More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY

Oct 18, 2004

Balancing work with other ways of life

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- Alan Milburn, the British secretary of state for health, resigned last year to "spend more time with his family." This excuse has often been used to cover some misdemeanor or a falling out with colleagues, but in this case it seems to have been genuine.

COMMENTARY

Oct 18, 2004

Afghanistan: the world's opium market

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- Afghanistan's presidential elections came off with little violence but some damaging controversy. President Hamid Karzai's 15 opponents charged vote fraud.

EDITORIALS

Oct 17, 2004

Two paths to death

The past week brought news, as always, of the deaths of many strangers. But amid the usual numbing crush of reports of fatalities from wars, epidemics, accidents and murders, two stood out. Last Sunday in New York, the American actor and medical-research activist Christopher Reeve died of an infection-induced...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 17, 2004

Did Kosovo illuminate Iraq?

By Ramesh Thakur

One of the curious features of the Iraq war last year was the serious split across the Atlantic. And what seemed to puzzle as much as infuriate Americans was why the major European powers, having signed on to war without U.N. authorization in 1999 against Slobodan Milosevic, "the butcher of Belgrade,"...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 17, 2004

Election at all costs may cost democracy

By John Barry Kotch

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Elections set a new nation or a broken one on a course of renewal. Therefore, the conditions under which they are conducted -- the presence of security and the absence of intimidation, the degree of public participation (or apathy), including the openness to all segments of the...

EDITORIALS

Oct 16, 2004

Battle for fair competition

Yamato Transport Co., Japan's leading parcel-delivery service, and Japan Post, the provider of "Yu-pack" service, are locked in a legal battle. Yamato claims that JP is setting prices at an unfairly low level while enjoying tax-exempt status and other privileges. It is ironic that some of the basic problems,...

COMMENTARY

Oct 16, 2004

Of course, U.S. should global-test policy

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- On the controversial issue of a so-called global test for prudent foreign policy, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has been skillfully put on the defensive by the Republican re-election machine. This is brilliant campaign politics but a potentially fatal foreign-policy direction....

COMMENTARY

Oct 16, 2004

Preventing a new dark age

By David Howell

The entire geopolitical system is now enmeshed with Middle East issues. Mideast stability is the absolute key to peaceful global progress, both economic and social, as well as to the future of many world leaders and their policies.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 16, 2004

Americans don't want, but need, illegals

By Domenico Maceri

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- "We're giving our country away," said my friend with serious concern. She was talking about illegal immigration to Italy and how the new arrivals have no respect for the law and have no intention to integrate and will ultimately destroy the fabric of Italian society.

EDITORIALS

Oct 15, 2004

Enough words, let's see some action

The Social Insurance Agency, which has been accused of corruption and criticized for wasteful use of pension-insurance premiums, has announced a set of countermeasures aimed at reforming itself through its own efforts. However, many of the measures are presumed to have been enforceable within the existing...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 15, 2004

China's ASEAN strategies

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- The world's attention has been focused on China's smooth political transition at the last Chinese Communist Party plenum, the possible overheating of the Chinese economy and its impressive haul of 32 gold medals at the Athens Olympics. But little has been said of Beijing's strategy for its...

EDITORIALS

Oct 14, 2004

A peace overture from Taiwan

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian last weekend bid to improve relations with China. In his National Day speech, Mr. Chen called on Beijing to resume long-stalled talks and help build confidence and lower tension across the Taiwan Strait. Critically, he seems willing to resume talks on the basis of the...

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