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September 11, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Oct 4, 2003

Only recourse is to negotiate

By Nyunt Shwe

Will Myanmar (also known as Burma) be banned from the summit meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations next week? That's not likely, but Myanmar's new prime minister, Gen. Khin Nyunt, could utterly lose face unless the regime frees prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi before the...

EDITORIALS

Oct 4, 2003

A checkered economic recovery

During an economic recovery, it often happens that disparities in business performance between companies that are doing better and those that are not become more apparent. That is the case with Japanese companies today, as shown clearly by the Bank of Japan's latest survey of business sentiment. While...

EDITORIALS

Oct 3, 2003

Saving a Japanese monument

Japan still has an entry on the World Monuments Fund's biennial "watch list" of the planet's 100 most endangered cultural sites, according to the 2004 update released last week. It is time to ensure that the historic port town of Tomonoura, which was first included in the 2002 list, is not on it two...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 3, 2003

Israeli debate over soldiers' duty deepens

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- The recent refusal by 27 high-ranking Israeli Air Force officers to follow superiors' orders that would involve attacking Palestinian civilians signifies a rebuke of the Israeli government's policy of "targeted liquidations." What makes the pilots' decision particularly important is that...

EDITORIALS

Oct 2, 2003

Plenty of rice despite poor harvest

Low temperatures and a shortage of sunlight during the summer months have made it certain that this year's rice harvest will be the poorest in a decade. Yet, even with the lean harvest, there will be no problem on the supply side because the government's stock of rice is more than adequate.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 2, 2003

Few know but many fear where the U.S. 'road map' leads

By David Hirst

BEIRUT -- By the summer of 2002, U.S. President George Bush had firmly set his new course: "regime change" and reform in the Muslim and Arab worlds, and, where necessary, American military intervention to achieve it.

COMMENTARY

Oct 2, 2003

Book fight turns up a Beijing weak spot

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Love her or loathe her, Hillary Clinton is something else. In 1995, for instance, the then-first lady stood on a Beijing dais and delivered a tough speech that denounced violations of women's rights worldwide. With steely passion she said: "Human rights are women's rights."

EDITORIALS

Oct 1, 2003

Brace for another round of SARS

Ever since severe acute respiratory syndrome was brought under control this summer, medical authorities have warned that another outbreak could occur in the fall. The world got its first fright last month with reports of occurrences in Singapore and Hong Kong. In fact, the Hong Kong case was not SARS;...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 1, 2003

U.S. mission remains on track in Iraq

By Michael O'Hanlon

WASHINGTON -- How can we really determine if the Iraq mission is going well? Pessimists worry about recent truck bombings and political assassinations, ongoing serious crime problems, sustained attacks against U.S. forces, and high unemployment together with slow progress at improving the Iraqi standard...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 1, 2003

Currency interventions prove to be both fruitless and costly

By Christopher Lingle

GUATEMALA CITY -- The weakening of the U.S. dollar accelerated after finance ministers from the Group of Seven issued a communique calling for market-oriented international exchange rates. Soon afterward, the Japanese yen set a two-year high against the American currency.

EDITORIALS

Sep 30, 2003

Japan's streets grow meaner

Japanese criminal organizations are increasingly penetrating a variety of economic fields and strengthening their links with foreign organized-crime groups, posing a threat to the nation's public order. The National Police Agency's 2003 white paper highlights "The Fight Against Organized Crime," focusing...

COMMENTARY

Sep 30, 2003

Cooperative Ukraine left out in the cold

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration continues to press for assistance from other nations in Iraq, but without notable success. Both Germany and Russia now indicate a willingness to help, but not with troops. Said Russian President Vladimir Putin in advance of his summit with his American counterpart...

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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