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September 14, 2025

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COMMENTARY

Feb 22, 2005

Curtain raised on a new act

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The whirlwind tour of Europe and the Middle East by Condoleeza Rice, the new U.S. secretary of state, has contributed to a better atmosphere in relations between Europe and America.

EDITORIALS

Feb 21, 2005

New airport tilts toward Asia

With the opening of Central Japan International Airport (Chubu airport) last week, Japan's aviation industry entered a new age. The new terminal will serve as a gateway to the 2005 World Exposition (Aichi Expo), which opens next month. Chubu airport is a new symbol of Nagoya, a vigorous commercial and...

COMMENTARY

Feb 21, 2005

Seoul's survival hangs on U.S. restraint

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Hostage theory in international relations can explain why a lot of things do not happen. There's no better example than the North Korean crisis. The reason for continuing to talk to the North Koreans is not that we like them; it's that we care about the South Koreans.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Feb 21, 2005

They boil lobsters, don't they?

By Constantine Pleshakov

WASHINGTON -- A recent European study has suggested that lobsters don't feel pain when being boiled. For a lobster, the study suggests, going into a boiling pot is like taking a dip in a hot tub.

COMMENTARY

Feb 21, 2005

Pyongyang toeing 'red line'

By Keizo Nabeshima

North Korea shocked the world with its announcement Feb. 10 that it will "indefinitely" stay away from the six-party talks on its nuclear arms program and that it already has nuclear weapons.

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 21, 2005

The right thing is not permanent tax cuts

By Isabel Sawhill and Michael O'Hanlon

WASHINGTON -- Since his re-election, President George W. Bush has emphasized the need for U.S. fiscal responsibility. He has pledged to halve the enormous federal budget deficit in his second term. He has vowed to put social security on a sound, long-term footing. And he has just submitted a 2006 budget...

EDITORIALS

Feb 20, 2005

In praise of a 'billy sook'

With spring just around the corner, what images pop into the mind? Naturally, you're thinking cherry blossoms and daffodils, spring lambs and fluffy chickens, dolls and kites, eggs and chocolate. But some of you will also be thinking rabbits, and you are in luck, because next month brings the publication...

COMMENTARY

Feb 20, 2005

Nightmare choice set to confront China

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- North Korea's surprise announcement last week that it possesses nuclear weapons and would indefinitely boycott the six-party talks immensely complicates the Korean nuclear problem and puts additional pressure on China as host of the multilateral talks to get them started again.

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 19, 2005

Diaspora bridges China and ASEAN

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- On Feb. 9, the start of the Year of the Rooster, ethnic Chinese communities across Southeast Asia took stock of their progress and their future in the shadow of China's peaceful development and its strengthened status within the region of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations....

EDITORIALS

Feb 19, 2005

Missile defense and civilian control

The Cabinet earlier this week approved a bill that would provide a legal framework for a missile defense (MD) system. During the current regular session of the Diet, the government is seeking approval of the proposed amendment to the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) Law plus a bill for creating an integrated...

EDITORIALS

Feb 18, 2005

Unity crucial for the model to work

Now that the religious political bloc of the Islamic Shiites has triumphed in the Iraqi National Assembly election, it can take the initiative in the transitional administration that follows the present interim government. The U.S. strategy of turning Iraq into a model of democratization for the Middle...

COMMENTARY

Feb 18, 2005

Blinders on a vital interest

By Robyn Lim

In relation to Iran, Japan needs to get its priorities straight. Currently, Japan is spending only 1 percent of its gross domestic product on defense while living in a dangerous region. It is critical for Japan's economic and strategic security that the United States remain willing to protect Japan's...

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

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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