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COMMENTARY / World

Mar 16, 2007

Let economic cooperation break the fall

By Rob Vos and Jose Antonio Ocampo

NEW YORK -- According to estimates by the United Nations, the global economy expanded by 3.8 percent last year, continuing the strong performance recorded since 2003. Led by China and India, developing countries were prominent among the best performing economies, expanding by 6.5 percent on average in...

COMMENTARY

Mar 16, 2007

Apologies of dubious quality

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- The recent verbal gymnastics of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe show why, more than 60 years after the end of World War II, Japan's wartime behavior remains a sensitive issue around the region and why the country's apologies are regarded as insincere.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 15, 2007

EU defies pessimists' dire predictions

By Giles Merritt

PRAGUE -- As the European Union prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome later this month, the EU is widely perceived to be on its knees. European integration, is felt to have, somehow met its Waterloo in 2005, when Dutch and French referendums unexpectedly torpedoed the draft...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 15, 2007

Dark clouds over Shangri-La

By Roy Sidle

Yunnan Province in southwestern China, a formerly poor and clandestine region, is now experiencing rapid growth due to tourism and rural development. Mountainous northwestern Yunnan is home to the headwaters of three great river systems that run in parallel within about 30 km -- the Salween, Mekong and...

COMMENTARY

Mar 15, 2007

North Korea prefers Bush?

By Gregory Clark

Japan's distress over the rapid progress in U.S.-North Korean talks for normalization of relations is palpable. The government as well as the mainstream media seem united in hopes that Washington will delay normalization until North Korea meets Japan's demands over the abductee issue -- the return of...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 13, 2007

United vision of justice can defeat terror

By Gijs De Vries

BRUSSELS -- Three years ago this month simultaneous bomb attacks struck trains in Madrid. Islamist terrorists killed 191 people and wounded over 2,000. Last month the suspects went on trial in a Spanish court.

COMMENTARY

Mar 13, 2007

Dealing with climate change

By Takamitsu Sawa

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, and the 20th anniversary of the publication "Our Common Future," by the United Nations Brundtland Commission, the landmark report that called for "sustainable development" -- meeting the needs of the present without compromising...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Mar 11, 2007

What will happen to all that Japanese boomers' cash?

By Roger Pulvers

Hurry! Don't miss out! Yamaha, the giant musical-instrument manufacturer, is offering three-month ukulele courses! Or, the more adventurous can avail themselves of the services of travel agents at JTB who are promoting a six-day tour -- or an eight-day rongubakeeshon (long vacation) tour of Hawaii, where...

COMMENTARY

Mar 9, 2007

Retreat from responsibility

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Perhaps in an ideal world, people all across Asia would simply ignore the sad Japanese leader who slides embarrassingly and inelegantly into seemingly pointless denial over the "comfort women" issue of World War II. Perhaps in another world, the sight would prompt genuine concern about...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 8, 2007

Realizing the potential of an aging society

By Daisaku Ikeda

Japanese society stands on the cusp of change. Starting from this year, large numbers of the postwar baby-boom generation will reach retirement age -- the so-called "2007 problem." The country's over-65 population already stands at 25.6 million, more than 20 percent of the total, and this percentage...

COMMENTARY

Mar 8, 2007

Mideast's new tower of Babel

By David Howell

LONDON -- The turnaround in U.S. policy on Iraq is truly breathtaking. From firmly refusing to talk to Iraq's awkward neighbors, namely Iran and Syria, the Bush administration has suddenly changed its tack. It seems that talking to them -- without of course necessarily agreeing with them -- is now acceptable,...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 8, 2007

Overcoming Africa's north-south divide

By Sanou Mbaye

PRAGUE -- The late President Mobutu Sese Seko of former Zaire once declared that the north African countries, which pride themselves on their Arabic descent, should be excluded from the then Organization of African Unity.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.

If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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

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