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August 29, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Jul 15, 2003

Referendum risks in Taiwan

Taiwan has won respect the world over for its democracy. The island's political development has proven the naysayers wrong: Chinese culture and democracy are not incompatible. It is ironic then that one of the key issues today is the possibility that Taiwan is becoming "too democratic." The call for...

EDITORIALS

Jul 13, 2003

Music and (some) words by Bob Dylan

Speaking of inspiration -- the creative kind -- people have long wondered where it comes from and how it works. Maybe the American composer Aaron Copland came closest to an answer when he said, "Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness -- I wouldn't know. But I...

EDITORIALS

Jul 13, 2003

What the Bijanis died for

It was the saddest, yet most inspiring image of the week: two vibrant, intelligent 29-year-old sisters dead of uncontrollable bleeding following the surgical separation of their congenitally joined skulls. When the deaths of Ladan and Laleh Bijani were announced Tuesday, strangers in cities from Tehran...

EDITORIALS

Jul 12, 2003

Toward a viable dialogue

The latest round of ministerial talks between North and South Korea, which opened in Seoul on Wednesday, is a reminder that inter-Korean dialogue is alive. But prospects for reconciliation are clouded by the North's suspected nuclear-weapons program. As yet there is little hope for an improvement toward...

EDITORIALS

Jul 11, 2003

Securing oil while keeping the alliance

Japan's oil development talks with Iran face a serious challenge from the United States. President George W. Bush's administration, which suspects Tehran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, is strongly opposed to Japan's pursuit of a development project in the Azadegan oil field of southwest Iran....

EDITORIALS

Jul 10, 2003

Wrong light at the end of the tunnel

Stock prices and long-term interest rates in Japan have climbed rapidly of late. On Monday, the Nikkei index hit a 10-month high of 9,795 points while yields on 10-year benchmark government bonds topped 1 percent, more than double the level of a month earlier. That is good news if it signals an upturn...

EDITORIALS

Jul 9, 2003

A more flexible litigation system

Japan's system of administrative litigation -- which allows citizens to file complaints against actions taken by the central and local governments -- leaves much to be desired. Statistics show that 15 percent of complainants are rejected for lack of qualifications and other reasons, and that only 13...

EDITORIALS

Jul 8, 2003

A victory for Hong Kong's democrats

In a victory for democracy, the Hong Kong government has decided to postpone debate on antisubversion legislation that triggered the largest public protests in over a decade, alarmed human rights advocates worldwide and cracked the governing coalition in the special administrative region (SAR). The controversy...

EDITORIALS

Jul 7, 2003

Deja vu in Indonesia

The deteriorating situation in Aceh is sadly familiar. The Indonesian government is claiming that it has rebel guerrillas on the run, but is clamping down on the media so that independent assessments of the situation are hard to come by. The guerrillas dispute the military's assertion that it has regained...

EDITORIALS

Jul 6, 2003

The case of the missing WMD

Since the war in Iraq ended, supporters and critics alike have reached a near-consensus that the main reason given for the U.S.-led operation -- the threat posed by Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction -- was baseless. U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair insist...

EDITORIALS

Jul 5, 2003

Mr. Taylor must go

Liberia, Africa's oldest republic, was founded by freed American slaves more than 150 years ago. The country was once considered a model African nation, prosperous and stable. Today it is a war-torn country, shattered from decades of conflict that have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and destroyed...

EDITORIALS

Jul 4, 2003

Women's rights vs. complacency

Japan's efforts to improve women's human rights will come up for a U.N. review this month at the Commission on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, or CEDAW, the implementing body of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The review will be based on...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.

From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past

By Alex K.T. Martin

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Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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