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August 29, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2008
The rape of Burma: where did the wealth go?
By Sean Turnell
SYDNEY — Burma, once the richest countries in Southeast Asia, today is mired in deep poverty — its economy ruined by nearly 50 years of economic mismanagement under military rule. And yet, over the last few years Burma has also emerged as a significant producer of energy in Southeast Asia. Thanks...
EDITORIALS
May 2, 2008
Going back to school online
As the new school year started this April, one change in education stood out. Some universities in Japan have started to offer lectures over the Internet, on their Web sites, for free!
EDITORIALS
May 2, 2008
Constructive solution needed
The ruling bloc has re-enacted a tax code bill to restore gasoline and other road-related tax surcharges by voting it in a second time with a two-thirds majority in the Lower House — a procedure provided by the Constitution. This is the first time in 56 years that such a revote was taken. The timing,...
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2008
What exactly is the West?
By Guy Sorman
PARIS — Everyone everywhere has by now heard about the "clash of civilizations." This Samuel Huntington concept has become universal. In the 1950s, French economist Alfred Sauvy had a comparable success with the expression "Third World." One reason these phrases gain wide acceptance is their lack of...
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2008
New trade deal would boost world economy
By Angel Gurria
PARIS — Governments around the world face weakening economies and soaring food prices. Amid the hand-wringing, an important and immediate step they can take to help would be to agree on a new multilateral trade deal.
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2008
Mr. Berlusconi's return
Italian voters are hoping that it will be third time lucky for Mr. Silvio Berlusconi. In fact, the Italian media magnate, one of the world's richest men, is almost always lucky. The real question is whether Mr. Berlusconi's third term as prime minister of Italy will be good for his country. Sadly, there...
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2008
Food crisis endangering millions
By Glyn Ford
BRUSSELS — The World Trade Organization (WTO) is in the last throes of its Doha Development Round negotiations, the European Union is currently undertaking a "health check" on its Common Agricultural Policy and the whole world is opening biofuel plants as a technological fix to curb CO2 emissions and...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2008
New regulations needed to curb bad banking
By Hans-Werner Sinn
After the 1982 debt crisis, the U.S. savings and loan (S&L) crisis in the United States in the late 1980s, and the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the subprime mortgage crisis is the fourth major banking crisis since World War II, and by far the biggest. According to the International Monetary Fund,...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2008
State of Korean democracy
By Peter M. Beck Washington
Recent National Assembly elections laid bare both the strengths and weaknesses of South Korean democracy. South Korea proved once again to be one of most dynamic democracies in the world, but unless both lawmakers and citizens confront shortcomings in the election rules and political parties, South Korea's...
EDITORIALS
Apr 30, 2008
DPJ victory in Yamaguchi
The victory of a candidate of the Democratic Party of Japan over a candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday's Lower House by-election in the Yamaguchi No. 2 constituency has raised a question mark over Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's political leadership. The DPJ candidate trounced the LDP candidate...
EDITORIALS
Apr 30, 2008
Meeting in Moscow
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow over the weekend. Mr. Fukuda tried to establish a good rapport both with Mr. Putin, who will step down soon but is expected to wield power as the next prime minister, and Mr. Medvedev,...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2008
A failure to influence Bush
By Kevin Rafferty
HONG KONG — Five years after the toppling of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the United States has precious little to show for its $3 trillion war, except for more than 4,000 American military dead (1,000 more than perished in the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11), 150,000 Iraqis killed, 1.5 million...
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Confusion over Japan’s ‘hometown’ plan overshadows African development event
First Lady Yoshiko Ishiba (center, in white and blue dress) hosts an event on Japanese culture with the first ladies of African leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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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