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September 14, 2025

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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Oct 16, 2005

Havin' a talk with 'God' and his Oval Office cronies

By Roger Pulvers

U.S. President George W. Bush has apparently declared, in a program to be aired next week on the BBC, that God instructed him to "fight the terrorists" in Afghanistan and Iraq.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 16, 2005

One language isn't enough for any country

By Domenico Maceri

SANTA MARIA, California -- Almost 99 percent of Luxembourg's citizens can speak a second language, according to a European Union survey. At the other end of the spectrum are the British, only 30 percent of whom know a second language. In the case of Americans the figure is only 12 percent.

COMMENTARY

Oct 15, 2005

Statesman test for Koizumi

By Ralph Cossa

TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has demonstrated that he is a brilliant politician. His resounding victory in the Sept. 11 Lower House Diet elections provides him with an opportunity to demonstrate his brilliance as an international statesman as well.

COMMENTARY

Oct 15, 2005

Asia's tough but not impossible journey

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Perhaps the prospects of would-be Asian political unity can best be described as a "pipe dream." But even that description might be too optimistic, unless you imagine a water pipe filled with wildly psychedelic substances that are imbibed in huge amounts!

EDITORIALS

Oct 15, 2005

Reining in medical expenditures

The Japanese spent 31.4 trillion yen for medical services in fiscal 2004, or about 246,000 yen per person, an increase of 2 percent from the previous year. The figure of 2 percent may be a small and acceptable growth, requiring no stricter lid on the rise of the nation's medical spending. But Japan's...

EDITORIALS

Oct 14, 2005

Nuclear program raises issues

The Atomic Energy Commission is expected to adopt a long-term nuclear program by the end of the month. In its draft, the commission has stated its desire to continue its policy of establishing a nuclear-fuel cycle that reprocesses all the spent nuclear fuel to extract plutonium for future use as nuclear...

COMMENTARY

Oct 14, 2005

Missile defense will define Japan-U.S. security alliance

By Robyn Lim

The impasse about the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps air station at Futenma in Okinawa caused U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to cancel his forthcoming visit to Japan. So Rumsfeld, fed up with Japanese foot-dragging for more than a decade, will be going to China and South Korea, but not to...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 14, 2005

Can DVDs help stabilize and unite Asia?

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- Despite and beyond the copyright infringement issue, the booming "DVD phenomenon" in Asia appears to have a strategic importance to governments and a real psychological value to consumers. In fact, the DVD is replacing the video cassette as the best-selling item on the consumer market in...

EDITORIALS

Oct 13, 2005

Nobel prize for fighting proliferation

Mr. Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the nuclear watchdog agency that he leads, are the winners of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. The award underscores the critical significance of the work done by Mr. ElBaradei and the IAEA. But given the events of the last year, it...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 13, 2005

From national security to human security

By Ramesh Thakur

The suffering and death inflicted by last December's tsunami and Hurricane Katrina shows the need to reframe security in human terms.

EDITORIALS

Oct 12, 2005

Diminishing role of LDP factions

Factionalism has often been said to be the hallmark of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled the nation for most of the past 50 years. The LDP landslide in the Sept. 11 Lower House election, however, has dramatically altered the party's internal structure. In particular, its factional politics...

COMMENTARY

Oct 12, 2005

New authoritarian ways cross the line

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- At the recent Labour Party Conference, Prime Minister Tony Blair criticized the British criminal justice system. He said it needed toughening and called for "a radical extension of summary powers to police and local authorities" to deal with antisocial behavior and prevent terrorism.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.

The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight

By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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