More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY

Sep 9, 2010

China corners vital market

By Michael Richardson

In the race to build advanced industrial and military products, China has a key advantage: the world's biggest reserves of rare earth minerals that are essential to many of these products.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 9, 2010

The 'perfect storm' brewing in Central Asia

By Kenneth Weisbrode

FLORENCE, Italy — Dean Acheson, U.S. President Harry Truman's secretary of state, liked to quote a friend who said that being in government made him scared, but that being out of it made him worried. To those of us not privy to the hidden complexities of NATO's military intervention in Afghanistan,...

CARTOONS / DAHL'S JAPAN

Sep 9, 2010

Harpooning O'Barry

EDITORIALS

Sep 9, 2010

Bacterial assault on hospitals

Fifty-three patients at Teikyo University Hospital in Tokyo's Itabashi Ward have been infected with the multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter bacterium since August last year. Thirty-one of them died later of various causes, and nine of those deaths are believed to be directly attributable to the superbug....

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 8, 2010

Crisis hits Third World hardest

By Philippe Douste-Blazy

PARIS — The global economic crisis has claimed many victims — unemployed workers, underwater homeowners and bankrupt pensioners — but nowhere have the repercussions been as devastating as in the developing world. The setback to the fragile gains of recent years, particularly in Africa, threatens...

EDITORIALS

Sep 8, 2010

Mr. Karzai's corruption problem

The key to a viable Afghanistan, one that is stable and peaceful and commands the allegiance of a majority of its citizens, is an honest and credible government. The Taliban and other insurgencies are a threat, but they gain traction only because Afghans feel that the government in Kabul does not look...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 8, 2010

Earth over a barrel of oil

By Kevin Rafferty

HONG KONG — Oil prices continue to fluctuate nervously with every report or rumor that the world economy is either on the mend or heading for double dip recession. They slithered again when it became clear that the U.S. economy is still in trouble. Ben Bernanke, the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, and...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 7, 2010

Rise of China prods India-South Korea ties

By Harsh V. Pant

LONDON — Indian Defense Minister A.K. Anthony was visiting South Korea last week at the invitation of his South Korean counterpart to boost defense cooperation between the two states. His visit comes two months after the Indian external affairs minister visited Seoul.

EDITORIALS

Sep 7, 2010

Preparing for 'deep landslides'

Unusually strong rains caused heavy damage in western Japan and the Chubu region this summer. For example, an evacuation order was issued to 110,000 residents of some 48,000 households in Hiroshima. In mid-July, record precipitation was recorded at six points in Japan, including rainfall of 107 mm per...

EDITORIALS

Sep 7, 2010

Guarding against livestock disease

Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru of Miyazaki Prefecture on Aug. 27 declared the end of the foot-and-mouth disease crisis that started in April in his prefecture. Some 289,000 farm animals were destroyed during the crisis. Both the central and prefectural governments should not let their guard down because...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 6, 2010

Battle for Turkey's constitution

By Haldun Gulalp

ISTANBUL — On Sept. 12, Turks will vote on a set of constitutional amendments proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has been in power for eight years. Since the vote falls on the 30th anniversary of the 1980 military coup, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is portraying...

EDITORIALS

Sep 6, 2010

Risks of a more active defense

A private advisory panel to Prime Minister Naoto Kan submitted a report Aug. 27 calling for changing Japan from a "passive peace-loving nation" to a "proactive peace-loving nation." The panel was formed in view of a planned revision of the defense program outline — a guideline for building up defense...

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

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports