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COMMENTARY / World

Dec 2, 2006

Talks doomed without EU

By Glyn Ford

BRUSSELS -- After a 15-month hiatus, North Korea will return to Beijing in December for resumption of the China-brokered six-party talks with the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Rus- sia in attendance. Yet unless U.S. President George W. Bush makes a sharp turn of direction, prospects for a...

EDITORIALS

Dec 2, 2006

The call of Antarctica

On Nov. 8, 1956, the icebreaker Soya, a ship of 1937 vintage originally built in Nagasaki Prefecture as the Soviet cargo ship Volochaevets, left Tokyo Port carrying Japan's first scientific expedition to Antarctica. Last week, the 48th Antarctic expedition left Narita airport to catch up with the icebreaker...

EDITORIALS

Dec 1, 2006

Peace at the top of the world

Citizens of Nepal have been rejoicing since their political leaders agreed to a peace deal that ended 10 years of bitter and bloody civil war. The accord lays the foundation for a durable peace in Nepal, but much depends -- as always -- on its implementation. Two other factors will also have a profound...

EDITORIALS

Nov 30, 2006

Flush times for banks

The aggregated net profits of the nation's six major banking groups have reached a record 1.73 trillion yen for the April-September half-year period, with four of the groups realizing record profits. A special factor contributed to the soaring profits. Brighter business performances among their borrowers...

COMMENTARY

Nov 30, 2006

The sleeping dog has woken in Canada

By Gwynne Dyer

LONDON -- "Michael Ignatieff strode back into Canada bearing gilt-edged promises that he had kept a close watch on our political evolution during his decades on foreign soil and that he would be appropriately sensitive to our sociopolitical nuances. He then, by stating a position on Quebec as a nation,...

EDITORIALS

Nov 30, 2006

LDP's opportunistic move

The Liberal Democratic Party's move to readmit into its fold 11 Lower House members who were kicked out of the party for opposing postal service privatization bills is widely regarded as an act of political expediency. It is designed to use the political resources of these Diet members, who have strong...

EDITORIALS

Nov 29, 2006

Building a global NATO

Leaders of the 26 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are meeting in Riga, Latvia, to agree on a strategy for the future. That strategy will focus on two sets of issues: the problems that the organization will tackle in the years ahead and the countries that will join efforts to...

EDITORIALS

Nov 28, 2006

National security council

A special panel last week started discussions on setting up a Japanese version of the National Security Council of the United States. The White House-style organization is a pet idea of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In his first policy speech before the Diet, Mr. Abe expressed his resolve to "strengthen...

EDITORIALS

Nov 28, 2006

Iraq spirals downward

The Sunni insurgents' car bomb and mortar attack in Baghdad's Sadr City Shiite slum last week killed more than 200 people, worsening Iraq's situation and highlighting the inability of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's six-month-old administration to establish security for the Iraqi people. The attack's...

COMMENTARY

Nov 28, 2006

Energy grief ahead for EU

By David Howell

LONDON -- If all the energy experts, the analysts and the consultants are right -- and often they are not -- the people of Western Europe, and especially Britain, are in for an uncomfortable time over the next few years.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Nov 27, 2006

U.S. democracy isn't a suitable export

By Hiroaki Sato

NEW YORK -- The cover of The New Yorker the week after the Nov. 7 midterm elections showed a giant elephant statue being toppled, with people in the lawn way below jubilant and the White House beyond with the U.S. flag atop it at half mast.

COMMENTARY

Nov 27, 2006

Abe, Bush to strengthen ties

By Keizo Nabeshima

In his first summit with President George W. Bush held in Hanoi on Nov. 18, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to strengthen the "Japan-U.S. alliance for Asia and the world" in security and economic relations.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.

What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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