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August 27, 2025

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COMMENTARY

Aug 25, 2008

Chinese 'oldies' who raised the bar for caring

By Tom Plate

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — In the obsessive media heat of these youth-oriented Beijing Olympics, a once-famous Chinese political figure has died at the ripe young age of 87, and goes to the grave almost internationally unnoticed.

EDITORIALS

Aug 25, 2008

Alarming AIDS statistics

The 17th International AIDS Conference, Aug. 3-8, in Mexico City serves as a reminder that the world cannot afford to lower its guard against this deadly disease. This applies especially to Japan where, according to the health ministry's AIDS committee, a record number of new HIV infections were reported...

EDITORIALS

Aug 25, 2008

Diet session in September

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has announced that an extraordinary Diet session will convene in mid-September. Mr. Fukuda wanted to call the Diet session in late August, but Komeito, a junior partner in the ruling coalition, insisted on late September. Mr. Fukuda's compromise shows that his leadership is...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 24, 2008

Bush legacy leaves U.S., Asia room to build

By Thitinan Pongsudhirak

BANGKOK — In his last presidential visit to Asia, U.S. President George W. Bush laid out what he considered was his legacy for the region. But what he left out in his last major Asia policy speech, delivered earlier this month in Bangkok, was as revealing as what he underlined as his success.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 24, 2008

Families blossom under feminine mystique

By Stephanie Coontz

OLYMPIA, Wash. — This year marks the 45th anniversary of the publication of Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique." Today, many social conservatives still blame Friedan and feminism for inducing women to abandon the home for the workplace, thus destabilizing families and placing their children at...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Aug 24, 2008

'Nation of copycats' maligns Japan's fine science and technology

By Roger Pulvers

One of the most commonly discussed issues of national character in Japan revolves around the question of personal creativity. Put simply, it is this: Are the Japanese lacking in the DNA of originality?

EDITORIALS

Aug 24, 2008

Epidemic of anxiety

Japanese are more worried than ever, according to a Cabinet Office survey released recently. More than 70 percent of Japanese — the highest percentage ever — say they are worried about their everyday lives and the future. Nearly two-thirds of people said their standard of living went unchanged in...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 23, 2008

Payback time for Russia

By Ramesh Thakur

You have to admire the chutzpah of the neocons for their castigation of Russia for attacking another country and emulating, in the Caucasus, NATO's behavior in the Balkans. Who does Vladimir Putin think he is — U.S. President George W. Bush?

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 23, 2008

Washington's 'Sputnik moment' in Beijing

By Jamie F. Metzl

NEW YORK — Aug. 8, 2008, may someday be remembered as the first day of the post-American era. Or it could be remembered as another "Sputnik moment," when, as with the Soviet foray into outer space in 1957, the American people realized that the country had lost its footing and decided it was time for...

EDITORIALS

Aug 23, 2008

Boosting the faltering economy

The government is now working on measures to bolster the nation's slowing economy. Japan's gross domestic product in the March-June quarter shrank by an annualized 2.4 percent from the previous quarter.

EDITORIALS

Aug 23, 2008

Autonomy, Kansai style

Prefectural governments and economic organizations in the Kansai region have reached a broad agreement to set up a wide-area administrative association as early as next summer on the basis of the Local Autonomy Law. In various parts of Japan, similar associations have been established. But one being...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 22, 2008

The ambivalent legacy of a would-be savior

By Shashi Tharoor, Akira Kawasaki and Jarrett Renshaw

NEW YORK — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's resignation brings to an end one of the more interesting curiosities of subcontinental politics: For more than four years, Pakistan had a president who was born in India, while India had a Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) who was born in Pakistan.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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