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EDITORIALS

May 3, 2004

Limits to good intentions

The government was right to flatly reject the demand from Islamic hostage-takers last month that Japan withdraw its troops immediately from Iraq. That resolute response was supported by most Japanese, boosting Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's popularity ratings. Yet, as security in Iraq continues to...

EDITORIALS

May 2, 2004

A passion for punctuation

What's the biggest and most inspiring British export since the latest volume of "Harry Potter"? Not embattled football star David Beckham. Not a young prince, dutifully inspecting misery in the Third World. Not even another eloquent apologia for the fiasco in Iraq by Prime Minister Tony Blair. No, the...

EDITORIALS

May 1, 2004

Challenging upgrade for the EU

The European Union enters a new era Saturday when it admits 10 new members, eight of them former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The future is fraught with uncertainty, but one thing is clear: The East and West are coming together, putting their Cold War divisions behind them. A greater...

EDITORIALS

Apr 30, 2004

The return of SARS

China has reported several cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, one year after declaring victory over the disease. The news comes on the heels of a new study that suggests that SARS might spread through the air. Troubling though these developments are, in some ways they are encouraging....

EDITORIALS

Apr 29, 2004

Worrisome low voter turnout

In Sunday's Lower House by-elections, which had been billed as a prelude to July's Upper House election, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party won all three seats at stake. Thus the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, having suffered defeat, will need to rethink its campaign strategy if it is to succeed...

EDITORIALS

Apr 28, 2004

Back to the future in Indonesia

The first round of voting in Indonesia's electoral pageant has revealed a wave of nostalgia for the past. Golkar, the party of disgraced former leader Suharto, came out on top in national parliamentary elections in early April. Days after the results were announced, Golkar picked Mr. Wiranto, a former...

EDITORIALS

Apr 27, 2004

Mixed marks for Mr. Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who completed his third year in office on Monday, is already one of the nation's longest-serving postwar prime ministers. Although the stratospheric popularity he enjoyed early in his administration is no more, media polls still give him considerably high approval ratings...

EDITORIALS

Apr 26, 2004

No place for partisanship

With national elections around the corner, partisan politics is blocking progress on pension reform. Although debate has resumed in the Lower House Welfare and Labor Committee, the two largest parties, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, are spending more...

EDITORIALS

Apr 25, 2004

'A long fuse has been lighted'

With the earlier-than-usual arrival of warm weather, the influenza season in Japan is almost over, and the number of patients reported to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is down 40 percent from last year. However, the danger of the bird flu virus mutating and a new type of influenza breaking...

EDITORIALS

Apr 24, 2004

Observing the Earth as it is

As the human world is embroiled in seemingly endless conflict, the global environment that supports our continued existence -- the Earth system -- apparently continues to deteriorate. To sustain the system, we must first understand it better. And understanding is promoted through observation.

EDITORIALS

Apr 23, 2004

Mr. Vajpayee has reason to smile

India ushered in the world's largest democratic pageant this week as it began the first phase of national elections. The vote will stretch out over three weeks, with counting and final results set for May 13. Blistering economic growth appears to be the springboard for yet another parliamentary majority...

EDITORIALS

Apr 22, 2004

A beef with the USDA

Until recently, it was not that hard to understand the standoff between the U.S. and Japanese governments over this country's ban on imports of American beef. Both nations have experienced mad cow disease scares, but they have responded differently. Japan, with 11 cases of the disease since 2001, tests...

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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