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EDITORIALS

May 28, 2004

Banks and their 'debt of gratitude'

It appears that most of Japan's top banks are making good progress toward cleaning up their nonperforming loans. They may not be out of the woods yet, but their latest financial reports indicate that they are on track to meeting a government target for bad-debt reduction in fiscal 2004, which ends March...

EDITORIALS

May 27, 2004

Savagery in Sudan

A campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide has been reported from Sudan. In acts all too reminiscent of the horrors committed in Rwanda a decade ago, the government of Sudan has condoned, if not abetted, crimes against humanity committed against its own citizens. And once again the world is standing...

EDITORIALS

May 26, 2004

A good start for Mr. Chen

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has passed the first test of his new administration. His inauguration speech was conciliatory in tone, reaching out to the millions of Taiwanese who voted against him and to the mainland by pledging not to take action that would increase tensions between the governments...

EDITORIALS

May 25, 2004

Mr. Singh's promise

The selection of Mr. Manmohan Singh as prime minister designate in India is a welcome development. Mr. Singh is a known quantity, committed to continuing the positive legacies of the former government while smoothing their rough edges. Equally important, his appointment represents the healing of one...

EDITORIALS

May 24, 2004

A qualified success for Mr. Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has completed his second trip to Pyongyang. Unlike with his first visit, there were no surprises this time. He returned home with the families of four abductees, a promise to arrange a reunion between a fifth abductee and her three family members in Beijing, and pledges...

EDITORIALS

May 23, 2004

Flight of memory

Almost 60 years after the end of the Pacific War, a very unusual meeting took place in San Diego last Tuesday, when veteran American and Japanese fighter pilots gathered for a special ceremony aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway, soon to become a floating museum. It was an occasion designed for giving...

EDITORIALS

May 22, 2004

New development plan needed

A s far as corporate earnings reports show, Japan's economic recovery is moving in the fast lane, with many large companies chalking up record profits for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2004. At the top of the list is Toyota Motor Corp., which reported group net income of more than 1 trillion yen...

EDITORIALS

May 21, 2004

Mr. Roh goes back to work

The South Korean Constitutional Court's decision to overturn the Parliament's vote to impeach President Roh Moo Hyun ended two months of political limbo in that country. With the president able to resume his duties, Seoul can make important progress on matters ranging from foreign policy to much-needed...

EDITORIALS

May 20, 2004

Widening pension scandal

Japanese politics appears to be at the mercy of a widening pension scandal as one political leader after another bows out of posts for failing to pay national pension premiums. The latest casualty is Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, who on Monday announced he will not succeed Naoto Kan as president of the Democratic...

EDITORIALS

May 19, 2004

Chechnya explodes again

The assassination last week of Mr. Akhmad Kadyrov is a reminder of the festering sore that is Chechnya. Moscow's hopes of pacifying the restive republic have been laid to rest with the slain president. Russian President Vladimir Putin now faces difficult choices: Find a suitable local figure that both...

EDITORIALS

May 18, 2004

'India Shining' loses its luster

In a stunning upset, the Congress Party topped the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win India's parliamentary elections. The results reflect the failure of the government's reform program to better the lives of the 70 percent of Indians who live in the countryside. Now Congress must see that the...

EDITORIALS

May 17, 2004

Fresh hope for a reunion of families

In a renewed bid to improve relations with North Korea, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Pyongyang on Saturday for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Mr. Koizumi's first one-day visit, in September 2002, led to the return home of five Japanese abductees, but the mission was only half...

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

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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