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August 24, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Dec 20, 2004

NGO builds bridges between Japan, U.S.

By Naoyuki Haraoka

SAN FRANCISCO -- Most Americans still think of Japan as having a "weak" economy. Japan's reputation in the United States from an economic standpoint has not fully recovered from the bursting of the 1980s' "bubble."

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 20, 2004

Aiming for Earth-friendly development

By Kiyotaka Akasaka

PARIS -- This is a season of renewed hope and concern for the fate of the Earth's climates. Five thousand delegates from government and civil society gathered last week at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Climate Convention in Buenos Aires, only weeks after Russia ratified the Kyoto Protocol....

EDITORIALS

Dec 19, 2004

Happiness is a warm TV set

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,

EDITORIALS

Dec 18, 2004

Putting off unpalatable choices

It is axiomatic to say that the taxes people pay represent the most basic cost of maintaining autonomy and democracy. That's why the tax code should be written by national legislators, not government bureaucrats. But tax reform is almost always controversial, as evidenced by the fiscal 2005 tax reform...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 18, 2004

Aboriginal policy raises storm

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- Aborigines in the remote Australian Outback are going blind amid filthy conditions while white Australians luxuriate in some of the world's most sophisticated cities. It's a disaster waiting to happen, and that day looks close.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 18, 2004

Taiwan's citizens voted their pocketbooks

By Richard Halloran

HONOLULU -- Prudence suggests that not too much be read into the surprisingly inconclusive results of Taiwan's legislative election because, fundamentally, little has changed and the confrontation with China will continue to jeopardize the security of East Asia.

EDITORIALS

Dec 17, 2004

Better ways to share tax money

Local governments in Japan, like the central government, are heavily in debt. The deficit problem is adding to difficulties in budget talks between the Finance and Internal Affairs ministries. The key question is how much national tax revenue should be transferred to local administrations in fiscal 2005....

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 17, 2004

The next move for Taiwan

By Robyn Lim

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has stepped down from the leadership of his Democratic Progressive Party after the DPP and its more radical allies failed to gain a majority in the Dec. 11 parliamentary elections.

EDITORIALS

Dec 16, 2004

WTO says bye-bye Byrdie

U .S. trade practices were slapped again recently when the World Trade Organization imposed penalties on a wide range of U.S. exports. The decision targets the Byrd Amendment, a law that was passed to protect U.S. steel makers harmed by cheaper imports of foreign steel. The WTO had already determined...

COMMENTARY

Dec 16, 2004

Cause for Arab optimism

By David Howell

DUBAI -- The Arab world might be expected to be feeling cheerful given current high prices for oil. But, instead, a cloud of unease hangs over Arabia today. There are fears of slow economic development, fears of weakening oil prices as oil production expands elsewhere -- or as the world learns to conserve...

EDITORIALS

Dec 15, 2004

More gridlock in the Taiwan Strait

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian had a disappointing weekend. His Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was unable to win a majority in parliamentary elections held Saturday. The result is likely to be continuing gridlock in Taiwanese politics, as different parties control the presidency and the legislature....

EDITORIALS

Dec 14, 2004

Signs of an economy losing steam

Japan's economy last entered an expansionary phase in February 2002. Thirty-three months later, in October 2004, it was losing steam. It would not be surprising if the recovery ended that month, as upswings in Japan's business cycles since the end of World War II have lasted, on average, about the same...

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

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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