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COMMENTARY

Jun 8, 2006

Big lessons from a small town

By David Howell

LONDON -- Al Gore has been visiting Hay-on Wye. Who is Al Gore and where is Hay-on-Wye?

EDITORIALS

Jun 8, 2006

The act of a professional?

Mr. Yoshiaki Murakami, who has drawn intense public attention as Japan's most controversial investment fund manager, was arrested Monday by the Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office on suspicion of violating the Securities and Exchange Law. He is suspected of having engaged in insider stock trading when his...

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 8, 2006

Planting seeds of hope in Japan's youth

By Daisaku Ikeda

The bright laughter of children is the true measure of a society's health. Ten years ago, I was in San Jose, Costa Rica, for the opening of an exhibition on the reality and threat of nuclear weapons. Even as participants began a dignified rendition of the national anthem, through the wall that separated...

EDITORIALS

Jun 7, 2006

Education policy on trial

In the spring of 2004, a retired teacher urged parents attending a Tokyo high school graduation ceremony to remain seated during the playing of the national anthem. Last week, the Tokyo District Court fined him 200,000 yen for "obstructing" the ceremony.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 7, 2006

President Hosni Mubarak still waging wars at home

By Saad Eddin Ibrahim

CAIRO -- The decision by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government to try two senior judges for blowing the whistle on vote rigging in last autumn's parliamentary elections has rocked the country. Massive crowds have gathered to support the judges -- and have caught Mubarak's regime completely unaware....

EDITORIALS

Jun 6, 2006

Bills aimed at making noise

The Diet has begun discussions on two separate bills submitted by the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, and by the No. 1 opposition party, to specify procedures for holding a national referendum to amend the Constitution.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 6, 2006

Thaksin best underscores fatal flaws of his kind of rule

By Kevin Rafferty

HONG KONG -- Thailand's "democracy" is in limbo. Judges of the country's three top courts have decided that April's elections were unconstitutional, and new ones must be held. The Election Commission set October for new elections, but the judges said the commission has no power to set the date and its...

EDITORIALS

Jun 5, 2006

Base plan augurs big changes ahead

The central government last week finalized a basic plan for the largest-ever realignment of U.S. forces stationed in Japan -- more than three years after Japan and the United States started consultations on the plan. It includes relocation of the heliport functions of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air...

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 5, 2006

Dousing flames in East Timor

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- The need for closer links between Tokyo and Canberra has never been clearer than in recent days: Bloody fighting in East Timor, humanitarian rescue near the Java volcano site, economic basket cases in the South Pacific . . . The case for regional cooperation grows more urgent daily.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 5, 2006

The revolution will not be memorialized

By Ma Jian

PRAGUE -- Forty years ago, Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution. The Propaganda Department of China's ruling Communists have now issued an order banning any kind of reviews or commemoration of this disaster as part of the party's bid to make the Chinese forget about that lost decade.

COMMENTARY

Jun 5, 2006

Japan's college gap growing

By Takamitsu Sawa

In the two years since Japanese national universities were reorganized into independent administrative corporations, government grants for their operating expenses (personnel and equipment costs) have been slashed by 1 percent each year.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 4, 2006

France's weak incentive to earn income

By Brigitte Granville

LONDON -- France's chronic malaise is marked by periodic explosions of protest. The two most recent episodes -- the rioting and arson in French cities last autumn and the successful student campaign earlier this year against a new law governing young labor-market entrants -- seem to have little in common....

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

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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