More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

August 16, 2025

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 11, 2006

Cluster bombs add to terror

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- As if the ruthless air attacks on Lebanese civilians weren't enough, Israel has been using illegal cluster munitions in populated areas of that country. Human Rights Watch researchers working on the ground in Lebanon have confirmed that an attack with cluster bombs was carried out on the...

EDITORIALS

Aug 11, 2006

Wrong way to improve education

I n Japan, teaching licenses remain valid permanently, but this system is heading for change. The Central Council for Education has proposed making it mandatory that teaching licenses be renewed every 10 years. The proposed change would affect not only future teachers but also the nation's 1.1 million...

EDITORIALS

Aug 10, 2006

Nagano bids maverick goodbye

Nagano voters on Sunday chose a steady and stable style of politics over maverick leadership often characterized by theatrics, confrontation and confusion. Gov. Yasuo Tanaka, a reform-minded ex-novelist, sought a third term but was defeated by Mr. Jin Murai, a former state minister for national disaster...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 10, 2006

Facing the past, embracing the future

By Daisaku Ikeda

To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future. We thus owe it to the youthful generations of the 21st century to communicate the hatred of war, the commitment to peace, that was engraved in so many lives on Aug. 15, 1945.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 10, 2006

Rape wielded as a weapon in Myanmar

By Teresa Kok Suh Sim and Eva K. Sundari, Nursyahbani Katjasungkana,

LONDON -- Gender-based sexual violence obstructs peace and development, particularly when it is a weapon used by military dictatorships against their own peoples. Myanmar is now permeated by such state-sponsored violence. Systematic sexual violence became visible in Myanmar when the Shan Women's Action...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 10, 2006

Will polluters pay for climate change?

By Peter Singer

PRINCETON, New Jersey -- I am writing this in New York in early August, when the mayor declared a "heat emergency" to prevent widespread electricity outages from the expected high use of air conditioners. City employees could face criminal charges if they set their thermostats below 25.5 C. Nevertheless,...

COMMENTARY

Aug 9, 2006

Beijing loath to cast the fate of elections in Hong Kong to the wind

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- With Hong Kong having entered its 10th year as a Chinese special administrative region, pressure is building on Beijing to honor its promise of allowing full democratization of this former British colony. Opinion surveys consistently show that the majority of Hong Kong residents want to...

EDITORIALS

Aug 9, 2006

Congo goes to the polls

Hope is fading for the Democratic Republic of Congo. On July 30, the country held multiparty democratic elections for the first time in decades, raising hopes that a ballot might provide the foundation for peace and stability that the Congo has not known in its 46-year history. While that dream is not...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 9, 2006

Revolution's gains yet to be measured

By Harold James

PRINCETON, New Jersey -- In August 1981, IBM introduced the 5150 personal computer. It was not really the first personal computer, but it turned out to be "The Personal Computer," and it revolutionized not just business life, but also the way people thought about the world.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 8, 2006

Big, fat American shopper to the rescue

By Kenneth Rogoff

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- It is appalling that the world has decided to blame the United States for the crushing end to five years of global trade talks last month (the so-called Doha Round).

EDITORIALS

Aug 8, 2006

Fear of the water

Now is vacation time for schoolchildren. But news of a swimming pool accident in the city of Fujimino, Saitama Prefecture, has cast a pall of fear over the holidays for children and parents. An investigation of the July 31 death of a 7-year-old girl in the city's swimming pool has shed light on the habitual...

COMMENTARY

Aug 8, 2006

Danger of education divide

By Takamitsu Sawa

During its five-year rule, the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has completed a number of structural reforms, including the privatization of the postal service. To that extent, the administration deserves high praise.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.

The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers

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