More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY

Nov 29, 2004

Know what reform can't do

By Takamitsu Sawa

It looks as though Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is determined to push through postal privatization as the ultimate goal of his structural reform efforts.

EDITORIALS

Nov 28, 2004

Found in translation

I n the field of law, Japan certainly cannot yet be said to be sufficiently open vis-a-vis other countries. In order to improve this situation, a law-and-ordinance translation group set up within the government's Office for Promotion of Justice System Reform has unveiled a project to translate legislation...

COMMENTARY

Nov 28, 2004

Labour's path to nowhere

By Sarah Benton

LONDON -- Tuesday was one of those quaint ceremonial occasions that cling like barnacles to the slow-moving body of the British ship of state: The queen announced the next year's legislative program.

EDITORIALS

Nov 27, 2004

A revealing melee in Chile

It seemed like a sideshow at the time, but the incident in Santiago last weekend in which U.S. President George W. Bush intervened to "rescue" one of his Secret Service agents from a scuffle with Chilean police has been mushrooming all week. In retrospect, that melee -- and a dispute last Sunday involving...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 27, 2004

Challenges and opportunity

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- As the first Indonesian president to be elected through direct universal suffrage, and backed by a mandate from a considerable majority of Indonesian voters, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is injecting new energy into the 10-member Association for Southeast Asian Nations. Furthermore,...

EDITORIALS

Nov 26, 2004

Lighten Iraq's debt load

I raq's future depends on the country finding its footing. The most important precondition is peace and stability. Free and fair elections, the foundation of a healthy democracy, are also vital. Ultimately, however, Iraqis must believe that they will have a better life. Without a functioning and growing...

EDITORIALS

Nov 25, 2004

APEC's mixed message

Throughout much of its history, critics have argued that the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum is purposeless. They allege the group has become too big and diverse to take meaningful collective action. The grand designs drawn up a decade ago have lost urgency, overtaken by events and new...

EDITORIALS

Nov 24, 2004

Yasukuni's shadow darkens summit

Sunday's meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao -- the first in more than a year -- proved once again that history remains the biggest thorn in the side of Japan-China relations. Unless historical disputes are resolved from a broad perspective, mistrust between...

COMMENTARY

Nov 24, 2004

Patients are paying dearly for WHO political priorities

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- When the SARS epidemic was circling the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) purported to be leading efforts to treat the disease. But the WHO was reluctant to send staffers to hard-hit Taiwan due to its extensive ties with China.

COMMENTARY

Nov 23, 2004

Irony lost on conservatives

By Gregory Clark

The Japan Times editorial of Oct. 11, titled "Almost all wrong on Iraq," strongly criticized the foreign policies of the conservative U.S. administration. But on the same day and on the same page the conservative U.S. commentator George Will was quoting heavily from a book written by two London Economist...

EDITORIALS

Nov 23, 2004

Keep principles of peace at the fore

On Saturday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush renewed their friendship on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit conference in Santiago, Chile. At what was their first meeting since Mr. Bush's re-election, the two leaders reaffirmed the...

EDITORIALS

Nov 22, 2004

Rebuilding a safe society

This year's white paper on crime opens, on the first page, with the proclaimed aim of restoring Japan as "the safest country in the world" and closes, on the final page, with the expressed determination to achieve this goal. The report seems to convey the Ministry of Justice's concern and sense of tension...

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

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports