More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

August 05, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Aug 21, 2004

Erosion of LDP factional politics

The largest faction of the Liberal Democratic Party, which until recently was headed by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, is having trouble selecting its new leader. Turmoil in the faction, known as the Heisei Study Group, indicates further erosion of the LDP's factional politics.

COMMENTARY

Aug 21, 2004

A lonely stand against the party machine

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- The extraordinary story of a county Communist Party secretary's lonely six-year battle against corruption in coastal Fujian Province, unveiled last week on the Web site of the official People's Daily newspaper, on one level marks a personal crusade.

COMMENTARY

Aug 21, 2004

Be careful what you wish for

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Be careful what you wish for, goes the saying: In the end, you might just get your wish.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 21, 2004

Singapore's new foreign policy troika

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- On Aug. 12, Lee Hsien Loong became Singapore's third prime minister since its independence in 1965. However, his predecessors, Goh Chok Tong and Lee Kuan Yew, remain in the Cabinet: Goh as senior minister and Lee as minister mentor.

COMMENTARY

Aug 21, 2004

Bad book with good message

By David Howell

LONDON -- Here's a slightly crazy story for these hot summer days. The book the whole world is reading on its holidays -- or at any rate the whole English-speaking world -- is called "The Da Vinci Code," by the American writer Dan Brown.

EDITORIALS

Aug 20, 2004

Iraq's soccer magic

On the evening of Thursday, Aug. 12, Baghdad's Sadr City, a Shiite Muslim slum that has been the scene of pitched battles between supporters of rebellious cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and U.S. and Iraqi troops, lay strangely quiet and still. Where were the armed militiamen of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, usually...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 20, 2004

Broken promises a blot on Myanmar's regime

By Nyunt Shwe

A s Myanmar's government prepares to take over the chairmanship of ASEAN for 1996, opposition groups have stepped up their campaign for reform in the country by appealing to the bloc's leaders, reminding them that the regime in Yangon has violated all its promises, including human rights reform, better...

EDITORIALS

Aug 19, 2004

Redeployment of U.S. forces

U. S. President George W. Bush this week announced the long-anticipated plan to restructure U.S. military forces abroad. The proposal, the largest redeployment of the U.S. military in half a century, is designed to reflect changes in the international security environment. The moves have implications...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 19, 2004

Trade wrangle lifts Latham

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- Sick, sick, sick. That's the only way to describe Australia's belated acceptance of a free-trade agreement with the United States. And if Canberra later gets indigestion from biting off more than it can chew in the deal, don't expect American drug companies to come to the rescue.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 19, 2004

Keep relations with U.S. in perspective

By Masamichi Hanabusa

Undeniably the United States is very important to Japan. Nevertheless, I have detected some worrying signs in the present state of Japan-U.S. relations. More frequently than before, we hear people argue that good relations with the U.S. is an objective in itself. In addition, many Japanese unwittingly...

COMMENTARY

Aug 18, 2004

Democracy depends on modernization

By Ronald Meinardus

MANILA -- For all practical purposes, the internal affairs in most countries have ceased to be purely domestic affairs. Whether we like it or not, one of the consequences of globalization has been the erosion of national sovereignty. In economic matters, national boundaries have long ceased to exist....

EDITORIALS

Aug 18, 2004

How will postal privatization help?

Japan's postal savings system, along with mail and insurance services, is to be privatized over a 10-year period beginning in 2007, according to the guidelines drawn up by the government's Economic and Fiscal Policy Council earlier this month. The question is how to transform the system into a viable...

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

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