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COMMENTARY / World

Aug 17, 2002

Don't wait for the meltdown

By Bruce Stokes

Brazil is hurtling toward an economic crisis that has little to do with whether a leftist gets elected president in October or the size of its standby credit announced Aug. 7 with the International Monetary Fund.

EDITORIALS

Aug 16, 2002

Aug. 15: day to renew peace efforts

The 57th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II passed quietly, in part because Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi skipped a visit to Yasukuni Shrine this month. His trip to the shrine last August stirred up controversy both here and abroad, particularly in China and South Korea. To avoid a similar...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 16, 2002

Ethnic Chinese dilemma

By David Chew

SINGAPORE -- In a new twist to an ongoing controversy surrounding a proposal to change Malaysia's education policy, the two main Chinese components of the ruling National Front (NF) coalition government, have found themselves taking the same position as the opposition parties. This places the Malaysian...

EDITORIALS

Aug 15, 2002

Preparing for the unthinkable

When World War II ended with Japan's surrender 57 years ago today, few could have anticipated the extent to which deadly weapons would one day threaten humanity. However, the history of the world since 1945 can be described as the history of the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear, biological...

COMMENTARY

Aug 15, 2002

The scrapheap of the brave

By Gregory Clark

The fuss surrounding the Diet resignation of former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka has seen Japan and its media at their shallow, group-think, conservative, anti-individualist worst.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 15, 2002

PNG's founding father back at the helm

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY — It's back to the future for Papua New Guinea. Only this time round the friends of the young, troubled South Pacific nation are hoping it's not a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same.

EDITORIALS

Aug 14, 2002

Vote of confidence for Brazil

Ever since the Argentine economy slid into crisis last year, there have been fears that the difficulties would ripple across the region. Uruguay's recent troubles are proof that Latin American markets are so deeply intertwined that any national emergency poses a threat to its neighbors. The chief concern...

COMMENTARY

Aug 14, 2002

Antithesis to rooted hate

By Tom Plate

HONOLULU -- Contrast the hellish visions of the Mideast, where different peoples seem only to want to kill each other, or South Asia, where Indians and Pakistanis seem rooted in a festering horrid past, with the real-world achievement of a multicultural society like Hawaii.

EDITORIALS

Aug 13, 2002

Defense report lacks substance

This year's government report on defense, the first since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, devotes much space to the terror-related events. That was only to be expected, considering that they have changed the contours of the international community, particularly the global security...

COMMENTARY

Aug 13, 2002

Protecting Japan's interests

By Keizo Nabeshima

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi's advisory panel on ministry reform came up with its final report in late July. On the basis of the panel's recommendations, the ministry this month will formulate an action plan on ways of implementing reform. A spate of scandals involving the ministry have prompted...

EDITORIALS

Aug 11, 2002

Another fallen political idol

Former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka's resignation from the Diet on Friday was a surprise even though her political fortunes had waned visibly in recent months amid a smoldering money scandal. Did she take responsibility for the "trouble" she had caused? Was she unable to bear the brunt of public criticism?...

COMMENTARY

Aug 11, 2002

U.S. may manage Kashmir row at best

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI -- Every regional crisis seems like an opportunity for U.S. policy to advance its interests. This has come out starkly since 9/11, as Washington has gone about extending its influence and building long-term strategic arrangements with nations across Asia, from the Caspian region to the South...

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

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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