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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Jan 29, 2006

With Horie's downfall, who can young Japan look up to?

By Roger Pulvers

The media has had a field day with Takafumi Horie, the 33-year-old founder of the communications firm Livedoor.

COMMENTARY

Jan 29, 2006

Cheap ride on U.S. security

By Robyn Lim

As a "rising" China presses on its maritime frontiers in the East and South China Seas, tensions with Japan are increasing rapidly because of the maritime basis of Japanese security. Yet Japan thinks it can reduce defense spending, continue to rely on the United States for its strategic security, and...

EDITORIALS

Jan 28, 2006

No place for pension evasion

At a time when people's trust in the nation's pension systems is declining, some enterprises, especially small ones, are behaving in a manner that will weaken the reliability of social security. They deliberately choose not to join the corporate employees' pension system (kosei nenkin) while the number...

EDITORIALS

Jan 27, 2006

False start on beef imports

Less than six weeks after lifting a two-year ban on U.S. beef imports, the Japanese government was forced to impose it again last week. The action followed the discovery of prohibited material in a shipment from a New York meatpacker in violation of safety rules aimed at preventing the spread of bovine...

COMMENTARY

Jan 27, 2006

Don't do mullahs' bidding

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI -- The United States and European Union have taken the lead in framing a robust international response to a series of provocative actions by Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The wise way to tackle a renegade Iran, however, is not through punitive action, but through sustained...

EDITORIALS

Jan 26, 2006

Preventing a flu pandemic

The chances that the avian flu virus will mutate into a form that can be transmitted from human to human is high enough for the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify the present situation as a "pandemic alert." Should a pandemic break out it would likely do so in Asia. Therefore Japan needs to...

COMMENTARY

Jan 26, 2006

America missing out in Asia

By Brad Glosserman

HONOLULU -- The structure of global power is shifting, and Asia is finally emerging as one of the pillars of the international system. We have heard this talk before -- over a decade ago the "Asian century" was the story line -- but it is finally happening. The rise of China is part of this story, but...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 26, 2006

Why America needs the U.N.

By Ramesh Thakur

We have to live in and manage a world in which the threat and use of force remain an ever present reality. The material capacity, economic efficiency, political organization and military skills in the use of force determine the international power hierarchy. Great powers rise and fall on the tide of...

EDITORIALS

Jan 25, 2006

More women taking charge

January has been a precedent-setting month for women. Ms. Michelle Bachelet was elected Chile's first female leader, becoming South America's second woman elected head of state, while Ms. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took office as president of Liberia, Africa's first elected female head of state.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 25, 2006

Foreign-language skills can help Americans fight terror

By Domenico Maceri

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- "Learning somebody else's language is a kind gesture," stated U.S. President George W. Bush, because it suggests "I care about you."

COMMENTARY

Jan 25, 2006

Congressional group aims to improve U.S.-China ties

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- Quietly and without fanfare, an organization has been formed that may help smooth the course of the development of relations between the United States and China. This is the U.S.-China Working Group in the House of Representatives, set up in mid-2005 and now includes 35 members of congress....

EDITORIALS

Jan 24, 2006

Mr. Kim walks a fine line

North Korea's supreme leader, Mr. Kim Jong Il, is a savvy politician. He knows how to get attention: His "secret" trip to China dominated international news even though there was no official confirmation he was visiting the country. The reclusive leader will need all his skills as he tries to maximize...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.

How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan

By Megha Wadhwa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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