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November 05, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Aug 2, 2000

Lebanon's Daily Star does battle on a new front

By Brent Kininmont

BEIRUT -- The Daily Star did not need to send a reporter to the front line to cover the first salvos of the 15-year civil war that nearly broke Lebanon's back. The newspaper's offices were already there.

COMMENTARY

Aug 2, 2000

Hasten slowly on ties with Pyongyang

By Ryuichiro Hosokawa

Japan is moving to expedite negotiations on a peace treaty with North Korea, but it should be in no hurry at all. Famine-stricken North Korea has often asked foreign countries for food aid, and Japan has obliged by supplying a large amount of rice. There is no way of knowing if the Japanese-supplied...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 1, 2000

East Asia feels impact of the Putin effect

By Harvey Stockwin

HONG KONG — As Russian President Vladimir Putin cut a swath through East Asia recently, visiting China, North Korea, Japan and the Russian Far East in a breathless seven days, he gave plenty of indications of the ways in which Russia is likely to change under his leadership.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 1, 2000

Revise the tax treaty fairly

By Jun Sugie

Thomas Donohue's article "Time to update the U.S.-Japan tax treaty" (The Japan Times, July 19) misleads readers about the issues in the Japan-U.S. tax treaty. The issues are more complex than he indicates.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 31, 2000

Russians cheer thaw with Pyongyang

By Russell Working

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Until recently, the leader of North Korea's Stalinist state had never been known to meet a noncommunist, travel abroad as head of state or publicly utter more than a single slogan at a military parade.

COMMENTARY

Jul 31, 2000

United States puts junk science on trial

By Doug Bandow

There are few more potent combinations than lawyers and journalists in the United States today. Together they can demonize, loot and even bankrupt the largest industry. And do so based on the flimsiest evidence. But the tide is turning, as evidenced by the decision of U.S. District Court Judge Louis...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 31, 2000

Japan-Russia exchanges build vital trust

By Hiroshi Kimura

Last month I had an opportunity to visit Kunashiri and Etorofu Islands -- two of the four Russian-occupied islands claimed by Japan -- under a visa-free exchange program. It was my second trip to the Northern Territories, which consist of Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and Habomai Islands. On my first...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 31, 2000

Roots of juvenile crime lie in parenting

By Yuko Kawanishi

Children are the mirrors of our society. They are the first ones to sense the hypocrisy of the adult world. But most of them do not have the proper means to make their voices heard or have themselves taken seriously. Not all of them are good at verbally articulating their feelings. And when their feelings...

COMMENTARY

Jul 30, 2000

Summit's worth questionable

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON — The Japanese government spent huge amounts of money in an attempt to ensure that the Okinawa summit and related events in Fukuoka and Miyazaki was a success, but was the money well spent and did the summit increase Japan's prestige in the world? The answer to both questions that I as a generally...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 30, 2000

ASEAN strives to make a comeback

By George Sioris

CHANG MAI, Thailand -- The attention paid by the international media to the ASEAN gathering in Bangkok has been unusually lavish. If the Association of Southeast Asian Nations forum was in need of publicity, it was certainly obtained in abundance. The beautiful land scape near the River of Kings, usually...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 30, 2000

Enlist currency speculators in poverty war

By Glyn Ford

BRUSSELS -- How can we eradicate world poverty? This is a question all developed nations have a responsibility to consider. At the beginning of the new millennium, we may have found the answer -- a global tax on capital transfers.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 29, 2000

China continues to bully ARF

By Robyn Lim

At this week's meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Bangkok, China will seek support for its opposition to U.S. plans to develop a theater missile defense. That is consistent with China's use of ARF as a forum for undermining support for the U.S. alliance structure in East Asia. China demands a free...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.

The second life of Japan's net cafes

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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