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July 23, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2002
French imitations of a banana republic
By Gwynne Dyer
LONDON -- Is corruption a Third World disorder? Not if the French are any guide.
COMMENTARY
Feb 5, 2002
Aftershock risk to Koizumi
By Kenzo Uchida
Late at night on Jan. 29, exactly nine months after the formation of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government, a great seismic tremor struck the Japanese political landscape, as he dismissed Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and Vice Foreign Minister Yoshiji Nogami, and forced Muneo Suzuki, a Liberal...
EDITORIALS
Feb 4, 2002
Doing right by Doha
Without a lot of fanfare, trade negotiators formally began the Doha Round of trade talks last week in Geneva. That the talks are being held at all is a victory; the original attempt to launch them unleashed "the battle of Seattle," when antiglobalism protesters turned that peaceful city into a riot zone....
COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2002
Price of pure market reform
By Takamitsu Sawa
"Kozo kaikaku"(structural reform) is the buzzword these days. But it isn't clear exactly what it means. Yet it is the "clincher" in newspaper articles, economic journals and TV comments by economists. The common belief here is that structural reform is in and by itself good. It is held as an article...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2002
Who is bugging the Chinese leadership?
By Harvey Stockwin
HONG KONG -- Since it is not opening up to the outside world, but remains a very closed society in terms of its internal politics, China raises more questions than it answers. The latest intriguing episode concerns the bugging of a Boeing 767-300ER purchased in 2000 to be the VIP jet for President Jiang...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Feb 4, 2002
English-language deficit handicaps Japan
By Jean-pierre Lehmann
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In 1984 I was invited to give a public lecture at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. I began by apologizing for the fact that I would not be able to deliver my lecture in Dutch. I went on to remark that had I been alive at the time of Erasmus, I would have given my lecture in Latin....
EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 2002
And now, the gold medal for bloat
The dust of the Summer Olympics in Sydney has barely settled, yet here we are tuning in already to Salt Lake City, Utah, where the 2002 Winter Olympics open this Friday. No doubt by the time the last light flickers out on Feb. 24, we will all have entered into the spirit of the thing, just as we did...
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2002
A rare glimpse into the hermit kingdom
By Ronald Meinardus
Ever since I came to Seoul some 5 1/2 years ago, I had wanted to go to North Korea. Numerous efforts to arrange a visit failed, but just a few days before leaving South Korea for good in early January I received an invitation to join a tour to Kumgangsan, the scenic mountains just north of the Demilitarized...
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2002
Judge Beijing by its deeds
By Brahma Chellaney
NEW DELHI -- At a time of growing U.S.-Indian strategic engagement, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's unusually conciliatory tone during his visit to India last week reflected his country's desire to decelerate that process by emphasizing areas of potential Sino-Indian cooperation. China is suddenly signaling...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2002
Tackling global terrorism
By Ramesh Thakur
It is clear now that Afghanistan had been taken hostage by the murderous cabal of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. As the U.S.-supported Northern Alliance liberated the country from the grip of the terrorists, it was interesting to witness the depth of the Afghan people's hatred for the foreign fighters who...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2002
Ten years of Japan-Ukraine friendship
By Yuri Kostenko
Japan recognized the independence of Ukraine on Dec. 28, 1991 and established diplomatic relations with it a month later, on Jan. 28, 1992.
COMMENTARY
Feb 2, 2002
Afghanistan faces danger of donor fatigue
By Farhan Bokhari
ISLAMABAD -- International pledges worth more than $3 billion from donors at the Tokyo conference called last month to discuss the reconstruction of Afghanistan are unprecedented. Never before has Afghanistan been the beneficiary of such a substantial largesse.
Japan and U.S. reach tariff deal with ‘reciprocal’ rate at 15%
U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Japan on Tuesday, saying the agreement would create "hundreds of thousands of jobs."
Foreign residents closely follow Japan's election and party pledges
A police officer walks past posters of Liberal Democratic Party candidates, as well as one showing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, outside the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday. As Japan’s foreign population continues to rise, one of the talking points during Sunday’s election was how the country should deal with the increase of international residents.
‘Japanese First’ Sanseito emerges as powerful force after Upper House poll
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya in Tokyo on Sunday night
Ishiba denies reports he will resign next month, as PM's fate remains unclear
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a news conference at Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
Induction of Ichiro has Cooperstown fretfully preparing
Ichiro Suzuki will soon become the first Japanese player to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Ishiba clings to leadership after election setback
“As the first party in parliament, we have to fulfill our responsibility with the public so as to prevent politics from stagnating or drifting away,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said at a news conference at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Pentagon looks to unleash ‘military drone dominance’
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts a drone demonstration at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on July 10.
‘Noto Democracy’ and the slow work of civic change
Yukio Iokibe’s “Noto Democracy" centers on Motoyuki Takii, a former junior high school teacher who publishes a handwritten newspaper every month to encourage the residents of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, to engage in local politics.

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One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
By Alex K.T. Martin

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