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April 28, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2000
South Korea's new take on the world
By Brad Glosserman
The emotional pendulum swings in Korea are mesmerizing -- and predictable. First there was the euphoria triggered by last month's historic summit between the two Korean leaders. Then there was the inevitable reaction as more sober heads pointed out the difficulties that lie ahead: continuing talks to...
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2000
Ethical void damages Japan
By Keizo Nabeshima
The political ethics issue confronts the new administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. The question at stake is whether Japan will be able to put an end to the politics of patronage.
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2000
Echelon knows what you're thinking
By Gregory Clark
Echelon is the code name for an exclusive club of Anglo-Saxon nations that long ago set out to spy on all global communications. Only now are some of its activities coming to light. The French are angry and want indignantly to know why Britain, their alleged EU partner, has joined with the United States...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2000
G8 nations vs. the rest of the planet
By Ramesh Thakur
On July 17, the United Nations University hosted a symposium on "The Kyushu-Okinawa Summit: The Challenges and Opportunities for the Developing World in the 21st Century." The conference was jointly organized by the Tokyo-based Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development, the Toronto-based...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2000
Japan as a global environmental model
By Abul Kalam
Japan's miraculous postwar recovery and spectacular economic growth earned it worldwide admiration and led many to view it as a growth model. Subsequently, however, it became clear that Japan's economic growth came at a huge cost in terms of environmental degradation and human health.
COMMENTARY
Jul 22, 2000
Korean summit: A potential 'win-win' for all
By Ralph Cossa
There has been considerable debate since last month's historic North-South Korea summit about the meeting's impact on the peninsula's neighbors and benefactors. The conventional wisdom seems to be that China fared best. However, I would argue that all four major powers have come out ahead and that the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2000
No point mourning the loss of languages
By Gwynne Dyer
Early in Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life," there's a skit sending up the Catholic Church's ban on contraception in which hordes of ragged but pious urchins sing several choruses of "Every Sperm Is Sacred." The industry of worrying about dead, dying and declining languages is a bit like that.
COMMENTARY
Jul 21, 2000
Spotlight shines on Okinawa
By Minoru Tada
A three-day Group of Eight summit opens today in Okinawa, an unusual location for such a conference. Okinawa was the last major battlefield in the Pacific War, where Japanese Imperial soldiers fought the onslaught of U.S. military forces. During the fierce fighting, an estimated 100,000 Okinawan civilians...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2000
Few anti-base protests before summit
By Edward Neilan
NAHA, Okinawa — Japanese police, whose only new equipment for the event are 23,200 pairs of sunglasses, have effectively caused anti-U.S. bases demonstrations at the Okinawa G8 Summit to flop badly.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000
A critical visit for Clinton
By Butch Dela Cruz and Charles Morrison
This year's Group of Eight summit meeting in Okinawa presents U.S. President Bill Clinton with a particularly sensitive political and diplomatic challenge. The success of the summit for Americans will probably be judged more by the tone of the president's reception in Okinawa than by the substantive...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jul 20, 2000
It's convention time again
By Bob Keefe
It is convention time, folks. The Republicans meet in Philadelphia's Comcast-Spectator's First Union Center from July 31 through Aug. 3; the Democrats at the Staples Center in Los Angeles from Aug. 14 through 17. The conventions have a serious purpose. They are the supreme authorities in which the parties...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000
Summit holds key to vision for Okinawa in the 21st century
By Morisada Maeshiro
Okinawa was placed under U.S. rule for 27 years after the end of World War II. During this time, the Japanese mainland succeeded in rebuilding its economy, in particular securing high economic growth through the development of heavy industries, and thus joined the ranks of industrialized countries.
China seizes disputed reef near key Philippine military outpost
China Coast Guard officers unfurl a national flag on Sandy Cay reef, near the Philippine-held Thitu Island, in disputed waters of the South China Sea this month in this screen shot taken from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Japan to resist Trump efforts to form trade bloc against China
As Japan gears up for the trade talks, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is also seeking to cushion the blow that the U.S. tariffs may have on the domestic economy.
As many as nine dead after driver plows into Vancouver festival crowd
An ambulance is parked at the site of the Lapu Lapu day festival, where a vehicle drove into a crowd killing several people in Vancouver on Saturday.
Japan struggles with gray zone of AI deepfakes exploiting children
AI-generated content — including those made using pictures of real people, which are known as “deepfakes” — is not explicitly covered under Japan's current legal framework, nor are human-drawn illustrations that depict child abuse.
How to bring up bad news in Japanese
As in other cultures, when someone shares bad news in Japanese it’s best to respond with supportive words.
‘Wildcat Dome’ challenges Japan's historical narratives
On the surface, "Wildcat Dome" tells a personal story of damaged children — now adults — bound together by tragedy. Underneath, there’s a constant undercurrent of political consequence, invisible and pervasive like radioactive particles.
Reclaiming Sanya, one meal at a time
Magokoro Yoshihira (center) is the managing director of Yui Associates, which operates the neighborhood fixtures of Sanya Cafe and Juyoh Hotel. Yusuke Takahashi (left) met Yoshihira during a difficult period in his life and now works as the cafe’s chef. Nancy Anne (right) has worked for over 10 years at Juyoh Hotel and enjoys the multicultural environment.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo

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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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