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COMMENTARY

Jul 15, 2010

Creative diplomacy papers over the Cheonan incident

By Frank Ching

The dispute over the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March has been papered over with a presidential statement unanimously approved by the 15-member United Nations Security Council.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 14, 2010

China's disturbing dam plan

By Kevin Rafferty

LONDON — What is China up to beyond the highest Himalayas? Reports from a variety of sources, including official Chinese Web sites, say that Beijing is embarking on a series of dams and attempts to harness the waters of the Brahmaputra River. One of these alone would be a massive 38-gigawatt project,...

EDITORIALS

Jul 14, 2010

A failure to deliver

The new parcel delivery service launched by Japan Post Service Co. of the Japan Post group suffered a setback in its first week of operation. The delivery of more than 340,000 parcels was delayed during the period from July 1, the first day of the new service, to July 7. The company must learn from the...

COMMENTARY

Jul 14, 2010

U.S. bidding Iraq goodbye and good luck

By Gwynne Dyer

As the American withdrawal gains speed, there are fewer American troops in Iraq than in Afghanistan for the first time since 2003. By the end of August there will be no U.S. combat troops left in Iraq, though some tens of thousands of support troops will remain until next year. And still there is no...

EDITORIALS

Jul 14, 2010

Aim to expand the middle class

Although the government announced in June a growth strategy that emphasizes the creation of new industries in such fields as environment, nonfossil-fuel energy and health-related services, the big problem for Japan is that its middle class is waning.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 13, 2010

Is it dangerous to speculate on food prices?

By Alexander Sarris and Denis Drechsler, George Rapsomanikis

ROME — The prices of many staple foods increased dramatically during 2007-2008, creating a food crisis for many poor and developing countries. International prices of maize, rice and wheat, for example, reached their highest levels in 30 years, causing political and economic instability — and leading...

COMMENTARY

Jul 13, 2010

How Japan regains vitality

By Shinji Fukukawa

Japan's international rating has been declining lately. Heard overseas are suggestions that Japan is about to enter its third "lost decade," or that Japan has disappeared off the world's radar screen. Its share of global GDP, 14.3 percent in 1990, slipped to 8.9 percent in 2008 and is expected to sink...

EDITORIALS

Jul 13, 2010

A setback for Mr. Kan

In Sunday's Upper House election — the first national poll that the ruling Democratic Party of Japan has contested under the leadership of Prime Minister Naoto Kan — voters demonstrated their lack of faith in the DPJ by taking away the ruling coalition's majority in the chamber of the Diet.

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Jul 12, 2010

China is pleased with Kan but keeps tabs on Ozawa

China apparently views new Prime Minister Naoto Kan as easier to deal with than his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama, and has already started sending friendly signals to Tokyo in the hopes of promoting closer bilateral relations.

EDITORIALS

Jul 12, 2010

Russian games up north

The Russian military carried out a drill July 3-4 on Etorofu Island, off Hokkaido, ignoring a July 2 demand by Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada that it refrain from doing so there. Japan calls Etorofu and three other islands (including one islet group), northeast of Hokkaido, the Northern Territories,...

COMMENTARY

Jul 12, 2010

Scholars flunk George W. Bush

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK — George W. Bush ranks among the five U.S. presidents who accomplished the least while in office, according to the Siena College Research Institute's latest survey of 238 presidential scholars. The institute has conducted the poll annually for the past 28 years.

EDITORIALS

Jul 11, 2010

Motive for clean energy

Up to 9.5 million liters of oil continue to spew daily into the Gulf of Mexico since BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. U.S. President Barack Obama has called the oil spill "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced."

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.

What comes after 100?

By Tomoko Otake

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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