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May 16, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2006
Arms race widening in Southeast Asia
By Hideaki Kaneda
Southeast Asia's return to prosperity since the financial crisis of 1997 has brought a regionwide splurge on new weapons. Most Southeast Asian countries are, indeed, now busily modernizing their armed forces. So far, most have done so without compromising their autonomy in security matters. But with...
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2006
Needed: new energy sources
By Hugh Cortazzi
LONDON -- Naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough used to be skeptical about how far climate change could be ascribed to human actions. He has now declared he is convinced that what we are doing or failing to do has had seriously damaging effects on the climate, and he has been demonstrating...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 11, 2006
Can art be judged apart from its creator?
By Roger Pulvers
Last month the Comedie Francaise, France's sole state theater, made a momentous decision. "Voyage to the Sonorous Land, or the Art of Asking" by Austrian playwright Peter Handke had been scheduled for production in January 2007 at their second venue in the Latin Quarter. But in early May, theater administrator...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2006
Ready for global discussion on migrants
By Kofi A. Annan
NEW YORK -- Ever since national frontiers were invented, people have been crossing them -- not just to visit foreign countries, but to live and work there. In doing so, they have almost always taken risks, driven by a determination to overcome adversity and to live a better life.
COMMENTARY
Jun 10, 2006
China's buildup is no wonder
By Tom Plate
LOS ANGELES -- There has been an unsettling discordance about U.S. policy toward China that was brought home anew by Donald Rumsfeld, recently at the annual IISS Asia Security Summit in Singapore. Why this discredited man with his failed Iraqi policies remains U.S. secretary of defense is a profound...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2006
Intolerance to the arts is growing in India
By Gautaman Bhaskaran
MADRAS, India -- The recent anger against director Ron Howard's latest film, "The Da Vinci Code," reminds us that intolerance against artistic freedom is growing in a world that we thought was past caring about such issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2006
Swimming in the same sea
By A.H. Zakri
Oceans have always been an important part of many cultures, and today we understand the oceans more than we ever have in any part of human history. The question now is, has this knowledge and understanding led us to conserve and protect this beauty and resource and its inextricable links to human lives?...
COMMENTARY
Jun 8, 2006
Big lessons from a small town
By David Howell
LONDON -- Al Gore has been visiting Hay-on Wye. Who is Al Gore and where is Hay-on-Wye?
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2006
Planting seeds of hope in Japan's youth
By Daisaku Ikeda
The bright laughter of children is the true measure of a society's health. Ten years ago, I was in San Jose, Costa Rica, for the opening of an exhibition on the reality and threat of nuclear weapons. Even as participants began a dignified rendition of the national anthem, through the wall that separated...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2006
President Hosni Mubarak still waging wars at home
By Saad Eddin Ibrahim
CAIRO -- The decision by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government to try two senior judges for blowing the whistle on vote rigging in last autumn's parliamentary elections has rocked the country. Massive crowds have gathered to support the judges -- and have caught Mubarak's regime completely unaware....
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2006
Thaksin best underscores fatal flaws of his kind of rule
By Kevin Rafferty
HONG KONG -- Thailand's "democracy" is in limbo. Judges of the country's three top courts have decided that April's elections were unconstitutional, and new ones must be held. The Election Commission set October for new elections, but the judges said the commission has no power to set the date and its...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2006
Dousing flames in East Timor
By Alan Goodall
SYDNEY -- The need for closer links between Tokyo and Canberra has never been clearer than in recent days: Bloody fighting in East Timor, humanitarian rescue near the Java volcano site, economic basket cases in the South Pacific . . . The case for regional cooperation grows more urgent daily.
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.
Rich Japanese still fear yen crash, wealth manager says
The yen slumped more than 2% on Monday alone, nearing ¥150 to the dollar, after the U.S. and China temporarily lowered tariffs, triggering a reversal of bearish dollar bets.
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.
Japanese automakers looking at a ¥1 trillion hit from Trump tariffs 
Cars on display at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on Tuesday. The automaker posted a massive annual net loss and confirmed that it plans to cut thousands of jobs worldwide.
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.
Harmfully hot days for pregnant women in Japan nearly doubled over past five years
New research by a U.S. climate scientists’ group reveals that extreme heat has increased the risks of preterm births and other pregnancy complications in Japan, nearly doubling the number of days that are harmfully hot for pregnant women over the past five years.
Sumo title contenders already emerging in early stages of Tokyo meet
Onosato (left) battles Abi on Day 3 of the Summer Basho in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japanese automakers looking at a ¥1 trillion hit from Trump tariffs 
Cars on display at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on Tuesday. The automaker posted a massive annual net loss and confirmed that it plans to cut thousands of jobs worldwide.

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