More Commentary Articles - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY

Mar 27, 2005

Who decides life and death?

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- Last week the U.S. Congress voted to try to save, at least temporarily, the life of Terri Schiavo, who otherwise would slowly starve to death at the hospice in the state of Florida in which she is confined.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 27, 2005

Testing Karzai's politics of inclusiveness

By Amin Saikal

CANBERRA -- Whatever Washington's expectations, Afghan President Hamed Karzai is certainly instituting what he has called "Afghan-style democracy." His inclusion in the government of some individuals who in the past had been highly criticized as "warlords" might be prudent under present circumstances,...

COMMENTARY

Mar 26, 2005

Alliance lets Japan, Britain influence America to change

By David Howell

NAGOYA/LONDON -- The UK-Japan 21st Century Group, set up two decades ago by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, has been mulling over the foreign-policy dilemmas of the two countries at their annual get-together.

COMMENTARY

Mar 24, 2005

Northern Territories dispute highlights flawed diplomacy

By Gregory Clark

Japan is now in serious territorial disputes with all of its neighbors -- Taiwan, China, South Korea and Russia. True, this could prove there is something wrong with all of Japan's neighbors. But it could also prove that there is something wrong in the way Japan handles territorial problems with its...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 22, 2005

Special court can right Haitian wrongs

By Cesar Chelala

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Known as the "Perle des Antilles" at the time of its independence in 1804, Haiti has gone through several periods of upheaval and terror that have stymied a once promising future. Human rights violations are widespread, and justice is nonexistent in the country today.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 22, 2005

The U.N.'s 'underachievers'

By Ramesh Thakur

Carol Bellamy, the outgoing head of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), has bemoaned the lack of women in top U.N. posts. The organization that preaches gender equality to national governments needs some "affirmative action" to put women in senior positions, she said, adding that other organizations such...

COMMENTARY

Mar 21, 2005

Antisecession law may have opposite effect

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- The impact of the adoption by China of the antisecession law, widely criticized in Taiwan and in the West even before it was unveiled last Monday, may well be the opposite of what the drafters of the controversial legislation intended.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 21, 2005

Three leadership styles, three challenges

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- The different leadership styles of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi in organizing relief and reconstruction after the Dec. 26 tsunami hold important lessons for managing peace, politics and...

COMMENTARY

Mar 21, 2005

A cow walk toward a crisis

By Keizo Nabeshima

The Japan-U.S. row over beef imports looms as a grave problem that could develop into serious bilateral friction. Until recently the two countries had enjoyed what many experts regarded as the best relations yet in the postwar years. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi supported U.S. President George W....

COMMENTARY

Mar 21, 2005

Getting education on track

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- British and Japanese governments face major challenges in funding and organizing education, which is key to a nation's cultural and economic well-being.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 21, 2005

India can't account for its loss of tigers

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS, India -- The future of the Indian tiger, the country's pride and national animal, does not look bright. It is being butchered not just in the darkness of the night but also in broad daylight.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Mar 20, 2005

Artwork unfurled without a destination

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- To be popular with art historians, you have to be a dead Italian male. Everyone else is suspect to tenured professors and critics, particularly if the work is going to last for just 16 days and is made of nylon and steel. Such was the case with a revolutionary project by Christo and Jeanne-Claude,...

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

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

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

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports