More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

October 06, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Oct 23, 2006

The global plight of the girl combat soldier

NEW YORK -- Legal proceedings against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo now taking place before the new International Criminal Court offer some hope that a serious kind of crime will be effectively punished and deterred.

EDITORIALS

Oct 22, 2006

China squeezes Pyongyang

A series of meetings last week among the foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, South Korea and China were significant for helping the four nations confirm their mutual cooperation in implementing sanctions against North Korea following its first nuclear-weapons test Oct. 9.

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Oct 22, 2006

Something 'beautiful' that leaders may not see from on high

By Roger Pulvers

Sometimes a very significant event in the life of a country passes largely unnoticed, particularly if it occurs away from the center of power. Just such a thing happened on the 11th of this month.

EDITORIALS

Oct 21, 2006

Surrogate births raise complex issues

News that a woman in her 50s has acted as a surrogate mother for her daughter and her daughter's husband underscores the need to enact a law governing how to legally treat children born in this way. The guidelines of the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology prohibit doctors from engaging in surrogacy-related...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 21, 2006

India-American nuclear deal foundering

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS -- The Indian-American nuclear deal signed in New Delhi in March seems to be foundering. The pact, which would give India access to American civil nuclear technology, must be approved by the U.S. Congress before it can become law.

EDITORIALS

Oct 20, 2006

Afghanistan at the tipping point

The top NATO military commander in Afghanistan, British Gen. David Richards, has warned that Afghanistan is at a crucial juncture. If the lives of ordinary Afghans do not improve soon, there is the very real danger that they will switch their allegiance back to the Taliban. Loss of the support of the...

COMMENTARY

Oct 20, 2006

Change the tune on climate

By David Howell

LONDON -- There can be no doubt that the film "An Inconvenient Truth," compiled by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, has struck a chord worldwide. Checking potential climate chaos and saving the planet from destruction are causes that have gripped the minds of people, especially young people, everywhere....

EDITORIALS

Oct 19, 2006

What teachers and students need

The composition of the newly created education "resuscitation" council does not serve as any sure indication of how discussions on education reform, one of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pet projects, will develop. The advisory panel is headed by Mr. Ryoji Noyori, a laureate of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 19, 2006

Is Labour's Gordon Brown electable?

By Ian Davidson

LONDON -- British Finance Minister Gordon Brown obviously wants to succeed Tony Blair as British prime minister. But it is less obvious that he is willing to do what is necessary to lead the Labour Party to victory in the next general election. In some critical sense, he must repudiate Blair's legacy,...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 19, 2006

Aussies busy battling worst drought ever

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- Summer has struck early, and already it's a vicious one. Half of Australia is suffering its worst drought on record. Oven-hot winds are sweeping fires through tinder-dry bush land toward the major cities. And that's just for starters.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 19, 2006

America's double standard fuels crises

By Ramzy Baroud

LONDON -- The U.S. government's double standard in dealing with the intensifying nuclear crisis in North Korea further strengthens the argument that President George W. Bush's colonial designs are either exasperated by the vulnerability of his foes or deterred by their lethal preparedness.

EDITORIALS

Oct 19, 2006

Nuclear logic fails

Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa's suggestion at the beginning of this week that Japan needs to discuss whether it should arm itself with nuclear weapons is both careless and thoughtless at a time when the international community is making efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons from...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.

Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality

Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality

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