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August 07, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Mar 27, 2004

Tony Blair loses his touch

By Jonathan Fenby

LONDON -- When he led the reformed British Labour Party to two overwhelming general election victories in 1997 and 2001, Tony Blair epitomized a new political generation that would sweep away both the cobwebs of traditional socialist policy and the increasingly incoherent, sleaze-tainted performance...

EDITORIALS

Mar 26, 2004

Last resort to protect privacy

Over the past two weeks Japanese media have made much of a privacy issue involving the eldest daughter of former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka. It all started with an article in a popular weekly describing the daughter's private life. Responding to a request from her lawyer, the Tokyo District Court...

EDITORIALS

Mar 25, 2004

A bullet tips Taiwan's ballot

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian won last weekend's national election by a sliver. A mysterious assassination attempt on the eve of the ballot may have provided the margin of victory. The protests and charges of misconduct that followed the announcement of the results were predictable. It will take time...

COMMENTARY

Mar 24, 2004

Advice for presidential candidate Kerry

By Ralph Cossa

TOKYO -- U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, is wise to ignore the tempest in the teapot caused by his revelation (gasp! surprise! surprise!) that there are leaders who would prefer that President George W. Bush not be re-elected. However, he needs to forcefully respond to the...

COMMENTARY

Mar 23, 2004

A decade of empty slogans

By Keizo Nabeshima

For all the shouting from the rooftops, political reform in Japan has made little headway. The latest reminder is the arrest of Kanju Sato, a former Lower House veteran of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, on charges of embezzling the salary of a state-paid secretary.

EDITORIALS

Mar 23, 2004

Kosovo in flames, again

The outbreak of violence in Kosovo is a sad reminder of the unfinished business in southeast Europe. The war on terrorism and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have overshadowed the continuing struggle to build an enduring and stable peace in the war-torn province of Yugoslavia. The North Atlantic...

EDITORIALS

Mar 22, 2004

BOJ Governor Fukui's first year

On Saturday Mr. Toshihiko Fukui completed his first year as governor of the Bank of Japan. His policy so far has followed basically the same line as that of his predecessor, Mr. Masaru Hayami. Still, he has made a difference in style: He has acted swiftly, and sometimes boldly, under his own initiative,...

COMMENTARY

Mar 22, 2004

Put global war on terror back on track

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI -- One year after the invasion of Iraq, the U.S.-led global war on terror stands derailed, even as the scourge of terrorism has spread to more nations. The U.S. occupation of Iraq has proved divisive in international relations, splitting the world and fracturing the post-9/11 global consensus...

COMMENTARY

Mar 22, 2004

BBC still plays a vital role

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The British Broadcasting Corporation has one of the longest and respectable histories among the world's public-service broadcasting organizations. Since its establishment in the 1920s, it has built up an enviable reputation for independence and reliability.

COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM

Mar 22, 2004

Madrid terror has lessons for Koizumi

By Yuki Tatsumi

WASHINGTON -- Three days after the terrorist bombings in Madrid, the March 14 election in Spain ended in an unexpected victory for the Socialist Party.

COMMENTARY

Mar 22, 2004

Cracking police shell games

By Kiroku Hanai

Police in Hokkaido, Shizuoka and Fukuoka prefectures have allegedly misused taxpayers' money. A number of active and retired officers have disclosed that money appropriated for phony business trips and investigative activities was diverted to slush funds.

EDITORIALS

Mar 21, 2004

Farewell to 'Sesame Street'

There are some American icons we would not miss too much if they were to disappear tomorrow. Starbucks, McDonald's, Britney Spears: Despite their popularity here, they all have perfectly adequate local equivalents. Japanese would still be able to drink coffee, eat hamburgers and listen to annoying pop...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.

80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped

By Elizabeth Beattie

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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