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August 25, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
May 14, 2005
A Holocaust memorial
A monument 17 years in the making officially opened Tuesday in the heart of Berlin. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe -- a city block of blank gray concrete slabs or pillars erected near the German Parliament building -- drew predictably mixed responses. Yet, by all accounts, its American architect,...
COMMENTARY
May 14, 2005
How the U.S. courts a diplomatic fiasco
By Tom Plate
LOS ANGELES -- The government of North Korea is difficult to deal with, no matter who you are. Just ask China's leaders. After all, they are Pyongyang's closest ally and yet they probably find dealing with leader Kim Jong Il not a whole lot more fun than their testy cross-strait exchanges with Taiwan's...
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2005
Asia's growing role in global economy
By David Burton
WASHINGTON -- The recently concluded spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund focused on several key questions of concern to the international community: the prospects for sustaining global economic growth, reducing vulnerabilities in the international financial system, reducing poverty in...
EDITORIALS
May 13, 2005
Revitalizing the startup spirit
Small businesses play an important role in creating jobs and invigorating markets. Since the mid-1990s, however, the number of small-business startups has declined, according to this year's white paper on small and medium-size enterprises. The question is how to reverse the trend. The report calls for...
COMMENTARY
May 13, 2005
China cracks rights window
By Frank Ching
HONG KONG -- Last month, China issued a white paper that purported to show progress it had made on the human-rights front in 2004. It was immediately dismissed by human-rights organizations as little more than propaganda. While this may well be true, there are signs of significant progress on human rights....
EDITORIALS
May 12, 2005
The meaning of triumph over evil
Sixty years ago, Nazi Germany was defeated. World leaders gathered in Moscow this week to commemorate that victory over evil. Many will wonder why that celebration was held in Moscow. That such a question could be asked is a stark reminder of the speed with which the past is receding. It is reveals why...
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2005
Tony Blair's Pyrrhic victory
By Kevin Rafferty
HONG KONG -- The people of Britain have just re-elected Tony Blair and his Labour Party to a record third successive election victory. But in what should have been his moment of greatest triumph, Blair faces the ultimate question -- when will he give up the job of prime minister?
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2005
Japan's new foreign policy
By David Wall
LONDON -- As Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has traveled about and made his speeches in recent months, it is possible to trace his perception of a new foreign policy for Japan.
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2005
Confidence in train safety
The safety of public transport in Japan has been thrown into doubt by the April 25 train derailment in Hyogo Prefecture, which killed 107 people and injured 460, and by a succession of other transport-related incidents that have followed -- including train overruns, a bus accident, errors by air traffic...
COMMENTARY
May 11, 2005
The failures to counteract inhumanity
By Hugh Cortazzi
LONDON -- Sadako Ogata was at London's Royal Institute of International Affairs in April for the release of the book she has written about her experiences as U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) between 1991 and 2000.
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2005
The crimes of Mr. Taylor
West Africa appears to be a political tinder box. Real democracy is a distant dream and the life span of governments is determined more frequently by bullets than by ballots. Not only are there civil wars in several countries but the combatants (on both sides) commit atrocities against civilian populations....
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2005
Design for sustaining peace
By Ramesh Thakur
DILI, East Timor -- The United Nations has not been notably successful in moving from initial stabilization, infrastruc- ture reconstruction and re-establishment of local governance institutions to the more demanding goal of leaving behind self-sustaining structures of state that can implement rapid...
Toyoko Kids: The lonely street children of Tokyo
Many young people who feel neglected at home flock to the Toyoko area to find a community where they can fit in.
Japan unveils new overtourism countermeasures
The majority of tourists in Japan tend to stay in Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto, resulting in overcrowding in popular tourist spots and a strain on transportation systems.
South Korea couple beat same-sex barriers to parenthood
South Korean lesbian couple Kim Kyu-jin (left) and her wife, Kim Sae-yeon, pose with a "pregnant woman" badge during an interview in Seoul last month.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Opportunities await the bold in the Year of the Wood Dragon
2024 marks the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac, with the year predicted to be a good time for fresh starts.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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

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