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COMMENTARY

May 20, 2002

Musharraf must bring growth, security

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- The suicide bomber in Karachi, Pakistan's southern port city, who killed 11 French citizens in broad daylight, could not have found a more opportune moment to strike against the government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf. The general has spent the past few months trying to convince skeptics of...

COMMENTARY / World

May 20, 2002

Monarchy retains role in Thai democracy

By Michael J. Montesano

SINGAPORE -- A decade ago this week, tens of thousands of Thais took to the streets of Bangkok to topple Prime Minister Suchinda Kraprayun. Gen. Suchinda had led the successful February 1991 coup d'etat against the elected government of Chatchai Chunhawan. The terms of a constitution drafted on Suchinda's...

COMMENTARY / World

May 19, 2002

A foil to the 'Asian Miracle'

By David Wall

CAMBRIDGE, England -- The past few weeks have been sad ones for the supporters of the still young democratic process in South Korea. It has been alleged that a web of corruption surrounds the presidency of Kim Dae Jung, winner of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. While no one has, yet, suggested that the president...

COMMENTARY / World

May 19, 2002

Ending the outrage of child marriages

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

NEW DELHI -- For a country that boasts the 21st-century trappings of a space program, nuclear energy and state-of-the-art communications, child marriage is a shocking sociological phenomenon. Every day children in India are marched to community halls and forced into lifelong relationships that hold little...

COMMENTARY

May 19, 2002

Koizumi must act to end his state of siege

By Kenzo Uchida

I cannot help but suspect that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the members of his Cabinet feel beset with troubles both at home and abroad as the current session of the Diet enters the homestretch.

COMMENTARY / World

May 18, 2002

Koizumi overplays his hand in Shenyang

By Wenran Jiang

BEIJING -- There is a sharp contrast between Japan and China on how they have handled the incident of North Korean asylum-seekers in Japan's Shenyang consulate general. While Beijing has taken a low-key approach, Tokyo has blown the whole matter into crisis proportion, creating a nationwide sensation...

COMMENTARY

May 17, 2002

Iranians-in-exile mull return of the shah

By Tom Plate

BEVERLY HILLS, California -- These days the animated chatter in this storied city's sun-splashed cafes and deep-carpeted restaurants is not about the aftermath of 9/11, or the fall of Enron, or even the Middle East imbroglio. It's about the coming revolution in Iran.

COMMENTARY

May 17, 2002

Japan at its inconsistent worst

By Gregory Clark

Japan's overheated reaction to the May 8 North Korean refugee incident at the Japanese consulate-general in Shenyang, northeast China, is worrying.

COMMENTARY / World

May 17, 2002

Rude awakening for East Timor

By Alexander Weissink

JAKARTA -- The world's youngest democracy will have to stand on its own feet from Sunday. On this day East Timor will become the first newly independent nation of the 21st century. After more than 400 years of colonial rule by Portugal, 25 years of Indonesian occupation and over two years under U.N....

COMMENTARY

May 16, 2002

Another crisis feeds distrust

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- It is the stuff of drama. Chinese policemen grabbed three North Koreans -- two women and a toddler -- who were trying to seek asylum in the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang in northeastern China last Wednesday, but not before the two men with them succeeded in reaching the diplomatic...

COMMENTARY / World

May 16, 2002

Travel advisories for the next generation

By Michael R. Czinkota

WASHINGTON -- How does America's global role affect the lives of individuals? Currently, momentous international policy decisions are being taken; they encompass war, peace, freedom and the projection of power. It is important to step back and develop a vision of the long-term outcome of those policies...

COMMENTARY

May 15, 2002

Myanmar moves forward, China takes a step back

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Fleeting images can become perceived realities. For example, images viewed positively by the American public allow U.S. political leaders to unlock foreign-aid funds -- and business leaders to go forward with ambitious foreign-investment schemes. From this perspective, Myanmar, long-spurned...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.

A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan

By Hanako Lowry

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Fujitsu crafts sustainable innovation for itself, society

Fujitsu crafts sustainable innovation for itself, society

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