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COMMENTARY / World

Oct 17, 2002

El Nino plays havoc with drought-stricken Australia

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- First a devastating drought grips the nation. Now bush fires have begun burning down houses. And the real sting of summer is still months away.

EDITORIALS

Oct 16, 2002

A most fitting Nobel laureate

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has been awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. It is a fitting selection. Mr. Carter has worked tirelessly for peace and to help the poor and the powerless throughout his career; his efforts deserve the recognition afforded by the Nobel selection committee. Just as important,...

EDITORIALS

Oct 14, 2002

Victory for the working man

A s Brazil heads into the second round of its presidential election, history looks to be in the making. For the first time since their country became a republic, the Brazilian people appear set to elect a working-class man as president. Although the front-runner, Mr. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has promised...

COMMENTARY

Oct 14, 2002

Resurgent Asia may yet help buoy America

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Think of the world economy as one huge ship with many passengers from all over and wildly varying tiers of service.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Oct 14, 2002

Acute case of linguistic 'disconnectivity'

By Jean-pierre Lehmann

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- One of the best terms of the 21st century is "global connectivity." Composed of three elements -- (1) entrepreneurial and energetic individuals, (2) the Internet and (3) the English language -- global connectivity serves not only to exchange information and ideas but also to...

COMMENTARY

Oct 14, 2002

Testing times for Koizumi

By Kenzo Uchida

Japanese politics is entering a crucial period. On Sept. 30, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reshuffled his Cabinet for the first time since taking office in April 2001. The reshuffle, however, was limited in scale. Moreover, he kept his party's executive lineup unchanged.

EDITORIALS

Oct 13, 2002

Crucial by-election campaigns begin

A round of parliamentary by-elections set for Oct. 27 is seen widely as a prelude to the next general election. Voters are expected to pass judgment on the job performance of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration for the past 18 months. Campaigning for Upper House elections in Chiba and Tottori...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Oct 13, 2002

Putin: More than a crocodile

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- What could be worse on one's 50th birthday than to spend it in a gloomy fortress, sitting in the center of a heavily polluted city as president of a problem-ridden country struggling for survival? Yet Russian President Vladimir Putin looked perfectly happy on the day of his anniversary, and...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Oct 13, 2002

Beijing stymies Pyongyang experiment

By Hiroaki Sato

HONG KONG -- Pyongyang-Beijing ties used to be characterized as being "as close as lips and teeth," but that phrase no longer applies to the relationship. For no sooner does North Korea arouse deep Japanese public outrage with its prevarication over past abductions than the isolated Stalinist state provokes...

COMMENTARY

Oct 12, 2002

Cost cuts could compromise health care

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- Public-spirited rhetoric usually masks intense interest-group combat in Washington, D.C., like that over pharmaceutical patents. Health insurers, which barely survived the Clinton administration's assault, are targeting drug-research firms.

COMMENTARY

Oct 12, 2002

In pursuit of terrorists and oil

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI -- U.S. President George W. Bush is taking a big gamble with his single-minded mission to get rid of a toothless but unsavory dictator, who, far from being a menace to U.S. security, is not a threat even to his neighbors. Bush, who accuses Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein of being "a homicidal...

EDITORIALS

Oct 12, 2002

Military force is not a cure-all

The situation surrounding the Caucasus, a region rife with Islamic militancy, is becoming tense. As the U.S. administration of President George W. Bush prepares for a war with Iraq, cracks are developing in the U.S.-Russia coalition against terrorism. The fighting between Russian troops and Islamic rebels...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.

How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan

By Megha Wadhwa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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