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September 11, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Sep 1, 2003

Japan's lesson for Europe

By Jonathan Fenby

LONDON -- At some point last year, it became fashionable to compare the economic plight of Germany and, by extension, the euro zone as a whole with the situation in Japan. As recession bit into the country that used to be Europe's motor and as the 12-nation euro area began recording declining growth...

COMMENTARY

Sep 1, 2003

Merger of opposition parties may bring grand reform era

By Takamitsu Sawa

On July 24, lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Party approved an agreement for the two opposition parties to merge before the end of September. Some pundits criticized the scheduled merger as "unprincipled," but I disagree. I believe it has major significance for the nation.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 1, 2003

Mess with the bull and you might get gored

By Christopher Lingle

GUATEMALA CITY -- At last, the Nikkei stock average has risen above 10,000 points for the first time in more than a year, rebounding from 7,600 in April. Much of the rally is due to the net buying of Japanese shares by foreign investors as global money managers increase their holdings.

EDITORIALS

Aug 31, 2003

A hopeful start

The much-heralded six-nation talks in Beijing ended Friday without any specific progress on North Korea's nuclear weapons development. But all parties agreed to resolve the issue peacefully while addressing Pyongyang's security concerns. Japan and North Korea reached no explicit agreement on the abduction...

COMMENTARY

Aug 31, 2003

France's long, hot summer

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- Fifty-three thousand deaths in August against 40,000 the same month in 2002: This has every chance of being the minimum toll of the unprecedented heat wave France has known this summer, with daytime peaks of more than 40 degrees Celsius vs. a seasonal norm of 27 degrees.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 31, 2003

Enthusiasm for EU club has evaporated

By Jiri Pehe

PRAGUE -- When communism in Eastern Europe collapsed, the region's new democratic leaders agreed that joining the European Union -- fast -- must be their priority. "Back to Europe!" became the slogan, one enthusiastically backed by a majority of their populations. Yet eight months before that dream formally...

COMMENTARY

Aug 30, 2003

Governments must plan today for tomorrow's energy needs

By David Howell

LONDON -- Electric power -- or lack of it -- is once again in the news. It is not just the millions of East Coast Americans and Canadians who have suffered with monster blackouts. Power cuts have become drearily regular in France, Japan, China, Spain, Italy, not to mention in struggling Iraq. And shortages...

COMMENTARY

Aug 30, 2003

A tax hike for God? Don't you believe it

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- It has long been said that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Today religion plays that role in the United States. At least it does for Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama, who is pushing a massive tax hike in the name of God.

EDITORIALS

Aug 30, 2003

Justice served in Osaka

On June 8, 2001, a disgruntled jobless man stormed an Osaka elementary school, wielding a kitchen knife, and killed eight children and wounded 13 others and two teachers. "This is an unprecedented case of atrocity in the nation's criminal history," the Osaka District Court stated in its death sentence...

EDITORIALS

Aug 29, 2003

More bombings in Bombay

They never miss an opportunity. Every time the governments of India and Pakistan appear ready to build better relations, those efforts are countered with violence by militants. This week two bomb blasts in Bombay claimed 50 lives and wounded more than 150 others. In keeping with the current spirit of...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 29, 2003

Washington lays siege to WTO system

By David Wall

LONDON -- In the last few weeks the U.S. Congress has approved free-trade agreements with Chile and Singapore and has approved the opening of talks on FTAs with Bahrain and the Dominican Republic.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 29, 2003

Aussies discover cost of being Big Brother

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- No good deed goes unpunished, says the cynic. And that's the way it's looking for Australia's efforts to bring peace and stability to the South Pacific.

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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