2010
Hong Kong treads the democracy tightrope
By Frank Ching
The Hong Kong government announced earlier this month that it had nominated a leading jurist, Justice Geoffrey Ma, to be the next head of the judiciary, succeeding Chief Justice Andrew Li, who served in that post since the former British colony became a special administrative region of China in 1997....
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2010
Unlike China, wariness marks India's ascent
By Dominique Moisi
PARIS — Some countries are naturally at ease with the concept and the reality of strategic power. Such was clearly the case of France under Louis XIV, the Sun King in the 17th century, and such is the case today of China, whose leadership is comfortable with the balance-of-power games of classical...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2010
High price for cheap yuan
By Kevin Rafferty
HONG KONG — U.S. President Barack Obama decided to back off at least from an immediate direct confrontation with China over the value of the yuan. It is a sensible decision on both economic and political counts. But there is no sign yet that policymakers and noisy troublemakers in Washington, Boston,...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2010
Will Syria come in from the cold?
By Kenan Mortan
ISTANBUL — Will the recent rapprochement between the United States and Syria mark a new era in Syria's international standing?
COMMENTARY
Apr 20, 2010
Methane has scent of potential
By Michael Richardson
SINGAPORE — Starting this month and extending through May, South Korea will resume exploratory drilling in waters off its east coast to find out whether a long-hidden energy resource can be turned into a new wellspring of natural gas. Other major energy users and importers, including the United States,...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2010
Nuke ban must apply to all
By Akira Kawasaki
The Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), released this month, has received much attention for declaring that the United States will not use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear weapon states. As an NGO representative involved in an ongoing debate between Japan and Australia over this issue,...
COMMENTARY
Apr 20, 2010
Between the lines of U.S. nuclear policy
By Ralph Cossa
HONOLULU — I have attended a number of discussions in recent years about U.S. nuclear weapons strategy and policy. All invariably begin with a presentation by a U.S. official or expert who proclaims that the United States, in the past decade, has significantly reduced the role and importance of nuclear...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Apr 19, 2010
Playing ends off the middle
Komeito, the third largest political party in Japan, is striving not to antagonize but to be friends with as many rival groups as possible in a determined bid to win in the Upper House election scheduled for this summer. The principal reason for pursuing this tactic, which has been described by some...
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2010
Diabetes epidemic the price of China's growth
By Cesar Chelala
China has a serious problem with diabetes, which has reached epidemic proportions in the country. This is the conclusion of a group of researchers from Tulane University and colleagues from China, whose findings were published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. Type 2 diabetes accounts...
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2010
Terrorists gain from inequality, recruiting those without options
By Gautaman Bhaskaran
CHANNAI, India — The recent massacre of 80-odd para-military soldiers by the Indian rebel group the Maoists was terrorism in its bloodiest form.
COMMENTARY
Apr 18, 2010
A chance for Russia and Poland
By Gwynne Dyer
First, a tragedy that almost sinks beneath the weight of a huge historical coincidence. A plane carrying the political and military elite of today's Polish society crashes, killing everybody aboard, while bringing them to Katyn forest to commemorate the murder of a previous generation of the same elite...
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.
Struggling Nissan considers closing two plants in Kanagawa
Automaker Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama
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.
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.
Japanese retailers turn to California rice for cheaper alternative
U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass eats California rice at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday along with Mitsuko Tsuchiya, vice president of retailer Aeon.

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Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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