More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY

Dec 18, 2009

Realities of disarmament

By Ramesh Thakur

WATERLOO, Canada — The international commission on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, chaired by former foreign ministers Gareth Evans of Australia and Yoriko Kawaguchi of Japan, faced two hurdles even before its work was completed.

EDITORIALS

Dec 18, 2009

Devolution via Mr. Hatoyama

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama held his first meeting with the nation's prefectural governors in late November and laid down the principle of devolution. Under the principle, local governments would decide on and carry out policies closely related to their residents and the central government would help...

EDITORIALS

Dec 17, 2009

Futenma's fate back to the future

The coalition government of the Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party and the New People's Party have put off until next year a decision on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in the central part of Okinawa Island. The government will seek possible alternatives...

EDITORIALS

Dec 17, 2009

Single-parent allowance revived

The Hatoyama administration has decided to revive the once-abolished allowance for single-parent households on welfare with children aged 18 or younger. This is the first social welfare-related measure included in the Democratic Party of Japan's election manifesto to be implemented. The allowance began...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 17, 2009

Do humanoid robots deserve to have rights?

By Agata Sagan and Peter Singer

PRINCETON/WARSAW — Last month, Gecko Systems announced that it had been running trials of its "fully autonomous personal companion home care robot," also known as a "carebot," designed to help elderly or disabled people to live independently. A woman with short-term memory loss broke into a big smile,...

EDITORIALS

Dec 16, 2009

Politics and the Emperor

The government's decision to let Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping have an exceptional audience with the Emperor Tuesday made many people wonder whether the government, especially Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, has a correct understanding of the constitutional order with regard to the position of the...

EDITORIALS

Dec 16, 2009

Understandings with Pyongyang

The Dec. 8-10 visit to Pyongyang by the U.S. special representative for North Korean policy, Stephen Bosworth, did not produce a concrete result on the issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The United States and North Korea reached "common understandings" on the need to resume the stalled six-party...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 16, 2009

What does Japan want from Washington?

By Masahiro Matsumura

OSAKA — Three months after the Democratic Party of Japan's landslide general election victory, the new administration's foreign and security policy appears to be increasingly at odds with that of the United States. Indeed, there is growing concern on both sides of the Pacific that Prime Minister Yukio...

COMMENTARY

Dec 16, 2009

Saving the U.K. economy

By David Howell

Frequent comparisons are made these days between the plight of the British economy and the state of the Japanese economy. But in reality the two situations are very different.

COMMENTARY

Dec 15, 2009

Business challenge for Europe after Lisbon

By Glyn Ford

CINDERFORD, England — The much-delayed final ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and the appointment of former Belgium Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as president of the European Union and Britain's Cathy Ashton as de facto foreign minister, means that the EU will increasingly take center stage on...

COMMENTARY

Dec 15, 2009

Underwriting a global reforestation program

By Michael Richardson

SINGAPORE — Where does Southeast Asia rank in greenhouse-gas emissions, a key focal point of the international climate change negotiations?

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 15, 2009

Ozawa's pride of place vs. policy

Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, is theoretically subordinate to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who is also the DPJ president. Ozawa has even stated that all policy matters must be decided by the government, not by the party. Yet, in reality, he has established...

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

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports