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November 13, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2006
India's song of freedom creates a divide
By Gautaman Bhaskaran
MADRAS, India -- India has a national song, and a national anthem. The first, "Vande Mataram (Salute to the Mother)," signified the cry for freedom from British brutality. The song pushed the nation into a nationalistic frenzy that often caused fear and panic among the occupying British forces. The first...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2006
The next Palestinian struggle
By Ramzy Baroud
LONDON -- An expert in international law and an old friend of the Palestinian people wrote me with utter distress a few days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh were reported to have reached an agreement Sept. 11 to form a national unity government. The content...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2006
The world's biggest mystery
By David Wall
LONDON -- In a recent opinion poll in Russia carried out by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, 58 percent of the respondents said they believe that "non-Russian nationalities are to blame for many of Russia's misfortunes"; 52 percent said they thought the government should restrict immigration.
COMMENTARY
Sep 19, 2006
Ugly finale to bogus pretexts
By Gregory Clark
The fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York's World Trade Center by Islamic militants has come and gone, leaving some glaring contrasts in its wake.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2006
Chronically hungry children of America
By Cesar Chelala
NEW YORK -- While it is normal to expect high levels of hunger and poverty in a developing country, it may come as a surprise to observe such conditions in one of the richest countries in the world. The Food Bank for New York City recently reported that nearly 20 percent of children in the city rely...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2006
Weighing Israel's way of war
By Ramesh Thakur
There are two alternative models for examining conflicts. Model One assumes that there are at least two parties who disagree over facts, causes, consequenc- es and the best way forward. Both sides are wrong, with neither being entirely blameless. Both will have to live with each other, no matter how...
COMMENTARY
Sep 18, 2006
A sure-win guards his cards
By Keizo Nabeshima
It is a foregone conclusion that Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe will win the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election Wednesday. He is then likely to be named prime minister at an extraordinary Diet session a week later and to launch a new Cabinet.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2006
Long inevitable goodbye of Tony Blair
By Christopher Hitchens
LONDON -- In early 1999, Paddy Ashdown, then the leader of Britain's Liberal Democratic Party (and since then, as Lord Ashdown, Europe's envoy in Bosnia), was found with a woman not his wife and forced to resign his post.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 17, 2006
Self-censorship conjures ominous echoes of the past
By Roger Pulvers
These days a simple but potent Japanese word is appearing in the media with inordinate frequency. It is hannichi, which means "anti-Japanese." An incident last month brought to mind an earlier era, when the word hannichi was also in common currency. Some words skip decades, returning to haunt the national...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2006
Japan loath to discuss incestuous abuse
By Tomo Shibata
Although incestuous abuse of a female child by her own father takes place frequently in Japan, the Japanese media refuse to critically discuss it, regarding it mostly as a plain taboo. Meanwhile, the Japanese legislature and the judiciary collusively dismiss this crime against humanity, thereby encouraging...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2006
TB and HIV: a combination made in hell
By Jamillah Mwanjisi and Olayide Akanni
PRAGUE -- Fatima, who lives in western Tanzania near Lake Tanganyika, has been suffering for more than a month from a dry, hacking cough. She trembles to think that it might mean she has tuberculosis. Fatima knows that she can find out and, if necessary, receive treatment at the nearest health clinic,...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2006
Twins wreak havoc in Poland
By Gwynne Dyer
LONDON -- "I am afraid that with Jaroslaw Kaczynski as prime minister, Poland will become more extreme, more anti-European and a more xenophobic country," warned Bronislaw Komorowski, a member of the opposition Civic Platform party, when the second Kaczynski twin was made prime minister by his brother,...
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Tokyo ranked world’s richest city by GDP, with Osaka-Kobe also rated highly
Tokyo has a gross domestic product of $2.55 trillion, just ahead of New York’s $2.49 trillion and Greater Los Angeles’ $1.62 trillion, according to CEOWorld’s global wealth index.
Tokyo looks to keep ‘monster parents’ at bay with new protocols
New guidelines are addressing struggles by teachers to deal with the burden of parents who make irrational complaints that go beyond what is considered socially acceptable, often referred to as "monster parents," which is overwhelming their workload.
China delivers warning to U.S. and Japan with third aircraft carrier
The Fujian, China's third aircraft carrier, carries out sea trials at an unknown location in May last year.
Japan lawmakers eye firm response to Chinese envoy's threat to behead PM
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Friday.
Tatsuya Nakadai: A masterful leading man and postwar icon
Tatsuya Nakadai had the look of a leading man in his youth, but his large and searching eyes suggested the pain and loneliness of an old soul.
As Japan’s female leader rises, can she cross sumo’s sacred line?
Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (front center) delivers a speech on the first day of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Sunday. Centuries of belief and tradition still underpin the all-male association's stance of excluding women.
Takaichi doesn’t mince words on Taiwan, but dramatic policy shift unlikely
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions during a House of Representatives Budget Committee session in parliament on Tuesday.
Florist Nicolai Bergmann flourishes outside the box
Florist Nicolai Bergmann shops for fresh flowers at the Ota flower market in Tokyo on Friday.
China delivers warning to U.S. and Japan with third aircraft carrier
The Fujian, China's third aircraft carrier, carries out sea trials at an unknown location in May last year.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years
By Yukana Inoue

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