More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

August 26, 2025

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 5, 2005

How London blitzed Paris for the Games

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- London's winning bid for the 2012 Olympics at the 117th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Singapore came as a surprise July 6. The IOC voted 54-50 for London after Madrid, New York and Moscow were eliminated in the earlier rounds. French newspapers were already reporting...

EDITORIALS

Aug 4, 2005

Death sparks crisis in Sudan

The death of Mr. John Garang, who led Sudan's southern rebels for two decades, risks destabilizing that country. Mr. Garang's decision to make peace with the Khartoum government ended a bloody civil war that had claimed more than 2 million lives. The peace that he negotiated must outlive him.

EDITORIALS

Aug 4, 2005

Saudi Arabia's challenge

The death of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd marks the end of an era for the desert kingdom. The king's life encompassed his country's transition from a collection of nomadic tribes who lived atop the world's greatest petroleum reserves to a modern society whose alliance with the West created intense internal...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 4, 2005

Labor clash has lessons for India, Japan

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS -- India's image as an attractive destination for global capital may take a beating after a July 25 clash between the police and workers of Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Ltd. in the city of Gurgaon, located near New Delhi. Scores of workers were severely injured and taken to hospital. Others...

EDITORIALS

Aug 3, 2005

Flawed crime bill threatens rights

The government has reportedly given up a plan to have the Diet enact within the current session a bill to enable Japan to join a multilateral treaty to combat international organized crime, but it intends to introduce it again in the next Diet session. The bill carries a danger of undermining a national...

EDITORIALS

Aug 2, 2005

Iraqis draft a constitution

Iraq has a "road map" to normalcy. The first step was the withdrawal of the occupation government, which occurred a little over a year ago. The second major step was the national elections that were held in January. Despite protests by some Sunnis, the vote was largely a success. The third big step is...

EDITORIALS

Aug 1, 2005

Historic step for Northern Ireland

The Irish Republican Army has finally done what its critics have long demanded. Last week it formally announced that it was ending its armed campaign to free Northern Ireland from British rule. If carried out, this would, says British Prime Minister Tony Blair, constitute "a step of unparalleled magnitude"...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 1, 2005

Bound by a common cause

By David Wall

LONDON -- When Chinese President Hu Jintao was in Moscow in early July, he sought to strengthen the "strategic partnership" between China and Russia that his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed in Moscow four years ago.

COMMENTARY

Aug 1, 2005

Olive branch to Iran overdue

By Kiroku Hanai

A new Iranian government under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be inaugurated Aug. 4. While outgoing President Mohammad Khatami is a moderate, Ahmadinejad is a hardline conservative whose relations with the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush are likely to be tense. As this is undesirable...

EDITORIALS

Jul 31, 2005

Rescue from property sharks

Fraudulent and malicious sales methods victimizing innocent people have become a social issue. In a typical case, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested four former salesmen last month on suspicion of having cajoled or pressured some 5,400 people in 34 prefectures into signing contracts for...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Jul 31, 2005

Only the names change as U.S. policy blunders on

By Roger Pulvers

Don't blame it on the neo-cons.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 31, 2005

Believe what you will in the new Tibet

By Glyn Ford

BRUSSELS -- Any visit to Tibet is liable to leave you breathless. At Tibetan altitudes, oxygen is only 60 percent of what it is at sea level, with the result that it takes several days to acclimate. Yet it is clear from the start that Tibetan reality, at least on the surface, is very different from its...

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

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports