More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

September 12, 2025

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

EDITORIALS

Jun 30, 2004

Iraqis get their country back

Iraq is once again a sovereign nation. In a surprise move, the United States handed over power to the new, interim government in Baghdad two days early. The handover goes a long way toward wiping the slate clean: The 14-month occupation is officially over, and Iraqis can now say that they are in control...

COMMENTARY

Jun 30, 2004

Iraq handover spells relief

By Sarah Benton

LONDON -- Day One of modern Iraq. Never before have the people of Iraq had their political destiny in their own hands. There have been no celebrations. The sound of gunfire is of killing, not festivity.

COMMENTARY

Jun 30, 2004

A Pyongyang that can recant, again

By Ralph Cossa

WASHINGTON -- "Some good, some bad, some ugly!" That was the way a senior Bush administration official summed up the just-completed third plenary session of the six-party talks in Beijing, aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. While other participants were reporting "substantial progress"...

EDITORIALS

Jun 29, 2004

Talks give reason for hope

Although the third round of the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis yielded little more than a commitment to meet again, for the first time, there are grounds for genuine optimism. The United States and North Korea finally appear to be discussing solutions in earnest. To help them along,...

COMMENTARY

Jun 29, 2004

Can Koizumi expect a rally?

By Keizo Nabeshima

Security is the key word for the July 11 Upper House election, which focuses on two major issues: pension reform and Self-Defense Force participation in a multinational force in Iraq. At stake are Japan's social security system (including pensions, health care and nursing services for the elderly) and...

EDITORIALS

Jun 28, 2004

Get a consensus on cloning research

Whether to sanction the cloning of human embryos remains a polarizing issue that has profound ethical and moral implications. In Japan, a government-appointed committee on bioethics late last year published a noncommittal interim report stating the pros and cons.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Jun 28, 2004

Japanese poetry loses a gentleman-scholar

By Hiroaki Sato

NEW YORK -- Princeton professor Earl Miner, who died in April at age 77, was the one gentleman-scholar I had the honor of knowing.

COMMENTARY

Jun 28, 2004

Treading too softly on SOFA

By Kiroku Hanai

In April, an epoch-making event occurred in the history of the Japan-U.S. security alliance. Two Diet members of the governing Liberal Democratic Party met with U.S. State and Defense Department officials to ask Washington to consider overhauling the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 28, 2004

People of Myanmar need Asia's help

By Nyunt Shwe

Myanmar's stubborn military regime has decided to carry on with its controversial constitutional convention even as National League of Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her lieutenant, U Tin U, remain under house arrest. The last time a free and fair election was held -- in 1990 -- the NLD won a...

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 28, 2004

Deflate tension with dialogue

By Ronald A. Rodriguez

HONOLULU -- Recent events confirm that maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea remain an issue for East Asian governments. Ownership of the Spratly Islands is claimed, in whole or in part, by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

EDITORIALS

Jun 27, 2004

Mr. Kerry's French

Every now and then, U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, lets slip that he speaks French. He chats with French reporters, has occasionally responded in French to a French-language question at a news conference, and once participated in a phone-in talk show in France....

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 27, 2004

Flagging heart for the EU

By Kevin Rafferty

LONDON -- More than 40,000 Britons have made a special trip to Portugal for a two-week European festival while, back at home, tens of millions of others are following the festival, alternatively rejoicing and groaning, on television screens in pubs and bars, city centers and homes. Euro 2004 is the most...

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

Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality

Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports