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May 03, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY
Feb 19, 2002
Koizumi fast losing his luster
By Kenzo Uchida
The entire affair involving Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's dismissal of Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Jan. 29 reminded me of an old saying that "nothing is predictable in politics." Following Koizumi's move, his government's public-approval rating plummeted to about 50 percent after remaining...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Feb 18, 2002
No surprise investors shun 'homely' Japan
By Jean-pierre Lehmann
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- For a nation to be competitive in the global era, above all it has to be attractive. That, argues my colleague Stephane Garelli, author of the annual IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), is the ultimate criterion in determining how nations compete in the global era. Attractiveness...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002
Taiwan, mainland jockey for influence
By Ramon H. Myers
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- What is going on across the Taiwan Strait and within Taiwan becomes more of a puzzle with each passing day.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002
Beijing's newfound reticence says much
By Ted Galen Carpenter
WASHINGTON -- As U.S. President George W. Bush travels to East Asia to hold summit meetings with the leaders of Japan, South Korea and China, he does so against a backdrop of dramatically improved U.S.-Chinese relations. Tensions between the two countries have eased considerably since the initial period...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002
Will Blair err as Icarus did?
By Jonathan Fenby
LONDON -- No European leader rode higher in the reaction to the Sept. 11 attack in New York than Tony Blair. The British prime minister immediately rallied to the American cause, enunciated the need to fight terrorism in ringing tones and committed troops to fight in Afghanistan. At last he had emerged...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002
Moving beyond the Kashmir problem
By Gautaman Bhaskaran
MADRAS, India -- Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's recent visit to Washington began with a plea for third-party intervention in Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2002
Unfounded fears of language pollution
By Domenico Maceri
SANTA MARIA, California -- Imagine ending up in jail for signing a petition requesting that your university offer foreign-language courses. It would be difficult to conceive of in most parts of the world, but it happened in Turkey. Seventeen Kurds were accused by a special security court of "promoting...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2002
North Korea through different prisms
By John Barry Kotch
SEOUL -- In his State of the Union address, U.S. President George W. Bush has managed to disappoint South Korea and enrage North Korea at the same time by lumping the latter with the likes of Iraq and Iran. As the president begins a Northeast Asian rain-check sojourn with stops in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2002
Threats to U.N. 'legitimacy'
By Ramesh Thakur
The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush began with a clear and pronounced bent toward unilateralism in foreign policy. Japan felt this most keenly with respect to the rejection of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, but others also experienced it with regard to arms control treaties and...
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2002
Kim Dae Jung vs. the 'axis of hawks'
By Ronald Meinardus
SEOUL -- When the political leaders of the United States and South Korea meet, North Korea takes center stage. This preoccupation with the communist regime has a long tradition in U.S.-South Korean relations. Another tradition -- if we may call it that -- is the unvarying effort on both sides to publicly...
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2002
U.S.-Korea policy: now what?
By Ralph Cossa
HONOLULU -- Has U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to include North Korea in his "axis of evil" foreclosed the possibility of serious dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang? Not necessarily. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell maintains that Washington's earlier "any time, any place, without...
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2002
Enron's pain will lead to future gain
By Doug Bandow
WASHINGTON -- With the rubble still smoldering from Enron's bankruptcy, the U.S. Congress is attempting to score points by interrogating the international energy company's managers. Former CEO Jeffrey Skilling faced rough going before a congressional hearing; only by invoking the Fifth Amendment did...
Israel protests after Kyoto inn seeks war crime declaration from tourist
A street in Kyoto in March 2023. An Israeli tourist was asked to sign a document stating that he had not committed war crimes when he checked in at a Kyoto guesthouse in April, prompting a response from Israel's ambassador.
Nearly half of workers in Japan engage in ‘quiet quitting’
"Quiet quitting" is most common among the younger generation, with 46.7% of respondents to a survey in their 20s identifying with the practice, reflecting a less-motivated workforce more focused on work-life balance.
Britain responds after Expo 2025 afternoon tea brews outrage
The café space at the Osaka Expo's British pavilion
Truck driver's body recovered from huge Japan sinkhole after three months
Workers stand around a vehicle carrying the body of a person recovered from a sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on Friday.
Second round of U.S.-Japan tariff talks ends inconclusively in Washington
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (far left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator. The second round of tariff negotiations between Japan and the United States were held on Thursday in Washington.
Want to see the future at Expo Osaka? Get in line.
“‘Future of life,’ by Ishiguro,” the World Expo pavilion by roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, displays humanlike androids.
Ishiba hears advice from across the aisle on how Japan should handle Trump
Prime Minister Shigaru Ishiba and CDP head Yoshihiko Noda at a parliamentary session in Tokyo on April 23.
Don't send in the clones: AI event nixed as Alt accounts get reality check
A screenshot from the website for Alt's AI conference, which was canceled after the company disclosed an investigation into its sales figures.
CDP submits bill proposal on separate surnames, but challenges remain
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers speak to reporters in parliament on Wednesday after submitting a bill in the Lower House to allow married couples to retain different surnames.
Puzzling decisions and opaque rankings are all part of sumo's charm
Chiyoshoma (right) battles Churanoumi during the New Year Basho in Tokyo in January. The Mongolian's drop down the sumo rankings ahead of the May tournament was one of the biggest surprises of the latest banzuke.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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

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