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August 05, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Aug 30, 2004

An example for the real world

Peace is the central message of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The Olympic flame -- the symbol of that message -- will be extinguished late Sunday night (early Monday in Japan), about five months after it was lit in Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympics. In a world riven with hatred and violence,...

COMMENTARY

Aug 30, 2004

Cooler summer for French intramurals

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- "Chaotic all over the territory," warned a French weather forecast recently. This was not, however, the remake, feared by so many, of the August 2003 heat wave, which contributed to 15,000 extra deaths that month.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Aug 30, 2004

Fear of cultural decline: the next chapter

By Hiroaki Sato

NEW YORK -- Every August my wife Nancy and I leave New York to go south to spend two weeks at a friend's summer house at Sunset Beach, North Carolina. Driving leisurely, mainly so we can ride ferries on Delaware Bay and on Pamlico Sound, we stop for two nights on the way, usually lodging in Onley, Virginia,...

COMMENTARY

Aug 30, 2004

They came, they saw, they pillaged Asia

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Financial authorities are aghast over the latest near-death international financial collision. It involved a lightening-fast dumping earlier this month of nearly $14 billion in securities. The perpetrator was Citigroup, operating out of London.

EDITORIALS

Aug 29, 2004

Rewriting history

The ancient kingdom of Koguryo, traditionally believed to have been founded in 37 B.C., ruled a vast region extending from Manchuria (northern provinces of China) to the Korean Peninsula until 668. Tumulus wall paintings in Nara, which was the capital of Japan in the 8th century, are said to reflect...

EDITORIALS

Aug 29, 2004

Another 'Americanization'

A merican consumers have been described as "quick to spend" while Japanese consumers have been "slow to spend." In fact, Americans tend to spend the extra money they get rather than save it. So a tax cut quickly boosts spending, often leading to an overheating of the economy. A culture of overconsumption...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 29, 2004

Golden efforts belie risk-averse image

By Adam S. Posen and Edward M. Graham

WASHINGTON -- A stereotype exists in the United States and elsewhere: Japanese are risk-avoiders while Americans are risk-takers.

COMMENTARY

Aug 29, 2004

Refighting the Medicare budget battle

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- Medicare, which offers health-care coverage for America's elderly, faces trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities. Unfortunately, legislators are constantly tempted to increase benefits and thus spending. They should resist their inner darkness as the Bush administration attempts to...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 29, 2004

A refitted Security Council

By Ramesh Thakur

Everyone acknowledges the need for U.N. Security Council reform in theory. Unfortunately, they cannot agree on an one particular reform package. Once people see the details of a concrete proposal, losers and opponents always seem to outnumber winners and supporters. The urgency for reform is now extreme....

EDITORIALS

Aug 28, 2004

Crucial challenge of Najaf

The situation in Iraq remains volatile as fighting continues in the holy city of Najaf. Shiite militia fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have been holed up in the Imam Ali mosque for three weeks now, putting up fierce resistance against U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 28, 2004

Halfway home is far from a China deal

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS, India -- The Dalai Lama is still the leader of Tibet. He may be just a figurehead, but China, which annexed Tibet in 1959 and drove the Dalai Lama and his followers into India, knows that only this monk can convince his people to reconcile to Beijing's control over Lhasa.

EDITORIALS

Aug 27, 2004

Flagging sense of partnership

Earlier this month, a U.S. military helicopter crashed and burst into flames on a university campus in Okinawa Prefecture. The accident has highlighted dilemmas faced by the island that hosts two-thirds of the U.S. troops stationed in Japan. At the same time, it has exposed some of the flaws in the Japan-U.S....

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.

With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear

By Jason Coskrey

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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