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August 22, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Jul 18, 2004

Stigma, lack of funds hamper AIDS fight

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS, India -- With still no vaccine or cure two decades after the first cases of the disease were reported/detected, AIDS is undoubtedly a terrible threat facing mankind.

EDITORIALS

Jul 17, 2004

Look who's turned 64

Ringo Starr, the oldest and quaintest Beatle, turned 64 earlier this month. For baby boomers everywhere, his July 7 birthday was as sobering in its way as New Year's Day 1984, when reality finally overtook George Orwell's grim fable about a dystopian future. The British novelist finished writing "Nineteen...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 17, 2004

Asia seizing new opportunities in Africa

By Ernest Harsch

In the Senegalese city of Thies, a new enterprise, "Senbus," is assembling 30-seat buses for the domestic and regional markets. The first units of this first vehicle factory in Senegal rolled out the plant's doors in September 2003, thanks to a partnership between Senegalese investors and Tata International,...

COMMENTARY

Jul 17, 2004

A tale of two occupations

By Harvey Stockwin

HONG KONG -- History did not repeat itself in Iraq as the Americans naively expected. While it has become obvious that U.S. intelligence reports and analysis were deficient in the runup to the war, less attention has been paid to the fact that the United States occupied Iraq imbued with a dubious historical...

EDITORIALS

Jul 16, 2004

A functional defense and more

Japan's Self-Defense Forces, which came into existence 50 years ago, was described at the time as "armed forces with no war potential." Although that remains essentially true, the SDF is no longer a "passive" organization devoted only to national defense. As this year's defense report, issued earlier...

COMMENTARY

Jul 16, 2004

Lawyers set sights on alcohol producers

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- There's nothing new about lawyers, especially in the United States, attempting to profit from tragedy. When an individual dies after behaving irresponsibly, an attorney always can be found to blame someone with deep pockets.

EDITORIALS

Jul 15, 2004

AIDS can be beaten

AIDS has become the worst pandemic in human history, eclipsing even the Black Death of the 14th century. Unlike the plague, AIDS often kills the descendants of victims who have passed on. There is no excuse for the failure to tackle this scourge; there is ample evidence of effective ways to respond to...

COMMENTARY

Jul 15, 2004

Prepare for post-Koizumi era

By Brad Glosserman

HONOLULU -- Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro took a beating in last Sunday's Upper House elections. While his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost seats, the real blow seems to be the prime minister's loss of rapport with voters. The magic is gone, and that means his leverage within the party is shrinking....

EDITORIALS

Jul 14, 2004

Mr. Koizumi survives a rebuke

One salient feature of Sunday's Upper House election is that voters displayed a delicate sense of balance, just as they have before in national elections. In effect, they sharply rebuked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for making light of public opinion, but stopped short of punishing him so severely...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 14, 2004

Winning over Hong Kong

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- After Hong Kongers somberly commemorated the 15th anniversary of Tiananmen on June 5, they jolted China's central government by organizing, like last year, another massive July 1 demonstration, setting the stage for another big political standoff with Beijing ahead of the September Legislative...

EDITORIALS

Jul 13, 2004

A message for Mr. Koizumi

Voters gave a cold shoulder to the governing Liberal Democratic Party and a big boost to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan in Sunday's triennial Upper House election, which was contested mainly over pension reform and Self-Defense Forces participation in the multinational force in Iraq. With the...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 13, 2004

EU leaders face voters' wrath

By Jonathan Fenby

LONDON -- George Orwell once called soccer a substitute for war. Looking at the recently finished European Championship held in Lisbon, one might well call it a political metaphor. What happened on the pitch during the monthlong tournament was an uncanny reflection of what is happening on a wider and...

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

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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