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COMMENTARY

Feb 16, 2001

The Ehime Maru tragedy: spotlight on failed leadership

By Minoru Tada

Both Japanese and U.S. officials are shirking their responsibilities in connection with last weekend's sinking of a Japanese fisheries training ship off Honolulu following a collision with a U.S. nuclear submarine. The training ship Ehime Maru, of Uwajima Fisheries High School, went down after colliding...

EDITORIALS

Feb 16, 2001

The Lucie Blackman case

One piece of a sad, grim puzzle was solved last weekend when police confirmed that human remains found in a beach cave in Kanagawa Prefecture were those of a 21-year-old British woman missing since last July. The other piece of the puzzle -- who killed her, how, where and why -- is not quite in place,...

EDITORIALS

Feb 15, 2001

Shed light on unbelievable accident

The collision between a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine and a Japanese fisheries training ship Friday off Oahu Island, Hawaii, was simply unbelievable. It is a sad fact, however, that the collision, which is believed to have been caused by negligence on the part of the submarine, sank the ship, leaving...

EDITORIALS

Feb 14, 2001

Picking priorities in Russia

Russia's economy is looking good. A year of 7 percent growth and high oil prices have provided a much needed windfall for the country. By all appearances, then, it is the wrong time to pick a fight with the West. But the government of President Vladimir Putin seems to be doing just that. It is a pointless...

COMMENTARY

Feb 14, 2001

The 'freeter' phenomenon

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- An article in the Jan. 31 issue of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun began with these words (my translation): "It was afternoon when he woke up. There was nothing he had to do. To avoid meeting his parents he got up without making any noise and went out of the house. It was the same thing for him every...

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 12, 2001

Hints of thaw in Indo-Pakistani relations

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- When Pakistani military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke on the phone for a few minutes after the devastating earthquake that hit parts of India recently, many observers were relieved.

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 12, 2001

Give power to the people

By Hiroshi Kato

The newly reorganized government ministries and agencies began operating Jan. 6. The administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, however, seems to be oblivious to the purpose of the reform.

EDITORIALS

Feb 12, 2001

A nation without a road map

The primary task of the ongoing ordinary Diet session is to present a credible picture of future Japan, a blueprint for the structural reforms needed to rebuild the nation. Plenary debates were held in both houses of the Diet earlier last week, followed by committee-level debates during the rest of the...

COMMENTARY

Feb 12, 2001

Destroying a fragile trust

By Gregory Clark

In the semirural area near Tokyo where I and some others spend weekends, we have just suffered our first break-ins. Nothing serious. Someone, probably delinquent kids, going through unlocked parked cars looking for loose items. Far more interesting is why we have been able to leave our houses and cars...

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 12, 2001

U.S. needs allies, not deputy sheriffs

By Robyn Lim

Comments by new U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell have stirred some controversy in Australia. During his confirmation hearings, Powell said that the United States would let Australia take the lead in Indonesia, "as they have done so well in that troubled country." Critics saw this as evidence that...

EDITORIALS

Feb 11, 2001

How do you spell that again?

Another storm has been raging lately in the teacup of English. Like many linguistic squalls, this one is centered on spelling. It blew up in Britain late last year after the government's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority decreed the use of internationally agreed spellings for some scientific terms...

COMMENTARY

Feb 11, 2001

In the land of the militantly mellow

By TED RALL

NEW YORK -- San Franciscans, if we're to believe reporters who've spent the last week running up their New York employers' expense accounts, are searching the bottom of their recyclable souls in the aftermath of the death of Diane Whipple. Whipple, 33, was killed by one (or two, according to some sources)...

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

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

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

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